Lovely Little Bay Beach

A short stay in Sydney followed on from our trip to Melbourne. Halfway home! While we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and looked up at the architectural sails of the Opera House, introducing our son to these iconic Australian landmarks, it was a beautiful little beach, not far from where we were staying with friends, that created favourite memories.

The very lovely Little Bay Beach.

After days of exploring hustling and bustling cities, the sand and the rocks and the water of quiet Little Bay felt so peaceful. An afternoon spent wading through shallow ocean water, rock hopping and collecting tiny pieces of sea glass from the shore were nature's restorative antidote to that busy-ness of city days. It was such a perfect afternoon. An Autumnal blue sky, the line of our Earth's horizon so clear and defined, the way sunlight and shadow fell onto the rocks and the crisp clear water of such very gentle waves. Time slowed right down and drifted away...

Another view of the beach. 

 A little rock "bridge" to cross.

The rugged & rocky headland from above.

Rocks sculpted by nature.

Light and shadow on swirly-coloured rocks.

Gently lapping waves.

Our afternoon spent exploring lovely Little Bay together reminded me of the wisdom of Richard Louv's words, written in one of my favourite books, about the place and importance of nature in our lives and our children's lives:

"We have such a brief opportunity to pass on to our children our love of this Earth, and to tell our stories. These are the moments when the world is made whole. In my children's memories, the adventures we've had together in nature will always exist." 

                                                                         ~ Richard Louv ( from Last Child in the Woods)

Rock hopping fun!

An afternoon when "Dad" took him across the rocks and around the headland; when he leapt "great" distances from one beach rock to another; when he felt that cool ocean water lapping at his toes and when he found more pieces of his precious sea glass. Those moments now form part of my son's childhood memories, of his family and of nature. I hope he'll always feel the presence of nature in his life.

Do you make time for nature in your life?

Meg

Postcards from Inner City Melbourne

A plane, a bus and a tram got us from home and into the heart of Melbourne, Australia's second largest city.  A new-to-us city! With just a few days there, we made the most of our time, and the city's public transport network, to explore the inner city. 

Trees and skyscrapers in the heart of Melbourne.

The very busy Flinders Street Station.
(Just a short walk from our apartment.) 

A Melbourne tram trundling along the street.

A view of the city's glittering lights  from the top of its Eureka Skydeck tower.

(297m high!)

 One of Melbourne's many "decorated" laneways ...

 ... with a little yarn bombing too!


Along the Yarra River at night.


The very impressive St. Paul's Cathedral.


... and the stunning architecture inside.

Inside the Old Melbourne Gaol ...


... and inside one of its tiny, quiet cells.


The light towers of the Melbourne Cricket Ground...



... and a cricketer immortalised in bronze.


Autumn's changing leaves ...

 ... that blanketed the ground of a city park.


A very fancy French pear pastry.

The view from our apartment windows.

Our days in Melbourne were very cold and mostly overcast. Rugged up against the freezing wind, back packs slung over our shoulders, we discovered much that was just a short distance from our apartment abode. I'm sure, if we returned again to Melbourne, there'd be much more we'd discover.

Meg 

Ripe Raspberries

I know that it should naturally follow, in my first post after our return from holiday, that I share with you all tales and photos of our travels BUT something far more exciting happened here while we were away. Amid the tangles of our passionfruit vine, some very special little fruits have turned a beautiful and edible ruby red.  This gardener's discovery, of ripe native raspberries, saw me shouting out to hubby for the camera with a lot more urgency than I had for any holiday snap. For, the sooner I photographed them, the sooner I could savour them again.

A ruby red & ripe native raspberry. Mmm... 

There is something so special about these little fruity gems.  They have formed and ripened on the two native raspberry bushes I planted quite a while ago now because I wanted to grow raspberries. Raspberries like the ones I remembered picking with my aunt and uncle when I was small. The ones that I could still taste in that memory from long ago.  

Homegrown native raspberries.

Each little berry may be only a tiny morsel but with a power to bring forth memories that took me back to a time and a place I loved. I could see again the edge of the forest from where I had picked native raspberries like these long ago. I could smell the damp, musty leaf litter of that forest too. They tasted just the same as they do in my memory, sweet and tart at the same time! I savoured each little one, sitting right there on the grass next to where I'd picked them. Raspberries and nostalgia growing in my garden. What a treat!

Harvesting memories!

Do you have something growing in your garden that takes you back to a time and a place from long ago? Perhaps, something that sets you to remembering when you first see it bloom or when you catch its scent on the wind or when you taste it again after waiting for what seems an eternity for it to be ready? 

Meg

p.s. I will share some photos from our trip to Melbourne soon. There was so much to see!

Back in a Little While ...

Our little family is off on a bit of an adventure to explore the new-to-us city of Melbourne. It's going to be very cold so we'll be packing as much warmth as possible into our suitcases but I won't be packing my laptop. Not only would that make it harder to stay under our baggage limit, it would take up valuable space in which I could fit an extra jumper or two! Plus, it's nice to leave the world of computers behind for a little while ...

Glossy white flowers from the garden.

I'll catch up with you all again when we get back home. In the meantime, I hope you all have lovely days wherever you may be. 

Meg

Here & Now 21

It's cold here. Positively chilly in contrast to the days last week that reached as high as 28C. The wind has picked up and brought with it a cold briskness that has us rugging up and snuggling in to stay warm. The gum trees along the ridge are bending to the whistling wind's will and the golden leaves of the plane trees are swirling to the ground and forming their own Autumn blanket. In our garden, the first lettuces and bunches of silverbeet have been picked and tiny little fruits are forming now in the centres of delicate native raspberry blossoms. I hope they will ripen into the little ruby red fruits I remember from childhood; I can imagine popping the first ripe one straight into my mouth and tasting memories!

Tiny native raspberries forming in the centres of delicate blossoms.

Shredded silverbeet for early-morning omelettes.

The speckled leaves of a lettuce.

 Clusters of tiny, sweet Allysum flowers.

Loving //  The subtle wafts of honey I breathe in when I run my hands over the sweet Allysum.

Eating //  Omelettes filled with our homegrown silverbeet. 

Drinking // Hot chocolates with swirls of cream. 

Feeling //  Toasty warm.

Making //  Plans for our trip to Melbourne and Sydney coming up soon. 
                       (All other making has ground to a halt!)

Thinking // It's time to bring out the hot water bottles that warm our beds on cold nights.

Dreaming //   Of Melbourne adventures. A visit to the amazing  Queen Victoria Market is very high 
                              on my to-do list.


In just a few days time, we will be in Melbourne where it is apparently going to be even colder than it is here. Brrr!  Might need to pack those hot water bottles. 😉

My Here & Now reflects the season enveloping us in our little pocket of the world. If you'd like to see what others have happening, in their Autumns or their Springs, you can visit the lovely Sarah, over at Say, Little Hen, who hosts this sweet link-up. She's been knitting mice!

Meg

First Pickings

It's a wonderful feeling picking that first homegrown lettuce from our Autumn veggie patch.  After the lettuce-drought of Summer, when it's way too hot to grow lettuce in the garden here, the fresh, crunchy leaves of our own lettuces signal a return to cooler growing conditions and more abundance from the garden. Hooray!

The first lettuce and chard from our Autumn veggie patch.

The first silverbeet and rainbow chard has been picked too. Ready for using in omelettes, quiches and perhaps some of these delicious Hortopita parcels, all nutritious silverbeet-y filling and flaky filo pastry. Mmm...

As the season "grows on", more food will come from our veggie patch. Things like Tuscan kale, beetroot, snow peas, beetroot, spring onion and leeks...

 Broccoli

 Spring Onion

 Beetroot

Snow peas

Tuscan Kale

... and more varieties of lettuce too!

Lettuce with a speckled leaf.

How are things growing at your place?

Meg

A Salad with Cranberry Hibiscus Leaves

I am wanting to grow more edible perennials in my garden for food around the fence line!  One of the first I've planted is Cranberry Hibiscus. I love its deep dark red leaves and stems and it's tiny pink hibiscus flower. It's grown quickly and its tiny, young leaves are delicious and tart, just like dried cranberries.  (A warning though that one should not eat too many leaves at once or too often as they contain oxalic acid, a recommendation explained here in this fact sheet about Cranberry Hibiscus).

Deep red leaves of Cranberry Hibiscus.

I wanted to use some of these new leaves and, when searching for culinary inspiration, found this recipe for Sweet Potato and Pear Salad with Crunchy Chickpeas. I made my own version using what I had. This meant I used up a half tin of chickpeas from the fridge,  switched rocket with roasted broccoli and substituted the leaves of cranberry hibiscus for dried cranberries. I went nowhere near a fancy dressing (though the one from the recipe sounds delicious) instead just lazily drizzling on a little balsamic. Here's my take on it:

Roasted chunks of sweet potato.

Not-so-crunchy chickpeas & tart cranberry hibiscus leaves.

 Little cubes of feta & roasted broccoli too...

... and sweet slivers of roasted nashi pear. 

Something a bit different! I think the only thing I'd change would be the chickpeas. I found I really did want the crunchy ones!

Have a lovely weekend everyone. 

Meg

p.s. Cranberry hibiscus grows well from cuttings.