home | Local Time: 23rd February, 2012 10:50 AM
Spring 2011...
Most of you will know that my husband Trevor and I and moved from Sydney to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales just over 18 months ago. It's a truly sensational part of the world and we love it, and so do our many visitors - and yes, there are still lots of them! Sometimes when they come up here we drag ourselves away from the pool and the beach and go to local events, which have something of a novelty value for us city slickers. So when mum and dad (Alan and June Carter) came up for a weekend in early November, I suggested that we all went to Grafton and join in the 5km fun run/walk that's part of the Jacaranda Festival.
None of us had been to Grafton when the Jacaranda Festival was on, but we'd seen photos and trees looked stunning. Dad has a Shelley pin dish that commemorates the Festival, and he said he'd always wanted to see it for himself, so on the Sunday morning we left home at 7am for the hour's drive north.
I'd had a look on the web site for the information on the walk, and there was a little map on there that showed the streets it went around. Not being overly familiar with Grafton or where the main streets were with the jacarandas, I had no idea of the exact location of the event in relation to the blossoming trees, but given that it's part of the Jacaranda Festival I assumed the course went where the trees were.
During the course of our 5km walk, we saw a total of 3 jacaranda trees. They were in people's gardens, and to view one of them we had to crane our heads around the side of the house. Mind you, to get to the site of the event we'd driven through a street in Grafton that was simply packed with purple flowers wherever you looked. So why, we wondered, don't they run the event down THAT street? After we'd finished the walk (we came dead last, probably because we spent extra time searching out jacaranda trees), we drove back to the street we'd passed earlier in the morning, got out of the car and admired the bed of purple. And decided we'd probably give the walk a miss next year. But having said that, the town itself is just glorious when the jacarandas are out, and we did have a fantastic breakfast at a local café, so it was worth the drive - just not the walk!
Don't worry if you're not really into exercise, because we've got plenty of summer reading for you this issue. Numismatics specialist Greg McDonald sparks a great discussion on Australian commemorative coins, and after you've read it you might be tempted to check your pockets - some of the common coins are worth more than the special releases! Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, so we thought it was good time to look at royal commemorative memorabilia and the history behind it. And in the spirit of romance, Corrie Allegro looks at the 3D Valentine's Day card, which puts most of today's efforts to shame. Eric Knowles gives an insight into the development of the perfume bottle as designed by Rene Lalique, and specialist dealer Aleta Curry analyses the glass market and provides her predictions for the year ahead.
It's been an interesting year for the world of antiques and collectables, with Alan Carter producing his final Price Guide and the ABC Collector's programme going off-air, along with its accompanying magazine. Let's hope the new year brings some exciting new developments! There's plenty of activity out there in terms of new shops opening and stock being imported, bought and sold, so why not join in the thrill of the chase and seek out that one thing that's eluded you for your collection.
Because it really is true that it's the things you don't buy that you most regret...