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I'VE DONE IT... AUGUST

With the last few days of winter trying to make themselves known in my parts of the world, I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the last o...

With the last few days of winter trying to make themselves known in my parts of the world, I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the last of winter feasting.

katiecrackernuts.blogspot.com || rhubarb and blood orange crumble from Maggie Beer's Table

That includes making Maggie Beer's rhubarb and blood orange crumbles and possibly this weekend, on the nudge of Jan, a regular reader of my blog, marmalade for spreading thick on hot buttered sourdough toast.

Are you still enjoying winter fare or are you busting for summer dining?

IN AUGUST:

I WENT TO... Melbourne. It was a lightning visit for work. I wish I could say I did more and saw more. I also camped on Taronga Zoo's concert lawns with 800 Girl Guides for the organisation's annual Zoo Sleepout.

I ATE AT... Our new local, The Ferryman. I had the clam bake and it was deeeeeeee-licious, made all the better by a lovely shiraz and the knowledge of a stumble home had we wanted to kick on past a single glass.

While in Melbourne, I stayed close to work in North Melbourne and also ate close by, meaning I frequented Parkville Store for breakfasts; Naughtons Hotel for easy after-work drinks and snacks; and Auction Rooms, as recommended by a colleague, for lunch with a friend.

I OP SHOPPED... A 1950s black wool suit with pencil skirt and the most beautifully cut jacket. The collar, with rouched wool detailing, circles the shoulders, but modestly doesn't show them, just hinting at a collarbone.

Being black, it's hard to photograph, and before I do, it'll need a little stitch here and there to hold the rouching in place where it's come away.

I always wonder at the previous owner. The suit showed no signs of regular wear and surprisingly didn't hold the smell of mothballs or worse, cigarettes, so my best guess is it was worn by a woman my age or younger, given the length of the skirt and its tiny waist, to a funeral. Like a wedding gown, it was bought and worn for an occasion and could neither be thrown out, nor worn again.

I MADE... I am a few finishing stitches from finishing this cardigan. It's only been two-plus years in the making.

I READ... through the stack of overdue library books on my bedside table, starting with Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams; Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe; A Woman is No Man, by Etaf Rum; and,
The Eye of the Sheep, by Sofie Laguna.

The book to add to your bookshelf is Dark Emu. It should be read by every Australian and is an anthem not only for Indigenous recognition and acknowledgement of Indigenous culture, language and science, but it's an important book to read in the midst of an unprecedented and inescapable climate crisis.

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