Winter on Pittwater is beyond glorious. We spent a lovely sunny day with our friend Lucienne and her generous mother Cherie at Cherie’s home in the bush. It is a short ferry ride from our home to hers but it feels like a world away, no cars to be seen or heard in this stunning, boat access only, bay. It was a day of shared cooking, festivating and feasting together with visits from unexpected and opportunistic diners and tea drinking friends. A day that reminded us all of the pleasure it is to be alive and able to share our selves. It certainly helped that Cherie’s home is exquisite and that every direction you look your eyes are met with beauty, be it a tray of sparklingly clean glasses, a wall of fine art, her Chinese red leather chair or beautifully framed outlooks onto nature, days like these make me very grateful for life and loved ones.
A native Firewheel tree provided these spectacular flowers and since the bush abounds with ravenous wallabies, possums, bush rats and goanna fruiting shrubs must be contained; hence the beautiful bird cages. Below are a few of Cherie’s beautiful botanic watercolours and her colourful palette.
Lucienne and I took to the kitchen and while she made silky linguine India and I made side dishes. Together we cooked cockles and muscles alive alivo and the meal was delightfully shared.
This insistent goanna muscled in too and caused a fair bit of a stir before the sun began to sink and it was time to pack up, return the shells to the water and take tea on the deck and a boat ride home.
