Back on home turf after my sister’s wedding life goes on.
Vivid Sydney lights up the CBD.
Someone paints decorates the railway overpass walls opposite our apartment with painted watermelon slices but within 48 hours someone else cleans it off.
Someone goes to the touble of tagging their turf, the wall of the building across the road… again.
The G.O. and I have a Saturday sleep in then wander up King Street to Newtown Community Market.
- I buy kale with a snail freshness guarantee.
- The G.O. buys unwaxed unsprayed red pears.
- We buy an assortment of pre-loved books – guess which are whose?
- I buy a peg bag for Taylors Arm where we have a Hills Hoist clothesline, and a backyard.
We go to the pub for lunch, enroute I find new street art.
The weather refuses to acknowledge the calendar.
“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet.”
― Banksy, Wall and Piece
― Banksy, Wall and Piece
Vivid Sydney – Sydney Harbour
forbidden fruit, street art, Erskineville
another tag on the wall, Erskineville
kale with snail freshness gurantee – Newtown Community Market
retro peg back – Newtown Community Market
safe fruit – Newtown Community Market
eclectic tastes – Newtown Community Market
street art – Mary Street, Newtown
street art – Mary Street, Newtown
street art – Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown
street art – Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown
street art – Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown
street art – Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown
street art – Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Newtown
street art – Eliza Street, Newtown
dirty windows look out onto sunny 14 – 25 C (15 – 77 F) autumn
daleleelife101.blog 
Red pears? Amazing!
Don’t think I’d be reading any of those books!
Our peg bag is a former bike pannier that partly disintegrated but can still be used. For pegs.
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The G.O. will likely share a pear with me but I’ll get the kale all to myself. While I was in a shop he was holding the bag, and a lady asked him ‘how do you cook that’… err, wrong person to ask. The Nigel Slater book has lots of good simple real food ideas, and the Pete Evans’ is no sugar, gluten or dairy… which you have already mastered. The bike book is about a bloke who rode a ‘cooking oil’ fueled motorbike around Australia. The current peg holder at TA is a bucket with holes drilled in the bottom…
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I have a fab kale recipe that involves lentils and halloumi cheese if you’re interested.
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Oh yes, please. That sounds like something that I’d enjoy and would be a great addition to my narrow repertoire of work lunches 🙂
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Here’s the kale recipe – don’t leave out the lemon zest – I add more in fact – it’s the pep up that makes it work imo hope you enjoy it http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10573678/Halloumi-kale-and-lentils-recipe.html
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Thank you. It looks delicious, and as I suspected great for work lunch, a few days worth I’d think. I’ve simply been adding kale to my breakfast egg scramble, sauteing extra to toss through my salad.
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I loved seeing all the Vivid pictures on tv – what a great sight!
I’d read the AC/DC book and my hubster would probably read the growing marijuana book (lol)!
We have the markets here only once a month and I really miss being able to go anytime – but I guess that’s country life for you 😀
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We saw the Vivid pictures on TV too, and some from the office window and waiting for the train… far too crowded for me on the ground.
Apparently that marijuana book is a classic… I have a few AC/DC books now so I’m going to need to make a list so I don’t double up, or miss out.
The produce stall is great for picking up a few items when I don’t get to the farmers market, and yes it’s the same for us at TA, our visits rarely coincide with the markets.
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Welcome Home.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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There’s no place like it 😉
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I love street art too! There are some amazingly skilled street artists out there now. Enjoyed your quote, too. Those red pears are to be photographed as well as eaten!! (I do that a lot to my food!) What a nice way to settle in at home again. I read one time that finding small pests on your raw veggies is a good sign that pesticides, if used at all, hadn’t remained in strong residue. Lovely distraction, thank you EllaDee.
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Thank you. One of the great things about Newtown is the street art… and the talent of the artists is phenomenal. I’ve never seen red pears before so thought I’d share them. [Even before the photography course your pics were excellent.] All the produce at the little stall is organic and/or chemical free. I set the snail free on the geraniums on the balcony… not as tasty as the kale.
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And little kids should start by having big tubs of sidewalk chalk so they can practice up for paint and walls! Love the watermelon. How much fun.
We have that real Fast Food book in the library here. I wouldn’t mind having a copy if I can find it at the used book store.
Sounds like you’ve had a successful, but relaxed time.
When I was little and we were in the country, I always looked forward to Sat. morning because my dad would be “going to town” and I could tag along. We’d park down by the cotton gin in the shade – near where the men selling fence posts from their trucks were – and walk to where he got a haircut. Then we’d go to a little store and buy a paper – maybe to pick up a few groceries – and talk to people all along the way before going home. A lot more fun than fighting traffic, searching to park, and jumbling in the crowds. I’m looking for another place where the big weekend event will be “going to town”…but there must be internet…TV I can do without.
Thanks for the very pleasant trip to market
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Wow.. your reminiscing about “going to town” took me straight back to a similar time and place… so that must be why I also gravitate away from trendy [crowded] malls and to the strips of shops, and markets – I feel so much more at home there. After the mall, I feel like something has sucked the essence from me. I hope you find that place…
The Nigel Slater book was a great find – simple, inspiring food ideas.
Imagine… encouraging the kids to draw on the walls… it would be wonderful 🙂
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Don’t like graffiti by bored and ‘angry’ youngsters . . . love your street art: what a change in atmosphere in Newtown since I was last there . . . am sending the post on to a few friends who I know would appreciate. Have been away from Sydney too long . . . that evening shot from the Quay is priceless. Lived much of my life on the Western side of Darling Point, so some memories there . . .
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The streets and lanes of the Inner West are a wonderful street art gallery. There is real talent displayed there. If you have Facebook look at I love the Inner West’s page.
I’m fortunate that each work day evening I looking over the harbour while waiting for a train. I know one day it will be just memories 🙂
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I also have to share my favourite Banksy quote with his expletive somewhat deleted:
“The key to good graffiti is economy. A simple splash of paint in the right place at the right time is all it takes. An old lady with a pencil can bring down a government by drawing an X on a ballot. And scribbles from a spraycan can convert a slum into an art gallery. But then you would ask yourself “How f—ing useful is that exactly?”
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Great quote 🙂 It’s good to ask how useful… but given the current situation in Australia, the opposite seems more applicable currently. The government is reaping what was sowed in the effects of the mark on the last ballot paper. And while not slums, the painted streets and laneways are an egalitarian art gallery.
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Your photos make a lovely montage of your life, or some parts of it! I am a fan of street art. My Fella and I have “discussions” about it. I see a difference between tagging and street art. He lumps them together. I think that street art adds a colour and interest our surroundings and often has an anti-establishment element. Thanks for sharing your Newtown art.
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Thank you 🙂 The street art is one of the many things I enjoy about my city neighbourhood. But there are degrees I think. There is truly awful, untalented, destructive tagging; talented tagging; street art; and murals. Some of the street art is anti-establishment, much of it is commentary, and I think it celebrates life and freedom.
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Dale, thanks for following my Spanish blog! SD
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I was following earlier but something happened… blogging is so good for opening up the world 🙂
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I like the tone of this one. Suits the good ol’ home town beat after being in a fairytale. Right down to the graffiti, which I like on walls, trains, bridges, anywhere a good artist wants to stick some. Ergo, I dig the Banksy quote : )
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Thank you 🙂 We like breaks away but really enjoy our neighbourhood, which makes us fortunate. When we had to move a few years ago we didn’t go far. The proliferation of excellent street art is a bonus.
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I’m guessing the two food books (the Nigel Slater is the one I used to learn to cook), and the marijuana book are yours 🙂
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Hmmm, well… I’ll own the food books but the AC/DC is mine, and although I’m an aspiring gardener I prefer to eat rather than smoke any weeds I grow. The G:O. although a smoker of tobacco – still battling to give up – may have indulged in younger days, assures me the marijuana book is a classic. Hmmm.
I love the Nigel Slater for its simplicity – there’s always room for improvement in my kitchen 🙂
If I had a few acres I’d be looking for a grow your own wine grapes book.
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I’m still missing notifications of your posts! But as you see, I do eventually catch up, and even think of you between times … Have you caught yo with Jo Watson (?, memory … I think that’s her name) going about photographing and telling Newtown stories – Humans of Newtown I think.
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I hadn’t heard of “Newtown stories – Humans of Newtown” but I just Googled it – thanks – and found the Facebook page. Interesting. People-watching in Newtown, and surrounds is eye-opening. It’s a great neighbourhood.
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