at and t cellular

Dear Friends, Greetings from Northern Rivers, and all good wishes for a peaceful, healthy and joyous year ahead. Doubtless we will be beset by still more political disasters, climate extremes and global uncertainty, but in spite of the doomsayers I am sure that there will be many moments of personal happiness and small delights for us all.  For me, 2018 was a year of change and challenge, transition and tradition, exploration and quite a lot of excitement here and there.  This coming year looks as if it will be more like consolidation and community, and putting down real roots in this glorious countryside.   We are in full midsummer. The blue carpets of fallen jacaranda blossom have gone, but the poincianas are in full bloom; the champaka magnolias perfume the evenings and the lemon myrtles attract all the small honey eaters and native bees. I am busy preserving the fruits of my labour in the potager...baby lavender striped eggplants, avocados, six kinds of tomatoes, tamarillos, mangoes and passion fruit, peppers and chillies. And lots of local bush tucker. My garden is, miraculously, surviving the heat and the drought, thanks to bore water, in spite of the fact that we have had no good rain for months and none forecast  till at least the end of February. The farmers out west, where temperatures are in the 40s, are in dire straights and bush fires came earlier than usual. Happily here we are in what is called " green drought", the sub tropical conditions being helped by being in the shadow of the Great Dividing Range.  I began planting my acre in late October 2017 ...mainly with small tube stock. Fifteen months later the cottage garden round the house is fully mature; the long borders under the pines full and blowsy. and the most recent development...a sweep of land which was full of camphor laurel, asparagus fern and spiky date palm, is en route to becoming an oasis of rainforest. There is a butterfly garden to attract the dozens of species which range from tiny amethyst jewels to the enormous Richmond Birdswing, which can only survive on a native vine of the same name, and a deep bed of multi hued clivias and all the wonderful plants I admired in Hawaii and Singapore...orchids and strelitsias, heliconias and rock lilies, frangipani and bougainvillea,  and, of course, masses of the wonderful Australian natives. It is the red volcanic soil which is so fertile, plus the huge amount of mulch necessary to keep at least some of the available moisture in situ. It has  been hard work, but at least I have no reason to do boring workouts at the gym!    I am too busy dodging the pine cone missiles being hurled down by the flock of sulphur crested cockatoos and the claws of a raptor rescued by my neighbour and now released. She is still not strong enough to hunt so wheels in twice daily for her mice and rats which are hand fed to her,  barely above head height. Beautiful, but she could do a bit of damage to one's coiffure should one get in the way.          Last year saw me  exploring the region as I sought out the various classical music festivals which abound in the winter months. ( remember that our winters are rather like northern European summers). It was a revelation! The quality of performances was totally unexpected  and the quantity quite  astounding. The extra advantage was that as some were in small villages over an hours drive away I discovered new areas and landscapes which were equally mind blowing.  I can now find my way  round the back roads to almost anywhere....thank heavens for GPS!!  The international Writers Festival in Byron Bay was a  three day event in August which sent me off on a book buying spree, and three French Film Festivals, as well as the very active Alliance Francaise and its associated book clubs kept my language skills alive and introduced me to new friends, as did the continued work with the Rainforest Botanical Gardens. But the most exciting development of the year was joining the Amatori chorale. Led by an accomplished cellist and violist who is  also the founder and conductor of a full baroque orchestra, we rehearsed and presented the Mozart Requiem on December 2nd. to a large packed house...100 voices and a 32 piece band! We are now starting on the Vivaldi Gloria for a May concert, then the Carmina Burana for the end of the  year and I couldn't be more excited!            Miranda and Rowan continue to improve the macadamia plantation and love their life away from the corporate rat race. They work very hard but try to have three holidays a year..in 2018 it was Hong Kong, Vietnam and the Carnarvon Gorge and they are at present bcampervanning round New Zealand's South Island.  Grace is now 16 and has a regular boyfriend who has gone with them on this adventure.  I am glad to say that the only airports I have seen recently are Sydney and Ballina when I made trips to the Big Smoke to catch up with family and friends. It used to be fun living, on and off, on  a 747 but these days I can do without long haul travel....too many delays;  too much noise and the sheer numbers at airports are no pleasure.   This year I spent Christmas and New Year in Sydney ....lazy days and long lunches with old friends; the odd exhibition or two and a hot weather celebration on the 25th on a balcony overlooking the Harbour with Angus, Carole and Lauren, who is eighteen and looking forward to a gap year, and my friend Wendy's extended family.  I cooked the turkey and glazed the ham but had no other responsibility.... quite a change from my usual role...I didn't even have to do the washing up!! New Years Eve was at the same place, and if you saw the fireworks on TV I am sure you will agree that they were the best ever!!..Wendy's apartment looks straight over the Bridge and the Opera House, so we had a grandstand view. l have kept one old tradition going, however. Diana's Long Weekend Long Lunch, first established in Suffolk and continued in Normandy, was reinvented here as a housewarming last year. Not quite as many people as heretofore, but a good start...thirty hungry and thirsty people gathered on the big north facing deck...new friends from the Gardens, the choir and the monthly lunch club and, of course, the French contingent. I cooked up a storm and a good time was had by all! ( and yes....they stayed long and late!)