Return to Perth

While Prague was a city of tourists, Budapest was full of its citizens celebrating being Hungarian. We happened to be there for National Foundation Day with red, white and green flags flying and a hugh patriotic fireworks display.  We were even lucky enough to find the National Folk Federation craft and music fair in the Buda part of the city, with its castle and churches high up on a hill. Needless to say, I didn’t walk up but caught one of the cute little electric buses that wind their way through the narrow streets.  Curiously, while the Czechs are the least religious people in Europe, of the people who bothered answering a census question about religion in Hungary, nearly half are Catholic and saints are important in the country’s history and culture. For example the first Hungarian King was St Stephen whose feast day is also Foundation Day on 20 August. As a good Catholic girl I grew up aware of St Elizabeth of Hungary because that’s my middle name but I didn’t know about...

Have I left visiting Prague too late? While not as disneyfied as Dubrovnik, it still feels like a tourist town where all the locals have sensibly gone away for the summer holidays. A good example is that there isn’t a food shop to found in the area we’re living in (the Jewish Quarter) or even the more extended places we’re exploring. Just endless mini-marts selling alcohol, water, and tourist tat.   Ann on the Charles Bridge Have I failed to give enough time to explore Prague? It is full of architectural and cultural treasures - churches and synagogues, bridges and towers, palaces and theatres, museums and town halls. Each deserves half a day at least and we only have 5 days here. Even the clocks are fascinating. For example, a Hebrew clock which goes in the opposite direction to ours and an extraordinary astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall with an astrolabe that demonstrates four different types of measuring time as well as a painted panel that tells you the Saint for every da...

By the time you read this, Susan and I will have arrived (hopefully) in Prague.  After we managed to find a new home in Perth in a timely manner and without spending all our money, I announced to Susan that we needed/deserved a holiday. As I've had many chances to travel over the years, I let her choose our destinations so it's a couple of cruises - from Budabest to Bucharest on the Danube and then on the Hurigruten mail run up the west coast of Norway to the Arctic Circle. We didn't want to leave our new home empty for 6 weeks so a friend Pam from Melbourne has come across for a Perth holiday....bringing her cat Zembi with her. She'll entertain the neighbours as she takes him for his daily walk.

In the last post about Betty and Carnations, I mentioned my Floral Top 10 but didn't list them. It's somewhat of a moving feast but here's this month's list, not necessarily in priority order: Flowering gum Pansy Wattle (even though I was allergic to it in my childhood) Daffodil Iris Geranium (as long as they are brightly coloured) Bottlebrush Lavender Hydrangea And last but not least, rose. Not a very adventurous list. But with the exception of roses, I have attempted to grow all of them. I only like roses in other people's gardens. During Melbourne's years of Covid lockdown, Susan and I would walk every day in our suburb and literally smell the roses. I see no point in the odourless ones you buy in shops. The only good reason for their existence given the sharp thorns and the endless pruning that's required is their velvety petals and their extraodinary aroma. This week, although there are no roses in bloom at the moment, I had two wonderful rose experienc...

For reasons that I've never understood, Betty loved carnations. She was particular about flowers. She furiously tossed out a bunch of arum lillies that Susan and I bought her one year for Mother's Day because they reminded her of funerals. But carnations, even scrappy skinny ones, were her thing. She regularly bought bunches as well as having them growing in the garden. So it wasn't surprising that she fell in a love with a painting of carnations by Perth artist Laurie Knott.  Born in the UK in 1921, Laurie Knott studied in the UK and arrived in Western Australia in 1952. An impressionist painter in oil and watercolour, he exhibited his work in Australia from 1963. He was art critic for the 'Sunday Times' newspaper in Perth, and has also worked as an art teacher judge and lecturer in Perth and country areas. His work is represented in Western Australian regional art galleries and institutional collections in Perth and overseas. He died in 1980. Some more information...

I've never spent a fortune on fancy furniture and once I've found a practical piece, I tend to keep it for years. Susan and I did send some furniture off to Vinnies in Melbourne and some stuff, such as 40 year old bamboo shelves, did up in the skip when we were packing up the Pink House. However, some pieces travelled with us as temporary backstops and others in the hope that they might just fit into whatever new home we found for ourselves. A classic example of the former category is a study desk that I had as a teenager. Yes, I know, that was a long time ago. But it was practical. It had drawers, a drop down desk, open and closed shelves. However, Susan has always hated it and finally, I agreed to replace it. The new piece of furniture, a proper dining dresser, sits beautifully in Archibald St and I confess that I don't miss the old desk.  But I will miss my colourful chandlier. I bought it during one Christmas holiday in Perth and took it back to Melbourne were it had pr...

Friends Anne and Kevin called in for morning tea on a sunny day to tell us about their two months sojourn in southern Africa, in countries such as Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. It was fascinating hearing their stories of the people, the landscape, the history, the animals, the corruption, the lodges, the politics, of these countries. As we listened, I suddenly realised that it is 30 years since I was last on that continent. I had two visits to South Africa as part of Australia's aid package for the post-apartheid government, making recommendations about changing the national English language radio station to better reflect the new country in 1994 and returning to check implementation of the changes in 1995. Both journeys were utterly fascinating, from attending the National Thanksgiving service in Soweto days after the election with people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu on stage to exploring the wild and beautiful landscape of the southern cape. I was honoured to meet ...