Loving Hut

I'm getting spoiled.  I slept until 8:00.  It rained all through the night and through the morning.  It even hailed a little bit.  I couldn't make myself go out in it.   I read my Bible readings and wrote some postcards to mail home. About 12:30 I cleaned up and dressed for the day.  Lunch today was watermelon, almonds, and a raw food bar.

I met a lady named Dale down in the shop.  She works for Bruce on Fridays.  She has been 100% raw foodie for a year.

I took the bus to Elsterwick Station and then the train into the city.  At Flinders Street Station I caught a tram up Swanston Street to the State Library of Victoria.  Dale had recommended the library as being worth seeing.  It was a beautiful building...people everywhere...on the lawn...at the computers...in the reading rooms.   I spent my time there in the exhibit called As Modern As Tomorrow.  It featured the works of the commercial photographers of post-WWII Melbourne.  One of the photographs was of a young model named Jeanette Elphick.  She was known as "The Face".   When Bob Hope toured Australia he saw her and encouraged her to come to Hollywood.  She did, and in 1955 contracted with Columbia Pictures.  She became known in the United States as Victoria Shaw.

State Library of Victoria

I walked around the streets headed back toward the train station.  I found a Post Office and mailed my post cards.  Melbourne is known for it's coffee.  There are coffee shops everywhere, but so far I have not sampled any of this famous coffee.  I did stop into the A 136 Coffee Shop on Elizabeth Street and ordered a fresh squeezed orange juice, though.  It was really good.  By this time it was quite cold and rainy, so I high-tailed it to the train station and made my way back to Bruce's shop.

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice at A 136 Coffee on Elizabeth  Street, Melbourne

Ada picked up Dale and me at 7:00 to go to dinner at a vegan restaurant called Loving Hut.  Nick met us there.  I ordered two raw dishes, the Burmese Salad and the Fruit Smoothie.  Ada ordered a cooked soup with noodles.  We shared food, so I ate some of Ada's soup.  Everything was good.  The staff was friendly and interacted with us.  The 80 year old grandmother was visiting from China.  She cleared our table and refilled our glasses, but she didn't speak a word of English.  You should have seen her face when Nick greeted here and said a few words in Chinese.

Dale, Me, and Ada

Nick and Restaurant Owner/Manager

Burmese Salad

Fruit Smoothies

It was a nice evening with lots of sharing about the different schools of thought on diet and lifestyle. I still like John Fielder's simple approach that emphasizes the things God has freely provided for all...simple, natural food you can grow yourself, pure water, fresh air, sunshine, exercise from working, avoiding the stress of the world, and prayer.  And to recognize the things we don't need, such as packaged and marketed items that are supposed to improve on what nature has already provided.  The free things provided by God are enough.

It was an enjoyable evening.  The people here have certainly shown me more hospitality that I could have ever expected.  I wish they would all come to Arkansas and let me reciprocate.