Fabulous Baroque Music

 Yesterday a group of music lovers gathered at our place to listen to Lucinda Moon on the baroque violin and Catherine Finniss on the baroque cello play pieces of music from the baroque period. Lucinda talked about how the music before this period was mainly composed of large, impressive church music somewhat stylized to keep within the boundaries of conventional societies expectations.

A  movement emerged in the 16 and 17 hundreds to give composers more freedom to be expressive of their individual feelings and emotions so a lot more ornamentation arose. It was a most delightful afternoon with everyone coming away enthralled. We also raised $400.00 for the McLarenVale hospital, thanks to Lucinda and Catherine donating their time for this fundraiser. Professional musicians spend a huge amount of time playing their instruments every day to keep in trim, musically speaking, and we appreciated the time donated so freely to give us such pleasure.

Today was a beautiful day, the Tawney frog mouths chicks  are growing quickly. We found a Willy Wagtail chick dead by the garden tap at the back of the shed.The trees seem full of squeaking chicks of some sort, wattle birds, blackbirds, greenies and they are very hard to pinpoint their voices being thrown quite a way.I have started watering the front garden today.

St Peter's Cathedral

This morning we left early to be in North Adelaide Melbourne street for Brian to see his eye specialist by 10.30am . As the express way is stop start and go slow, we decided to go through Morphett Vale and face the miriad numbers of traffic lights.It all went relatively smoothly and found a parking spot in the patient car park. So left Brian to see his doctor and I went and walked to St Peter's Cathedral past the Childrens Hospital and across various pedestrian crossings. Had a look at the Op Shop first and found two dear little glass fish which I bought on the way back.

When I entered the Cathedral a very nice man handed me a brochure showing the various points of interest in the magnificent building and I was able to have a selfguided tour. I was also able to take any photos I wanted to take except for art works on display.The magnificent stain glass windows are awe inspiring and to be able to wander and take a close look at carvings and furniture was just great.I love the Lady Chapel where you can sit quietly, reflect or pray, whatever moves you.While I was sitting there( the picture on your left is the Lady Chapel) someone started playing the magnificent organ and the music was just glorious. It reminded me too of being a 6 year old and in church with my parents, being so bored and counting the organ pipes, first the big ones and then the little ones and when I got tired of that and my mother had run out of peppermints to feed me to keep me quiet, I would count all the women's hats with feathers and then the ones without feathers....I'm sure the Good Lord forgave me ..
I had to leave all this beauty and walk back to collect Brian who did not get a very good report and has to come back in a months time.

Fruits of Spring

It never ceases to amaze me how nature can be so prolific at times. Besides the mandarins and lemons, we have Quandongs and Loquats hanging from the trees in luscious enticing colours .Yesterday for dinner I added the steamed quandongs to the rice, vegetable and prawn dish and we found it gave just that little tangy tartness that took it out of the ordinary.
Both fruits are mostly stone, the yellow loquat more juicy than the red quandong.Apparently the loquat is also known as the Japanese Medlar and is related to the apple family. It was quite popular many years ago but has fallen out of favour.
Friday 19th October
This morning early, hanging out the washing, I could hear the Willy Wagtail scolding and scolding. So in the end I went over to the chook yard to get a better view of what was making the Wagtail so angry, out of the gumtree flew a little sparrow hawk with the Wagtail after him and the blackbirds joining him in the chase when they saw the hawk fleeing.How typical......

The musicians who will be playing Baroque pieces for us Sunday week, arrived around morning tea time to practice in the studio at the same time as our pump man arrived to install the fish fountain. He had quite a few little problems with it and will come back next week to finish it as the polly pipe was kinking and not bending as it was supposed to.However it is working OK meanwhile as the photo may show.Meanwhile, sat outside the studio for a bit to hear the wonderful baroque music being played. We will all be in for a great treat Sunday week!!

Steamed Quandongs

Qudandongs are quite easy to de-stone and cut into quarters.After I found some the other day, I did just that and then steamed them with the broadbeans from the garden.They are actually quite delicious and tangy done this way, plus they retain their brilliant red colour. So I have done some more early this morning and I will put them into a pasta salad for tomorrow when friends are coming to lunch.
This afternoon my friend came and played Vivaldi and De Fesch on the piano while I played them on my cello. We are still practicing to get it in time together, but it is coming.

We had our craftgroup meeting at one of our member'splace yesterday. She always does fabulous lunches and we always appreciate her fare with great gusto!! We also work at whatever project we have set ourselves as individuals with great concentration while we mull over the state of the world and the different attitudes we are confronted with these days. The lack of service as we used to know it, the technical button pressing era we are in and dealing with the de-humanised answering machines when wanting to enquire about the most simple things.

To the right of you is a picture of one of our members deep into her craft with the canine member wishing we would all go home so she can have her mistress all to herself again!!
Her little canine friend ,not shown as she was parading the latest doggie fashion on the floor below, a very fetching fairisle knitted coat with matching leg ties, was not altogether welcome either.....luckily, not a cat in sight !
It is interesting to note that handspinning is back in vogue, I started handspinning Merino wool back in 1968 when the Ashford spinning wheel  was first imported from NZ.

Today at about 5 pm I was watching a bronze wing pigeon coming into the pond for a drink when I saw another one rapidly approaching the pond as well. Suddenly the first one chased the later one off and I saw there were two others as well. So now we seem to have two pair of bronzewings in our little patch. There were also two small birds , honey eaters of some sort, busy in the flowering Wisteria tree when we were enjoying our evening drink on the patio but neither of us could see what they actually were.Too small for the little wattlebirds and too dark for the Greenies.

Quandongs galore!!

Today was an exquisite day weather wise. We had intended to go to lunch in the new restaurant just up the road called "Au Pear". When we came back from shopping in McLarenVale we saw it was closed, so we will try it out next week. It did mean I had a day to do the last of the clearing of dead fall branches and the accompanying bark litter as next Saturday our permit to burn expires. There is something very satisfying about cleaning up and seeing the way clear to do the mowing so we can walk through the garden again without tripping on branches and the Lhemanii conkers which roll under foot. The conkers are great for burning in the wood stove as they retain their heat. One hit me on the side of the head just missing my eye as I pulled a dead branch down off the tree for burning, it left quite a mark!!Now all I have to do is the East and North side of the house.I also found Quandongs all over the ground and they are the prettiest red colour. I find them pretty tasteless but they look great in a little blue bowl. The tree itself was a seedling Mayo Thomson gave us years ago and it took a long time to establish itself. Now it is sending suckers everywhere would you believe. I'll cut some up and but them in a salad for colour if not taste.I seem unable to insert the photo here, it insists on sitting at the top.
Wednesday 10th October.
I had hoped to clean up more ground today but it is back to winter with a freezing southerly gale and rain as well. My music friends came this morning and we are continuing with the Haydn trio, at a snails pace,I must say, but it will come together soon I'm sure. My violin playing friend arrived with her right foot in a moon boot as she had broken a little bone before last Wednesday as well as cracking her ribs in a fall onto a table as she tripped over a footstool.Being of the old school, she thought if she ignored the pain it would go away but ion the end succumbed to everyone's advice and went and saw her doctor. He was not amused that she should have left it for so long.

I also took a photo of the jacket I have made for a friend in my knit-weave style with an interesting finish to the band and collar. I'll see if it will insert itself here....
Hooray!! it did!!!

Sunday Lunch

Today was the first day of daylight saving. I don't know who saves all this daylight or where it is all stored.....it takes a bit of getting used to I find. Had to ring my brother who had invited us to lunch, to find out were we meant to be at his place God's time or daylight saving time 12 noon. He said "now" time so that is what we did.Before that though, I'd fed the plants their Sunday treat and went around the garden taking photos of yellow flowers and then found I couldn't go past the red, orange pink and purple flowers, so finished up with quite a collection.This is the lovely butteryellow Iris flower.

  Above is the yellow Daylilly.
  We went to my brother's place where we are always greeted with a choice of the most interesting and exquisite wines.We started with a Grossett Watervale riesling and batted the breeze for a while to settle in.  The entree was garlic prawns accompanied by a Mitchel riesling. I don't think you can beat the Clare area for rieslings. After a goodly interval we had beautiful fillet Mignon with little taters and salad and a great Pepperjack sauvignon.                                                                        

                       
Dessert were crepes in a most delicious orange and Benedictine sauce garnished with blue berries and slices of blood orange, the whole effect one of enticing colours.   The weather though cool, was lovely for being out of doors and though the neighbours decided they needed to chainsaw down their patio posts, it didn't bother us all that much. That, I guess is one of the drawbacks of the small blocks of land in the newer suburbs.                                                      

Tawney Frogmouth

The Tawney Frogmouth has been hard to spot of late but one of them was sitting in the Pepper tree this morning, so much for the idea that native birds will only nest in native trees. I couldn't see if it had a nest because the leaves were in the way. I haven't found the Willy wagtail's nest but it must be nearby as one of them was dive bombing a magpie near the patio this morning. The magpies have taken to carolling near the door on the patio early in the morning when I am making my pot of tea. It is a joy to hear them as I write my journal. We used to call them Diaries once upon a time, now everyone journals, it has become a verb as well.

It has been a beautiful day today, started spring cleaning the Studio in the morning but for lunch we took some friends to a local restaurant for a shared lunch. The Restaurant is a great building of rammed earth and the setting alone is stunning so just sitting at the table looking out is a pleasure. There is a bronze of a wombat on a plinth, by one of my favourite sculptors Silvio Apponye,  at the entrance of the restaurant and it looks so good amongst the beautiful gums.
 The food and wine were excellent and we went home contented.

At Kingston on the way to the south East, Silvio has a wonderful site of his sea creatures in granite coming out of the stone and in the middle is a sundial with you as the pointer to show you the time of the day. You have to stand in the marked footsteps to get the correct time for that time of the year.His Whale's tail in Victor Harbour is also well known as is the big lizard at the Monarto Zoo. Tonight they showed the funny little baby Rhinocerous which was born there two days ago .Dear little creature with enormous feet....

Change of mind

Have changed my mind over wanting a Friesian horse for my birthday...my son and husband will be very relieved, after all $16000.00 is not to be sneezed at. The reason I have changed my mind is that I watched a video clip on how to care for your Friesian. One fetlock takes 10 minutes to wash, condition and blowdry, there are four fetlocks....the mane takes 40 min and the tail ditto, plus curry combing and brushing!!!! Well, I would need a groom to go with the horse and then a farrier, a horse trailer, saddlery , rugs , stable, feed, vet bills.....I think I will ask for a new set of strings for my cello, more likely to get those......
Late yesterday afternoon one of the bronze wing pigeons sat on the far side of the pond just gazing. I tried to get a photo but the light wasn't good enough for a decent shot, so I can't publish it. The bird seems very nervous so I couldn't go outside because it would have flown off . Then one of the wild ducks splashed down in the pond and that was the end of viewing the pigeon. The rabbits are getting bolder by the day and one was sitting right near the front door garden this morning. My neighbour  heard a fox bark one night and then heard a rabbit scream so it obviously caught one. She has already lost two hens and a rooster to a fox, they are breeding up too.No one shoots them these days so they are bound to proliferate.

When I was doing Gallery duty on Monday, took a photo of this stunning paperbark tree in the Willunga main steet. The seat underneath is made out of tree limbs by a local artist.