Recovering ...

We arrived home on Tuesday after a two day flight from Italy.  It was a wonderful three week whirlwind, taking in three days in Norway and then Milan, Bologna, Venice, Rimini, Sansepolcro, Anghiari and back to Milan for three days.  When I eventually get to view the photos, I'll share some of these places with you.

Now, to get to the story of 'Lady' the kangaroo, above.  The picture above shows her relaxing in her bed at Kilmore's Wildlife Rescue Centre.  The following story, by Grace Taylor, was in yesterday's Melbourne Herald Sun.

Helping roos to bounce back
Lisa Milligan has worked as a nurse for nearly six years but she says nothing compares to the rewards of nursing injured kangaroos back to health.

"Kangaroos are very loyal.  They're a lot like dogs," she said.  "They look at you and know you're helping them.  "When I release them back into the wild I often stand there and cry.  It's like losing a best friend."
Opened to help cope with the horrific results of Black Saturday, the Kilmore Rescue Centre is financed out of Lisa and her husband Duane's own pockets.

"It's hard work but it's rewarding, the animals know you're helping them," Ms Milligan said.

Her most recent admission to the centre was Lady, an eastern grey kangaroo who came in paralysed from the waist down.  After eight weeks of care in the centre, physiotherapy has Lady standing on her own and she has regained feeling in her legs and tail.

Picture:  Ellen Smith
Source:  Herald Sun 

Away, away ...

George Sand and Chopin

Eugène Delacroix 1798-1863

GEORGE SAND

What time the gifted lady took

Away from paper, pen and book,

She spent in amorous dalliance

(They do those things so well in France).

Dorothy Parker

You know it's Spring when....

A Sparrow takes a bath

and glares at you for watching!

The first Rose blooms

Gleditsia loves the morning sun

A Cockatoo has slept in a pine tree!

The Smokebush flares up

Azalea too

You find a Wren's nest

Mr and Mrs Wren

Lilac buds pop open

and fill the air with perfume

An inquisitive Kingfisher drops by

It's a rare visit;

we had to be quick with the camera

The pretty Crabapple

The Satin Bowerbird comes by

looking for colour for the nest.

Look at that blue, beady eye!

She's fascinated by those yellow balls!

On tippy-toes

Darn, I'll fly up!

♪♪ "It might as well be Spring!" ♪♪

Another five weeks of
splendour in the grass, garden, trees and sky!  

School's in on the joys of fishing.....

Grandson Bailey made the papers, now he can read it on Nana's blog.  

Congratulations Bailey!

The following from The Weekly Times, Melbourne, 20 October, by fishing writer, Steve Cooper.

Stocking small lakes as part of the school holiday fishing promotion is working well for Fisheries Victoria.  Anyone who doubts the merits of creating put-and-take fisheries for young anglers to experience the joys of fishing should have a chat with Eildon fly-fishing guru, Mick Hall.

During the recent holidays, Mick had his grandson, Bailey Degenhardt, staying and he wanted to go fishing.  Fishing with Mick isn't a straightforward affair.  Not only is the chosen method fly fishing, you also have to tie your own fly, in this case one of Mick's 'Scruffy' flies.

When the fly was tied to Mick's satisfaction, he took Bailey to a little artificial lake in the middle of Marysville, which Fisheries had stocked with advanced yearling trout for the school holidays.

Mick said, "The lake was clearer than most other waters in the district, Bailey threaded up his fly rod, I tied on his Scruffy and he did the rest. "In all he caught, landed and released seven rainbow trout in less than an hour."  

And that is why Victorian Fisheries stocks small waters with trout for the holidays.

I found my Janssens!!

I bought this little print in an antique shop many years ago.

I don't know about you but I can never leave an antique shop 

without making some small purchase!

All I had to go by was the handwritten note on the back,

'Dutch Interior by Janssens'

It's a bad shot, taken through the glass

but I didn't want to destroy the back any further.

Now, which Janssens?

Years ago I couldn't find much at all

and the other day, decided to do another search.

And, voila!!  But, do you notice anything different?

A maid has walked in to sweep the floor!

Nowhere could I find my painting with the little dog, sans maid.

My 'Janssens' is the Dutch painter Pieter Janssens (1623-1682).  Born in Bruges, the son of Gisbrecht Janssens, he was a 'Golden Age' painter and changed his name to Elinga in 1653.  His oeuvre was interiors and he is best known for his 'Perspective Box', which now hangs in the Museum Bredius in The Hague.

'Perspective Box'

Another 'Janssens' was Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (1593-1661), an English portrait artist of Dutch or Flemish parents, who changed his name to Johnson when in England and Jonson when in Europe.  Art critic and historian, Alexander Joseph Finberg (1866-1939) said, "so long as auctioneers are born with an ingrained conviction that a foreign-looking name gives greater value to a picture than an English name, so long may we expect to find Cornelius (sic) Johnson or Jonson masquerading in catalogues as Cornelius Janssens."

Yet another is Abraham Janssens (also known as Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen), a Flemish 'Baroque Era' painter, c.1573-1632.

Now, to find this artist.  It's badly framed but I

had to have it!  Do you know the artist?

Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa Schiaparelli - 1890-1973

Italian fashion designer

Thinking of Italy, where we'll be next month, I remembered the first gift of perfume I received in 1960 when a teenager; a very tiny vial of Shocking de Schiaparelli. I thought the scent a little flowery back then but, 50 years later, my taste, or rather, sense of smell, may have changed.

Elsa had a fabulous following and some of her loyal clients included such names as Marlene Dietrich, Wallis Simpson, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford and Zsa Zsa Gabor.  I found much more about Elsa at Candida Martinelli's Italophiles site.  

I must look for Shocking at the duty-free shop before we fly!

The vintage bottle of

Shocking de Schiaparelli

in the shape of Mae West

Farewell, 'La Stupenda'

Dame Joan Sutherland

7 November 1926 - 10 October 2010

I had several other photos to share
of the wonderful career of Dame Joan
but, unfortunately, my image uploader
isn't working!  Please enjoy the following
from Lucia di Lammermoor; Joan and
the inimitable Luciano Pavarotti.

Pavarotti made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965, singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.  Source: Wikipedia