Sydney freak 'spring' weather ...

Sydney has experienced the most bizarre 'spring weather' ...

 

clouds rolling in over Bondi yesterday afternoon ...

 

overnight snow in the Blue Mountains 2 hours out of Sydney ...

 

7ks out of Sydney local train station Lewisham flooded ...

 

Yikes!



Blogtoberfest 14 a theme = My Favourite Places = Bondi Beach ...

 Bondi Beach from the north end ...

on a miserable day ...

 see the single story building on the far left ...

 my Grandma lived there ...

for over forty years ...
when Bondi Beach was an ordinary working mans' suburb ...

when living smack bang in the centre of Bondi ...

was no big deal ...

 looking from the south end ...

 still loving the view ...

and the memories ...

that would fill a book or a mini series! 

Hoping you're loving Blogtoberfest as much as I am!

Five Faves on Friday ...

from one of my all time fave bloggers Pam Sussman HERE

this little gem ...

no more hassel marking button holes, marking holes for punching or book binding ... all that measured spacing is done for you by ...

 Simflex Expanding Gauge buy it HERE

my copy of Ruth Rae's latest Layered, Tattered, Stitched book HERE

standing at North Bondi yesterday with the wind and the salt in my face ...

passing that tiny single story unit right on Bondi Beach front ...

my granny lived there from 1920 - 1963 ... 

I lived there with her 1957-1959 ... 

the unhappiest time of my life ...

yet I still love Bondi so much ???

I'm still gloating plus reading the instructions of my Easter gift to Me.

see more Five Faves HERE.

Like sands through the hour glass ... memories at Bondi Beach

A beautiful day at Bondi Beach today ...

... leaning on the rail at the top of Campbell Parade, listening to the hum of the grader making patterns in the sand, the ozone fogging up our specs, smelling the aroma of the sea, watching the brown bodies heading into the surf ... and the memories ... it was spooky when I remembered the year I commenced school at Bondi Beach Public School ...

... so are the days of our lives!!!

Sunday Scribblings #158 Scary ... what scares you?

The Sunday Scribbling girls have done it again ... with their "SCARY" prompt ... they say 'I can't recall if we've done this prompt before, but I'm curious: what scares you?'

From twelve to fifteen I was sent to live with my Grandma ... that's another story ... but the most freakiest, scariest, thing living there was the double door linen cupboard at the end of the hall. When you entered her front door the said cupboard was on your left, dark timber doors, each about two feet wide. Straight ahead was the bathroom down the hallway to the left was the breakfast room, as she called it. Ahead was the "middle door" into the living room through to the bedrooms where beyond, the most panoramic, million dollar view of Bondi Beach took your breath away.

As the weather grew cooler she would insist the middle door, that doorway from the living room was kept closed, 'to keep out the draft' ... I was sure it was to keep out whoever lived in that cupboard. Even walking down that hallway during the day, with the sun behind me, the reflection of the sea making my shadow glisten on those doors I was sure someone was going to leap out at me ...

Nights were the worst. She'd not allow the hall light to be left on. To get to the bathroom I always had to stretch from the middle doorway to the breakfast room to get the light on ... oh golly just thinking about it makes me cringe ...

She had no idea. I wonder why I didn't ever tell her?

That three years was torture ... so was walking into the bathroom where she had a curtain hanging behind the door covering brooms and a ladder ... someone was lurking there too ...

No-one has ever heard me yell " ... turn that light off!"

Thursday night I was scared going in to a tunnel. The taxi driver didn't know I don't do tunnels ... you can overcome anything!

Manic Monday #126

What's your favorite beach in the world? Bondi Beach : home and playground of my childhood.


What's the next country you want to visit? New York City, USA.


What one thing are you craving today? more Dark Chocolate.

Ten on Tuesday ... 10 Places You’d Take a Tourist to See in Your Hometown

1. Take the bus from my house, through historic Balmain to the Darling Street wharf then hop a ferry across Sydney Harbour to Circular Quay.

2. On this trip you get a birds eye view of Sydney Harbour Bridge as you go underneath it, you have a perfect view of The Opera House, ships moored at the Overseas Passenger Terminal and the hustle and bustle of water traffic on Sydney Harbour.

3. Take the lift up Centrpoint Tower and walk out onto the glass floor veiwing section - I'll wait inside for you!

4. Take a bus out to Bondi Beach have lunch at Bondi Icebergs.

5. At Bondi Beach take the cliff walk around to Tamarama and Bronte Beach excellent when Sculpture by the Sea is showing, have lunch at Bronte and take the bus back to the city.

6. Shopping in the beautiful QVB / Queen Victoria Building, then across to the Pitt Street Mall, where you might see the HUG MAN.

6. Dine down at the Rocks - Doyles or Woolfies and after stroll around the Rocks especially if Friday night markets are on.

7. A day trip to the Blue Mountains, see the Three Sisters, Echo Point, ride the longest Railway.

8. Take the bridge walk ... a walk over the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

9. It would depend on the interests of the tourists - we could go to The Maritime Museum, The Sydney Museum, The Art Gallery, The Museum of Contemporary Art, we could browse op shops, Antique stores, Sunday markets, China Town, Retro stores in Newtown, Factory outlets, live shows and theatre matinee's or night shows, shop in trendy Paddington, or shop in gay Oxford Street ...

10. Watch the sun go down drinking cool refreshing glasses of happiness at the Opera Bar listening to the noises of Sydney Harbour ... bliss!

Google any of the places I've mentioned to see what's in store for you when you visit me ...

Sunday Scribblings # 87 WALK

A stroll along the promenade at Bondi Beach was THE place for young ladies to be seen on a warm Sunday afternoon in 1938.

Mum with her friend Coralie Martin, two fashionable 17 year olds in uncomplicated times.

A walk, a stroll, an amble on the prom was a pleasure, entertainment ... look at what we don't appreciate anymore, the simple joys of life, gone!

BONDI BEACH for National Heritage List ?

This photo was taken in June 2007 showing the amount of sand deposited on the promenade after massive king tides.

The small single story, white building smack bang in the centre of the photo ... my Grandma lived there for forty years ...

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that by the end of the year it is expected than Bondi Beach will be included on the National Heritage List. I dunno whether to laugh or cry.

Born and bred in Bondi I was there before it became a state of New Zealand when the K1W1's took over the then Astra Hotel, when Johnny Dixon owned the Caltex Service Station that is now James Packer's apartment, when I cried on my first day of school at Bondi Beach Public School before anyone thought of it becoming a trendy weekend market and Bondi Baths was where my Mum took me to be taught to learn to swim by Sep Prosser where no kiosk nor trendy eatery existed.

The trams rattled down the centre of the wide road, that eventually became parking but is now widened to hold the massive amount of traffic. My Grandma used to watch me down on the beach through binoculars (that's scarey isn't it?). Before me My Mum grew up in the same flat, swam in the bogey hole at Ben Buckler and strolled "the prom" on a Sunday afternoon.

I spent three years - that's another story - living there with my Grandma, a more well known Bondi identity than I realised at the time. For years she worked in the tiny kiosk, as big as a cupboard, where she flogged cigarettes, tobacco and lottery tickets on the corner of Campbell Parade and Hall Street where access was only possible when she lifted up the hutch to let me clamber in! I thought I was so special being allowed into that inner sanctum as her cronies lent on the ledge smoking and gossiping while the wind whipped round the corner.

I was there when the Ravesi's worked in their milk bar. Mr Ravesi with his comb over and Mrs Ravesi all red hair and style and when Bob Barrett was butchering in Hall. Street I knew of the rivalry as the Greek Bates Brothers ran their Milk Bar opposite Ravesi's, when the Gelato Bar opened, everyone said it wouldn't last and how we couldn't believe out eyes at the luscious, lavish cakes in the window. Remembering the treat when I used to take a saucepan down to the Chinese Restaurant at 152 Campbell Parade and struggle back up the stairs grasping the lid of the hot saucepan tightly so the sweet and sour pork didn't spill, how cospmopolitan that was!

Now the way too wealthy and often too arrogant Malcolm Turbull, is promoting for this National Heritage gig and one can only wonder what's in it for him. This character doesn't usually do much unless there's ... well, let's wait and see.

I'll take another stroll down memory lane again soon!