Little Wandering Wren …. chats!

Wordless Wednesday from China Shhhhhh, LET'S GET WORDLESS Little Wandering Wren Location: Xiamen, China

Woo Hoo it's been a heavy weekend of sports and we're celebrating! So grab yourself a celebratory bevvy and I'll give you the run down! Melbourne is gripped by Footy Finals fever and it's all about who is going to win the 2013 AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final which is next weekend. But of course we (what am I on, just slipping into 'we' as if I was actually playing....) I mean our team had to qualify, and the preliminary finals were last weekend. When you arrive in Melbourne you get asked pretty quickly who you barrack for. It goes like this: What's your name? Where do you live? What do you do? Who do you barrack for?   v. intr. Barrack 1. Chiefly British To jeer or shout at a player, speaker, or team. 2. Australian To shout support for a team. Zzzzz. So after we determined what barrack actually meant, we choose to support the local team, Hawthorn. This year we received our Hawks Football Club thirteen year...

Hooray! It's the Aussie school holidays...   The weather is warming up. I've unearthed my summer clothes, replenished the sunscreen, found the sun hats and sunnies, got my water bottle permanently to hand, and have started to get that frisson of excitement when you get the last car parking space in the shade... Orange flowers looking blooming good in the park this week Spring is in the air, and yellow wattle trees have burst into life. All around is a familiar sound, the drone of lawn mowers and the sneeze of summer. The Wattle's out - Bless you! If we were back in China or Hong Kong we'd be on holiday too. It's Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 , known as the Mooncake Festival. Families gather to eat mooncakes and watch the moon. There are lots of brightly coloured lanterns everywhere. Happy holidays to all my Chinese friends and to those living in Hong Kong and China. I hope you are enjoying the full moon festivities and your mooncakes...

Full moon ahead..... Shhhhhhh Let's get wordless Q All typos for the pleasure of those who enjoy finding!

Last week my blog had a Japanese influence, in honour of our lovely Japanese guests. This week we managed a quick change of the linen, mopped the floors and welcomed two lovely lasses from Hong Kong and China. In fact had you come round earlier I would have handed you a duster... We are lucky we know both countries well, on account of living in Hong Kong for a few years, so there is much to talk about. The girls are with us for the three weeks of school holidays whilst they study for their Year 12 final exams. We've turned the living room into a study hall, I've added a jug of lime juice and some jellybeans... 'You don't do that for us' the cry went up 'You don't study' I replied - touché. So here we are, for the first time in a zillion years in a school holiday and I've no plans to go anywhere much... So I'm glad you've popped by, I'll put the kettle on. I'll get my special blue bird mug out. Reminiscing ...

With the Australian General Election over,  we can turn our attentions to some other important matters of life, the Spring Racing Carnival... As some of you may know we have a part itsy - bitsy share (like a tail) of a racehorse... We have had two previous horses and neither saw me galloping flat out around the shops in an absolute tizzy trying to work out what to wear... The first horse was in the UK where British weather dictates a smart coat (or more likely a raincoat) will suffice... The second was an Aussie horse, but let's just say we were never remotely near the winners enclosure and leave it at that... So this weekend I've been pondering frocks, hats and the rest. Fashions on the Field is a big part of a day at the Aussie races, even for those not remotely interested in entering the famous competitions. They say that over 26 million dollars was spent on hats, dresses and accessories for the Spring Racing Carnival in 2012 It is...

Quintessential ...  of the pure and essential essence of something: the quintessential Japanese art of origami. 2. of or pertaining to the most perfect embodiment of something... My Japanese maple tree in the garden bursts into life this week There can be nothing more quintessentially Japanese than Origami and how lucky are we to have two Japanese house guests to share and delight us with their skills at paper folding... Go on tell us more, I can hear you ask?  We are a Homestay family, who open our doors to international guests who come to study in Melbourne. On Sunday, we had two lovely Japanese nurses move in for the week. We learn on arrival, one guest  is a Japanese food model and fellow blogger - can you imagine the pressure of the week knowing that everything you serve up with be photographed for a well respected and established Japanese food blog?! Now I have two approaches to cooking, first and foremost I love rustic cuisine -...