Winter! Today was grey, overcast, cold, windy and wet. On such a day my mind wanders around food. The boring lunch I brought from home wasn’t enough. I needed something else. A treat. Something to lift the day. My mind finally settled on the rather greasy but delicious feta and spinach scones that are sold at the Special Cake Shop on Chapel Street.
Special Cake Shop is written alongside a Greek word that may also say special. I’m told the shop has been there forever and in some ways it is special. An elderly, very vibrant and charming Greek man runs it. He serves at the counter, charms the women who come in and sits and sips coffee and chats with customers. One day I heard someone ask him that old, old question,
“Why don’t you retire and leave it to the younger generation?”
He answered immediately “What would I do al day? This is my life.”
Since then I’ve watched him and it is his life. I love being served by him. He’s always smiling. The cakes are wonderful especially the Greeks ones. I wonder if he cooks, too? Probably not.
I’d give the muffins a miss if I were you but if you need a rich grease shot on a cold day, grab one of these scones. If you think of 'scone' in an English sense you’ll look for the wrong thing. This is about the size of a saucer and oozes spinach, onion and feta. They’re usually in the window but you can buy them warm from the pie-warmer. I did that today and watched the grease marks form on the bag. The scone was delicious. The day suddenly improved, too. There are days when a shot of rich grease is essential.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Comment!
Some of you have been reading my blog. Well, the numbers who visit my site go up. But no one has commented!!
Did you read it?
Have you liked it?
Were you bored?
Would you find it again?
What should I do to make it more interesting?
I want to know that I’m connecting with you. Part of writing a blog is indulgence but a big part is to communicate. To make contact
PLEASE SAY SOMETHING
If you’re bored say BORING.
If you read it and have nothing to say – that’s Okay. I’ll keep writing without your comments but feedback is great. As they say even a bad review is better than being ignored!
I have just watched the wonderful British TV programme New Tricks. It’s the highlight of my viewing week. It is so good to watch these old codgers using their skills to achieve and to work as a team. My only grouch and it’s a big one, is that Superintendent Pullman is the only woman. Amanda Redman who plays the part is approximately 47 years old as compared with James Bolan, 68, who plays Jack Halford. Where’s the clever stylish older woman? We need to see her on the screen. Older doesn’t mean 50. I’m talking 60+.
This was a particularly good episode where an 18 year old girl was kidnapped back in 1992. Great humour - sometimes laughing out loud funny and a great resolution. Just the thing for a cold winter night.
Did you read it?
Have you liked it?
Were you bored?
Would you find it again?
What should I do to make it more interesting?
I want to know that I’m connecting with you. Part of writing a blog is indulgence but a big part is to communicate. To make contact
PLEASE SAY SOMETHING
If you’re bored say BORING.
If you read it and have nothing to say – that’s Okay. I’ll keep writing without your comments but feedback is great. As they say even a bad review is better than being ignored!
I have just watched the wonderful British TV programme New Tricks. It’s the highlight of my viewing week. It is so good to watch these old codgers using their skills to achieve and to work as a team. My only grouch and it’s a big one, is that Superintendent Pullman is the only woman. Amanda Redman who plays the part is approximately 47 years old as compared with James Bolan, 68, who plays Jack Halford. Where’s the clever stylish older woman? We need to see her on the screen. Older doesn’t mean 50. I’m talking 60+.
This was a particularly good episode where an 18 year old girl was kidnapped back in 1992. Great humour - sometimes laughing out loud funny and a great resolution. Just the thing for a cold winter night.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Disappearing Property
How can a property disappear on a cold still evening in June 2007?
I had the address, the code for the gate and instructions that the key was in the letterbox. I was in South Yarra at the end of the day to view a property that we are to manage. There was no gate to punch in a key code and no letterbox to collect a key. It was becoming dark and the streets lights were on - the street numbers harder to see. Number 27 was definitely not there Workers headed home. Dogs and their owners returned from Fawkner Park. Number 27 did not make it home while I was there.
Lights flicker on in the front rooms of the houses and units and bright televisions screens beamed out. In one room a large glass of white wine waited on a pale wood table. In another a couple leaned on a kitchen bench, talking.
I remember a train journey in Korea where the tracks snaked through a high-rise complex. The train windows offered flashes of the world inside the units. People sat on the floor in front of television sets, kitchens had benches stacked high with dishes, a huge elaborate bed dominated one room and another had pictures and mats but no furniture. These tiny private views came and went as the train stopped, slowed and speed away. It was as if I had been absorbed in these rooms for that fleeting moment. I wanted more. I wanted to stay longer.
Today I saw a world that was like mine. Cosy and familiar. Then I was back in my car and heading down Chapel Street. The shop lights lit up squares of pavement and people surged up and down the footpath.
At home I put on my lights and pulled my blinds. I’m selfish. I keep my life away from the passer-by. I don’t want to share. I put the heater on high and felt cosseted. This is my house. I no longer rent and on a night like tonight the house embraces me.
S, my little cat, crouched by her food and I crouched beside her to encourage her to eat. She wandered to the heater. As far as I can judge she has eaten nothing today. I’ll try an appetite enhancer to night.
I pour myself a glass of red wine. Let others have white. Tomorrow, I need to find Number 27 and take photos of it.
I had the address, the code for the gate and instructions that the key was in the letterbox. I was in South Yarra at the end of the day to view a property that we are to manage. There was no gate to punch in a key code and no letterbox to collect a key. It was becoming dark and the streets lights were on - the street numbers harder to see. Number 27 was definitely not there Workers headed home. Dogs and their owners returned from Fawkner Park. Number 27 did not make it home while I was there.
Lights flicker on in the front rooms of the houses and units and bright televisions screens beamed out. In one room a large glass of white wine waited on a pale wood table. In another a couple leaned on a kitchen bench, talking.
I remember a train journey in Korea where the tracks snaked through a high-rise complex. The train windows offered flashes of the world inside the units. People sat on the floor in front of television sets, kitchens had benches stacked high with dishes, a huge elaborate bed dominated one room and another had pictures and mats but no furniture. These tiny private views came and went as the train stopped, slowed and speed away. It was as if I had been absorbed in these rooms for that fleeting moment. I wanted more. I wanted to stay longer.
Today I saw a world that was like mine. Cosy and familiar. Then I was back in my car and heading down Chapel Street. The shop lights lit up squares of pavement and people surged up and down the footpath.
At home I put on my lights and pulled my blinds. I’m selfish. I keep my life away from the passer-by. I don’t want to share. I put the heater on high and felt cosseted. This is my house. I no longer rent and on a night like tonight the house embraces me.
S, my little cat, crouched by her food and I crouched beside her to encourage her to eat. She wandered to the heater. As far as I can judge she has eaten nothing today. I’ll try an appetite enhancer to night.
I pour myself a glass of red wine. Let others have white. Tomorrow, I need to find Number 27 and take photos of it.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
My Internet has been down for most of the evening so I spent the time taking photos of my pictures.I think this frame has improved the Search Lamp. It has not been revitalized into something really stunning but it’s better. Scroll back (May 28th) to see how it looked before and let me know what you think.
The other photo is of a picture I had framed earlier in the year. Once it was a New Zealand Post poster. You can see the logo on the side of the engine. I was back in NZ a few months ago and saw it pinned on the wall of a wonderfully friendly second hand book shop at Paekakariki Beach. The owner said she hadn’t thought of selling it and had even forgotten it was there. I paid $5.00 and brought it home. Framed it is stunning and I always know it is “there”. The choice of frame was a success!!! This is why I went back to the same framer.
I have brought a huge variety of food for S. I had a basket full of all the things that might have gravy and therefore easy to eat. So far S’s tongue has touched the Meaty Flavoured Chunks. Lots of gravy in that. She has also drunk some water. She is so light that in bed I can lean over and scoop her up and put her on the bed in one single movement. She no longer jumps. The spring has gone from her legs. She purrs when she gets onto the bed and I can drift off to sleep with the sound of her soft purr.
I’ve just soaked in hot fragrant bath. There is a sort of guilt about having a bath instead of a shower these days but at the moment the rain is pouring down so some of the water is being replaced. I went to the gym this evening and worked hard with a new instructor. The bath was very therapeutic.
.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
This is S two weeks ago. Since then she has taken a turn for the worse. She’s reverting to the cat she was when I first started writing this blog.
It’s cold this morning. My kitchen is wonderfully warm and so is the hall and I’m sure the area where my desk is should be warmer but the heat is staying away. I will need another heater if the weather gets any colder. There is the problem of S’s door that has to be permanently open so she doesn’t have to push it to go out. I have hung an old camouflage-coloured poncho liner over it. This once belonged to the American Army. It amazes me that I still have it after all these years. It has come in very useful. I have been using it to keep cat fur off things. It is nylon so the fur doesn’t stick. Poor S her fur is coming out as never before and the fur that remains attached to her skin forms a sort of felted mat, especially on hips and tummy, that has to be shaved off at the vets. She has her deformed claws cut at the same time. Her life has become sleeping and wondering if she will eat something and mostly, deciding that she won’t. This sort of thinking keeps her as light as a feather. She hasn’t eaten for a couple of days. I have some appetite enhancement tables that have worked in the past and I gave her one last night. It hasn’t encouraged her to eat anything. I’ll give another to her before I go to work and leave some food out. It is as if she wants to die… just slowly fade away. How to stop her and change her thinking??
Fog
Living in Melbourne for the last few days has been a surreal experience. A damp fog covered everything. It’s cold and dangerous but quite beautiful. There’s a wonderful view of the city in fog as you drive down St Kilda Road and into St Kilda Junction to make a right onto Dandenong Road.
Tuesday was this week’s Monday in Property Management. Queen’s Birthday holiday meant there was more chance of emergency call outs, leaking hot water tanks, power problems and oddly, problems with alarms to deal with on our return to work. Then for those people who had a miserable weekend it is a chance to think of things they don’t like about the place they’re renting and ring up and complain. Owners tend to dwell on issues that annoy them about their tenants. One owner had been mulling over how much compensation he should charge the tenants for a few small black marks on a skirting board.
I visited a property on Tuesday morning with another Landlord who also had been mulling over things in the weekend. He asked me to view the walls from different angles and sure enough in different lights some discoloration could be detected. These tenants had left a cupboard full crockery and cutlery behind. This often happens. I’m amazed people don’t go round and check everything when they finally leave.
The fog can change and soften lights and show the city scape as if it was a picture in a child's story book it can also be cold and bleak. The highlight of the week for me was dinner at the Indian Harvest café in Waverely Road, East Malvern. At 7.45 when we arrived it was packed and it was as well we had booked. By 9.30 the place was empty and we were the only people left. A strange feeling to be the only dinners so early in the evening. The food was good although fairly standard fare. The deserts were the most interesting. Try the Gulab Jamun - milk powder dumplings in light rose flavoured syrup and the Kheer – rice pudding. We shared and the two went stunningly together. It’s worth a trip. It’s licensed and B.Y.O. But keep in mind that if you take your own wine they charge $2.00 a head corkage. There were six of us and they charged $12.00 to open the one bottle of wine someone had brought even though I drank beer and not wine.
Home though the fog.
Tuesday was this week’s Monday in Property Management. Queen’s Birthday holiday meant there was more chance of emergency call outs, leaking hot water tanks, power problems and oddly, problems with alarms to deal with on our return to work. Then for those people who had a miserable weekend it is a chance to think of things they don’t like about the place they’re renting and ring up and complain. Owners tend to dwell on issues that annoy them about their tenants. One owner had been mulling over how much compensation he should charge the tenants for a few small black marks on a skirting board.
I visited a property on Tuesday morning with another Landlord who also had been mulling over things in the weekend. He asked me to view the walls from different angles and sure enough in different lights some discoloration could be detected. These tenants had left a cupboard full crockery and cutlery behind. This often happens. I’m amazed people don’t go round and check everything when they finally leave.
The fog can change and soften lights and show the city scape as if it was a picture in a child's story book it can also be cold and bleak. The highlight of the week for me was dinner at the Indian Harvest café in Waverely Road, East Malvern. At 7.45 when we arrived it was packed and it was as well we had booked. By 9.30 the place was empty and we were the only people left. A strange feeling to be the only dinners so early in the evening. The food was good although fairly standard fare. The deserts were the most interesting. Try the Gulab Jamun - milk powder dumplings in light rose flavoured syrup and the Kheer – rice pudding. We shared and the two went stunningly together. It’s worth a trip. It’s licensed and B.Y.O. But keep in mind that if you take your own wine they charge $2.00 a head corkage. There were six of us and they charged $12.00 to open the one bottle of wine someone had brought even though I drank beer and not wine.
Home though the fog.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
