Glorious Hibiscus

This magic blossom opened today. It's actually a deep apricot with a bright red centre and yellow stamen.

June 9th - Donald Duck's Birthday

One of the most popular of the Disney cartoon characters, Donald Duck made his debut in the Silly Symphony cartoon "The Wise Little Hen" on June 9, 1934. His fiery temper endeared him to audiences, and in the 1940s he surpassed Mickey Mouse in the number of cartoons reaching the theaters. Eventually, there were 128 Donald Duck cartoons, but he also appeared in a number of others with Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto. PHOTO from train THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN His middle name, shown in a wartime cartoon, is Fauntleroy. Clearly, the most significant factor that led to Mickey's super-stardom was his optimistic, cheerful, resilient character -- one very much like Walt's. The original voice of Donald was Clarence "Ducky" Nash, who was succeeded after 50 years by Disney artist Tony Anselmo. A daily Donald Duck newspaper comic strip began on February 7, 1938.

Now, you might ask why I consider Donald's birthday worthy of note. Ah - let me regale you with the sights and tales of a Christmas spent above the Arctic Circle in Sweden - at Abisko TuristStation.
We flew to Stockholm from Paris and took the fast train into Central Station where we caught the overnight train to the far North of Sweden - a 16 hour trip. We were in a cabin with 2 young men who were going home for Christmas and although we were in berths, none of us slept much what with the train stopping and letting off the many holiday-goers.
Upon arrival in Abisko, the manager and his young son, took all of our luggage in his four-wheel drive while all of us staying there hiked through the snow up to the lodge. For Christmas all guests were in the main lodge - quite large and modern. The other buildings were opened later in February for groups of Japanese and others who would come for the cross country skiing.
We had a nice room with an ensuite - Garry soon found the sauna in the building - there was also one about a km down on the lake's edge but when the wind is blowing 15/metres a second you sort of use the closest one. There was a shop and you could rent or buy cross-country skiing equipment, clothing and all kinds of snacks, drinks and souvenirs. It PHOTO TAKEN FROM TRAIN ON WAY SOUTH was very cold (you are in the Arctic) but our clothes did very well. Nancy, I wore polar fleece pants with thermals underneath and a pair of nylon windbreakers on top and was toasty warm. Our ten dollar thermal boots from the sports shop in Houston worked a treat - the tread was perfect on ice.
As you can see from the photos - we thoroughly enjoyed the food, the surroundings and everything. We didn't get to see an aurora but there's always the future. We were supposed to visit a Norwegian town to go out on a whaling boat but the wind was blowing so hard that day that there was a white-out on the road and the bus couldn't get through. We visited a Sami village nearby which was kept for it historical value. The Samis herd their reindeer mostly by helicopter nowadays. The lake is huge and has good fishing in the summer months. They have a good program during their summer and lots of hiking. It's a lovely area.















PHOTO OF SOME FROZEN WATER FALLS

PHOTO OF THE LAKE AT ABISKO - TAKEN WITH COLOUR DIGITAL-IT WAS REALLY BLACK AND WHITE ON THE DAY

A Bit About Mumbai

We didn't plan to go to Mumbai - but the plane couldn't land in New Delhi because of the ground mist - so... If you want all the gory details just ask. The following article appeared in my news page today and it sums up what is actually happening today in India, what people told us and what we saw.

Poverty masks huge enterprise in Asia's biggest slum

By Krittivas MukherjeeSun Jun 10, 11:39 PM ET

The first sight for anyone flying into India's richest city is a sea of corrugated and tarpaulin-covered roofs beside a narrow, filth-choked river.

It is an aerial view of Dharavi, considered Asia's biggest shantytown, two square km (0.8 square miles) of open sewers, muddy lanes and ramshackle tenements that is home to almost a million people.

But strip away its squalid veneer and Dharavi bares a unique entrepreneurial spirit, and multi-million dollar micro-businesses, that breaks all the stereotypes of a slum.

Past scavenging crows feeding on dead rats, past children scampering through trash, one arrives at the plastic recycling factory of Nisar Ahmed.

Here, half a dozen men toss plastic boxes into massive grinders that chop them into tiny pieces and melt them down into multicolored pellets, ready to be cast into, perhaps, cheap plastic toys.

"Dharavi has a huge plastic recycling industry, and we are one of the biggest," Ahmed told Reuters sitting in his soot-blackened, one-room factory with a tangle of electric wires hanging from the roof.

"There are other industries as well like chemical, pottery, soap-making, leather goods, electrical equipment and many more."

A RICH SLUM

Arguably the most prosperous among the world's biggest shantytowns, Dharavi has about 5,000 single-room factories and hundreds of cottage industries that together have a turnover of around $1 billion.

Practically every home here produces something to sell - incense sticks, poppadoms, pickles, soft toys and candles among the many crafts.

"Most know Dharavi as a slum where poor people live," said Abu Khalid Anjum, president of Dharavi Businessmen's Welfare Association. "Not everyone knows how productive this place is."

In Dharavi, leather is the main product, much of which is exported to the Middle East.

Then there are the foundries, which make everything from buckles to brass fittings. Gold jewelers sit next to people making junk-metal ornaments, bakers and potters, clothiers and cobblers, motor welders and paint makers and countless other craftsmen.

There is, however, a dark side as well to Dharavi's entrepreneurial spirit -- a thriving black market for drugs and fake fashion goods and electronics, run by some of Dharavi's disaffected youth organized into gangs.

A FISHING VILLAGE

Until the end of the 19th century, this area of Mumbai, then known as Bombay, was a mangrove swamp inhabited by Koli fishermen before migrants from southern and western India arrived to seek their fortune in the country's financial capital.

Over decades, Dharavi's "jhoparpattis" or slums became the first port of call for dispossessed workers and penniless Mumbai newcomers, resulting in the most diverse of neighborhoods in India's most diverse city.

Dharavi had once been on the northern fringe, but an expanding Mumbai sprawled toward the famous slum, eventually surrounding it and turning the once malarial swamp into a real estate goldmine worth an estimated $10 billion.

In recent years, prosperity has been trickling down to Dharavi's residents. There is 24-hour electricity and running water, and 2006 research shows 85 percent of households have a television, 56 percent a gas stove and 21 percent own a telephone.

But Dharavi has its problems as well. Residents are only too aware of the basic lack of necessities: health care, sanitation, education and even a lack of toilets which force many to suspend their dignity and squat without privacy on the roadside.

Many plans have been made for Dharavi's redevelopment, the latest a government move to tear down the slum and resettle 57,000 families in high-rise housing close to their current residences.

Each family is entitled to 225 square feet of housing, with its own indoor plumbing. In exchange for erecting the free dwellings, private firms can build for-profit housing and commercial space to be sold at market rates which rival real estate prices in New York and Tokyo.

But residents are not happy because they say their new apartments can't be turned into workshops and factories.

Authorities say under the new plan owners of small businesses will have to settle for smaller, alternative plots.

"They can keep making plans, but Dharavi will never change," said plastics factory owner Ahmed. "Are we to run our business from cubby holes?"

The head of India's National Slum Dwellers Federation says it could be years before the winds of change blow in Dharavi.

"Whatever it is Dharavi's micro-businesses will have to be saved," federation head Jockin Arputham said.

At Last...

Welcome to this first blog. Enjoy the scones in the recipe - they are great with a bit of butter and honey and served with scrambled eggs.
As I continue there will be lots of photos of our trip during last northern hemisphere's winter. We just had our first cold night this week here - and quickly we went to find the electric blanket. Last week I washed all the autumn clothes and got them ready - well - summer temperatures went straight to winter and so I'm pulling out the long sleeved tops and the long pants - not to mention closed-toe shoes instead of sandals. Today was warmer again but the wind is cold.
As you know most of Australia is in the worst drought in a hundred years. Fortunately our area gets lots of rain but the state is planning to pipe it to Brisbane and further south. We had beautiful rain last week and my tomatoes, capisicums, green beans and silver beet are all growing well. There are a few locusts still around but the cat, Shadow, kindly catches them and brings them in to be dispatched (then she hunts around wondering where they have gone!)
A busload of us (mini bus holds 21) went to visit Newstead House, the oldest house, in Brisbane last week. It was interesting. Some of the items in the house from the 1800's were an automatic tea pot - the earliest pumper pot-it looks like a regular china teapot but you pull the lid up and then push it down and the tea comes out of the spout; there was a bathtub shaped like a boot, enclosed and made for soaking in hot water which was poured into a special hole at the top of the front; then there was a copper flask, oblong and curved to fit around the lower back - it could be filled with hot water to ease a sore back.
After our tour the ladies of the foundation which manages the house served us a beautiful lunch on the verandah - sandwiches, fresh fruit platters and sponge cake with jam and whipped cream. Of course, there was hot coffee and tea.
Afterwards we drove around and saw many more old houses and stopped at a viewing spot high on a hill over looking the city, finishing off at DFO, a factory outlet mall.