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Dear Mum, Sometimes, you say to us kids that you could have been a better Mum.  I am writing this letter to remind you that what you have given us is truly precious. You taught us kids that the most important gift is each other.  You fostered our relationships with one another.  You never favoured [...]

We laughed and hung on every word as comedian Kate McLennan shared ‘A Letter to my Petty Crimes’. Kate set the scene for an afternoon of wit and humour at the April 2012 ‘Women of Letters’ event.  I won’t divulge Kate’s childhood crime (‘cos no-one likes dobbers), but let’s just say she was not the [...]

Like golden Autumn leaves falling gently from trees, stories fall from the mouths of writers at literary festivals. These stories are often the untold gems – how the writer began writing books, the extent to which the main character is based on herself, and the writer’s relationship to the places in her book. Each Autumn, [...]

After a stressful week, I feel an urge to get outside and walk amongst the trees.  Something about being in the nature rejuvenates me.  At times like this, I head to 1000 Steps in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. As the name implies, it is a narrow and steep track surrounded by thick green vegetation.  [...]

If you love Greek sweets as much as I do, then you will also love Nikos Quality Cakes.  It is a large cafe piled high with all the favourites.  If Willy Wonka was Greek, this is what his cafe would look like!  Rows of baklava, Greek doughnuts (loukoumades), shredded pastry with custard or nuts (kataifi), [...]

Here are my top 10 school holiday activities for Easter.  If you click on the name of the attraction, it will link to my review of it, a map, website and pricing details.  Activities 1-6 are outdoor activities as the weather is predicted to be mostly sunny this week.  However, just in case there are [...]

Hard as it is to believe, there was a time in Melbourne when wine was viewed as the drink of choice for alcoholics, and, even worse, communists!!  The stereotype was men drinking beer, while women were confined to the ladies’ lounge sipping a shandy.  Jimmy Watson bucked that trend.  He opened his bar and bistro [...]

“Did my Beloved only touch me with his lips, I too, like the flute, would burst out in melody.” Source: ‘Masnavi’ by Rumi (1207-1273) Rumi’s words glide effortlessly across the centuries, inspiring us to rise above our worldly concerns and attend to matters of the heart.  His poetry, written almost 1,000 years ago, speaks to [...]

One of my favourite ways to spend a sunny weekend morning is to have brunch at the Abbotsford Convent.  Sitting outside surrounded by trees, with the sound of live music from a double bass, and yummy food from the Convent Bakery.  I find myself counting my blessings here.  It is a good place to do [...]

Something exciting is happening in Little Lon.  For the first 100 years of Melbourne’s life, it was infamous as a “den of inequity” – reputedly bustling with prostitutes and opium.  From 1948, a clean up of this “street of evil” followed and the area became, well, fairly boring.  Melbourne institution Rue Bebelons started a change [...]