Superb Sydney

I don’t know how traditions get started but somehow in the years since we’ve known Peter and Katherine, the tradition of a gin and tonic at sundown has become an established part of life whenever we’re together.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  The sundowner has become an anticipated and enjoyable prelude to an evening where good conversation mixed with reminiscences around the dinner table are surpassed only by the laughter.

Last weekend was no exception.  Driven down from the mountains by the deluge, we enjoyed a full and sociable weekend with Peter and Katherine in the city of Sydney.  Some decades ago, we lived and worked together in Hong Kong and have remained firm friends over the years.  Their son Charles is much the same age as our daughter Sarah and now that we all live on the same continent, it’s possible to get together more frequently.  Katherine is a sculpturer (is that the right word?) and potter in ceramics.  Her work is shown in galleries in NSW, Queensland and overseas.  When we arrived she was (in addition to other work) in the middle of making an order of almost 500 ceramic buttons and of course, we were recruited to assist with the lesser artistic side of things.  We agreed that it was quite therapeutic getting messy with clay.  After the firing we were amazed how the dull and flat pieces of clay had been changed into glossy and attractive pieces.  Kim glazed her very own pot and that is now carefully wrapped and tucked away safely in the back of the Land Rover.

 

We took the opportunity to see the exhibition of work by Anish Kapoor, having seen his enormous piece ‘the cloud’ in Chicago last year.  The way in which he manages to use space seems to deceive the brain, making depth appear flat and straight lines curved. 

  

Fortunately there was time for socialising.  Breakfast with friends old and new at Dee Why followed by a gentle stroll along the beach was a terrific start to Sunday morning. 

Dinner with Alan and Fiona in their apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour was very special.  The view over the water as the sun sunk slowly into dusk was just as spectacular as the guidebooks would have us believe. 

An added bonus was seeing Sarah, who had flown down for the weekend to catch up with her friend Leanne.  We all got together on Saturday evening for dinner preceded of course by the sundowner.  It looks like the G&T tradition might well be extending to a new generation.