Surfing The Web: Kissing Fanny, Ten U.S. Hikes, 32 Toronto Tips, Adelaide History

Say, What? The Art of Kissing Fanny!

One of my favourite blogs is the very eclectic Messy Nessy Chic. Vanessa, or ’Nessy’ as she refers to herself, is a young expat English woman now living in Paris. I don’t know how she does it, but her blog has one of the most interesting collections of stories and posts that I have ever encountered in my many years of trawling across the Internet. Every visit reveals a new gem that is sure to enlighten, amuse and entertain the reader.

A recent post; The Art of Kissing Fanny has to be read to be believed. It just goes to prove that there is a story behind everything—no matter how arcane or obscure.

There’s a curious expression used in Provence by pétanque players. “Embrasser Fanny” or to “kiss Fanny”, is a small recompense for making a fool of oneself to put it simply. But where does this mischievous phrase originate from? Fanny was a waitress at a local café in the Savoie region or Lyon– no one seems to agree. Watching the men playing pétanque (or boules) one day, she declared that she would allow any man who lost 13-0 in pétanque, to kiss her on the cheek.

Read the full article here...

Mount Katahdin. Photo: Alamy

Ten of The Best US Hiking Trails

Once, dear reader, I fantasized about walking across America, a ridiculous idea if ever I had one, if only because I was well into my late-50s when I was taken with the fantasy. Not that others haven't done exactly that before or since my imagination got the better of me. It's just that the cold hard reality of my aging bones have told me loud and clear, that "It ain't gonna happen, buddy!" Not in this lifetime, anyway. Still, I can dream, can't I? And this is as good a place as any to keep feeding that dream.

From a rocky wonderland with views of Las Vegas to the green ridges of the Appalachians, readers of the British newspaper, The Guardian share their favourite great walks. Among those recommended are walks through the New England mountains, Vermont’s 272 mile Long Trail, New Mexico’s Pecos Wilderness trails, and the Continental Divide Trail which runs through five states from New Mexico to Montana.

Read the full article here…

Toronto skyline

The Solo Traveler: 32 Tips for an Affordable Toronto

Among the many email newsletter I subscribe to (the basis of a blog entry themselves), is the very fine and comprehensive Solo Traveler site. The Canadian writer, Janis Waugh writes in her bio that she “…became a widow and empty-nester at about the same time.” In 2009, she began Solo Traveler and the site has quickly become one of the most popular sites for information and tips specifically aimed at people who travel solo—of which I am one. Of course, the information on the site is just as useful for couples, and families.

Completely at random, I have chosen to highlight the article, Affordable Toronto: 32 Free and Low-Cost Tips from her site, but seriously, take some time to browse through the hundreds of excellent feature articles awaiting you. There is surely something for everyone here.

Read the full article here…

Source: State Library of SA Searcy Collection RG 280/1/7/418

Then and Now: Eleven Rare Historic Photos of Adelaide

Since I was born and raised—and still live—in Adelaide, Australia, I thought these rare images from local history may be of interest. Besides, May is History Month in South Australia, so that is as good a reason as any to include this article. Among the images is the one I chose to illustrate this section, which shows two nurses, or “ministering angels” from approximately the year 1913 caring for two babies at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital (now renamed The Women's and Children’s Hospital).

I selected this image for a specific reason—namely, because I spent 14 years of my working life at the Children’s Hospital (as it was still called then), and despite the pain and suffering I saw there, those 14 years were among the most rewarding years of my life. As an aside, I have been fortunate enough to have only been admitted to hospital once in my 68 years—at the very same Adelaide Children’s Hospital—when I was admitted, at the age of five, to have my tonsils removed, an incident I still remember to this day.

Read the full article here…

P.S. I should also stress that apart from the 'pain and suffering', I also witnessed many moments that bordered on the miraculous, many of which were carried out by new generations of 'ministering angels', and medical personnel.

The Weekly Web

Image courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History

My round-up of the best of my online ramblings over the past week begins with the Shamans of Siberia. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has a comprehensive program of events and activities that run throughout the year. I have visited the museum twice and hope to visit again during my trip to New York over the coming summer. I signed up for their email newsletters several years ago, and each issue always makes me wish I lived much closer to the museum than my current address some ten thousand miles away. 

The latest newsletter had several links to items of interest, and I thought this would be a good time to mention an ongoing program called Shelf Life, which presents a series of short videos highlighting the Natural History museum’s ongoing conservation programs. In Shamans of Siberia in 360, we get to look at an expedition to Siberia that took place from 1897 to 1902.

The Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897–1902) was conceived and directed by Franz Boas, the founder of American anthropology. The expedition aimed to investigate the links between the people and cultures of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and the eastern Coast of Siberia. Boas was also concerned about documenting cultures that he and many other anthropologists feared would soon be lost to colonialism and acculturation.

The video below is one of the new style of documents that presents footage in 360 degrees. Make sure you enlarge the video to full screen, and then use your cursor to manipulate the film to see everything around the camera.

Read more here…

The ‘Protector’ and ‘Fitzjames’ (in the background), c.1885 at Largs Bay. State Library of South Australia

South Australia’s “hell afloat”

InDaily is an online publication out of Adelaide, Australia—my home town. The site has been publishing a regular series, Time and Place, which focusses specifically on important South Australian events and achievements. The entry: South Australia’s “hell afloat”, provided information about an aspect of the state’s early history I knew nothing about, and I suspect that few others did—or still do.

Between 1880 and 1891 the hulk Fitzjames, colloquially known as ‘hell afloat’, served as a Reformatory for over 100 boys aged from eight to 16 years of age. The first 35 of these were transferred from the Boys’ Reformatory at Magill on 5 March 1880. Some had been sentenced for having committed serious crimes, while others had been found guilty of petty theft, or deemed uncontrollable or neglected.

Read more here…

More Time and Place stories here…

Sumida River, Tokyo.

36 Hours in East Tokyo

One of the most daunting cities for foreign visitors, Tokyo is a manic, hyperactive assault on the senses. But steady your focus and you’ll notice that a distinct strand of traditional elements also weaves through the Japanese capital. Even without leaving Eastern Tokyo, here defined as the area east of the Imperial Palace, a visitor can experience the enormous breadth of what this mesmerizing metropolis has to offer. From boutiques blooming in abandoned spaces to new ramen shops taking root amid glittering high-rises, Eastern Tokyo promises — now more than ever — to leave even experienced travelers wide-eyed with wonder.

Read more here...

National Portrait Gallery, London

50 Free Things to Do in London, England

Actually, this Guardian newspaper series dating from 2012, originally ran to 200 free things to do in London. I have included links to Parts 3 & 4 of the series, but Part 2 seems to have disappeared. Even the Guardian website does not seem to know where it is. Be aware that some of the details provided in the articles may have changed in the five years since first publication.

See Part 1: Central London...

Part 2: I will update this post when (and if) I find part two of this series

See Part 3: North London...

See Part 4: West London...

Photo by Dan Winters / Courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

Interstellar Travel — Don’t Hold Your Breath

This story by Burkhard Bilger (The Martian Chroniclers), published in the New Yorker in April, 2013, is a ‘long read’, but is worth the time taken to read in full. Mars of course, is the next planet humans have long set their eyes and hearts on to send a manned mission to. The fascination with the red planet is the belief that some form of life (however basic and primitive), exists on some primal level. 

The search for life on Mars is now in its sixth decade. Forty spacecraft have been sent there, and not one has found a single fossil or living thing. The closer we look, the more hostile the planet seems: parched and frozen in every season, its atmosphere inert and murderously thin, its surface scoured by solar winds. By the time Earth took its first breath three billion years ago, geologists now believe, Mars had been suffocating for a billion years. The air had thinned and rivers evaporated; dust storms swept up and ice caps seized what was left of the water. The Great Desiccation Event, as it’s sometimes called, is even more of a mystery than the Great Oxygenation on Earth. We know only this: one planet lived and the other died. One turned green, the other red.

If humans ever do make it to Mars, and survive long enough to reproduce and populate that planet, it will be long after I have moved on to whatever other dimension awaits—if any. Personally, I can’t see the point of exporting the full gamut of human foibles and failings to another planet—unless the first hundred crews are manned by politicians, and that is never going to happen. If we can’t get this world sorted out, what makes anyone think we can do so on a planet as harsh and barren as Mars? But that’s just the cynic in me talking. I’d love to read your comments on this topic. In the meantime, you can read the full article here…

Yidaki: The Sound of Australia

Yidaki, at the South Australian Museum

I have been promoting the Yidaki exhibition currently taking place at the South Australian Museum for several weeks. Now that I have finally found time to edit together footage I recorded at the exhibition, it is time to say more about the show.

Yidaki (pronounced, Yid-ar-ki), is the traditional Australian Aboriginal name for what most of the world knows as the didjeridu—that seemingly impossible to play wind instrument made from the trunks of the Stringybark tree, hollowed out by very obliging termites.

The exhibition, Yidaki: Didjeridu and the Sound of Australia, can hardly be called large. You could walk through the various exhibits in around ten minutes, but if that is all you were to do, you would miss all the most important parts of the show. The exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to explore this iconic instrument through sound, story, moving image and through close examination of rarely seen examples of the instruments on display throughout the exhibition space. While the didjeridu now appears in music venues and concert stages around the world (often played by non-Aboriginal practitioners), it is important to note its origins and its place in Aboriginal culture.

Although the didjeridu, as an instrument, has also spread throughout Australian Aboriginal communities, it is important to know that traditionally the instrument was originally confined to tribes and clans that inhabited the far northern coastlines of Australia, today referred to as the Top End. More specifically, this exhibition focuses on the place the didjeridu has in Yolngu (pron,Yoll-nu) culture, where the instrument is called the yidaki.

Djalu Gurruwiwi, Yolngu people, Galpu clan. Yidaki virtuoso with yidaki. Image: SA Museum.

For the Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land, yidaki are not just musical instruments, they are social instruments, instruments of healing, and of spiritual life. The exhibition has been created in collaboration with Yolngu people, particularly with the world’s foremost authority on yidaki - Djalu Gurruwiwi, who with his family introduce visitors to the instrument, and to its power and meaning in Yolngu life.

Djalu is a senior member of the Galpu clan, from the Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land. Amongst the Yolngu, and around the globe, he is a universally recognised authority and the musical and spiritual traditions of yidaki. A quietly spoken but passionate man … Djalu has spent his life trying to share a profound and reconciliatory worldview that starts and ends with his instrument. This exhibition is an expression of his life’s work to use yidaki in bridging the gaps of understanding between people.

Here is my short video montage:

The heart of the exhibition is contained in the many audio-visual exhibits that are placed throughout the room. I said, above, that you could walk through the exhibition space in under ten minutes, but that would be a waste of your time, effort and money. If you were to sit and watch every piece of video footage, and stand still and focus your attention on the many sounds of the Yidaki that fill the room with an ever changing soundscape, you can easily spend and hour or more learning about this remarkable instrument. The whole point of the exhibition is to give you a glimpse into Yolngu culture, from the Yolngu point of view. As the exhibition guide states: 

“Yidaki without sound are just sticks of wood. So this is not an exhibition about objects, but about what yidaki do, how they speak, and what story they tell. This is a Yolngu story, being told for you in Yolngu ways. There are no labels so you need to stop and listen every now and then. It will be good for you. Yolngu experts and custodians (through sound and screen) will guide you through the exhibition space—inviting you to explore the stringybark forest, voyage with the West Wind and become immersed in the mesmerising power of yidaki sound.”

One of the musicians that features prominently in the yidaki exhibition is William Barton. In the video below he can be seen performing a virtuoso composition of his own which showcases the incredible variety of sounds that a skilled yidaki player can produce on what is essentially a hollowed out tree limb. Note: William Barton’s performance does not begin until just after the 2:30 mark.

If You Go

Yidaki: Didjeridu and the Sound of Australia

At the South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide

Now through until July 16, 2017

Hours: 10am - 5pm daily 

Admission

Adults: $17; Concession: $12; Child (aged 5-15): $5;

Children under 5 - FREE; Family (2 adults + 3 children) $35

2017 Wonderwalls Festival, at Pt Adelaide

Vans the Omega’s ‘Flower’,
on the side of YHA building in Adelaide.

Port Adelaide (South Australia), will once again become a giant, interactive canvas with the return of the hugely popular Wonderwalls street art festival this coming weekend (April 21-23, 2017).

This year will see more art unfold from huge international names such as Fats, Inti, Natalia Rak and Telmo Miel, as well as plenty of exceptional local artists, transforming the Port into an open air gallery with large scale murals, artist talks, live art, guided tours and entertainment during the free three-day festival.

The Wonderwalls Festival brings together the best mural artists from around the world and is presented by Renewal SA and artist collective The Hours and project managers Verb Syndicate, together with City of Port Adelaide Enfield and art suppliers Ironlak and Taubmans. Renewal SA is also working with the community to create a ‘living port’ that celebrates the maritime past while embracing the future.

The Wonderwalls movement was started by The Hours and Verb Syndicate in Wollongong in 2011 and is celebrated as one of the leading street art festivals in Australia.

FESTIVAL MAP

With so much to see and do in just three days, we’ve helped you figure out your every move with our Festival Map. The map features not only this year’s who, what, where and when, but also pinpoints the hot spots from Wonderwalls 2015. Download the PDF Map…

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

Telmo Miel, Inti, Natalia Rak, Amanda Lynn, Fats, Georgia Hill, Merda, KAB 101, Masika126, Sam Songailo, Jake Logos, Claire Foxton, Elizabeth Close, Zedr, Fortrose, Jimmy C, Numskull, Muchos, Brigid Noone, Cam Kerr, Epyk, Fuzeillear, James Dodd, Josh Smith, J2SKE, Mimby Jones, Mimi, Rick Hayward, Sam Brooke and Vans The Omega.

Here’s a short promotion video for the event:

IF YOU GO

Friday, April 21

Public opening party, 6pm–11pm

Art exhibition, 6pm–11pm

Saturday, April 22

Canon photo tours, 9am–11.30am / 3pm–5.30pm

Artist talks, 3pm–4pm

Art exhibition, 11am–11pm

Street party, 6pm–11pm

Sunday, April 23

Canon photo tours, 9am–11.30am / 3pm–5.30pm

Artist walking tour, 11am–12.30pm

Art exhibition, 11am–5pm

More Information

InDaily article with images…

A 2015 Wonderwalls Gallery…

Festive Times in The Festival State

Adelaide Fringe Parade

As ‘Mad March’ fast approaches, Adelaide, the capital of South Australia is well into its festive season. Already this summer the city has hosted the Tour Down Under (January 17—22), that annual international bike race that was first staged in 1999, with the local rider Stuart O’Grady taking the win. Since then the Tour has grown to become the biggest cycle race in the southern hemisphere with international cycle stars like Cadel Evans, Marcel Kittel, Andy Schleck and Andre Greipel just a few of the many great cyclists who have participated. 

But the Tour Down Under is only the starter event for South Australia’s festival season. Underway as I write this is the Adelaide Fringe (February 17—March 19). The Fringe has been taking place for more than 55 years, and this year features a veritable smorgasbord of more than 500 acts covering everything from comedy to cabaret, music to magic, visual arts, theatre, film, and so much more.

For many local and visitors, the Adelaide Fringe holds more interest and excitement than the premier arts event in South Australia, the annual Adelaide Festival (March 3–19). This major international festival has been taking place since 1960, and features a program of theatre, opera, music and dance, more visual arts and film, talks, and installations, some commissioned specifically for the event.

Writer's Week

A major component of the Adelaide Festival is the free Writer’s Week (March 4–9), which takes place in the open air at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden. This year, as always, Writer’s Week celebrates a diverse range of writers and writing, and includes writers from Chile and Cuba, Ireland, Iceland and Indonesia, the United States and Canada, and of course a host of writers from Australia. For a book lover like myself, the opportunity to listen to some of the best writers on the planet talk about books and read from their latest works is not to be missed.

But wait, there’s more!

Rev heads, have not been left out. Somewhere, in the middle of this high art and low culture, the annual Supercar motor race, the Clipsal 500 (March 2–5), hits the streets. During this event visitors get to indulge their love of fast cars, burnt rubber, skimpily clad women, and high-octane fuel. At the end of the day's activities on Friday and Saturday night, participants can rock into the night to the music of the Hilltop Hoods, The Funkoars, Baby Animals and one of the great Aussie rock bands, Hunters & Collectors.

But Mad March (as the locals refer to this period every summer), is the gift that keeps on giving. If you have not yet been exhausted or financial broken by fast cars, highbrow theatre and arts, books and their writers, and the almost unlimited shenanigans of the Adelaide Fringe you can always put on your tie-dye T’s, braid your hair into dreadlocks, douse yourself in patchouli oil, and spend a weekend at WOMADelaide (March 10–13).

This four-day world music festival is located in the city’s Botanic Gardens, and this year includes more than 60 acts and speakers from more than 20 countries. Among the performers this year are the Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans; the Specials, a band that brought an updated version of British Ska music to the world; and The Philip Glass Ensemble which will be performing music from Koyaanisqatsi. Apart from the music, WOMADelaide features workshops, Planet Talks, an ElectroLounge, a KidZone, a host of international food stalls, and a Healing Village for those needing some time out from the feasting and dancing.

Whew! I'm exhausted simply from the anticipation and the promise this list of amazing events suggests. Sadly, time, money and age will all combine to ensure that at most, I will only be able to dip into the many sweets on offer. But then, that is probably exactly how it should be.

Dear reader, you may not be able to attend any of the above events at this time, but I seriously encourage you to think about planning a visit to Adelaide during the summer festival season. If there is one thing I can guarantee you, it is that you won't be bored.

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

River scene, Cambodia

If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ then thirty-five thousand pictures must be worth thirty-five million words! Maybe that explains why I haven’t been writing too many blog posts recently. Let me explain.

After four extended trips since 2008, that have taken me to America and Greece three times, France, twice, and England and Cambodia once each (as well a two week visit to Sydney, and six or seven month-long visits to Melbourne, Australia), I had amassed an enormous number of photographs and videos.

How many? More than 35,000 (4,000 of which are video clips). No, that larger figure is not a typo. Thirty-five thousand! Since my return in August from my last trip to Greece and France, I have spent more hours than I care to think about slowly going through my files and folders culling as many extraneous images as possible. I am now down to around 22,000 files. A few of them are now illustrating this post.

When I mentioned the number of files on my Facebook page, and wrote about the task of sorting through and deleting the doubles and the duds, one of my acquaintances left the following comment: “You can take so many pics you don't see anything.”

Largs Bay sunset, Adelaide

To which I replied, in part: “You are right of course…one of the problems/benefits of modern digital cameras is that they make it easy to take thousands of photographs, unlike the old 'analog' cameras that restricted you to shooting a maximum of 36 photos per roll of film.”

And therein lies the problem―or part of it. Modern digital cameras do in deed make it too easy to take hundreds, and even thousands of photographs. Older cameras, with their restrictive 12, 24, or 36 image rolls of film, forced photographers to be a lot more careful and choosy about the photographs they took, and the way they captured them. Because of these limitations, photographers spent a lot more time setting up and composing ‘the shot’, making sure aperture, f-stops, and ISO settings where just right. Even then, until they had a chance to get their rolls of film developed, often weeks later, there were no guarantees that the final results would be what they wanted.

Thankfully, digital cameras have freed us from many of these issues, providing us with the ability to quickly see if our images are good, and if not, to immediately keep shooting until we are satisfied with the results. Digital cameras also make it easy to shoot dozens of photographs of the same object, all in a matter of minutes, or even seconds. Obviously, given this ease of use, it doesn’t take long to accumulate hundreds (or thousands) of photographs, especially during long extended trips.

Stop And Smell The Roses

View from Koskina Castle, Ikaria

But there was something else bothering me about that Facebook comment. Hidden in my friends response is the implied criticism that many modern travellers (including myself), are so busy taking photographs that we don’t stop to truly see and appreciate the things we are trying to capture on film or video. And he is right.

I personally, am well aware of this potential problem, and always try to allow time to just sit and look, to observe and contemplate, and to find space in my travels to be grateful for the opportunities I have had that brought me to a specific location, at that particular period in my life and journey. This is probably the major reason I like to travel for extended periods involving months rather than weeks. It is also the reason I have returned, two, three and even more times to countries and cities I have previously visited.

There are a lot of travellers who are intent on visiting as many countries as they possibly can, simply so they can boast about the number of places they have been to. Getting to know the people and the customs and culture of the countries they visit, is not why these people travel. They are simply collecting stamps in passports, and those ubiquitous, “This is me in…” photographs.

Bastille Monument, Paris

I never have been, nor will I ever be that type of traveller.

Living In ‘The Moment’

In my reply I also wrote: “One of my travel fantasies involves travelling with no camera at all, but I don't know if that is ever going to happen.”

While there have been days during my travels when I have chosen to leave my camera behind at my accommodations, I doubt that I will ever have the confidence in my aging memory banks to not have a camera at all for the duration of a trip. And while I understand the concept of ‘living in the moment’, of trying to focus all my senses on what is going on around me at any particular moment in time, there is also a joy and pleasure in trying to record and capture those moments in a more tangible and permanent form.

We live in an age when literally billions of images have been uploaded to dozens of popular photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Instagram, 500px, Pinterest, and many others. In the time it has taken you to read this far, several million images will have been uploaded to Facebook alone.

The other factor I did not mention is that I have travelled extensively since rekindling my travel bug in 2008. In fact I even surprised myself when I added up the weeks and months I have ventured overseas.

• March 11, 2008 - October 5, 2008 [seven months]
• June 29, 2010 - March 7, 2011 [eight months]
• July 30, 2012 - October 24, 2012 [three months]
• April 28, 2014 - August 20, 2014 [four months]

Water Tower, Sydney

This is a total of around 22 months of travel outside Australia. And this does not include approx six month's house sitting in Melbourne over the past six or seven years, or the two weeks I spent in Sydney in 2009. 

All this travel adds up to almost 30 months away from ‘home’ since March 2008. Thirty months ‘on the road’ presents a heck of a lot of opportunities for taking thousands of photographs―and take them I did.

How many photographs are too many? Can you in fact, take too many photographs during your travels? Does the world really need another image of the Eiffel Tower, or the Empire State Building, or other well known landmark?

I’d love to know what readers think about this issue. Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments section below.

Have A Little Sympathy

L-R: Ray Smith, Istvan Nemeth, Julian Barnett, John Appleby

So what did I do on my first full day in Melbourne? I spent much of it uploading video clips to my YouTube page.

I admit that it may not seem like the most exciting thing to do on a house sitting vacation, but I was ‘taking care of business’, so to speak. During the afternoon and evening of December 1, 2013, I filmed the Sympathy Orchestra, one of many great local Adelaide bands during their regular gig at the Whitmore Hotel. As a long time fan of the group, I filmed the complete performance, and promised to edit and upload the tunes to my page at YouTube. This process is now complete, and you can watch and listen to what I consider to be one of Australia’s best rock ensembles.

For me, what make the Sympathy Orchestra so unique is that they perform instrumental arrangements only. There are no lyrics to get in the way of the instrumentation, and no ego driven lead singer prancing about front and centre stage, trying to draw the audience’s attention to himself exclusively. Julian Barnett is the principal composer, although each member of the quartet add their own contribution and stamp to every tune. Some of these tunes are relatively short at around five minutes in length, while others power on for more than ten minutes. Some build slowly to gigantic crescendo’s, while other maintain slow, thoughtful rhythms throughout.

Julian Barnett is one of those guitarists that play with his whole body. One of the best examples of this is when the band is roaring towards the end of the tune, Flex ‘Em. Julian is in constant motion as he alternatively thrashes his guitar or bends multiple strings in order to wring every last note out of them. His face contorts with effort and emotion, while his feet rise and fall in a dance that tries to stay grounded while at the same time wanting to break free from the floor he is standing on. I also love to watch drummer John Appleby working his kit like a man possessed. Watch the brief smiles and quick glances he throws towards Julian Barnett as he plys his drum sticks from the eight minute mark in this great instrumental piece. Take a look at Flex ‘em now.

Julian Barnett has been leading the group for many years, and I consider him to be one of the best guitarists in Adelaide. Heck, he is one of the best guitarists in Australia, and I’m sure he can hold his own with some of the best guitarists in the world. The other members of Sympathy Orchestra are no slouches on their chosen instruments either. John Appleby (drums/percussion), Istvan Nemeth (bass guitars), and Ray Smith on keyboards, have been playing together with Julian Barnett for many years, and the easy camaraderie the group displays on and off the stage is a pleasure to see.

The Sympathy Orchestra don’t venture far from their Adelaide roots, so sadly fans outside of South Australia do not have too many opportunities to see the group live. For that reason, it has been a pleasure for me to have had the chance to film the group and turn the resulting footage into a collection of clips that hopefully will help introduce the band far outside the confines of Adelaide, and South Australia.

More Information

Sympathy Orchestra on Facebook… 

My YouTube profile page…

Losing My Religion?

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City

Losing my religion? Hardly. More like losing my mojo. After a brief burst of activity towards the middle of the year, it should be obvious that I have again become a lapsed blogger. It's not that I have run out of things to write about. God knows I have plenty of ideas to flesh out and expand upon, and hundreds of photographs filed away on my backup drives with which to illustrate those posts, but I just can't seem to motivate myself to do the work. 

However, lately my thoughts have again begun returning to this blog, and today might just be the start of another revival. We'll see. 

Last week, I grabbed an early bird ticket for Europe, flying with Emirates on a return flight from Adelaide, Australia to Athens, Greece. The ticket purchase got me thinking about travel in a concrete way, and this may be the motivating factor in getting me back to writing. After all, the thought of accumulating several thousand more photographs on my upcoming trip - photos I may never make use of - seems pointless if I don't at least use some of them on this site.

U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.

As sketchy as my travel plans are at this point - seven months out from my departure date - what I do plan is to spend a couple of months back on the Greek island my parents emigrated from in the 1930s. I have written about Ikaria extensively on this site, and will hopefully write more as time goes on. Two of my sisters have returned to live on the island with their children and grandchildren, and it always feels like 'coming home' when I return to the island.

Following my stay on the island, I hope to return to New York City in either July or August for another apartment sitting stint at a friends apartment in Washington Heights. I have watched over the apartment and the two house cats on two previous occasions (in 2010 and 2012), and if the opportunity allows I will be there again in 2014.

Village church, Kampos, Ikaria

From New York City, I hope to travel once more within the United States before again returning to Greece, although it would be good to include a visit to Canada if time and money permits. After that, who knows. Certainly not me. Not at this point anyway. But I'll keep you posted. 

No, really. I will. See you next time.

My Bucolic Rural Idyll

Early morning fog at Mt. Crawford

I have just completed a two week house sitting gig in the Adelaide Hills, near the delightful hills town of Gumeracha. To be more precise, the property was located at Mt. Crawford, and to be even more precise, I was pet sitting rather than house sitting. I suspect the area would have been isolated enough and safe enough for the owners of the property to simply lock the house up and leave it for two weeks, but having a very active and friendly house dog necessitated having someone live on site and care for the canine, and since it was there―the house.

Not that I’m complaining.

Actually, I will complain now that I think of it. I woke up most mornings bloody freezing (if I may be permitted to use the Great Australian Adjective). While it is not quite the middle of winter right now in the southern hemisphere, it has still been cold enough to freeze the you-know-whats off a brass monkey. Especially at Mt. Crawford.

Alert coney grazing close to house

Still, despite the cold nights and even colder mornings, I did enjoy my brief bucolic rural idyll. Every morning the day was sung in by a bevy of magpies and kookaburras which seemed to be competing with each other over which species could make the most noise at 5:30 in the morning!

By the way, as well as being referred to as a 'gulp' or 'murder' of magpies, the collective name for a group of magpies also includes 'A tiding' or 'charm' of magpies. Maybe this accounts for their early morning carousing and carolling. There doesn’t appear to be a collective name for kookaburras, so may I humbly submit ‘a comedy of kookaburras’ in honour of their distinctive ‘laugh’?

If I got up early enough―I never did, of course―I might have been lucky enough to see several rabbits gambolling about near the house. How do I know there were rabbits gambolling about near the house? Because they also liked to hop about just as dusk was approaching, as long as they couldn’t see or hear either myself or the very active and friendly house dog.

A trio of kangaroos working their way across the lower paddock

Along with the rabbits, the magpies, and the kookaburras, early morning and early evening was the perfect time to observe a mob of kangaroos as they slowly left the nearby forest and grazed in the property’s lower paddock. Actually, the kangaroos left the relative safety of the forest in the evening, and by mid morning they could be seen eating their way back towards the trees again. In between their evening exit from the forest, and their morning re-entry into it, they often spent the night working their way right up to house, grazing as they went. This I knew from the many droppings they left behind, just metres from the back patio.

I know there are deer roaming wild in the Mt. Crawford forest, but only once did I observe several of these beautiful creatures leave the forest one evening, and graze well away from the main house.

My bucolic country getaway. Early morning fog greets early morning sun.

On a previous house sitting gig for the same owners, I was lucky enough to see an echidna while out walking the dog late in the afternoon. Australian echidnas (sometimes known as spiny anteaters), are small, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines that resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. Unlike hedgehogs and porcupines though, which give birth to live young, the echidna (which is a mammal) lays an egg! According to Wikipedia:

Echidnas and the platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes place after 10 days; the young echidna then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the young, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.

Here endeth the lesson.

Now I am back in the cosy confines of my suburban retreat, again close to shopping centres, cinema multiplexes, fast food franchises, and within easy walking distance of cafés, coffee shops, and freshly baked muffins. As good as it was to spend two weeks in a rural setting, I am happy to be back in the burbs writing this. Don’t get me wrong, I am also more than happy to return to Mt. Crawford to house sit again―but only when the weather is another twenty degrees warmer.

Apple’s for Adelaide. Better Late Than Never?

A wall of glass greets the faithful to the Adelaide Apple Store

How many years has it been since Apple Inc began setting up their Apple Stores around the world? According to Wikipedia: “On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California. As of November 2012, Apple maintains 394 retail stores in fourteen countries as well as the online Apple Store and iTunes Store.”

To answer my own question then, it has been 12 years since Apple opened their first store. And make that figure 395 retail stores and counting. I mention this because a few weeks ago (May 25, 2013) Apple Inc opened its first Adelaide store in the heart of the city in Rundle Mall. I wish the venture every success, but I can’t help wondering if it may be arriving a little too late. I mean, it is not as if Apple products are impossible to find here. Not when pretty much every telecoms shop, Harvey Norman, JB-HiFi, and Dick Smith store sell Apple products. And let’s not forget every major department store, and a host of other outlets. Oh, and of course, there are the stores that specialize exclusively in Apple products such as Next Byte and others.

And just to show how my timing is off―as usual―the Adelaide Apple store opened less than a month after I traded in my old iPhone 3GS for the latest Galaxy S4. Oh, well. Better late than never, I guess. Good luck Apple. It is good to see you here, at last.

Friday Photos: Adelaide Central Market

Let them eat cake? Not when the bread is as fresh as this.

Originally known as the City Market, the facility was officially named the Central Market in August 1965, and continues to offer almost every variety of fresh fruit and vegetable available in South Australia.

The world comes to shop at the market.

Hot nuts! Once you start eating them, you can't stop.

Several tour operators offer tours of the Central Market.  For more information on tours of the Market, visit Top Food & Wine Tours… 

If it is available fresh, you will almost certainly find it at the market.

Processed meats to go.

A wide range of events and activities are scheduled each week at the market. Some traders offer product samples in ‘try before you buy’ promotions, while others present short classes, and product/produce demonstrations each week.

Ice on Mt. Brocoli.

How many varieties of Mettwurst can there possibly be? Ask here.

Mark Gleeson conducts Central Market Tours that provide participants with an exclusive experience interacting with suppliers, producers and retailers of South Australia’s vibrant food industry.

Watermelons by the ton.

Mid-eastern spices and processed foods.

More than 80 stalls offer a wide range of fresh and processed meats, cheese, seafood, nuts, confectionary, coffee and other specialty foods. And of course, let’s not overlook the bakeries, patisseries, and numerous cafés and restaurants.

There is always time for coffee and cake.

Trading Hours

Tuesday: 7am - 5.30pm

Wednesday: 9am - 5.30pm*

Thursday: 9am - 5.30pm

Friday: 7am - 9pm

Saturday: 7am - 3pm

*Optional trading day, not all stalls open

Closed Public Holidays

Here is a brief video of footage I shot during a visit to the Adelaide Central Market:

More Information

Adelaide Central Market… 

Central Market Tours…