Snow!

We arrived in New York on Friday afternoon - after a very efficient and polite experience going through Customs & Border Protection, we got swindled by a bogus cab driver. He charged us more than double the going rate for our cab drive to Manhattan. I thought it was a bit suspicious but it was only later when I read the travel guide where it warned about drivers soliciting people leaving the airport and not driving registered yellow cabs, that I knew for sure. Ah well, we live and learn.

Other than that, we are having a great time! I got the snow I wished for - New York got four inches of snow the night before we arrived, and everywhere was carpeted with the beautiful white stuff. Martin and I walked all the way up to Central Park yesterday afternoon (21 blocks), and the park looked absolutely magical.








On the walk back down Fifth Avenue, we saw quite a few famous places. I just happened to look up while we were waiting to cross the street, and saw one of my favourite buildings.




This morning, we got our Metrocards and figured out how to use the subway. We went back to Central Park, to see the snow again (it's a real novelty when you live in Perth!)



Since then, we've visited a flea market in Chelsea and then Macy's. Martin also got to see one of his sacred sites.




We're only in New York for 5 days. There is so much to see here - it's nowhere near long enough.

A drizzly day in London

We're enjoying our first full day in London. It's grey and drizzly but not terribly cold. We're staying down near Tower Bridge - I haven't been to this end of London for years. This morning we walked along the Thames from the Tower of London all the way up to Whitehall. It's a lovely walk - I love the names of the streets : Crutched Friars, Savage Gardens, Pudding Lane, Stew Lane.




We got to Whitehall just in time to see the Changing of the Guard. The Horse Guards got replaced by the Life Guards. The distinction between the two is not that apparent to me, to the horror of my dear husband.






Next we wandered up to Trafalgar Square, and had morning tea in the cafe at the National Gallery. I couldn't resist the Jammy Dodgers - yum! There's an electronic display in Trafalgar Square counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Personally, I'd rather count down to the end of the closing ceremony, or better still, pretend they're not happening at all.





The shops on Oxford Street were our next call. Kati had a very successful afternoon's shopping. I didn't manage to find the grey jumper of my dreams, but shall persevere. We finally had to come back to the hotel because my feet had had enough.

Tomorrow morning, we're up early and off to New York!

We're off

Tomorrow morning at 6am we're off to London. And then on Saturday, we go to New York. I've wanted to go to NYC for a very, very long time, so yes, I'm very excited! We have tickets to the top of the Empire State Building, and I have a long list of places to visit, including of course the New York Public Library. I know, I'm a nerd. I also have a New York food list - bagels, hot dogs ( from a cart), pizza (NY pizza is apparently amazing) - no fine dining here!

So, start spreading the news. We're leaving tomorrow. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that.) And just to top it off, the weather forecast for New York on Saturday is .... snow!

Christmas is coming

Some signs that Christmas isn't far -

From 2011-11-10

The West Australian Christmas Tree  near my work has been flowering for some time now. You don't see that many of these trees in suburbia. This is quite a small one, but I love seeing the yellow flowers against the blue sky when I walk back to work after my lunchtime shopping. It always reminds me of holidays by the beach.

From 2011-11-26

Everywhere you look, there are jacaranda trees in bloom. The flowers fall and leave gorgeous carpets of purple - the photo just doesn't do this one justice. I was very disappointed when my neighbours re-did their backyard and had a jacaranda removed. It used to look very pretty from my kitchen doors!

From 2011-11-27

And of course, agapanthus is flowering happily away everywhere. I do love the humble aggie.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet except send away for one book online. I gave up being organised about Christmas years ago - it seems to make the year go so quickly if you're buying Christmas presents in September. I suppose that I must start giving the whole thing some serious thought soon.

I watched Paul Keating being interviewed on Lateline on Wednesday night. How delightfully refreshing to see a politician (former in his case, I know) answering questions so intelligently and authoritatively. He even stops and thinks about his answers before speaking - something you don't see much anymore. Come back Paul - we miss you!

Some things which have pleased me lately

1. The weather - it's late October, and we've only had one hot day so far. There's also been lots of rain, which always makes me happy. The garden is looking great - I've even taken time to stop and photograph the roses.

From 2011-10-26

2. I saw Crazy Stupid Love a week or so ago. It was great fun, but how have I managed to not be aware of Ryan Gosling for all this time? I've since discovered this, which I think is just brilliant.

3. I'm reading A confederacy of dunces by John Kennedy Toole. What a mind-blowingly brilliant book. I can't come up with words to describe how good this is.

4. Gardeners are such inventive people! I've been reading a lot about productive gardens lately - I love this rooftop milk-crate farm in New York.

5. I know that Apple has some questionable business practices, but I'm a big fan of their various devices - I think their 1997 Think Different ad is one of the best pieces of advertising ever.

6. We went to see QI Live last week. The world would be a better place if Stephen Fry was in charge, in my view. 

7. The Occupy movement - it's very heartening to see people questioning  the rampant capitalism that's been a religion in some Western countries for way too long.

8. And finally, this gem. Not much more to be said, really!

There's lots to do in the garden at this time of year. Even more so in our garden, with wilderness areas to clear, and really tall weeds (some taller than me) to pull out.

I'm on a quest to find ways to eat broad beans. Ours have done really well this year. I was never a huge fan of broad beans until I grew my own and discovered how delicious they are if they're picked before they get too huge. Martin is still rather indifferent to the whole broad bean concept, so I'm trying to win him over. 

From 2011-10-02

Obviously the snails don't need to be won over!

More promising signs - the fig tree already has baby figs. I remember the label saying that this variety (Black Genoa) will fruit in early summer and then again in autumn. This is the first time this has happened, so this fig-lover is very happy...

From 2011-10-02

I've been enjoying this book and am now thinking about growing more edible plants in our front garden. We already have three small Kalamata olive trees out there, but I'd like to gradually replace some of the native plants with drought-tolerant productive plants. I've ordered a Natal plum and a caper bush from the Diggers Club - we'll see how they go.

If all the doom-predictors are right, backyard (and frontyard!) food production may be a small step to dealing with these problems. It makes me wonder what all the people living in McMansions which take up their entire block of land will do. Some of the houses which have gone up in our suburb in recent years are huge, with no garden to speak of at the front, and probably just a paved courtyard at the back. I was relieved to hear that the average size of the Australian house has now peaked and that the trend is for slightly smaller houses. Hopefully smaller cars, too!

Finally, some more pretty plants flowering right now...

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

From 2011-10-02

September

I don't look forward to September - it signals the beginning of spring, which of course is usually just a brief prequel to another long hot summer. It also seems to me that once September has sprung, it's just a downhill rush to Christmas, and the end of another year. They pass far too quickly these days!

But even I must admit that spring is a lovely time of year in Perth. The nights are still pleasantly nippy, and the days are usually exceptionally clement, as Jeeves would say. And I really love seeing all the new flowers in the garden every day. Here are a few from this morning...

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11

From 2011-09-11