pot luck

Mount Sturgeon

we recently spent a long weekend in the Grampians National Park with ms k and dr jp, the latter now firmly ensconced in adelaide ("ït's ok").

we stayed in dunkeld, a sleepy township not quite half way between adelaide and melbs. we were well chuffed to hear that this is a well beaten path: a local told us that Maggie Beer used to drive down from the Barossa Valley to meet up with Stephanie Alexander, from Melbourne, at the Royal Mail Hotel.

it's a beautiful part of victoria: we were rewarded with clear skies and stunning views on our walks.

On top of Mount Sturgeon

we wandered into local artist Anne Fleming's gallery on the main street and admired many of her beautiful pots and drawings. her work is elegant and simple, beautiful!

it was so inspiring that i've since been taking pottery classes. after a couple of months, a few pots came out of the kiln:

not quite as delicate as fleming's, but a good start and plenty of room for improvement =)

ps: i couldn't resist posting this pic too: you will find this shop on columbia road in london, past the flower market

two-for-a-fiver

we have returned from a lovely two weeks in london where we met elmo's new nephew, mr x.

last time i visited europe, i felt like i was in a theme park: 'i guess i better see the [insert famous icon/building] since i'm in [insert big city]'.

so, other than a few days in paris, it was a nice change to just hang out with the locals in east london and spend time with the newest member of the family...

mr x and his mum, L, took us to their favourite local haunts including a fabulous shop that sells fresh, buttery, flakey croissants near the columbia road flower market.

and what a gorgeous market too: i just loved the stallholders with their sing-song 'two-for-a- fiver', 'three-for-a-fiver' chorus as we strolled through their lovely roses, tulips, black eucalyptus plants and many many more. they all looked so beautiful - i so desperately wanted to take some plants home with us!