Every now and then, I meet up with some friends from my high school days. Sometimes we just meet for lunch at someone’s place, at other times we visit exhibitions, or gardens or just have a picnic. It’s always a pleasure — and it amazes me how, even though until we started this after a school reunion one time and hadn’t seen each other for decades, we still have so much in common and really get on.

For our most recent get-together we met for breakfast at a local cafe, and then went to look at an exhibition in the Brunswick Town Hall. There were three different display sections — one was a display of children’s art. I always enjoy kids’ art — it’s often so exuberant —and this was no exception.

The next section was art by adults, and most of the pieces were making a good political point, with various degrees of subtlety. It was interesting to see the range of approaches.

But the display that I loved most was an installation, a whole room that had pieces of art work made of twigs and vines and leaves and wire and found objects hanging from the ceiling and lit by constantly changing colored lights.

The lights threw color and shadows on the wall, which added to the effect.  It was magical.  

I’ve always liked things made from natural materials, and have continued playing with them ever since I was a kid.  I used to make baskets out of willow and vines and all sorts, and also tiny ones made from pine-needles sewn together. And most years I  make some sort of Christmas decorations, even just a wreath from vines and twigs and fallen cones and seedpods, so this was right up my alley. But we all loved it. The effect really was magical.

I was particularly happy with the photo  below of my friend Jenny, who is a professional photographer, taking photos of the shadows and unconsciously adding to the display.

We in Melbourne have been in strict lockdown for weeks now  — the latest one for 2 months and we’re not finished yet. BUT though we’re stuck indoors, we’re also watching the hatching of some peregrine falcon chicks in a nest on a tall building in the very centre of the city — 367 Collins St. There’s a live camera on it all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un8f85yADAU

It’s mandarin season here in Australia. I love mandarins — so easy to peel and so delicious. Many years ago, during the year I spent backpacking, I spent a month or two island-hopping in Greece. If ever you go to Greece, make sure that as well as the mainland, you visit some of the islands — each one is different and beautiful. When I was travelling, it was out of tourist season and everyone was so friendly.

I remember getting off the ferry at Kalymnos and all along the seafront there were sea sponges on display—Kalymnos is famous for its sea sponges—but there were also mounds of brilliant orange mandarins for sale. I bought some mandarins, and they were so delicious I went straight back and bought some more. 

I spent about a week exploring that beautiful island, and every day I just ate mandarins for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was lamb and salad or some kind of seafood and salad. One evening I ate octopus that had been pulled out of the sea that morning. Up until then I’d avoided octopus, but I figured part of the experience of travel was to eat what the locals did, and since I’d watched a young boy catching one, I decided the time had come. I have to say it was delicious. (Though the suckers were a little off-putting at first.) 

The mandarins were glorious and it was also my first taste of a seedless variety. Every place I traveled on that island, there were groves of citrus trees and olive trees—it was very unspoiled and agricultural back then.

I also bought a large sea-sponge, which I still own. And on the ferry leaving that island, which was an overnighter—I forget which island I was going to next—I was put in a cabin to share with a local woman and a couple of little kids. She wasn’t all that pleased, I think, at having a foreign backpacker in the cabin, but I’d brought a pile of mandarins with me and I gave some to her kids. She warmed right up after that, and she gave me a sponge, which I have also kept. It’s the one on the right — not “sales quality” I suppose, but I love it all the same.

It was a long time ago, but even now, when the first mandarins of the season arrive, I often think of that beautiful island and the delicious mandarins they grew. By the way, I bought the dolphin bowl  in the photo above that same year when I was visiting Corfu (Kerkyra). It’s one of a pair, and I managed to bring them both home in my backpack, undamaged, even with all those gorgeous pointy edges. Looking back I’m quite impressed that I managed it.