Yesterday….

Yesterday was Monday.  A Monday that couldn’t make up it’s mind.  Dry and sunny or dull damp and cool.  Just an Autumn day in Melbourne.

I had a ‘coffee date’ with an old friend- a longer friendship than the one from last week – a much simpler friendship going back to ‘when our children were at school together’. We are of a similar age, both of us 1940’s babies raised in post war Britain so can laugh and reminisce about similar events and lifestyle.  Today’s cool morning had us camped on the cafe’s couch next to the fire in fits of laughter over a picture I gleaned from f/b.  Most of us (children) had worn them plus a vest (singlet) – with open coal fires and no central heating most of us needed the extra warmth they provided!

After days of much needed rain, middle of the day sunshine showed me some of the very neglected roses had decided on a last hurrah before their final descent into winter hibernation. 

Somewhere in my ‘files’ I’ve a ‘plan’ (lol a rough sketch with black blobs where a rose was put in the ground) with the names of them all. They all had names attached (on tags) when planted, don’t ask me to identify them now as I’ve no idea….except the big blousey ones (like the pale pink pictured) are Austen’s! I really must spend some time out there tidying things up – this year is flying by so quickly it won’t be long before they need their winter haircut.

Unscheduled afternoon trips often provide ‘smiley moments’.  Coming back from Yarra Glen in the late afternoon (under dark low lying clouds) we were approaching Dame Nelly Melba’s ‘cottage’ on the Melba Highway when I saw our landmark.  The Dandenongs!  

“The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km (22 mi) east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandenong_Ranges

The long straggling range is just up the road from us in the outer eastern suburbs.  No matter which way we approach Melbourne, as soon as we see them we know we’re nearly home.

And there right at the ‘end’ were the TV masts.

I was smiling because there was only about 15 minutes to go and I could get that longed for cuppa while looking at the very same from our back deck!

Love ’em or hate ’em, there’s no use complaining, you just have to accept them and enjoy whatever crops up on Autumn days in Melbourne – just as I did yesterday 😊😎