the running wave

With apologies to my Australian friends, but I never really think of Australia in terms of being pretty.  English villages, cottage gardens, bluebell woods, rose gardens and Devon lanes dripping with primroses and violets are pretty.  I have, therefore, really enjoyed many of the flowers which are now blooming in the late Australian summer.  Here are some of them.  I don't know all the names but, of course, that doesn't detract from their prettiness! We'll start with oleander which reminds me of the time we lived in the Bahamas.  It always puts on a terrific show in hot and sunny climes! The 'Iceberg' rose is a real favourite in Melbourne.  Every other front garden has a bush or bushes and it seems to bloom constantly.  It was still flowering robustly when we were here last year, in early winter. The morning glory convolvulus was one of my mother's favourite wild flowers.  She first saw it on a trip to Bermuda in the last 1960s where i...

These two first spread their celestial wings in France around 1800.   ... and the most angelic of all! Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams. WB Yeats

One of our most favourite places from our first visit to Melbourne was the allotment site down in St Kilda.  It used to be a peanut farm but it is now a community allotment garden with art studios along one side.  It's a completely crazy place and my post of 21 June 2012  shows quite a number of photos to illustrate the point.  This is no average allotment site.   With only a small apology for the number of photographs shown now, I hope you enjoy this second jaunt around St Kilda's Community Gardens! Last year this lady was wearing some grassy headgear - not quite sure what this arrangement is meant to be but it's made of rope.   Tansy girl! A rather wonderful gate into the ground has appeared over the last year and it has some beautiful yellow resin pears dripping from it's rusted steel tendrils. There were not a huge number of vegetables growing on the site, possibly because summer is nearing its end here.  I saw a few French bean...

We've only been here a week and have already come across a couple of interesting wedding choices!   When we visited the Botanical Gardens last week there was a wedding taking place in a romantic lakeside setting.  Later, as we were leaving the gardens we saw the bride and groom and photographer setting off for the Shrine of Remembrance which was to form the back drop to their official 'just married' set of photographs for the album.  All very nice and a classic choice.  It was a stinking hot day so imagine our amazement when we spied this lot underneath the bride's dress. Why???  Was she planning a quick getaway on the off chance she had a change of heart? Yesterday we went into town to explore some of the laneways which are meccas for those with spray cans and graffiti on their minds - more of that later, but imagine our amazement/puzzlement when we came across these two preparing for their wedding photos to be taken in a really rather grotty little s...

Still on the subject of making sure the kids are catered for, Melbourne has provided a botanical garden just for them.  It's by one of the main gates as you enter the Botanics near the Shrine of Remembrance. The children were having a whale of time today!  It was hot, hot, hot and the water spouts were providing lots of refreshing fun.  No unaccompanied grown ups allowed unfortunately!

I talked about the popularity of the coffee/cafe culture in Melbourne last time we were here.  It is still absolutely massive with hundreds of brilliant cafes around the city producing wonderful food and coffee.   Going out for breakfast, brunch, lunch or whatever is almost certainly going to be a family affair for many and they really cater well for small customers here.  We went to a cafe called Balderdash in Port Melbourne yesterday where they serve a babycino - frothed milk with a sprinkling of chocolate on top and a marshmallow.  From the size of the marshmallow you will note the tiny cup and saucer! In Fancy Pantry they offer Baby Bear sized table and chairs  and at Jock's Ice Cream parlour pint size can get a mini ice cream cone (bit of a fuzzy photo, sorry!). But back in Balderdash woe betide any parent who forgets themselves!