Veronika Wild

A glimpse of St. David's Park which was once a cemetery It’s late in the season but Hobart is finally getting its Autumn act together. There is now a glorious show of colour in its parks and gardens and the weather bureau has promised us at least one nice day, the first one in ages, where it isn’t showing the sun as a fried egg sitting on a cloud with rain drops under it. On the other side of the road in Davey Street is a quaint Hobart institution Meanwhile, I have discovered Hobart’s Real Tennis Court and finally worked up the courage to peek behind its sandstone walls. This was the original form of tennis which is believed to have evolved around 600 years ago, possibly in Basque country in the south of France or even in England. Either way, Henry VIII brought it over from France again in 1529 and established a real tennis court at Hampton Court.   Though its rules – more complex than those of lawn tennis, its strangely bent rackets not racquets, and

At a time when little is flowering this Matisse -like garden is a treat Mysterious Hellebores Another view showing an overgrown fountain

My new toy/experiment -still bit expensive, but read  why almost every home should be a have one I did say food waste deserved a separate post. Well this week,   Craig Reucassel of Chaser fame, has beaten me to it, with the first of his excellent   TV Series “The War on Waste” The good thing   about having a well -known comedian do it, is that it is also thoroughly entertaining, so catch up on it if you can and watch out for the other two episodes which haven’t been shown yet.  Australians currently waste about 38 million Kilogrammes of food each year, about one in five shopping bags worth and that’s growing by 8% a year. At a time when many countries are experiencing famine   – Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen, and some 2 million people in our own supposedly affluent country are going hungry, that is not only indecent, but nothing short of a crime.  Food is wasted all along the food chain – from harvest to the end product that winds up in your fridge or rubbis

Hi there everyone! You may have noticed that I have been experimenting with different blog templates. I feel that this is a quieter time. All the bright buildings here have reverted to greys and whites and a particular shade of yellowish green grey. I do think the dark colours highlight the pictures better, though I am after a more subtle design. There are now so many competing blogs and so much busy, busy competing advertising. If you prefer the old design, let me know, if you can still remember what it was. Let me know too if you come across other blog pages which you liked whose design may be suitable for this one. What about content? Are you happy that I write about things as I find them on a particular day, as I would have for newspapers, or would you prefer one blog for nature- based/ travel only, and that the other stuff - random events, recycling,  good ideas seen here and elsewhere, appear in a separate blog, or should I leave it as it it is, so if one post is not of g

It’s Autumn - usually my favourite season when the days are clear and mellow, perfect for walking, and the trees put on their stunning colour display. Not so this year – it’s been wet or overcast and cold. Most of the leaves have stayed a muddy yellow green or have just turned brown and fallen off. I haven’t been able to do any walking either. Not much autumn colour this year - Mostly everything looks like this Only the reds have shown up clearly, like gleaming jewels, amid the browns and greens   and the berries have done well too. My son has a scientific explanation . The leaves have more anthocyanins and the plants are developing more sugar, but what does it mean? There are rumours of a warmish winter to come. Are the berries for the birds because they won’t need to migrate? Who knows, but it is different this year.  There is almost nothing flowering, but there are lots of berries Something for the birds? Warm Winter? Cold Winter? What does