LOOKING OUT AND LOOKING WITHIN

We arrived at the shack in the midst of a wild and woolly Friday night. The south westerly change was arriving with a full force and unleashing all its fury on the local coast and shaking our tiny shack so much I was sure that, this time, we would be flying through the air with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and in the morning find ourselves in the middle of a wheat paddock, with a farmer peering through the windows! But the shack has weathered 50 years or so of storms and having so much rust and so many holes, I suppose now the wind just rushes right on through, keeping it safely on its stumpy posts which protect it from termites and from sinking into the sandhill.

All night the wind howled and and the windows groaned and whistled.....until we sealed the air gaps with tape.....and the ceiling fan vibrated. Then the rain arrived, cutting a horizontal path from the horizon to our shack as if our verandah was not there at all. I hope all that rain continued to fall on the gardens in Adelaide but there was no forecast for such weather when we left home.

Saturday morning dawned bright, with patchy sun and a somewhat moderated wind and was perfect for a walk on the beach. The red cliffs to the north of our shack were streaked with runoff from the rain, having washed the dust and dirt from the dry, brown land above. The sea grasses, wrenched from their roots, have been deposited along the coast, in mounds. The sand on the beach has been scoured out in places, leaving rocks and stones exposed where previously there was smooth, white sand. By Christmas it will all be back to normal, such is the rhythm of the sea, and children will frolic on the white sands and in the clear, still water oblivious to the past fury.

So, now I am sitting here by the window of the shack trying to remember what it was I was going to write about......ah, yes.....

Roger and I went to the Fullarton Park Herb Day that Maggie wrote about a few days ago and afterwards we went around to "DoofDoof....The People Who Know Food Backwards" shop/cafe in Duthy Street. Great name, don't you think! Anyway, they have expanded and redecorated and I want to give them a plug because it is rare to find a place that offers the things that make a visit there a real pleasure. First amongst these is that Antony from Wilson's Organics works there..... but now he is quite serious instead of chatting merrily away and entertaining all the customers!

An abundance of fresh, local, organic vegetables and products, creatively displayed.....

Screens between the tables, interesting decorations and great coffee and muffins! .....

Collections of beaters, biscuit cutters, plates, trays etc to add a quirky feel....

 

 

 

But probably the thing I like best was that they brought us a bottle of cold water straight away..... It was nice to sit and quench our thirst a while and so we didn't mind the wait for the coffee!

 

 

 

Everywhere I went on my trip had its own culture but there is a kind of earthiness that exists across the nations and despite their differences which connects those of us who seek local, natural food, served in a way that reflects its origins and keeps the integrity of the raw materials as its focus. You can feel as at home here as in the cafe 'Lentil as Anything' in Melbourne or the one I went to with Melinda in Seattle or a tiny family-run restaurant in the back streets of  a village in France, if you care about where your food comes from, who has cooked it for you and can enjoy the tastes of the land in which you eat. It is all about staying in touch with and being close to the earth.

..........Now there are 3 or 4 dolphins messing about not far from the shore, straight out my window. We always see them here. The locals say it is a good place for fishing.....I guess you can't get much more local than a dolphin and they seem to agree!....