That's how to do lunch!

Thank you Jill.  A wonderful lunch.  So good to share delicious food with fabulous women in such a lovely house.  Great conversation, interesting and wide ranging.

AND the beginning of a new short story...

"He sits proudly upright, but his eyes are glazed.  His thin, old body looks strangely endearing and vulnerable in the large military jacket.  His medals clink gently in the wind.   As he looks around a vague memory stirs.  He feels bolder and sits a little straighter.  The horse moves gently beneath him.  It’s unsettling. 

He wonders why he is here."

Cartoonists have their say for the week

The cartoons have a regular theme...a winking Abbott and cuts, cuts cuts!  Only Leunig broke the mould with a spin on overweight Australians!

But would you want to live there?

Fantastic talk and exhibition at Museum of Sydney.  Loved the photos and hearing the stories about how the houses were developed and what it was like to live there.

Karen McCartney uncovered 29 examples of Iconic Australian houses over the past six decades.  Its now an exhibition at Museum of Sydney.  Grand Designs Australia’s presenter Peter Maddison was a great interviewer and Karen was really entertaining, informed  and relaxed.A great way to spend a couple of hours.

Not sure that an Iconic house is for me though! 

Good morning Sunshine

Love our early morning walks, Each season so different,

Espana comes to Manly

Now you would think that as Manly locals we'd know what was going on... BUT as usual we didn't have a clue.  On our morning walk we'd noticed tents and marquees sprouting up along the Corso and thought that they were setting up for the Annual Food and Wine Festival.  A week out with that one!

It was actually for the first Manly International Paella championship.

As we wandered casually into Manly to get the ferry, amazing aromas drifted towards us ... the Corso was throbbing with thousands of people and chefs were anxiously testing and tasting their paellas.
The crowds lurched forward all keen to get a taste of Paella from top chefs from across Australia.  I was not too sure about the Valencian-style paella, concocted from rabbit and snails.... the choice was not to be mine as we had to hurry through the throng to go to our Iconic Houses exhibition at the Museum of Sydney.

Great to hear that Harran M Souli from Out of Africa, won... One of my favourite restaurants and chefs!  Maybe after doing our cooking school in Barcelona we can enter next year.... although those paella pans looked truly scary- not to mention the snails!

It must be Saturday!

Most Saturdays if we are home, we catch up with Caleb for a very unhealthy breakfast at Manly Dam... today was no exception.  

The weather was just beautiful., as it has been for weeks...

"Sydney is enjoying late Autumn warmth not experienced since temperature records began all the way back in 1859.

The working week ended in spectacular fashion with the city reaching 25 degrees under clear blue skies. Friday was the seventh day in a row where the mercury exceeded 22 degrees, the longest stretch this late in May since records began over 150 years ago. The previous record was six days which occurred in 1974.
The longest run of days exceeding 22 degrees at any time during May is nine which occurred in 1978 and again in 2007. The current forecast is for Sydney to reach 24 or higher for at least the next seven days which will eclipse the current record."

Fun in the sun, with our cameras!

That was the political week that was!

The Liberals got a torrent of abuse for their mean spirited and unfair budget, but sadly we all know they plan on big handouts before the next elections....

"Lest We All Forget here are just a fewof the things we have we lost..."

• A Fair go for all
• CSIRO
• ABC
• Free universal Health Care
• Fair treatment of Asylum seekers

What we have got...

• A divided community
• Rich Richer, Poor Poorer 
• Chaplains instead of trained Psychologists
• More Homeless
• Higher taxes for everyone except the rich
• Unaffordable higher education

I could go on!

Maintain the Rage!

Is it me or is it you?

What an incredible interview.  Betty Churcher thought she was interviewing Ben Quilty.  He thought he was interviewing her.  She had prepared images of his work to be shown throughout the interview. He had a book of her drawings on his lap.  A delightful interplay between two hugely talented, amusing and generous people.

Write on!

A sun-filled breakfast at Bills, in Surry Hills starts our 2014 Writers' Festival.  Off to hear David Malouf speak.... Whoo! Hoo!

The Harbour today is swathed in mist as the cold air hits the warm ocean.  It's a magical setting for this fantastic event.

Seeing the Green Room brought back memories of volunteering in previous years ... all those authors to organise and get to their talks on time... phew!

David Malouf is such an enigmatic, brilliant writer.  His interview was gentle, entertaining and inspiring. Hard to believe he is 80 years old.

Had to reread his book "Fly Away Peter, Fly Away Paul"

"Often, as Jim later discovered, you entered the war through an ordinary looking gap in a hedge.  One minute you were in a ploughed field, with snowy troughs between ridges that  marked old furrows and peasants off at the edge of it digging turnips or winter greens, and the next you were through the hedge and on duckboards, and although you could look back and still see farmers at work, or sullenly watching as the soldiers passed over their land and went slowly below ground, there was all the difference in the world between your state and theirs.  They were in a field and very nearly at home. You were in the trench system that led to the war."

"Ransom" here I come!

Manly Daily

Before we go overseas we thought we'd share a few things from our daily life in Manly.

Roger starting the day with a Soy Latte ....

Sketching class

Thursday afternoon in James Street Manly

Shopping at the seafood market for dinner

Off for a volunteer's breakfast before delivering meals on wheels.

Dinner at Out of Africa - still one of our favourite restaurants.

Wine, wine, wine just a bottle of wine

Last few weeks before we leave and finally the B & B is slowing down a little, so time to do all those jobs around the house.... luckily before we could start we were rescued by the offer of a trip up to the Hunter Valley for wine tasting.  

Linda and Leonie, two other B & B owners, plus a couple of sisters from UK and a honeymoon couple from Melbourne, Roger and I set off at 8.00am for day's outing.

First stop - Bubbly at Petersens!











Love the wonderful settings and architecture of vineyards.  The view from Audrey Wilkinson's has to be the best!

Roberts, my favourite Hunter Valley restaurant, grows all of its veggies on site and has all local Hunter Valley wines.  The blackboard is updated to show what is growing where, and you can wander outside to see all the chickens and the veggie patch.   The menu is updated regularly to make the most of what is in season.  The service is superb.  Did I say that I LOVE this restaurant!

Another favourite is Tyrells, one of the oldest wineries, though by this time we were more interested in the old Boab tree and slab hut than in tasting more wine!






















Peppertree, next to Roberts really is one of the prettiest...and the wine's pretty good too!

Ready, Set, Go

Its that time of year again.... time to pack up the house and set off on our adventures.  This year we are spending three weeks in Derbyshire before heading off to Barcelona for four weeks and then back to London for a month.

As usual there are a million jobs to be done - all those things that you put off until there is no other option but to get on with it!  So first on our list was sorting out our messy storage area under the stairs.  On Monday out came the rusty old paint tins.  We frowned and sighed as we realised that we really had to paint the windows down the side of the house.

We were interrupted by our lovely guests Wendy and Gavin* who were leaving.  By the time we had waved them goodbye, hastily making arrangements to meet up for dinner when we are in London, it was time to welcome Johnny.  Johnny, came to us via the Brain Injury Association.  In 2010, he was in London for New Year with his partner, when a group of guys started to pick a fight.  His partner was pushed but it was Johnny who ended up falling backwards onto the railway line.  Several operations later he's back in Oz recovering from his brain injury.  

As the court case is in UK, it's taking time to claim compensation, so Johnny had to sell his house to pay for treatment and he is now living in Housing Commission in the inner city.  The noise and confusion was all too much for him, so he booked in for a couple of weeks quiet and recuperation in Manly.

Needless to say it was much more important to settle him in and take him for tour around North Head... so the paint tins have stayed right where they were, blocking the steps in the back garden!
*Not real names

Our next major escape from painting took the form of a photoshoot at Newington Armoury.  Not really my kind of thing but hey, neither is painting!

Loved seeing how the photographers got their shots and shuffling through the wetlands was really fantastic... As to the armaments - really not my thing.





Then of course, there was the demonstration opposing cuts to the ABC!

The morning walk has also proved to be a great excuse.  Have to sit and have a morning cuppa after seeing the sunrise!

Of course when all else fails... there is always the market!

Roger needs to take time out to do his sketching!

Julie needs to sing....So at the end of the week our paint tins are still blocking the back steps... So who needs to paint?