I amsterdam

I'm sitting in the lobby of our beautiful hotel in Copenhagen. Due to internet access issues, I haven't been able to post anything about Amsterdam yet.

Amsterdam is such a lively, vibrant city. There are people of 77 different natianalities living there - more than any other city, according to our canal tour guide. It seems to be a very tolerant, open city and the people are very friendly - they all speak English, and don't seem to mind at all that we don't know their language.

The weather was very spring-like when we were there - everyone was soaking up the sunshine after a very long cold winter. There was more than a little whiff of pot in the air!

The thing that impressed me most about Amsterdam was the number of cyclists - they are everywhere!

And I do mean everywhere!

We went on a canal tour...

and saw the Rembrandts and Vermeers (and more) at the Rijksmuseum. We visited the marvelous National Library and looked around some great little shops. And naturally, we saw lots and lots of tulips!

Seven go adventuring in Northern Europe

Apologies to Enid Blyton - I was always more of a Famous Five person, and their titles are far more exciting than the Secret Seven's.

This Thursday, we are off on our little family history tour of Germany and Estonia, plus various other cities which have no significance as far as family history goes (but they are places we'd like to visit and they're sort of on the way!) In Estonia, we plan to visit my father's school and the plaque commemorating the cinema his family owned in Tallinn - the cinema was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War. There will also be a trip to Moringen in Germany, where my mother lived for ten years after the war.

There are seven of us traveling - Maddie, Kati & I, my sister Susan & her husband Fred, and my sister Annette & her daughter Arabella. I'm thrilled to be able to share this trip with my daughters and my sisters (that's me, Susan & Annette, circa 1966 in the photo) - we've been told many stories about our parents' lives in Europe before they came to Australia. It will be wonderful to see some of the places they've told us about.

First stop - Amsterdam!

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!