The Week Before Christmas

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giftboxes with shortbread and chocolate ginger

Lots of lunch catchups this month so I’ve made giftboxes with shortbread and chocolate dipped ginger as little Christmas presents. I added the gorgeous 3D birds because they are so pretty.

These gorgeous birds are from here. I printed off these Blue Bird of Happiness images and glued them to brown paper to make the finished bird a bit stronger. They are small and fiddly and took ages to cut out. I used a craft knife where possible and small scissors for the other bits. They look great but I don’t know if I’d do it again. It’s too busy this time of the year!

I have been using this tatty template for years. It began as a download from a long forgotten source but over the years I have modified it to suit my needs. There are many similar templates available online. I glue the printed side of the template onto the gift wrap I am using to make the gift boxes as the fold lines are still apparent. This way the inside of the finished box doesn’t really show the printed lines. I fold the lines using an old school ruler, and that works well, but a boning tool would be good too.

Completed boxes and the little cellophane bags of shortbread and chocolate dipped ginger.

The finished boxes ready to give to friends this week.

I dipped pieces of crystallized ginger into melted 90% cocoa chocolate using a skewer. Left them to set in the fridge, peeled them off the baking/parchment paper and sealed them in little cellophane bags. Tried not to eat too many. Very, very delicious. These I added to bigger bags of shortbread I’d also made that morning. Both went into the gift boxes.

Then I began on cellophane wrapped bowls of shortbread, rum balls and chocolate ginger for our very special neighbours. These pretty little bowls are fine to take up and down the street but the lighter boxes are easier to carry to lunches.

Gifts for neighbours.

two book reviews

One of the good things about being away was time to read without the distraction of jobs that need doing at home. So I have read two books, both thought provoking.

The first is journalist Frank Langfitt’s ‘The Shanghai Free Taxi, Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China”. He writes about his time in China in Shanghai 2011-2016. We also lived in China during the time of his earlier posting in the late 1990s. He lived in Beijing, we lived in Guangzhou.

To talk to locals and really understand their beliefs about modern China, Langfitt offers free taxi rides, not just within the city but also carrying people to weddings and other celebrations in far away provinces. He assumed everyone talks to taxi drivers and his premise seems to work. He is fluent in Mandarin and also has an interpreter with him.

Conversations cover wide ranging views of modern China, the difficulties created by leaving family behind in their villages and finding work in fast moving cities. Many people not only leave their parents and extended family for 12 months at a time, only returning, if they can, for Chinese New Year, but they also leave their only child in the care of family.

This is a thought provoking book. The author compares Chinese beliefs and political systems of America and China and relates this to various conversations in his taxi.

The goals of modern China result in frequent change. Wide sweeping, interesting and sometimes hard to believe how people in China still live and the rules they must follow but always very readable.

The second book is JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy, A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis’, an autobiography about growing up poor in Kentucky. I think of an elegy as a sung lament. This account is certainly a lament, but also a call to action.

A member of a sprawling, under educated family group, Vance writes eloquently about his multi partnered/married Mother and her battle with addiction, his grandmother and her belief in him and the ever present violence and poverty. These are the problems facing all under educated children in all first world countries, not just America.

Poor nutrition, unstable homes, school systems with few expectations of student achievement and casual violence is self perpetuating. Vance, who regularly lives with his Grandmother, hasn’t done well at high school and signs up for the Marines. The discipline and expectations of the Marines shows Vance possibilities away from Middletown and the future there.

Through hard work and observing how other people live plus support from the Marines, Ohio State University then Yale, Vance becomes a lawyer. Completing the course requirements was not easy as his Grandmother, his chief support, dies during this time and his Mother succumbs to drug addiction again and becomes homeless.

A testament to human strength and determination, this book has been made into a film of the same name showing on Netflix. The film cannot convey the shocking deprivation Vance describes in his book which should be a set text for every politician and educator.

the summer garden

This hippeastrum flowers for months at a time.

Lots of flowers on the passion fruit vines, so lots of fruit to follow, I hope!

Glorious hydrangeas.

As this very strange year draws to a close, I keep hearing people saying they’re having a low key Christmas. Big family gatherings and all out partying sit uncomfortably with the events of CV-19 and this year. We too have planned a small and fairly quiet Christmas. My Mother and our son are staying with us. I’ve cooked a ham and roasted a turkey breast and we have a cassatta in the freezer and a Christmas pudding, too, but mostly we will eat simply and be grateful for the company of family and for good health.

Merry Christmas

and Best Wishes for a

Happy New Year!

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A Week In Kalgoorlie (Part Two)

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buildings of boulder

Wandered up and down the main street of Boulder looking at the beautiful buildings. The streets in Kalgoorlie and Boulder are very wide. This was necessary 120 years ago so that the Camel Wagons could be turned around in the streets. It was too hot, dry and remote for horses to be used for haulage transport. Many buildings from the Gold Rush era have been retained and restored.

This is the old Town Hall. It currently houses a very good War History museum and the famous Phil W. Goatcher (1851-1931) curtain covering the stage. Regular guided walks of the Town Hall are offered.

Boulder was gazetted as a townsite in 1896. It merged with Kalgoorlie to create the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder in 1989.

Monument to the miners who have worked in this area in hot and dangerous conditions in the past.

The Goatcher Curtain, Boulder Town Hall

Philip Goatcher, born 23rd November, 1851, worked as a law clerk before becoming apprenticed to a shipping company . He sailed to Melbourne in 1867, jumped ship and set off for Ballarat, in the height of the gold rush.

He then went to New Zealand and then to San Francisco, where he met J C Williamson, an American actor and later theatre director in Australia. Williamson paid for him to return to Australia where Goatcher painted for most of Williamson’s opera and drama productions. He moved to Perth in 1906.

Goatcher painted the Boulder Town Hall curtain in 1908.The canvas was intended to complement and close the “picture” frame stage. This ‘Bay of Naples’ curtain is believed to be the only surviving theatre curtain from this era in the world. It measures 6.25 metres x 8.46 metres. It is signed and dated Phil W Goatcher, 1908 and was delivered on 11th June, 1908. It was restored in 1991. The restoration cost $224,000.

buildings of kalgoorlie

Streetscape.

The head frame at the left of this photo is at the Mining Museum.

Almost every corner in the main streets of Kalgoorlie boast a two storey, old hotel, some in excellent condition, others rather neglected. Their wide verandas offer shade on the footpath when Kalgoorlie is really hot.

This is a vibrant city with many cafes and restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, schools and shops.

Courthouse.

Old Commonwealth Bank, intact but boarded up in McDonald Street.

some street art in Kalgoorlie

I followed the HEARTWALK map to look at street art. The original project was intended to transform the Kalgoorlie CBD into a vibrant arts and cultural precinct. It must have been great to have all these works dotted around the central area of the town. The only remaining artworks are those painted on buildings, walls and fences. Originally, many of the pieces were in empty shopfronts, but these have since gone to make way for new businesses.

Kado and Deeva Muir, a multi-disciplinary duo living in Leonora.

Lundy Carol Thompson form Kalgoorlie Boulder and Tjubriin Valma Wicker-Schultz from Norseman who has also exhibited at the Olympic Games in London.

Danny and Nikki Ulrich, Kalgoorlie Boulder.

Unattributed.

Brenton See, Perth, paints small sized canvases up to large scale interior and exterior wall murals.

As the heat increased we headed for the Goldfields Art Centre. There are two galleries but no permanent Goldfields collection on display. There was no traveling exhibition, either, despite this being a huge, central building. Bit of a surprise.

This Stormie Mills painting was on a wall in the car park. Mills relies on a limited palette, usually white, black, grey and silver. He has morphed from street artist to working on canvases and is hung in many galleries.

summary

We have really enjoyed our week in Kalgoorlie. The diverse population is reflected in the town. We’ve visited Kookynie, Menzies, Boulder, Kambalda and the main town of Kalgoorlie. The wide open spaces, the colours of the bush, meeting up with a friend I haven’t seen for a long time, the buildings, the artworks and food all added up to a great break for us. We were able to take Louis, our dog with us as we stayed at our son’s house. We really enjoyed staying with him and catching up. I hadn’t seen where he lives before this visit. CV-19 has had an impact on many businesses but the town seems to be managing this quite well. Now Western Australia has opened the hard border between us and the other states, we will wait to see if our “safe” situation remains.

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A Week in Kalgoorlie (Part One)

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We’ve just spent a week in Kalgoorlie, staying with our son who has lived there since February. He works in the resource industries. He also went to the School of Mines in Kalgoorlie fifteen years ago.

Kalgoorlie, 600 kilometers (400 miles) from Perth, is most famous for gold mining. On June 17th, 1893, a prospector, Paddy Hannan filed a Claim, resulting in the Gold Rush. Kalgoorlie and surrounding towns are a fascinating mixture of very old buildings from the Gold Rush and new, plus everything in between.

Statue of Paddy Hannan who discovered gold in Kalgoorlie. It is at the corner of Hannan and Wilson Streets.

Gold continues to be the leading industry in the region, most evident in the Superpit which is close to town. Nickel is also mined in the area.

We set off to look at Boulder, almost a suburb of Kalgoorlie with many old, gracious buildings reflecting the wealth of the Gold Rush era . Then on to the Superpit, originally a consolidation of local mining companies called KCGM. Mid 2020 KCGM was bought by Saracen and Northern Star. The Superpit, an open cut mine, is getting bigger and mining will go underground, adding many years to the life of the pit. At the moment it is approximately 5km long, 1km wide and 500m deep.

Three haulpaks parked about a third of the way to the bottom of the pit.

The haulpaks are enormous.

From there we set off for Kookynie via Yarri Road, which is mostly gravel, passing remnants of ghost towns and signage for many small mines. The soil along the road was red, pink, cream and sometimes black, with shrubby bush and small trees.

The gravel road to Kookynie.

Are we there yet?

Evidence of several long gone towns along the road.

Stopped at the Kookynie Hotel, thinking we’d have lunch, but we were too early. Met Willie, the Hotel horse. I’d taken him an apple, which he obviously enjoyed and he snuffled around us, thinking we had more somewhere. Then he drank the water in Louis’s collapsible dog water bowl! He accompanied us from the ute to the Hotel door, where he made it impossible for us to enter without paying him more attention.

Willie, the Grand Hotel Horse arrived as soon as we parked.

He drank the water from Louis’s traveling water bowl.

Willie preventing us from entering the Hotel until we paid him more attention. He is a lovely, gentle horse

He is a beautiful horse. Kookynie is a long way from anywhere else and he just turned up one day, very thin and ragged. He drank and drank and then ate and then just settled in. Researching his brand information, it was discovered he had been a race horse. When he was retired from racing he apparently was moved to a station (a very big farm) but obviously didn’t like it there, so he left. A sad story, but Willie is now a well fed, much admired horse and a local attraction. He visits all the town people each morning and then settles at the Grand Hotel, ready to greet visitors.

From there to Menzies, still thinking we’d get lunch. No luck, so we settled for a muesli bar and some crystallized ginger. Set off to Lake Ballard famous for its Sir Antony Gromely sculptures. The lake is a salt pan at this time of the year.

Sir Antony Gromely, an acclaimed English sculptor, was commissioned by the Perth International Arts Festival to create the sculptures to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary in 2003.

Gromley persuaded 51 locals to strip and be digitally scanned to create life sized models which were then cast in a stainless steel alloy. Standing in the shimmering heat haze looking over the now dry saltpan, the view is as unexpected as it is amazing. The sculptures throw interesting shadows. There are 51 “people” in an area of 10 square kilometres.

“It is one of the greatest artistic installations I have ever seen” Sir Ian McKellen

On a previous visit I walked around almost the entire area to look at every sculpture but this time it was too hot and dry.

Quite a climb to the top in the heat. Looking down at the footprints going from sculpture to sculpture looks like a massive Aboriginal dot painting, as people don’t seem to walk in straight lines.

Lake Ballard from Snake Hill Lookout.

Fire pit with frame for hanging the billy for heating water.The frame swings over the fire pit. A billy is a covered pot. Once the tea leaves have been added to the boiled water you put the lid back on it and swing the pot around to settle the tea leaves.

Finished the day with a visit to our son’s office and warehouse, then drove around a big industrial area. Kalgoorlie is a vibrant and interesting City.

A slow start the next day, which was Sunday, as the galleries we wanted to visit didn’t open until later in the morning. This meant our son had time to make us pancakes and I pottered in his garden in the warm sun. It got very hot later in the day.

Then we discovered the three galleries online information wasn’t current and none of the galleries open on Sunday. CV-19 has changed the hours galleries are open and how many people can enter at a time. Set off to look at Kambalda, known for nickel mining, then back to Kalgoorlie. Made a late lunch and spent some time looking at our photos and wandering around the neighbourhood, giving Louis, the dog, a good walk. It also meant I could look at the houses, too. So many places around my son’s house have put up dazzling Christmas decorations, including the house next door with four metre high deer in the garden. Their heads move and Louis likes to stop and look at them. The two rottweilers who live there don’t like Louis stopping and bark and bark!

We are really enjoying our visit and already planning on returning.

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Fine Bone China, Spring Flowers, Grazing Platters and a Book Review

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fine bone china

This is my ever growing collection of fine bone china mugs. I generally drink double espressos, so about 150ml of coffee, and I really like drinking from these mugs! They are illustrated with rollicking and frolicking mice and are a pleasure to use.

I first discovered Anita Jerman’s whimsical designs years ago when my son gave me a card featuring her Two Bad Mice design. He was attracted to it initially as the mice are very similar to ones I’ve been drawing for years. Loved the card and my first Two Bad Mice 300ml mug followed. These fine bone china mugs are hand decorated in Staffordshire, England and portray the mice involved in everyday activities, such as eating cake (Sugar Mice), painting (Art Club), shopping (Retail Therapy) , frolicking with the butterflies and flowers (Urban Jungle) and enjoying each other’s company (For You)

The thin lip makes these mugs lovely to drink from. They are illustrated on the outside and the inside and there’s always a little message at the bottom, to entertain you when you’ve drained the last drop!

spring flowers

This has been a bumper year for all the spring flowers in Western Australia. The roses have been blooming like mad! Some of these are from my Mother’s garden and some are from our garden. The flowers at the back are alstromerias which grow year after year and would happily inhabit the entire garden. They need to be kept firmly in their assigned bed!

grazing platters and a bed bowl

I can’t remember what we called platters of finger food before they became grazing platters. Surrounded by bowls of other finger friendly foods, the platters are an easy way to entertain. I made these as it was my husband’s turn to host his book club this week and the focus is on the books, so easy to handle food is essential. Nothing hot or fussy, just tasty, easily picked up, finger food.

I place various cold meats and cheeses, a soft, a firm and a blue veined, on the platter, then add quince paste ( plus fig and walnut paste this time), strawberries, two types of meat and a variety of crackers. I put a tub of hommus or dip in the centre of each platter, too. Other bowls held cherries, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, cashews, olives and more crackers. Add side plates and napkins and the food is done.

This morning I finished reading Ian Rankin’s latest book, A Song For The Dark Times in bed, before I got up. The minute I put it down my husband picked it up and didn’t move for a long time. I made him tea and took him a bed bowl, a little relative of the grazing platter, involving cashews, strawberries, cherries and blueberries with some crackers. He’s not a big fan of cheese, which is good, as I’m happy to eat the leftovers from the previous nights feasting. Bowls are easier than flat plates for eating in bed.

reading

This book is about planning and building affordable energy efficient and water wise housing. Many of the tips are relevant to existing houses and also a good reminder about doing easy things to use less water and energy.

Josh Byrne is a presenter on Gardening Australia, a weekly gardening program on television. He is globally recognised for his research into efficient use of water and energy. His ideas about using main stream builders and materials to create efficient housing make his recommendations affordable. The process he describes for choosing where to build and how to build is easily understood and often thought provoking.

Byrne shares ideas about monitoring the ‘effectiveness ‘ of your existing house and also how to maximise these aspects in new builds. Each of the eight chapters encourages consideration of each step in building, renovating or just refining current aspects of your house to make it more efficient.

An interesting book, full of information. As usual, I borrowed it from the library. A quick search of your local libraries online catalogue will reveal many books about making the most of your local environment and living more efficiently.

Some saints

December 4th is Saint Barbara’s Day. Venerated as an Auxiliary Saint or Holy Helper, she is the patron saint of artillerymen and miners. In more recent years her authenticity was considered questionable and she was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969.

December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day. Saint Nicholas, a Greek priest was a Bishop in the early Catholic Church. He gave up all his belongings to follow Christ. He gave freely to needy people, but especially to children. He was well known for throwing gold coins into the windows of poor homes. St Nicholas became part of European culture.

In the 1800s, in America, Saint Nicholas began to evolve into Santa Claus, but gold coins, both real and chocolate ones still feature for many children at Christmas, a remnant of Saint Nicholas’s kindness and charity.

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