Today on my walk around the suburb my attention was drawn to an usual sight. A Banksia plant was displaying several stages of the Banksia cycle all at once. There are over a 170 species of Banksias ranging in size and shape, with all but one of them native to Australia. They were first discovered by and consequently named after Sir Joseph Banks when Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1770. They are a truly an Australian original.
The photo below shows the flower in bloom. This flower was one of the last for the season.
This photograph shows the cone after the flowers have dropped off. It is here that the seeds are stored in pods until opening up. For many Banksia species this is triggered by heat – bushfires or drying out.
I love the contradiction in this photo as it shows a new cone with pods developing as well as a dried out empty cone.
In Australia the dried out cone has inspired many craft and woodwork creations. However, in many ways their greatest claim to fame is being the inspiration for May Gibbs’s Big Bad Banksia Men in her Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books. The Banksia men were the villians. They were always out to create trouble. Owing to the commonness of the species, dried cone can be found everywhere so growing up every child could relate to them. I’m sure my family wasn’t the only one to create their own Banksia boys adventures.
One of my favourite things to do in Australia is to go on a bush walk. I love communing with nature and getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Everytime I go bushwalking I am reminded of my childhood and weekends with my family. We would spend hours exploring different areas with dad pointing out and explaining even the smallest detail. Gnarly trees were always special and we would often stop and study them. I found them fascinating. The knots and growths of the old trees often looked like the tree had a face and was trying to tell us something. It is interesting how a group of people can look at the same gnarly tree and see completely different things.
The following gnarly tree photos were taken whilst on a long bush walk at Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. The walk was one of many in Morton National Park and didn’t disappoint.
If we were having coffee today we can go to a coffee shop and sit down or you could come to my home. New South Wales is now open for anyone who can prove their vaccination status. In fact people were so excited last Monday when we opened up that they spent over 100 million dollars in 24 hours – going to the pub or eating out, having their haircut and going shopping. Some even lined up at midnight to do so. My week however hasn’t involved me doing much different although I did enjoy coffee sitting in the café today. Gyms have also reopened. From tomorrow we have even more freedoms. Now one of the few things we can’t do is travel from Sydney to the regions or reverse.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about the fun map of Newcastle I found today. It is on the side of the old Maritime museum and incorporates Newcastle’s history over the years. It isn’t to scale but was very detailed and reminded me of many things that I had forgotten.
If we were having coffee I would tell you my osteoarthritis flared up for the first time this week. I was diagnosed with a small amount of it in my hip 2 years ago but I’m guessing it has gotten worse. For no reason I woke up on Tuesday morning in a lot of pain and with a fever. In this day and age of course having a fever means you need a covid test which was negative. So with rest and pain relief it returned to normal. Eventually I will be able to have a new scan and see how much it has deteriorated but at present that will have to wait as our doctors live in Sydney and we cannot travel there yet.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that I walked past Cooks Hill Spoonville on my walk this morning. I was excited to see that the family of spoons had grown.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world.
One of my favourite things when we visited St John’s Newfoundland was its colourful houses. They popped up everywhere, matching in style and blending in colour. Also known as Jelly Bean Row houses as their varied colours match those of jellybeans. It is said that the original reason the houses were painted in bright colours was because the sailors coming home from a long stretch at sea would like to look up from the harbour into the hills to look for their homes. As fog is a problem in St John’s the houses during these times the homes all bleneded together. So by painting them bright colours they could easily find their home.
I have no problem believing this as growing up I could see my home from the train. It was easy to pick out as it had a very large brick wall in front of it making it stand out from the surrounding houses. 50 years later I still look for my old house whenever I am on the train to Sydney. It’s an old habit I have no need to break even though its nearly 25 years since my mother moved out of my childhood home.
Thanks Kristian for your inspiring word today – matching.
If we were having coffee we would be either be still walking with our coffee or drinking it in a local park if you are double vaxxed. New South Wales is beginning to get excited as Monday week 11th October is when we are due to have less restrictions if we have had 2 doses of any vaccine. By the middle of November our international borders will also open as we will have reached 80 % double vaxxed. Todays coffee I really enjoyed as if was very smooth and creamy.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I was to see a huge mulberry tree fully laden with fruit on my walk last week. This sight brought back strong memories of my childhood. I can remember having silk worms as a pet briefly and watching them make silk. It is strange but silkworms only eat mulberry leaves which is tricky during winter when leaves are scarce. I can also remember loving mulberry pies. They were fun but messy to make. Getting the purple stains out of your fingers was also a challenge. As mulberry trees are so high harvesting the berries from the top is a big challenge.
The dark berries are ready to eat.
If we were having coffee I would tell you that October is Mental Health awareness month. And what better way to draw attention to it than with a massive blow up elephant in the room. I love him. When I first started working in mental health 40 years ago it was never a common topic of conversation. Mental health really was the elephant in the room that no-one talked about. Fortunately this is no longer the case and I for one hope it stays like that.
If we were having coffee I would asked you who you thought our next Premier would be after the shock resignation of Gladys on Friday. It definitely feels weird to be leaderless during such a difficult time in our state’s history. I’m no expert in politics but my guess is the current Treasurer.
If we were having coffee I would have asked you if you enjoyed a coffee on Friday for International Coffee Day. I did and again it was a good one. I also wrote a post to celebrate in which I discussed the virtues of coffee with an acrostic poem using my favourite coffee style, cappuccino. If your interested I have attached post here.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world.
Today is International Coffee Day. So to honour my favourite coffee style, I have described my thoughts and what I love about coffee or in my case a cappuccino as an acrostic poem.
Connecting with others
Getting to know someone new or on a deeper level is best done over a cup of coffee. It is a safe way to spend time with someone be it at work, home or out and about in daily life. I personally also love to participate in Natalie the Explorer’s weekendcoffeeshare for the same reason.
Ageless
Coffee beans were first discovered in the 15th century. Today they are a world wide phenonium and can be enjoyed by everyone. Even if you choose not to drink caffeine you can order your coffee decaffinated. Little ones can also participate by enjoying a babyccino – a cup of frothy milk sometimes with the treat of chocolate on top like a regular cappuccino.
Protection from diseases
Regular drinking of coffee helps protect us from developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. It can also help protect against Type 2 Diabetes as well as other diseases including certain types of cancers.
Pay it forward
In many coffee shops in Australia you can purchase an extra cup of coffee which the coffee shop will then make at a later time for someone less fortunate than ourselves. At present with the current Delta outbreak you can also donate $5 to certain websites and buy a coffee for the nurses and doctors working tirelessly in our Covid wards and ICU’s.
Ubiquitous
I love that coffee is literally everywhere. Even driving out in the country if you need one it doesn’t take long to find somewhere selling coffee. We will often stop when traveling as it is a great way to support the locals and get to know what is around the area. We have never found anyone who wasn’t up for a chat.
Calming affects of caffeine
Coffee increases mood by increasing the dopamine levels in our brain. It also helps with focus and energy levels.
Choices
In Australia there are many choices when it comes to your favourite beverage. Although all are varieties of the same 3 ingredients -coffee, milk and milk froth, they are very different?
Expresso
Macchiato
Long Black
Cappuccino
Latte
Mochaccino
Affogato
Piccolo Latte
Ristretto
Irish Coffee
Babyccino
Improves my focus, fat burning ability as well as physical performance
Coffee’s impact on metabolism, focus and physical performance is well documented. It can also help increase pain thresholds and if I need to take Panadol, I will have it with a coffee as it increases its painkilling effect.
Nutrients and antioxidants
Coffee is a brain food and if full of essential nutrients and antioxidants. Like all good things however it is important to remember that moderation is key.
Oppurtunities open for all
I love that anyone who wants to become a barista in Australia can become one. It requires a course and to be good at it a passion for coffee. As a mental health nurse I have seen several of my patients been accepted by their communities despite their obvious disabilities because they made an excellent cup of coffee. In a non Covid world Australians in particular will travel for a good coffee.
I have enjoyed my daily takeaway cappuccino as I wrote this post. I hope you too get to celebrate International Coffee Day and enjoy your favourite coffee today.
Have you ever seen or heard of something local and thought I’ve got to see that. What a clever idea! As you know most of New South Wales is currently in lockdown as we battle the latest Delta variant. So as a response to the frustrations of being in lockdown and the kids not having things to do someone came up with the concept of Spoonville.
Each Spoonville community is different. They develop a personality of their own dependent on the Spoony people that join the community. Local kids are invited to decorate wooden spoons at home and add them to the others as they get out of the house to exercise.
Spoonville rules are simple.
Place your Spoony person during your daily exercise
Make sure bits won’t blow off your Spoony person as we don’t want litter
Think about using natural materials in case they do fall off – maybe twigs for arms and legs
Make sure your Spoony person can take the rain – nail polish is good for our faces
Spoony people are not keen on dogs ( furry friends please stay back)
Come and see the Spoony people but don’t stay too long and no touching. Have fun.
I heard about our local community at Cooks Hill on the weekend and couldn’t wait until today to investigate. The only thing I knew was that they lived in Centennial Park. I was clueless as to where. Never fear I googled how to get to Centennial Park from my house and off I went. I had been there many times before but I always found it by accident and when coming home. The park is 2.2 hectares and was given to the city of Newcastle as a centenary gift in 1888. After about 15 minutes of following paths and generally exploring the area I saw them, Cooks Hill’s Spoonville. They were playing under a beautiful old Norfolk pine on the other side of the park.
As I spent time at Spoonville, I wished I had young children in my life. It would be so much fun helping them design and create their own Spoony person. I attempted to choose a favourite but each time I looked I would fine a new favourite so I gave up and decided it was all so much fun. I’ll be back to meet the new Spoony friends over the coming weeks.
Every year in June Australia’s biggest Rock ‘n’ Roll and nostalgia festival is held in Coolangatta. Last year we were fortunate enough to attend. Cooly Rocks On celebrates everything that was great about the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. It was like a step back in time. Lining the streets were thousands of vintage cars of every make and model. I have never seen as many proud people as the men and woman showing off their piece of history. Everyone painstakingly restored with love and styled to the associated era.
I think my favourite was called Violet Crumble for obvious reasons.
Indian motorcycles were also a huge hit with crowds. They had their own dedicated area.
I loved the Goggomobil display. These micro cars were so cute. I loved how they were decorated. I had heard of these cars before however most car shows don’t include them so I hadn’t seen them before. They were also a crowd favourite.
You can’t have a nostalgia festival without the King. Yes Elvis was there in many ways. There was a specific Elvis precinct that we didn’t go into. The lineup to get in was huge. We were lucky enough to see several of the Elvis impersonators who were performing in the precinct wandering through the street. Also to add 50’s appeal to several of the vintage cars many had Elvis portraits painted beautifully on them.
Rock ‘n’ Roll music could be heard all over Cooly. You knew you were somewhere special and I loved the effort many people went to to look the part. Rock ‘n’ Roll outfits were everywhere. I especially loved the matching outfits the regular dancers wore. It was like a step back in time to old photos of our parents as youngsters.
I love it when I find something really quirky on my travels. This lavatree marks the entrance to the sewerage treatment works at Dorrigo, New South Wales. What a memorable way to use old toilets. I also love the name.
The lavatree also serves another purpose as from memory you could easily drive past the entrance as it was a little hidden on a bend.
Some people might say only in Australia. Have you seen old toilets used in any other fun ways?
If we were having coffee we would still be walking and drinking as our region is still locked down. The government is saying it will end only when 70% of the adults are double vaxxed. The catch is that this freedom will only be for the double vaxxed population. If you haven’t been able to have your first or second dose or you are an antivaxer you will not be able to travel, go to the pub or get your haircut. It will be interesting to see how these new freedom will impact the severity of Delta as we learn to live with it.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I am with how our garden is growing. I have a never ending supply of rocket, chillies and several varieties of lettuce. Our wild cherry tomatoes are tasting great. Yesterday I was excited to eat my first snacking capsicum. I was also pleased to grow my first cos lettuce that formed a complete head. Usually I just have multiple leave and I don’t care as they taste great anyway.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about Wacky Wednesday a few weeks ago. The idea was relieve the frustrations for the staff and patients of the lock down. All staff wore their clothes in some sort of wacky manner. It was great fun and brought a smile to everyone faces. All of the staff on our ward had their hair coloured with hairspray. This was a first for me, as my hair had ever been pink, green, blue and yellow. In choosing my outfit I put together things that I didn’t think go together. However, to my surprise everything did go so I now have a alternate winter outfit.
If we were having coffee I would tell you how much fun I have been having this week getting out our original Wii. It has been many years since I last played it and I was pleasantly surprised when my Fitbit age was 41. My actual age is 59. Now to keep working at it and see how low I can make it go.
If we were having coffee I would tell you able the mask tree I found on my walk yesterday. It’s on a public walkway next to the harbour. To remind everyone to wear a mask and keep safe it has been decorated with multi-coloured disposable masks. The tree looks great but I don’t know where they got the masks from as I’ve only seen them in blue.
If we were having coffee I would ask you what has been happening in your world?
