Dog-Friendly: The Slow Food Farmers' Market, Abbotsford Convent, VIC

After searching hard online, I found that the Slow Food Farmers' Market held at the Abbotsford Convent welcomes (well-behaved) dogs (on lead)! I often do feel a bit hesitant bringing Angus anywhere as I don't often know what other people's reactions might be, but right at the St Heliers car park ($2 per entry) someone had already asked to pet him. When we got to the entrance of the market, the lady collecting the entrance fee remarked that Angus was going to have a great time as there were many other dogs at the market.


We spent about $60 (Gulp - more than we had expected), but the produce was amazing.
Purchases:
$14 on 2 tubs of pate (Duck & Grand Marnier, Venison & Muscat)
$ 7 on 160g broken blue cheese
$ 8.5 on a jar of roast pumpkin relish (yum!)
$ 8 on chestnuts
$18.5 on an amazing steak sandwich and snag roll with the works - cous cous, relish, beetroot etc etc etc!

The convent had some lovely, lovely grounds to walk about and have a picnic; we fumbled about our ginormous juicy sandwich and roll on a bench overlooking the grounds - very pretty (the grounds, that is. We were not a pretty sight!)

The market, the convent, and its grounds proved to be an ultra sensory experience for Angus- possibly overwhelmingly so:

Details: Slow Food Farmers' Market

When	4th Saturday of every month, 8am - 1pm
Where	Abbotsford Convent 1 St Heliers St Abbotsford VIC 3067
Entry	$2 entry goes to the Abbotsford Convent Foundation maintenance fund
Booking/Enquiries	www.mfm.com.au

Introducing the Dog-Friendly Blog Label

Not wanting to leave Angus home ALL by himself ALL the time, I try to find places to go or things we can do with our dog on the weekend. Our society, I’m afraid, discriminates between human children and canine children, and many places do not welcome dogs. It hasn’t been that easy looking up online for dog-friendly places, I have discovered.

Most dog-friendly places or activities listed online are either on dog-friendly accommodation, or dog-focused activities (dog parks, dog camp, etc etc). All I really want are things we can do, and Angus just tag along and socialise with other pooches, not necessarily dog-focused activities. If I wanted to focus on my dog, I’ll just take him to my local dog park or oval or nearby river trail.

And so, I have decided to post on places one can bring their canine companions; hopefully it may help someone along!

Bersih 2.0

Reflecting on the recent worldwide coverage (NYTimes, Al-Jazeera, ABCnews, CNN) on the Bersih rally, I must say I had and still do, to some extent, mixed feelings.

About the rally, about government, about the country itself.

At first I had doubts about the motive of Bersih - I had the impression that it was essentially a rally organised by the Opposition coalition. But as the page De-mystifying Bersih notes, invitation was extended to all political parties, including the ruling party, however was declined.

Should the Opposition coalition ever win the Malaysian elections, would it bite us back in the butt? I don't suppose I know enough of each political party's policies and ethos to understand how PAS, DAP and PKR can work together to run a country - it's easy to work together when there's a common enemy, but what happens when the enemy has been defeated? African nations have suffered decades of horrific civil wars after the 'foreigners' were defeated.

Could we imagine a Malaysia that is actually harmonious with a focus on equality regardless of race or religion? A Malaysia that is bersih?

With all that is happening, a part of me feels incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to live in Australia, where the police are present to ensure safety and protection of the masses. But a part of me feels that I'm missing out on being a small part that could change history of the country I would always call my own.

Sometimes I feel what we can do isn't good enough - changing your facebook profile pic to include the Bersih badge, putting up a few #bersih tweets, forwarding some emails - but sometimes something is better than nothing.

I am only one;
but I AM one,
I cannot do everything,
but I CAN do something,
And that I can do, I ought to do,
And what I ought to do,
by the grace of God,
I shall do
- Edward Everett Hale

Dog-obsessed