The lo-o-ong hot summer

Here I go carrying on about the weather again. But that's all anyone seems to talk about any more in Perth. The weather here doesn't seem to know that we've now passed the autumnal equinox - 7 days ago (not that I'm counting).

Our poor garden has taken a real battering with all this hot weather, and after such a dry winter last year. Yet the Pollyanna in me can see small signs that the garden thinks summer is nearly over.







Our last zucchini vine is having one last burst - it's a Tromboncini (sic?), and it's very prolific and hardy. The basil is happily going to seed after supplying numerous pesto dinners, and the quinces are almost ripe.

There are some plants which don't seem to mind the heat at all - the flowers are really lovely when you look at them up close.







I'm going to stop talking about the heat now - in 11 days, I'm off to northern Europe. All of the cities we're visiting are still cold, some are even having snow. May it last a few more weeks!

Sculptures by the sea

Although I'm way past being over summer now, it can still deliver some lovely surprises.

We paid a visit to Cottesloe Beach this morning to see the annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition (is that the right word if they're on the beach?). What a perfect morning - sunny, breezy, the sparkling Indian Ocean, people strolling, fishing, swimming, sunning themselves, kids playing. The sculptures were just a bonus!







There were even kookaburras. Nowhere does beach like Western Australia!

Seven things I'm enjoying right now

We're experiencing the most appalling summer ever here in Perth - day after relentless day of hot, humid weather. And no relief in sight at all, it seems. So I'm trying to ignore the weather and focus on nice things...

1. It was my birthday yesterday - I received some really lovely gifts from Martin and the girls. A cute necklace, a first edition of Love in a cold climate (one of my favourite books) and a great book of greenie posters which Maddie got in New York. Here's one I rather like.

2. Our garden is really suffering in the heatwave but there are still pretty little pockets which give me a lift. I love the way these plants look together.

3. Figs - between my own little tree and my mother's, I've had a steady supply of fresh figs for weeks now - bliss!

4. Although I haven't read any vampire novels and have no intention of doing so, I've been having great fun watching Series 1 and 2 of True Blood. I really love the title sequence, and as for Eric.....!

5. I've been knitting this Debbie Bliss cricket sweater - I've wanted to make a jumper like this since the '80s! I'm knitting it with some Twilleys organic cotton which is very soft and squishy, and feels great to knit with.

6. When suffering through a really hot summer, read about somewhere cold is my advice. I've really enjoyed reading Michael Fry's Edinburgh : a history of the city. What a beautiful and fascinating city it is, and with such a tumultuous history. We visited Edinburgh a few years ago and fell in love with it - I really hope to go back some time and see more...

7. Our deck - February is nearly gone, and even though March can still deliver stinking hot days, summer's days are numbered! (Knowing this is all that's keeping me going right now...) Nevertheless, I'm really going to miss our evenings on the deck when summer is over - I can't believe I'm saying that!

Busy

One of my many (and probably ever-increasing in number) bugbears is people telling me how busy they are. To quote the great post-modernist philosopher George Costanza, "I'm busy, you're busy, we're all busy". Things have been a little busy around here lately, what with extra hours at work, graduations, christenings, weddings, etc. Mustn't grumble!

One thing I will grumble about - at a workshop I attended this week, someone proferred the view that the role of public libraries is just to issue and shelve books. We who work in libraries are quite used to this, and to the jokes about going to university just to learn how to say Sssssh! But it did make me a little annoyed, especially in view of the British government's very un-enlightened move to close hundreds of public libraries as a cost-cutting measure. The good thing to come from this is that it suddenly makes people think about how valuable public libraries are to their local community. It's very gratifying to see people like Philip Pullman speaking out in defense of libraries. I know I'm biased, but I can still remember how grown-up and excited I felt when I got my first library card. I think I was eleven or twelve, and that little card seemed to open up a world of possibilites for me.

Speaking of possibilities, Maddie is now a graduate (with first class honours!) We went to her graduation ceremony last night, and were very proud to see her walk onto the stage to receive her degree. Here she is with her friend Tasha.

It was a beautiful balmy summer night, there were great speeches and I love to see the great hats all the distinguished academics wear as part of their regalia.

There were even fireworks!

Straya Day

Our little travelers are home, having had a great time and bearing gifts. Liberty fabric, Primark PJs, Christmas decorations from the Met and more. I'm not usually a snowdome fan, but if you're going to have one, it might as well be this one. I just love it!

New York, you're in my sights now. It had better be snowing too!

In the garden, the glut of zucchinis continues - I used up some of them to make this delicious cake. Maddie made an eggplant and zucchini casserole (very nice) last night, and I shall probably throw some on the barbecue tonight. That still won't finish them all off, and then there's the yellow squash... I remember reading about Barbara Kingsolver's zucchini harvest. Mine may not be on that scale, but it's not far off.





Today is Australia Day. I used to really enjoy celebrating this day - we had family barbecues or sometimes had fish & chips on the beach. We went to see the fireworks many times. I really don't like the way this holiday has developed in recent years - it seems to have been appropriated by yobbos and rednecks wearing 100% Australian T-shirts and driving cars bedecked with Australian flags. There's definitely an element of jingoism in it all. This 2007 article about sums it up for me. We're having a very quiet Australia Day - nevertheless, there will certainly be a barbie!

a butterfly child so free and so wild

Sorry about the 60s flashback - one of my Orange Jessamine shrubs is flowering. The name (which I think is very pretty) brought back the song Jesamine, which Google assures me was sung by The Casuals in 1968. I have two orange jessamines - they each flower when least expected, at completely random times during the year. They have the most delicious, heady perfume - it's wafting in through the window right now.

The weather is still hot - not disgustingly so, but still hot. We've been promised "the chance of a shower" on Sunday and Monday, but that probably means not very much at all.

Our veggie garden is continuing to do well. I tidied up some of the excess growth on the weekend and fed it some blood and bone. Hopefully that will keep it going a few more weeks at least. The corn plants are not quite as high as an elephant's eye, but they are starting to produce cobs. It's probably time to start thinking about what to plant for winter...





Our globe-trotting daughters will both be home by the weekend. Maddie is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean as I type, and Kati will be on her way home tomorrow. Both seem to have had a fine time, and it will be just wonderful to see them both again.

I have been trying very hard to avoid impulse buying - trying to save money for more traveling. It's very difficult though - I read about this site somewhere. What lovely things one can buy there (in spite of the rather steep postage)!

Finally, here's something else I love. It's a Banksy in Los Angeles - there sure are lots of boring walls in this city which could use a little adornment!

2011 so far

Now that we're 12 days into the New Year, here's what's been happening.

New Year was celebrated very quietly, but I did manage to stay up and see 2011 in.

Our little family is currently dispersed over three continents. Kati is in the UK, in Blackpool, and Maddie is in New York. Both are enjoying the beautiful cold weather (and snow), while we swelter through a very hot (even for Perth) summer. This is how I've been spending most evenings - and very pleasant it is too.





I haven't done very much gardening because of the hot weather. Everything seems to be coping with the heat though - we are overrun by zucchini vines, and it's a constant challenge trying to come up with new ways to cook yellow squash. We have had kilos of them for weeks now, with no sign of any let-up.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to finish all the various crafty projects I've started over the last few years. Including this quilt, which I started more than ten years ago.





I'm still working on the hand-quilting - then I need to find out how to do the scalloped border. There are also numerous knitting projects (one at a time is my new mantra) plus various other bits and pieces. I'd also really like to organise all the photos into albums - something I've been meaning to do forever.

Oh well, there are only so many hours in a day, and only 353 days left in the year...