They don’t surf. They’re not fat and don’t ride motorcycles to camps or dormitories to prepare meals on a big scale with odd ingredients. They don’t go into other people’s kitchens and swear a lot. They don’t cook in the nude (that’s the Naked Chef, for those who lost us on that one.) And, they don’t Bite (still with us?). They’re simply local Melbourne Hungry Girls – elegantly and quietly preparing home-cooked meals for their loved ones, growing their own veggies and sharing their recipes via the Hungry Girls’ Cookbook. Each exquisite book is hand stapled, stitched and glued, and printed on 100%Australian recycled paper, and contains a selection of recipes: from carrot fritters to orange and spice biscuits.

For a while there it looked like Melbourne’s precious public Italianess was reduced to Bianchi bikers. Three years ago the Lygon Street Festa ceased to exist, and was subsumed by a bike race - that ended in Lygon Street. But, the Festa’s back. This weekend, there’s Liberace and Jerry Lewis impersonators (the latter Italian by association with Deano presumably), sausage- and wine-making demonstrations and street theatre. All the shops’ll be open; there’ll be stalls; children, nonnas and parents will take over the roads, and we can all rest assured that this city can still throw a decent party.

G’day. My name is Jack , and I run Footpath Astronomy (see 16 Oct post) with my partner Vicki. The photo is of our 9-year-old neighbour Sophie.

Footpath Astronomy is about:
• Sharing our equipment - not many people have access to a telescope
• Sharing knowledge - using my 30 years’ experience in astronomy to answer questions as honestly and accurately as possible
• Getting more people to put their heads above the clouds

Each month I will be writing an update for Slow, to give you an idea of what’s visible through our telescope. Over the summer months we’ll be showing star clusters, nebulae and white dwarf stars. What on earth do these things mean? Well, first of all they’re not on Earth, they’re out in space, and, secondly, you’ll have to watch this space, or just come down to have a chat about it with us.

So what’s going in November? Venus is visible throughout November. As it swings around the sun and moves towards us, its ‘night-side’ turns to face us, so it appears larger and shines a brilliant white.

Jupiter is slowly heading towards the western horizon, and will be lost to the glare of twilight by mid- to late December. So get in quick if you want to see the bands of Jupiter’s atmosphere, and the Dance of the Four Galilean Moons (the four largest moons of Jupiter), visible on the 19th, 21st, 26th and 28th. Another great sight to see is The Great Red Spot, visible on the 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 22nd, 24th, 27th and 29th.

We run Footpath Astronomy in a fun and friendly environment; I want to make your visit as enjoyable as possible. We’re looking forward to seeing you soon. We promise you a sight to remember.

On any given day most of us read the newspaper, a dozen or so emails, bills or guff from service providers, maybe a blog and a few internet sites. All this information and news bricks in the day, leaving very little room for any little pieces of light to peak through. Make time to hold a copy of Harvest in your hands, a new Australian literary periodical, and you’re guaranteed to start seeing between the cracks - where all sorts of interesting things grow. Including poetry, prose, photography, illustrations and Finger Twister, it’s a nice slow release from the day-to-day.