Memories of Christmas

Christmas went by in a way that it was not too exuberant for me. Nice and homely though.  There were no Polish excesses of 12 dishes on my Christmas Eve table this year but my Aussie favourites – oysters, prawns and a blue swimmer crab. Even if I do not follow the lessons of my original catholic upbringing, I still follow the tradition of fasting on Christmas Eve. Fasting in the sense that no meat should be present on the table this special day. In this case, I am more catholic than the Pope. The Christmas Eve fast has been actually abolished some time ago by Vatican. But at my family home there was never any meat this evennig and for some reason it is important to me to keep the tradition.

Even if it was a non event Christmas, I got two presents that I enjoy very much and that have left a mark of Christmas 2014. I am a tea drinker and all accessories related to tea are very important to me. I have many tea pots and special tea cups but I still stop at tea shops and examine any possibilities to add to my collection. My friend recognising the weakness of mine, gave me for Christmas a lovely tea pot and matching mugs. I am enjoying my tea in the new mug while I am writing this post.

Another special gift from another dear friend was a book by John Baxter – The Most Beautiful Walk in the World. John Baxter is an Australian writer who lives in Paris. As it turns out we, John Baxter and I, have at least one thing in common. Love for Paris is the thing. For many years I have been fascinated by France and French and especially Paris. A promise of three years of life in Paris many years ago, made me leave my home country. It turned out to be only eleven moths and the Paris assignment continued, to my chagrin, in Dusseldorf but I had great time in this wonderful city even if at that time I was home sick crazy.

The book about Paris woke up my love and fascination with Paris. It also reminded me of flaneur-ing. I heard first the word flaneur from another friend of mine, who likes the word so much that he is going to camino flaneur-ing in Spain. This is taking the word flaneur to its extreme. So many kilometres of flaneur-ing! I think that this is a great plan, Hans, and I envy you.

So what does it mean to flaneur? It is to wonder the streets without an intent to get somewhere but just to observe what’s around. Diane Johnson, in her book Le Divorce, defines it as "mess[ing] around with no guilty sense of being unoccupied." So maybe Hans will  not  exactly flaneur in Spain as his intention is to get to Santiago de Compostela is clear.

Rain should not stop a real flaneur

After reading the book and under its influence, I took into flaneur-ing in Mosman. My observations include inspecting the neighbouring properties. Checking the architecture, gardens, size of the houses, local pets.... I am wondering if being a flaneur in Mosman does not carry a bit of danger of being misunderstood for a Peepping Tom. Paris is definitely the ideal place to flaneur, but for now Sydney suburbs will have to do for me.

Curiosity and need for detail in observations are important to a flaneur

Flaneur-ing in Mosman made me notice that gardens of the properties are shrinking and the houses expend their living space. This is not a happy observation. Green spaces are shrinking. Mosman Council pay attention!

Little Italy in Mosman

The last Saturday was a  good and fun day. It tasted especially well as it was my first outing after some difficult days of recuperating at home. I live in a suburb that I do not automatically identify with considering its style, interests and values. It is, still,  a convenient and beautiful place. I like living in Mosman for many reasons. However, I do not feel that I belong and this is my job and challenge to change. My new resolution is to start participating in some of the Mosman activities, find out more on how I could make a contribution and start participating in the life of the village I live in. I think I will start form the bridge club visit.

I have already written so much about my holidays in Florence that I may even have earned a label of a firm lover of Italy and things Italian. It shouldn't come as an surprise to those who know me that one of my favourite places in Mosman is the Fourth Village Providore. It is my favourite for food shopping and having lunch. The place is positively decadent and its rather high prices make it exclusive. This is turn does not allow for getting bored with it. Once savours the place and much as its food. 

One feels hungry looking the food selection

                                        

One of my friends and my, at times, companion in The Fourth Village lunches  moved recently to Melbourne. I have been missing our occasional lunches but this Saturday my friend was in Sydney and we again had lunch in our favourite place.  It is nice go back to the familiar place that one likes. We both were happy to order the same as  we knew and liked from the past experience : Calamari Fritti Zucchini Fiammifero e Mayonese al Limoncello, pizza Capricciosa and two glasses of Sangiovese.  

How wonderfully Italian!

                                      

 In Australia one often shares dishes and we did. It was a lot of food, perhaps too much but I decided to enjoy it to fully experience the great company and food. I decided that it was rather nice and effective therapy.  Sangiovese is one of my favourite wines as well. It was blissful indulgence!

Lately, I have heard so much about superiority of Melbourne over Sydney that maybe it is time to see for myself what is so special about the place. Architecture and food are supposed to be Melbourne particular strength. I have not been to the Melbourne Art Gallery yet and galleries are always places to visit, so I will put it on my list to see. It is not likely I will make a trip in time for the Polish Food Festival, but early next year should be a right time to make the trip.

End of an Era in Mosman

I live in a suburb which has its own “village”.  The central part of Mosman is referred to as Mosman Village. There are many things about Mosman one may like or dislike. It is not a suburb for everyone. For some  it may seem posh in a snobbish way and for others exclusive, charming and elegant. For me it is all of that and I like it. What one likes about village atmosphere is that it is small, familiar, centres around its “institutions” and has its markets. Mosman fulfills such requirements. Every first Saturday of each month Mosman Arts & Crafts Markets http://www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/mosman/culture/market  are held. This is fun and reminds me of the times when as a little girl I walked enchanted with my grandmother holding my hand  through the rural food market. This was magic and I hope that Mosman kids have similar feelings to mine and that memories will stay with them for a long time. 

I had two favourite places in Mosman Village to pay a visit to passing them at my errands. One of them already closed its doors and moved away from Mosman. The second one will stop its business the Thursday before Easter. I feel sad about it. Passing the old dojo of John Dolic at Spit Junction where John held his Tai Chi, Qigong, Kung Fu and many other Chinese practice classes where now Reece Plumbing rains I feel things are no more the same. When I came to live in Mosman, 10 years ago, John and his dojo were already a well established land mark of Mosman. John operates now from Carlton and one can meet him in cyber space to practice Qigong. For me it is not the same. I miss my visits at the dojo for friendly chats and healthy,  spiritual practices. 

                             

My second favourite place has been Bridgepoint Books that used to say: we  buy books, we  sell books, we read books, and we talk to people about books.

Very well managed place with books taken care of well, at times covered in plastic for protection . Some of the books were displayed on tables in front of the shop on the first floor of  the Bridge Point Shopping Center.  

                               

Going for shopping I had a choice to take a shorter route or pass the book shop. Most of the times I chose the longer way to see what titles were displayed this time. It was fun and I will miss my detours. The owner of the shop said: something new will come up. I am sure it will, but the Mosman shoppers, including myself, will miss the shop and its owner.

                         

I know that things change with time and that new things come into our lives but a little sadness of good things that have passed will linger.

All the best, guys from Bridgepoing Books and Chinese Martial Arts dojo, I miss your presence in my village.

My perfect day

Yesterday was a perfect day. It was a combination of catching up with a good friend, walks through beautiful parts of Sydney, seeing a great, thought provoking film, good food and overachievement of my physical exercise targets. I could not ask for more in one day.

The day started with a walk with my friend from Mosman to Balmoral. The views on the walk are breathtaking. We walked the route many times before but each time I see the bays view from the Mosman hills I stop in awe of beauty of the place, I stand silenced in admiration  and count my blessings that I live in such a beautiful place.

Balmoral is a beautiful part of Mosman famous for its beach, beautiful houses and fine dining. The Balmoral beach has views over Sydney Harbour National Park and the gateway to Sydney Harbour. It is a place that people like to come for a picnic or a swim. For me it is often a destination of my morning walks interrupted by a stop for breakfast in one of the local cafes. The cafes are always full at any day of the week but waiting for a table is pleasant watching the passersby and the water views. Yesterday we also had our traditional breakfast. Tea for my friend, flat white for me and two bircher mueslis with yoghurt and fruits. Yam!

We walked uphill back to the village part of Mosman to have yet another tea and a chat.

 
The next part of the program was a walk for lunch to Cammeray and its Epoque Belgian Beer Cafe famous for its beer. The walk was longer than I anticipated. I was tired, hot and impatient to get to the restaurant where we intended to have specialty of the house – mussels. We had a pot of mussels mariniere with a glass of sparkling rose so my spirits and enthusiasm for further walking was revived.

The film we chose was Wadja, a Saudi Arabian film directed by a Saudi Arabian woman Haifaa al-Mansour and filmed in the suburbs of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. I must confess that I am somewhat of a feminist even if not a militant one, I believe that we are all equal and I have a tendency to support women whenever I can. This film made me think that I want to do more for women than I have been doing so far. Maybe I will focus my coaching program on women? So, for me the film was inspirational and educating. I did not know much about Saudi Arabia except that it is a rich country. Maybe I knew a bit more than that but I did not have any idea of everyday life in the country. It is a subtle film, does not shout about difficult life the women is. It shows the problems of the country in such a way that I got really moved. The scene that particularly moved me was when the mother, defeated by the Islam rules allowing men to have more than one wife gains understanding for her daughter unconventional dreams. In that scene there is so much dignity, acceptance of hard reality, love and hope that things will change that it made lasting impression on me. 

It was time to walk home and check the parameters of physical exercise I had that day. This is impressive! We walked 13km, burnt 407 kcals and walked 23,549steps!.

My daily goal is 300 kcals and 10,000 steps. Nice overachievement and encouragement for the future.