ANZAC Day 2014

My family has honoured the ANZACS in Australia,

at dawn services and parades.

In China we always went to the service

at the Australian Consul General's residence.

In England we had our own little service 

at our village memorial.

The service and sacrifice of our ANZACS have made this possible.

This year we found ourselves in Germany, 

the girls were on holiday and my Kiwi

husband took the day off.

We headed to Niederzwehren Cemetery in Kassel

to pay our respects to our fallen.

First World War Commonwealth servicemen who died all over Germany 

were bought together into four permanent cemeteries in 1922-23. 

Niederzwehren Cemetery was one of these and has the plots of 1,796

 soldiers of the Commonwealth  buried or commemorated  there.

Here rest soldiers of

the British Empire who died in Germany

during the Great War 1914-1918

The land which is consecrated by

their graves has been acquired

in perpetuity by agreement with

the German people so that their remains

may be honoured for ever.

This cemetery was constructed by

the governments of

The British Commonwealth of Nations

and its maintenance is in the hands of

British caretakers.

An agreement has been entered into between

the governments of Germany

and of the British Commonwealth of Nations

enabling them to construct in their own way 

and maintain through their own caretakers

the cemeteries in which their dead

of the Great War now rest.

We chose the grave of Private William John Smith to place our flowers. He was born in England, moved to Australia and was a farm labourer before he joined the Australian Army. My paternal Grandfather, John C Smith was also born in England, moved to Australia and was a farmer before he joined the Australian Army. He was in the 11th Battalion and was one of the first to land on the shores of Gallipoli. Unlike William John Smith and so many others, my Grandfather came home. If he hadn't I wouldn't have been laying flowers in Germany with his two great granddaughters 99 years later.

All these young men sacrificed so much

for a better life for us all.

Lest We Forget

Happy Easter, Frohe Ostern from Frankfurt

The lead up to Easter here in our part of the world was gorgeous, 

the spring cherry blossoms, tulips and daffodils emerging.

The forest exploding with green, the air filled with birdsong.

The Easter Egg trees!

I love this tradition, new to me, all the neighbours had them...

So we put together our own Oster Ei Baum and were very happy to 

join in the festivities!

Until a kind neighbour hinted that that was more of a Christmas Tree, 

people may laugh,

would be better if the eggs hung down!

So we swapped our eggs over to a more appropriate tree

in our garden!

We didn't stop there, we grabbed some branches from the forest and

decorated an 'inside' Oster Ei Baum too

We had seen on Facebook, instructions on making Easter Egg decorations with a small egg, a bit of wool, 

glue and a water balloon.

...and it worked

Our Easter was topped off with the Easter Bunny delivering us all

a Red Tulip Humpty Dumpty. Easter would not be Easter without one of these Aussie delights.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

Wherever you are in the world, whatever your beliefs,

I wish you all a very happy, safe Easter,

full of love and laughter.

Forty Winks Friday, Pull up a chair and have a nap!

Spring in Shanghai brings blossoms, beautiful weather and cane furniture. 

These rickshaws, piled high with cane furniture start appearing at the same time as the cherry blossoms,

but stay on into the heat of summer.

The merchants pull their carts throughout the city, find a shady spot,

sit back and wait for the customers to come.

After negotiating a price, they will deliver your new furniture to your door.

These guys work extremely long hours and pull exceedingly 

heavy loads over large areas...if anyone has earned a quick

Forty Winks, it is the

Cane Furniture Guys of Shanghai!

Spring has sprung in the forest

In the middle of March, this is what my daily walk in the forest

with our dog looked like...

In the middle of April, this is what our walk looks like....

You can almost see the buds unfolding around you. 

The forest awakening for the summer.

Leaves unfurling in the warmth of the sun.

New spring growth bringing new life and birdsong to the forest.

Reaching up, saturating the surroundings with the most intense green.

New life, fresh air and blue skies, just lovely.

Cherry Blossoms in Frauenstein, Weisbaden

We learnt very soon after our move to Germany that shops are all closed on a Sunday, as it is a day of worship and rest. It is also forbidden to hang washing outside, mow the lawn and wash the car on a Sunday!

So we have embraced what the locals do and head out for a walk in a forest. Last Sonntag (Sunday), we headed over to Frauenstein Village which is surrounded by vineyards and cherry orchards as the cherry trees were in bloom. Was lovely to walk amongst the trees, light breezes sending flurries of blossoms all over us.

On a warm, sunny day it was a popular destination but the area has many walking paths to wander along. We mostly had the area to ourselves and were free to enjoy the last of the season's blossoms in a serene environment. 

We then followed a track up the hill and into the forest. The vibrant green of the new spring leaves stunning and bright. We followed arrows to what we thought may be a restaurant. We delighted in the fresh air and walk amongst the trees.

The arrows led us to a lovely clearing with no signs of a restaurant, just a sign that we couldn't read and a bench to rest on. We let the dog of his lead and threw him a ball for a while before we headed back down the hill.

When we got home I put the text that was on the sign into Google Translate, expecting it to be some sort of camp site. This is what was translated:

"This place is a funeral site, therefore please only enter sunrise and sun-down transition. Please leash dogs. Please do not smoke. Cycling and horse riding is forbidden"

We had inadvertently wandered into a 'Funeral Forest' where the ashes of the deceased are buried in biodegradable urns amongst the roots of the trees and we had let the dog off the lead. I profoundly apologise and will step up my study of the German language. We are certainly learning something every day, often by mistake.

I really hope that these guys were the only ones who saw this mistake!

Forty Winks Friday. To market to market! Tongchuan Lu Seafood Market.

I love a good market and Shanghai has a market for just about anything, antiques clothes, upholstery, glasses...seafood. One of my favourites is the Tongchuan Lu Seafood market, a wholesale market that provides the restaurants of Shanghai with fresh seafood from around the globe. The people who work here put in very long hours, often living in small cubicles above their market stall. It is a pretty good place to catch a fish for lunch...and a napper or two!

Tongchuan Lu Seafood Market
Tongchuan Lu near Caoyang Lu
Putuo District, Shanghai

Sun, sea, sand and sculptures, Cottesloe Part 2

Cottesloe Beach holds many special memories for me, splashing in the shallows and building sandcastles as a child. Picnics shaded by the norfolk pines, fish and chip dinners on the grassy esplanade. Games of beach cricket. Cottesloe Beach was where my school friends and I ended our last day of school, swimming in our school uniforms. It was the last place I saw a special friend, before he was killed in a tragic accident. Years as a teenager, hanging out with friends, swimming out to the bell and working on our tans. The sunsets ...ahhh the sunsets, there is nothing like the vibrant streaks of yellow, orange and red glowing over the shimmering Indian Ocean at sundown.

This installation by Argentinian Alejandro Propato was dedicated to the beautiful sunset at Cottesloe Beach. To me it really captured the essence of a West Coast sunset, which is one of the things I really miss, living so far from home.

Alejandro's impression of the sunset with the Indian Ocean as a backdrop was one of my favourites of the exhibition. It was also a favourite of the kids, winning one of the two Kids' Choice awards.

'Overconsumption' made by Kerrie Argent from thousands of plastic lids and bottles, collected locally and sent to her from all over the globe. Like a beached, giant creature from the deep with a hairy skin of bottle tops,and an internal anatomy of bulbous bottles. A reminder of the tonnes of floating, plastic rubbish in our oceans. Kerrie Argent won the Western Australian Sculptor Scholarship with this sculpture.

'Plastic world' A planet built entirely with plastic rubbish from all the planet's oceans. It represented the ecological footprint of all countries of the world. By artists Carole Purnelle and Nuno May from Portugal, whose work has been presented all over the world and is driven by the common theme of humanity. It saddens me to think that with all the ocean gives to us, that the world continues to dishonour the ocean by filling it with rubbish.

I loved this sculpture 'embrace' by Ayad Alqaragholli, an Iraq born artist now living in Perth. To me it captures much happiness, freedom and love, embracing the sunshine and seizing the moment.

When we had our lunch at the Cottesloe Beach Hotel, the waiter told us that everyone had been talking about the 'Barbie Wave'. We thought he meant this little Barbie, with statements written over her body which was on display at "Sculptures inside" in the surf club and wondered what the fuss was about.

Until we came upon this...The Barbie Wave! Officially called Wave 1, by Annette Thas and described as such: "The wave of blonde barbie dolls alludes to childhood memories and social and environmental concerns. Do we drown or dive in and come out the other side"  This, unsurprisingly won one of the two Kids' Choice Awards and also the EY Peoples' Choice Award.

This delightful, colourful house was created by Helen Seiver of WA and was crocheted using common supermarket bags. The description states: " The work explores domestic responsibility for plastic waste disposal and its devastating impact on our water ways and oceans. The artist encourages domestic consciousness for this worldwide problem". Time to take your own fabric bags to the supermarket and say no to the plastic bags!

We were lucky to meet one of the artists. Mr Barclay Bailey, a Canadian who moved to Perth two decades ago and creator of 'windsong', a line of twenty striking sculptures made of steel, aluminium and fishing line. Each sculpture is a musical instrument, with the winds coming off the ocean creating soulful music on the beach. Incredible, beautiful, ethereal music. Mr Bailey was down at the beach tuning them to the wind conditions and was happy to chat. The sculptors had three days to put their creations in place, ok if you had a granite or stainless steel sculpture on a plinth. Hard work if you had to dig deep holes by hand for 20 poles in dry beach sand or if you had to plant thousands of flags in the sand, many of which disappeared as souvenirs! He also told us that someone had shot at 'The goon bag' with a bow and arrow, requiring a hasty patch job.

This impressive sculpture, the winds off the ocean spinning the arms, silver and yellow contrasting against the brilliant blue sky was mesmerising to watch, . Called " like a flower swaying in the wind" by Hiroyuki Kita from Japan was the winning sculpture of 2014

The 10th anniversary Sculpture by the sea at Cottesloe beach was a resounding success and I am so happy that my visit home coincided with the event. All 74 exhibits were pretty amazing and had stories to tell. I liked the use of the 'debris of life' in some of the sculptures and the impact these items have on our environment. A subtle and important message was implied.

Not sure if I will make it home for Sculpture by the sea in Cottesloe 2015, but there is the bi-annual Sculpture by the sea in Aarhus, Denmark in 2015. Only a short drive from Frankfurt, I am planning on making it there!

Sculpture by the sea, Cottesloe 2014

My whirlwind trip home to Perth in March was wonderful. 

I hadn't been home for nearly two years so I relished the opportunity to 

catch up with friends and enjoy the familiarity of my home town.

I only feel truly at home when I have seen the Indian Ocean, 

the ever changing colours and moods of the sea, smelt the salty air

and walked on the soft white sand.

I was delighted to learn that Sculpture by the sea in Cottesloe, 

the town I was born, was on during my visit. I got to combine a visit to one of my 

favourite beaches with one of my favourite events.

Sculptures by the sea in Cottesloe has grown over the last ten years. 

This year saw 74 exhibiting sculptors from Western Australia 

and all around the world...let me show you some of my favourites!

West Australian Norton Flavel was behind this sculpture called 'bulk carrier' though it was more commonly known as 'The goon bag'. Described as "A playful reference to our culture of carting big"! It was a real draw card and bought  many visitors to the exhibition.

Maria Hildrick, another West Aussie contributed 'insectopia', the description in the catalogue: "The artist is concerned about how we construct our sense of self, looking to animal and insect communities to explore ideas surrounding belonging, collective behaviour and identity". As an expat who has spent the last six years trying to work out how to belong in three different countries and cultures this really struck a chord with me.

'Red Center' by American Carl Billingsley. I love how the colours mirror those of the distinctive red and yellow of the surf life savers. The safety flags on duty in the background.

This rhinoceros, crocheted from polypropylene fibre by Mikaela Castledine was incredibly lifelike and detailed. Was a hit with these young surf lifesavers.

'Der traum (dream)', by German artist Wolfgang Friz made me wonder what everyone on the beach was thinking, where they had come from, why they were there. Felt ironic that although I am/was a local, born only a few kilometres from Cottesloe beach, my address is now in Frankfurt, Germany.

The blue and white, water filled bottles in the foreground "examines the unique 'fingerprint' identification spots of a real whale shark known as "Stumpy" and reflects the dynamic nature of the marine environment". By Olivia Samec and James Moe, both West Aussies.

The detail of this steel, marine ply and aluminium sculpture 'sea change' was exquisite. The description: "When moving in a new direction, we draw on our past to create a new present. The shift or change opens up all sorts of new possibilities" How true, thanks to the artist Tim Macfarlane Reid!

This sculpture (only a small section shown here) called 'migration' is part of a series investigating the effect of invasive marine organisms and is by Victorian Alex Goad. I loved the form and smooth texture

After a morning of sun, sea and sculptures, my friend and I realised it was well past lunchtime and we hadn't eaten lunch. So we headed over to another Cottesloe beach institution, The Cottesloe Beach Hotel, to grab some lunch.

I had a refreshing Lemon Lime and Bitters, the great Aussie drink (non alcoholic) you have when you are not having a drink (alcoholic). I tried many times, unsuccessfully to order one in England and always drew a blank stare. English bar tenders...it is easy..put 5- 6 drops of Angostura aromatic bitters in a glass, pop in a few ice cubes and swirl, add a dash of lime juice or lime cordial, top up with lemonade, throw in a slice of lemon to garnish and you are done...delish!

The Cott and Co. Fish bar serving of linguini, North West bugs, chilli and olive oil was scrumptious and gave us the energy to get back to the beach and check out more sculptures...stay tuned tomorrow for the afternoons attactions!