some dreams come true

Creating a garden is a great joy and a lot of work especially in difficult terrain but I am always thrilled to see how people of the world get into the earth and grow vegetables, flowers, fruit and nut trees and generally beautiful enviroments. I live on a volcanic mountain (extinct) about ten minutes from the sea by car. Since arriving in this country as a small child I have known this place, My first memory is of the gigantic trees and the banana and tropical fruit orchards that covered most of the flat land. There were some steep basalt dropoffs with large banyan figs and I imagined this was the ruins of a great civilisation, Mostly large old pythons lived there and wonderful birds, like Wompoos and Fruit Doves fed on the figs. The roads were red and very muddy when it rained, The population was small and the school was two rooms,

CHROMA is a gem of a book by Derek Jarman exploring the history of colour. It is a wonderful book to go to bed with. Short chapters with fascinating episodes from the worl Derek has encountered. Lots of good authors, philosophers and dreamers quoted.

This week sees the release of Murray Bail's new edition (revised) of IAN FAIRWEATHER,
Ian was an architype for many painters and artisans in Australia and worldwide. Scratch most artists and you will find Fairweather close to their hearts.
Of course his DRUNKEN BUDDHA remains a firm favourite and maybe it will be reprinted with better paper and plates.