Well the weather in Canberra is finally warming up. So perhaps I will get a spring before my next winter, but potentially have no summer. But I am not here today to discuss the weather.

Yesterday I joined the mass of blue rinse, Zimmer Frame wheedling 'dears' heading for Floriade. This is Canberra's Spring Flower show. Not quite Chelsea, but lots of garden beds that are supposed to look like something. But I shall get to that in a minute.

My main reason for going was to see the Leonardo Da Vinci Machines exhibition. There is a touring show of his machines put together and the history of his life and invention. I heard about it on ABC 666 radio. I also heard about a Swedish Group called '1st Aid Kit' who sounded great. But again another story.

The Leonardo exhibition is in the grounds of Floriade, hence the reason for being at Floriade. Of course, like all good Canberra residents, I have been to Floriade before. I made my way around Regatta Point at a snail's pace with the crowds of personally labelled bus tour group participants. I expect this is an age thing as they need to be reminded of their name and tour group. More subtle than a Japanese tour group waving a little flag.

I got to Floriade early and to its credit, there was a Ferris Wheel which allowed me to actually see the flower bed displays from above. It helped a little in understanding the themes. However there was one bed of Tulips that was supposed to reflect the rising of a Ballerina's tutu as the flowers rose. This would have been an extremely slow Ballerina and would make the Hippos from Fantasia look more like Darcey Bussell. But from the Ferris Wheel I did see the Lolly Pop bed and the Elephant Bed. There was another bed with some kind of Bull's Eye and some checker boards. Even from the Ferris Wheel I did not understand the theme. Perhaps it was meant to reflect the juxtaposition of 1916 Tsarist Russia and the power play between the Bolsheviks and the Palace, with a side bouquet illustrating the secret flight of Princess Anastasia to America. Or perhaps it was just a white dot and some squares. (You be the Judge and check out the album)

Anyway at the Ferry Gate of Floriade there was a large Marquee with the Leonardo Exhibition. This I thoroughly enjoyed. He was an amazing thinker. The family spent 10 years travelling to Italy collecting copies of his writings and then building his machines. The completed tanks, boats and planes were interesting along with the siege machines. But what was particularly interesting is his work with gears and ball bearings. He was the ultimate problem solver. Simple things like a horizontal handling turning to move a vertical pole. This became the founding for the car steering mechanism. Putting balls between two rubbing surfaces that would otherwise wear down. And now there are thousands of uses for ball bearing joints etc. He really was the most amazing man even outside his paintings like the 'Mona Lisa' and 'Last Supper' which are well recognised.

After the Exhibition the crowd had continued to grow, and as lunch inside Floriade would cost the equivalent of the GDP of a small South American country, I decided to leave and go home for lunch. I spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and the evening watching TV and having a glass of Crouchen Riesling, Brown Brothers you still got it!!