November a social whirl

Wicked Women’s Christmas Event

November must surely nudge March as the best fun month in Adelaide. Take my November social calendar as an example of a typical Adelaidean’s merry-go-round of fun. We didn’t need to be in Melbourne to gather in our thousands in myriad venues, in my case in the luxurious Springfield home of a friend, where we watched the race in the Home Theatre. I lost money on both sweeps, of course, but the fashion stakes of the day were won equally by tourism doyen Regina Twiss in her stunning lime green hat and evergreen real estate agent, Ros Neale in gorgeous George Gross red suit.

For Francophiles, November heralds the once-a-year French celebrations of the year’s French Beaujolais, a light red wine which is released to great merriment on the third Thursday of the month around the world. At Adelaide’s Alliance Francaise about 100 people gathered to announce it was the best drop to date.

I took four female friends – all dedicated Francophiles – with my French teacher, Elsa (on the left) to join a hearty crowd of Adelaide’s French-Australian community. This year the French vintage, an excellent light red, was from …………..

Samela Harris – a picture of joy at the Lyceum Club

Meanwhile, on a more formal note, former Advertiser colleague and just retired, colourful journalist Samela Harris, joined the professional women’s club, the Lyceum Club to great aplomp.

At chez moi, we Wicked Women of the Media, welcomed Christmas with a wonderful lunch where everyone brought a dish. Wicked Women means we left our mark on the media world in which we slaved for many years of our lives. More than 100 years between the seven of us. Turkey, salads, salmon pikelets and a cheese platter were followed by Stollen and lashings of champagne and wines. Ho Ho Ho, we had a happy time.

It is seldom I have any L’art de la table to brag about, but I am rather proud of the simple table setting for the lunch. The centre piece is a simple collection of two of my memorial garden roses – French Lace (named after my wedding dress), a few daisies, ivy leaves and flowers from the hedge. Voila! See my foods blog for my artistic main course, while the other wicked gals – Celia Painter, Pat Gardner, Chris Ostermann, retired media veteran, Margaret Brenton, newly retired Tiser journalist Samela Harris and Sue Mapp (former Variety Club chef Sue Fraser all brought accompanying dishes. Almost four hours later, the girls dispersed, filled with Christmas cheer, having spent the time telling colourful stories of the media characters we all rubbed shoulders with down through the years.