Photo challenges – Page 2

October 18, 2020June 14, 2021

Seen In Melbourne…..

I’ve had great fun discovering all these old photos….these are from 2010
(Taken for an online ‘photo challenge’ – things beginning with E)

On one of those (now rare days) when I had to go up to the city – with lots of time to spare before my train home – I was able to have a look at (and photograph) some of the landmarks in the city known in the late 1800s as Marvellous Melbourne

Flinders Street Station
One of our most easily recognised ‘Entrances and Exits’
right on the intersection of Flinders Street, Swanston Street and St Kilda Road.

For many years this was the place to meet
‘Meet you on the steps under the clocks’
was the saying.
The clocks are those above the entrance and related to each of the train lines
giving the time of the next one on that line
as well as the platform it would leave from
‘In the name of progress’ they have been replaced
by an electronic board inside the forecourt

Diagonally across the road on one of the corners of Swanston Street
is St Paul’s Cathedral

This is the Great West Door from the street
(strange angle I know but the footpath wasn’t level!)

and from the inside looking out showing off the beautiful stain glass

Further up Swanston Street is the heritage listed Manchester Unity Building

Now just inside in the lobby was this banks of doors – are they entrances or exits??
Of course they are for the Lifts
( Elevators in other parts of the world)

Imagine waiting there and being able to admire the handiwork of the doors as well as the mosaic mural of the shield and motto of the company.

Then it was back across the road to Collins Street
I wanted to see the heritage listed Regent Theatre
with its glamorous wide stepped entrance foyer

We’ve been to many shows/performances here and it is a grand feeling
walking up those stairs admiring the chandeliers and the striking set of windows
going through the big double doors
then making your way into one of nicest theatres in town

Time to make our way home and for some its time for a drink.
Well not for me – but right acoss from the station is the heritage listed pub.
Young and Jacksons

Nicely situated, ready to quench the thirst of many a worker on a hot day
Home to Chloe

I could see the reflection of the station across the way In the door windows
and wondered how many had walked in
‘Just for a quick one’
before crossing the road to catch their train home

I’m also wondering just how long it will take for our beautiful city
to once again be known as Marvellous Melbourne !

Linking to Elephant’s Child for this weeks Sunday Selections.
Also – Travel Tuesday – My Corner of the World – Our World Tuesday

October 4, 2020June 14, 2021

Afternoon Tea with a difference

Some more photos from the archives plus a little story to go with them.
Joining in with Elephant’s Child and others for Sunday Selections

Years ago bloggers had loads of fun organising ‘virtual’ events.
A bit like pandemic events these days – just like in real life except online😊

One of these was to be an Afternoon Tea.
So when I was talking about this to a friend she laughed and said
‘that sounds lovely…fabulous fun!
then followed up with ‘ but wouldn’t an actual tea party be lovelier?
We could have cake and little tiny sandwiches with no crusts
and cups of tea and all that!
And you know what, we could have it outside in the garden 😊

So I let her run with the idea just to see what she’d come up with
First of all she fancied ‘Low Tea’
Served on a low table on the deck
http://www.wikihow.com/Serve-Low-Tea

Then it was to set a little table up down near the garden – Champagne Tea she called it.
No cakes and pastries- just strawberries and cream and drinkies!

But not everything went to plan.
It was supposed to be a nice day but somehow the weather didn’t turn out to be that good. Just as I had everything set up a very fine rain started to come down
Strawberries ready to go – the roses were looking good

Then my dear friend (yes the very same one I’ve been talking about recently) walked in the door not feeling too well
No food had been prepared so she’d made a quick change of plan

And had popped into the local bakery – hey presto
Cream Tea – casual home style

A cream tea (also known as a Devonshire tea, Devon cream tea or Cornish cream tea)is tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream, and jam

We ended up on the deck having scones, whipped cream and jam (with butter for me).
Plus a few chocolate bits I had in the cupboard
Fabulous Fun!

Click the small photos to enlarge

September 20, 2020June 14, 2021

Z is for….Sunday Selections

It’s amazing what you find when you’re thinking about something else. I’d had the letter Z on my mind (yes, that book challenge) when these jumped out at me as I was going through some 2009 photo folders from an old (as in defunct) blog.

Z is for Zygocactus
also known as Schlumbergara
aka Christmas Cactus

They are hardy pot plants that seem to grow wherever you want them to
Break a piece off – pot it up in some dirt
and very soon you’ll have a new plant.

These plants were all started from cuttings
taken from friends or neighbours plants

I had them growing in containers that hung over the railing of the deck.
happy to be there most of the year.
though I did put them in the shade if the sun became too hot.

There were several plants in each of the long boxes
and if nature got the timing right

and they all bloomed together.
it looked like a ribbon of pink all the way along.

You know at first glance these plants appear to be a jumble of gnarly old stems
each with a flower at the end
But if you look carefully
you will see that the most delicate of blooms are growing there.

Up in the Northern Hemisphere they are often called Christmas Cactus
‘cose thats about the time when they seem to flower. Not so down here in Melbourne these photos were taken in October
right at the end of our Winter – beginning of Spring

These are beautiful plants often regarded as common and hum drum looking
What do you think?

Joining in with Elephant’s Child and others for Sunday Selections

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

Zygocactus

September 6, 2020June 14, 2021

Seen in Mooroolbark…..Sunday Selections

Mooroolbark, Victoria.
Hookey Reserve Charles Street
January 2018

One of the nearby suburbs Mooroolbark has a community brochure called Living Today which highlights lots of interesting bits and pieces going on in the area. Way back in 2015 it had an article about an installation in Hookey Park….the open space/play area dedicated to a local identity John Hookey.
Large metal native/indigenous bird sculptures called The Flock were going to be placed in the park and after seeing this page and associated article I had it in mind to take a look see next time I was over there at the library……right next door 🙂
Of course you know what happens when you say that – yes it was over two years before I remembered to go (or should that be put my camera in the car when I went)

You will probably need to use the two finger pinch/spread method to enlarge the article

It was a bright summer’s day when I finally saw them, some perched up high on poles keeping watch over the neighbourhood …

Others big and bold in amongst the greenery

Just the places you’d often see them….

Australian Raven often mistaken for a Crow

Close by….

Once the library reopens I am planning to have another look at The Flock. I’d go sooner but it’s out of bounds at the moment because of ‘you know what’ 😊

Joining in with Sue at Elephant’s Chid for this weeks Sunday Selections

https://www.weekendnotes.com/hookey-park-in-mooroolbark/168376/

August 30, 2020June 14, 2021

Lift up my eyes – Sunday Selections

Joining in with Sue (Elephants Child) for today’s edition of Sunday Selections

This is the view from the end of my street
taken on a bright sunny day

Another view taken on a different day
When I’m feeling energetic this is one of my walks.
Along the tree lined (main) road that makes its way up to Montrose in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges (which you can see in the distance)

There are houses lining both sides of the road as well as small streets that lead to the estates that sprung up as the original orchards were sold off in the middle of the last century 1950s/1960s.

At certain times of the day it can be busy but somehow still have the feel of a country road. There is that barrier of trees between the footpath and the road that sort of gives a feeling of protection to the walker

Believe it or not is a pleasant place to walk. Maybe it’s the fact that the path meanders along and hasn’t been set out in a straight line or it could be the closeness of all those gum trees but I always feel much better after making my way along here and back home again.

Here we are at my ‘short walk’ turn around place – its 1km up to here from home so that gives me a 2km walk (about 1.25 miles). And look, there were sunny blues skies on this day which lifted my spirits enormously

And looking back down the way I came I wonder
Which way shall I go home? There’s more than one 😊

~ ~ ~ ~.
As a footnote
Each time I take this short walk and see the hills in the distance
I remember this from my younger more regular church going days

Psalm 121 – King James Version

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth,
and even for evermore.

June 14, 2020June 14, 2021

One thing leads to another…..

We’ve all heard the ‘joke’ about starting one thing which then leads to another thing and on and on, well something I saw at the park a couple of weeks ago, followed by something in the garden had my mind working in a similar way.

This mosaic plaque on the wall of the neighbourhood house is what started it all..

I think it might be best if l start at the beginning:……..

Many years ago (and still today as well) people would put all sorts of weird things in the garden. They called it garden art. You name it people would plant in it, filling up corners of the garden with colour and whimsy. I had a fondness for planted chairs. Take an old chair – remove the seat – add a container of some sort – and plant. Like these! (these are not mine. Photo found on the Internet years ago)

‘These’ are some I made up a long time ago (2003) – big cane chairs found on a nature strip during hard rubbish week, planted with petunias and lobelia.

It was seeing the plaque on the wall of the neighbourhood house that reminded me of another little hobby I tried one year. Mosaics!

Later I’m down at the washing line looking at the Autumn flowering lavender thinking like the Jonquils in a nearby bed how few flowers there were.

when there amongst the leaves from next doors oak tree I see my one reminder of that ‘artistic’ year.😊

We had such fun in that class. Learning about history of the art, techniques, surfaces, tile cutters, glues, styles And all of us (in awe of what the ‘teacher’ had produced) just wanted to make (as artfully sugested by the ‘teacher’) something Simple and Naive – mine ended up as two big flowers surrounded by leaves and mirror tiles. Reflecting Outdoor Life as I saw it lol

Then of course my mind wandered to the fun I had with the grandchildren that summer. They’d seen my ‘stepping stone’ and wanted me to show them how, to have a go in other words. And of course grandmas never say no, do they 😊

There were some old 12×12″ floor tiles in the garage they could use, we popped down to nearby Johnson tiles for odd lots/end of runs/ left over singles which…….because they couldn’t handle tile cutters…..I let them ……much to the boy’s delight…..break up with a hammer on the garage floor (tiles covered with a blanket) and then all had a go at creating.

The girls had fun – the boys were spent after their smashing morning- so it was the girls who took most of their creations home for show and tell. Some got left behind, to be grouted another day, but that never happened and they’re the ones I found amongst some ‘things’ behind Kieras outside pen. Sadly forgotten!

Fast forward many years to when the redheaded grandchild up above is doing year 12. The final music assessment was a group one……look at what she produced as her contribution.

A planted chair with a mosaic back rest!

Maybe there’s truth in that old saying after all

A seed planted with love never dies

Linking to Sunday Selections- hosted by Elephants Child.

May 31, 2020June 14, 2021

Just one…..Sunday Selections

So many leaves from so many early winter bulbs yet there is just the one bloom and no more in sight. There’s not another flower head to be seen so I think their days are numbered!

Not one but two little rainbows ‘beaming hope’ on the way to the park

Just one cocky in the gum tree above me……..he’s one of the lookouts for the gang (mob) of them having a feed in front of me!

(Sulphur-crested Cockatoos work together to protect the flock. While feeding, two cockatoos will keep a lookout for signs of danger from the post of a nearby tree. If danger appears, these cockatoos will screech loudly as a warning. The word ‘cockatoo’ has even become a colloquial term for someone who keeps guard. Source.

I saw just one Crimson Rosella ‘hiding’ in the tree – they usually fly in pairs so I’ve no idea where his mate was. And just one small duck hiding in the rushes – no idea where the rest of them were either!

There was just one little one enjoying the swings……. a lovely sight on the first day restrictions regarding playgrounds had been lifted. It was a sunny but freezing cold morning with few people about so another lovely sight was this one older couple feeling comfortable enough to take a walk in the park

And there is just one view that can’t be missed – the view of The Dandenongs. Looking a bit scorched in parts just below the tv masts, not from actual ‘bush fires’ but from recent burn offs (controlled burns) that will assist in keeping that part of the hills safe.

It’s been a while I know.😊……..today I’m joining in with Elephants Child and others at Sunday Selections……just one more time!

And I’m back to joining in with Michelle at Nature Notes where you’ll find much to interest you in the big wide world of nature

(click to enlarge photos)

April 12, 2020June 14, 2021

Sunday Selections – A walk in the park….

I hadn’t been up to the nearby park for a couple of months so took a wander round there last Wednesday instead of walking the streets. With many winding paths to choose from you could move around without bumping into too many people. Had to keep social distancing in mind so if I did come across anyone it was a quick smile or a wave and we were both on our way in different directions.

There were lots of walkers out with big dogs

Lots of them out with little dogs.

Some with children (and dollies) as well as dogs.

And some with children but no dogs 😊

Dogs on their own with their owners nearby. I do believe this is the same Border Collie I saw last time, taking a dip in the very same spot.

And there was one lonely dad having a break from his exercise – looked like he was making the most out of being the one left ‘holding the baby’ for the day.

Sadly there was nobody in the playground😥

I read that outdoor exercise has been banned in France between 10am – 7pm due to growing concerns over the current coronavirus pandemic. Jogging and cycling allowed people to stray far from home and had to be stopped – we (in Australia) are lucky it’s still possible for walkers of all shapes and sizes and ages (and breeds) to be out and about during those times.

Linking to Sunday Selections – a place to show photos old and new, ones never seen on your blog before. Pop over to Elephant’s Child where Sue will tell you all about it.

November 13, 2016June 14, 2021

There are days………Sunday Selections

There are days that are made for sitting and knitting
(relaxing and reading and eating) 🙂

There are days that are great for washing and just right for visiting
(resident Magpie just popped in to say Hello)

Some are for ‘doing’ – like plant those tomatoes

While there are others that say slow down,
admire the lovely green grass – smell the beautiful roses

(which doesn’t happen without the rain so no more complaining !)

Then there are times when all those days meld into one as they did recently
On these days Kiera just looks at me and in her own special way says:-

‘This is the life – You wouldn’t be dead for quids!’

Sunday Selections – There are Days aka One Perfect Day

River at Drifting through Life is the keeper of Sunday Selections. The rules are really simple – just post some photos new or old, link to River in your post and then pop over to River’s and let her know. And if possible visit some of the other contributors.

October 30, 2016June 14, 2021

The animals went in two by two……Sunday Selections

The animals went in two by two – Hoorah Hoorah

The animals went in two by two – The Elephant and the Kangaroo

And they all went into the ark – For to get out of the rain!

It certainly wasn’t raining the day we went for a walk at Lilydale Lake so I’m not sure why most of the animals we saw were going by two by two 🙂

We did pass one independent large ball of fluff lead in mouth who seemed intent on taking himself for a walk!

There was another individual enjoying the sunny dry weather – a very bedragled Heron. Having just come out of the lake ( if you look hard – or better still enlarge the photo – you can just see him near the round tussock of grass) he was doing his best to dry off in the sunshine

Then of course we came to the ‘old fellas’ who sail boats, perhaps I should give them their correct title – Members of the Lilydale Radio Yacht Club. They are there having fun on Tuesday and Saturday mornings ‘playing’ with their very expensive toys. Most of their boats were out of the water when we walked past but I’m sure you get the idea 🙂

And just as a record of distance here’s the half way marker

2.5 kms from go to whoa !! Not a huge distance but enough when there is no shade from the sun

River at Drifting through Life is the keeper of Sunday Selections. No real rules – post some photos, old or new – link back to River. And please find time to visit other participants or better still join us 🙂

January 10, 2016June 14, 2021

Come, sit and rest awhile…. Sunday Selections

Benches I have seen – a Selection on Sunday

from a Canadian trip in 2010.

Benches built to last – controlled by the climate

(made of metal – think ‘snow)

~ ~ ~ ~

‘Just right for a sit down’ seen in Calgary, Alberta

A lovely table and bench arrangement ( complete with flowers) seen on one of the main streets. Each time we passed by it was empty, not a soul to be seen.

‘Circle for friends’ seen in Vancouver, British Columbia

Actually, half a circle by the walking path of a park whose name escapes me.

‘Cold hard facts’ on the ferry to Newfoundland

These were on the deck of the car ferry we took from Sydney Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques in Newfoundland. It was a first time crossing for my friend Bonnie as well as me so she wanted a day sailing, ‘so I can see where I’m going’ she said! Once you leave port it’s about 6-8 hours in the Atlantic Ocean so there was a lot of sea to be seen 🙂

‘A real circle for friends’ in Vancouver

I was going round and round in circles when I saw these outside the Pan Pacific hotel near Canada Place. It was a bit cool that day and there were no sitters watching the world go by.

‘Inside or out – decision time at the bus stop in Calgary

‘Seize an opportunity’ seemed to be the idea in mind with these advertising boards on the back of the bus stop benches near the train station. Not sure the reason for the temp guage, not a nice reminder during winter lol

River at Drifting through Life is the keeper of the Sunday Selections meme. No real rules – post some photos on a Sunday – link back to River. Try to visit some of the other participants.

Having to use the iPad this week so spacing and layout may be a bit wonky. Fingers crossed 🙂

November 15, 2015June 14, 2021

Sunday Selections – take two!

(A little late in the day – this is take two. I’ve had to work on my iPad today and when I hit publish nothing was the way it was supposed to be.)

Here is Big and Wide along with High and Mighty 🙂

3 yrs ago (back in 2012) during our winter trip ‘up north’ we visited a spot not far (150kms) from Cairns, Far North Queensland. Close to Ravenshoe we found Millstream Falls. These are some photos I never got round to showing on the blog.

Plunging over the edge of a columnar basalt lava flow ‘Big Millstream Falls’ is reputedly the widest single drop waterfall in Australia. A walking track leads to a viewing area over the falls. Here in the rain shadow of the Great Dividing Range, the dry open woodland vegetation is predominately Eucalyptus.

http://www.weekendnotes.com/millstream-falls/

http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/millstream-falls/about.html

Yes it was a bit of a walk from the car park – every now and again you’d see and hear the falls in the distance. Definitely worth it in the end 🙂

Standing there looking at all that water tumbling over the edge reminded me of another set of falls we have visited several Times before. I haven’t shown these photos either lol