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On the balcony
Sitting out with Wookie wondering if it will rain, when this noisy kookaburra lands, making a racket. They’re so big with these massive heads! He’s about half the size of Wookie! Pretty cool though. Chubby too. They live well out here. Continue reading
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5AM
I can hear a cock crowing. I’m at my desk working out a simpler version of the organ parts in No Woman No Cry. Mike is asleep. So is Wookie, in his fluffy cubby hole under my feet. Want to play this for our next shows in north Queensland — Mackay and Emerald — in… Continue reading
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Nita’s borlotti beans
My cousin Nita is Italian and grows borlotti beans in her garden. She gave me some to plant, and I recently cooked some for the first time. I love when a new shoot appears from the ground, it’s like: Yes! We are doing this! This one started last year. Then it became this. I left… Continue reading
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Mum’s Chinese rice bowl
I was in the kitchen about to have some yoghurt, when out of the blue I thought about my late mum. I went into our “dungeon”, the space underneath our home, and found a box with sets of her Chinese rice bowls. I had kept two sets, one with a yellow pattern, and the other… Continue reading
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My Little Old Man
Wookie has an awesome moustache and lovely old man grey eyebrows. He is a Havanese with “tricolour points”. I don’t know much about this but there’s a lot about Havanese colour variations on this site Havanese ABCs. My little old man. Love him ❤️ Continue reading
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My first wontons!
Mike wanted to make wontons. Which meant he made two misshapen ones, and then left me to make the rest … But he’s the one who bought wonton wrappers and keeps the kitchen stocked with sesame oil, shaoxing wine, shiitake mushrooms and whatnot. And he gets me to grow Thai basil, chilli plants, lemon grass.… Continue reading
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Bird of Paradise! New plant
My neighbours Niven and Joan are an older couple, who aren’t that interested in their front garden. I offered to help them prune back their Bird of Paradise plants, which were getting pretty overcrowded. I started deadheading some. They completely neglect these beautiful flowers and they grow like mad, and so big! So I asked… Continue reading
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Bread! New add to the mornings
Ahh… I love having the mornings to myself. Do some gardening, walk Wookie, practise piano. Maybe get small chores done, before lessons start at 4pm. Although we won’t start until the school term begins. I made wholemeal bread today, and really want to add this to the mornings! Feels so good to do and tastes… Continue reading
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Are we finished now?
I finished teaching and put the piano lid down. Wookie’s head popped out. “Are we finished now?” ☺️ Continue reading
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Roaring Lion in Kooralbyn; My Two Worlds Meet
“You drive so much for us, Jo. We should come out to you. There’s a practice scheduled the week after the Nundah show. If you could find us some place to jam, maybe we can come out and make a weekend of it.” Maui. Lead guitarist, Roaring Lion That’s how this all started. Roaring Lion… Continue reading
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What the World Needs Now — Wookie video
Wookie LOVES being on my lap at the piano. This is so nice to do. It really might become a regular feature. Of course I can’t play much, but really, who cares? Wookie will end up taking requests I bet. 🐾 Continue reading
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By the lake
Good morning world. It’s a great morning to roll in what the ducks left for me. Have a woofsome day! Wookie 🐾 Continue reading
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Meanwhile, lettuce in Kooralbyn
They’re doing alright without me. Well done Mike (although he says he’s done nothing) 🤣 Continue reading
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Butterhead lettuce
I grew a few types of lettuce last year, and noticed the butterhead survived the bugs better than the others. Maybe they don’t like butterhead? Anyway I left one to flower and it made loads of fluffy dry heads, a bit like little dandelions. Earlier this year I carefully sowed some into a tray, lined… Continue reading
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The Grande Dame arrives
Last week I wrote about my Beale going to a new home. Well that sure did happen and I was texting photos like this to Hanna saying, “They’re taking it now!” Later, she sent back… I’ve said before that buying the Beale felt like putting down roots in Australia – I wouldn’t buy an acoustic… Continue reading
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My Beale is going to a new home ❤️
Buying my little Bijou Beale piano in 2017 symbolised a commitment to making roots in Australia. She was made in 1951, had a lot of TLC and I loved playing her. She’s going to a new home in Logan Village with some lovely people I know. Next time I see her will be via Zoom… Continue reading
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Piano Man. Taking the panel off my Beale — video
I removed the front panel of my Beale piano! I thought it would be fun to see all those moving hammers. Some of my students don’t know what’s inside an old-fashioned piano, so I played a short version of Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’, the quintessential pub piano bar song, for my kids. Here are a… Continue reading
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First koala sighting
This is my first time seeing a koala in the wild, thanks to a friend who took me onto his property. I’m very grateful. Continue reading
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Reshaping the hammers of my Beale piano
I started to learn piano when I was six, and we lived in London. When I was seven we moved, and the lessons stopped. There was a gap until we settled in Hampshire. The third piece of big furniture my mother bought, after beds and a dining set, was a second-hand upright piano for me.… Continue reading
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Snake killer
My neighbour Niven feeds our local birds. Now this kookaburra visits me when I put out the laundry. “Kookaburras kill snakes,” Niven said as he placed small chucks of minced meat on the wall. Kookaburras, magpies, and some others (maybe butcherbirds and plovers?) swoop down. So the idea is that if they’re around, maybe the snakes… Continue reading
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Bunya nuts, bush tucker
Mike came back from golf. He called from the door. “Hey, I need your gardening gloves!” Really? Why? “Bunya Bunya, come!” In the car were these massive cones, which had fallen off a Bunya tree. Blimey, wouldn’t want one of them falling on my head. No wonder he wanted my gloves to carry them. Mike… Continue reading
About Joanna
Joanna is British Australian. She worked mainly in financial news in London. In her forties she moved to her parents’ birthplace, Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. She became a pianist at the Jesselton Hotel in Kota Kinabalu and wrote a blog about musicians, which was popular among Sabahans at home and abroad. The blog was turned into a coffee table book when the Ministry of Tourism and Culture expressed interest. Joanna came to Australia in 2012. This is her second blog.
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