A rose by the name of David Ruston
It was a rare treat to join the acclaimed rose identity David Ruston on a tour of his world-renowned rose garden and his early 20th century home at Renmark, in South Australia’s Riverland. David was...
View ArticleHearing loss
An interesting Lifestyle and Hearing Health Survey arrived on my desk this week from Dr Ross Walker, one of Australia’s leading preventative health specialist and because my father Frank, is deaf, I...
View ArticleA Thumb Down on Sex
Anything British novelist Martin Amis writes is bound to be brilliant expression. And his comment on a new collection of British poet Philip Larkin’s letters is not only an excellent read in this...
View ArticleThe Three D’s of our Dream Home – Decisions on Design, Detail.
The time of dreaming about our custom-designed retirement home is over. Today we signed off on the pre-construction phase of our new home and behind us are a thousand small decisions about detail....
View ArticleQuiet Encounters of a Feathered Kind
Waterbirds in all their diversity have added a wonderful dimension to our seachange lifestyle. Right now we are busily counting nine ducklings paddling alongside mother duck across the waterway towards...
View ArticleBeauty Betrays Us
How we feel about the ageing process is rarely the hot topic shared spontaneously over coffee. It’s a bit like broaching the subject of sex at a dinner party 60 years ago. Absolutely taboo. However, I...
View ArticleRelationships are cornerstone for healthy men
Close relationships can form the cornerstone for a man’s whole life but friendships with other men are also an important source of support and understanding, says the Adelaide Northern Division of...
View ArticleAJA – 100th year
Leak: the new four-letter word. “Leak’’ is the new four-letter word, according to veteran political journalist, Laurie Oakes in accepting the highest accolade in journalism – the 2010 Gold Walkley...
View ArticleBoomers Bubble To Burst as Retirees.
If ever there were prophetic words uttered recently, they were delivered by high profile demographer Bernard Salt to the National Press Club. He gave yet another gripping scenario of what it means for...
View Article100 years of French cultural ties celebrated with haute cuisine.
Alliance Francaise d’Adelaide, affectionately dubbed “the frog pond’ celebrated its 100th anniversary in an unlikely venue – the elite Queen Adelaide Club on Monday night. However, the French language...
View ArticleTime
Annie Fox, one of my Facebook friends has a habit of placing one word online for comment and possibly because another New Year is nigh, she threw in the word “time’’. Her move followed another...
View ArticleMy Best Christmas:
It is a few days before Christmas in London and I am decking the halls of my daughter’s house with holly and tinsel. The year is 2006 and I have walked down her street – Bernard Gardens – with a pair...
View ArticleElsa an inspirational French teacher
Never has learning French been so inspiring as this week’s lesson in the rose garden of Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens. My French teacher is Argentinian-born and now new Australian citizen, Elsa Rozannes...
View ArticleA moment with Margaret
In the midst of the Christmas shopping frenzy I met an old woman in a wheelchair and she called out to me in barely legible words that she was selling a book for $2 a copy. “It’s a book of my...
View ArticleBreast Cancer – A Beast of a Disease
Life can be such a bitch! Over the past few weeks two close friends have been diagnosed with breast cancer and had operations to have breast lumps removed and diagnosed. It means that today,...
View ArticlePhilipa’s Christmas: How Arts Decoratifs create joy
This is the house, so glorious with colourful Christmas arts decoratifs that it could well be used as Santa’s cave. It is laden with the exotic style and Christmas cheer of new-found Goolwa friend...
View ArticleMy Hand-made Christmas
We wanted something different and special to decorate our island home for Christmas because we didn’t want rummage through our storage pile of boxes to the artificial Christmas tree. And with...
View ArticleOne wedding, two funerals and a ”nouvelle maison”.
Pop goes the French champagne cork of my life on the eve of 2011. How else to capture the fabulous happenings of 2010 which have taken Olivier’s and my life together to a higher plane. Goodness. Who...
View Article“Philly’’ a phoney for real French fromages.
The French people are precious about their cheeses and savour the nose, palate and taste of their ancient fromages with as much passion as their wines. But now there is an American invader, the...
View ArticleWe Must Cultivate Our “Garden”
Eighteenth century French writer, Voltaire in his novel Candido, says “Il faut cultiver notre jardin’’, which means “we must cultivate our garden’’. He is writing metaphorically that it is important to...
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