Graffiti

There's lots of graffiti close to where we live. I love it. I think its great that people are so bursting with colour and ideas that they want to put it about. I particularly like it when its just a little bit different. Or clever. This one could just as easily be a sign for a business which would make it a cool business. You certainly wouldn't miss it

What a difference a week makes

I've been meaning to visit the shop, the Society Inc, belonging to esteemed stylist and author, Sibella Court for a while now. Its everything I had hoped for, delicious things crammed into a tiny space filled with light and I came out smelling of gardenias and full of inspiration. For some reason, perhaps because its housed in a corner shop, I thought of the Cross in Holland Park but more in terms of vibe than contents. Its located in a residential street in Paddington, and I parked my car under a gorgeous tree, stuffed with pink flowers, which I think is a magnolia.

I've spent the week devouring Sibella Court's book, Etc which has opened my eyes to clutter in the nicest possible sense.

Grafitti(2)

Here's another local one which made me smile.

The world is full of interesting things

Not much blogging of late - mostly because I've been thinking about what's next and plans are afoot - more later. Meanwhile, here is something lovely to play with. Its a collection by Creative Lab of all things clever around the world, found on Google. Give it a chance to download, and curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy!

London Design Festival

Naturally I'm gutted to have missed the LDF this year, being so far away and all that. I'm a bit biased, having been involved a while back, but I think its one of the drivers in demonstrating Britain's designs talents and has set London way up front of any other city in terms of design. Luckily they have been very proactive on social media and I've been able to see lots of the highlights. Including this, featuring two of my favourite people, Jon Snow sitting in one of Thomas Heatherwick's spun chairs.

Camping trip on the Hawkesbury

The weather is warming up and despite the occasional downpour, the temperatures have been in the mid 20's for the past few weeks. We thought it was about time we went on the camping trip we had talked about endlessly. So, after an expensive shopping trip to Anaconda, which had more camping stuff than I have ever seen, including chest freezers, full blown camping kitchens and shower cubicles, we were off.

We took the boat across Broken Bay and up the Hawkesbury River. We stopped for oysters at Brooklyn (still too big Clare) and onwards, upstream. The palm trees and rocky forests disappeared, and the river became wider as the surroundings became open fields and flood plains. We felt very small in our little boat on the big expanses of water, as we eventually hit Wiseman's Ferry, where we had been on the bike, a week or so back. I turned my nose up at swimming in the river water, which had by now, lost the peacock green of the sea and was filled with the big fat, (albeit harmless) jellyfish that we had been visited by last summer. So we went back down to a small hamlet called Spencer, where we moored for the night.

After a dinner of prawns, grilled on our new $9 stove, we clamped a mozzy net over the back of the boat, to avoid sharing it with big hairy spiders, and snuggled down in our sleeping bags - to watch the star constellations on M's iPad.

Waking up to the sound of kookaburras and an early morning swim, has been worth the pain of the head cold that I've enjoyed all week.

We've talked about this for ages and as the weather is warming up, we took the boat from Pittwater, across Broken Bay and up the Hawkesbury River where we went a couple of weeks ago on the bike. It was interesting to see how the landscape changed the further away from the sea we went - opening up onto big flood plains and expanses of water. We were joined by the big jelly fish that were in Pittwater last autumn, so I wasn't that keen to swim until we got back down. We moored in a little hamlet and cooked fresh prawns on our new $9 camping grill. Having clamped a mozzy net over the back with bulldog clips to keep the spiders out, we snuggled in our sleeping bags and checked out the stars above on M's ipad app and fell asleep by 8pm.

We woke up soaking wet which probably explains the stinker of a cold I've developed since. However the sounds of kookaburras laughing was worth it.

Elizabeth / Rushcutters Bays

Back on my walks trail, I was aiming for Rushcutters Bay, but took a wrong turn and found myself parked outside Elizabeth Bay House. Rather bizarrely, the road runs directly in front of the house, with a pretty park opposite. Having got home though and discovered the house's history, (champagne lifestyle, beer income), I'm going to go back and check it out in more detail - especially the grotto in the garden which looks amazing.

The area is Italian slash Holland Park and lots of nubile young things lounging around on patches of grass in their bikinis - or even topless, a bit risque perhaps for inner city bays.

I eventually made it round to Rushcutters and remembered I had been here before - my brother's wedding week included chartering yachts from the yacht club here. Not much of a walk and as the park is being refurbed, not much to see, but a sunny day, and the smell of sea salt made me yearn to get back to Pittwater. A bit longer me thinks so mussels for dinner will have to suffice.