YARRA BEND

Yarra Bend Park has been one of Melbourne’s largest expanses of inner suburban parkland for nearly 150 years. Yarra Bend Park and neighbouring Studley Park were reserved in 1877. Both park areas and several reserves were combined in 1929 to create one large park. The combined area became known as Yarra Bend National Park despite never being raised to formal national park status.

During the 1930’s additions included picnic and sporting grounds, toilet facilities and a public golf course. The Yarra Bend Golf Club House, officially opened in May 1936, is an original example of American ‘Country Club’ type architecture. The Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

HINT OF SPRING

Some early Spring blossom is making its appearance in Melbourne despite the cold, wet and grey weather!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

SOUTHBANK AT SUNSET

Looking out towards the Bay.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

NATIVE KINGFISHER

Kingfishers are to be found all over Australia, but ­predominantly in coastal regions. We have 10 native species, including the kookaburra, which is the largest. Kingfishers nest in tree hollows, in burrows in riverbanks and in termite nests. They feed on small animals, including fish, frogs, yabbies, snakes, insects and nestlings of other birds. Covered in brilliant green, blue, turquoise and orange plumage, some kingfishers were once in danger of being hunted to extinction for their feathers.

Despite their elaborate appearance, these stocky birds are tough, and hunt by darting upon prey in a flash of colour from branches above the river or forest floor. The kingfisher’s heavy beak is the perfect tool for killing victims quickly – they smack their hapless prey against tree branches before swallowing it whole.

The Azure Kingfisher (Ceyx [Alcedo] azurea) length, 17–19cm; wingspan, 25–29cm makes its home along the banks of coastal and inland rivers, swamps and mangroves. During breeding season, it lines its nest with fish bones and scales. Found along much of our northern and eastern seaboards, as well as Tasmania, this species hunts for small mammals, reptiles, fish and frogs.

This one was seen in the Darebin Parklands in suburban Melbourne. They are shy birds, usually keeping out of sight and easily disturbed if encountered, flying off rapidly.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

HOME FLIGHT

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

CANDYTUFT

Iberis sempervirens (evergreen candytuft, perennial candytuft) is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to southern Europe. It is a spreading subshrub growing to 30 cm high by 40 cm broad. As an ornamental plant it is a spring-blooming favourite, often seen cascading over rocks and walls, or used as groundcover.

The glossy, evergreen foliage forms a billowing mound, with many fragrant, pure white flowers for several weeks during spring and early summer. When grown in a garden it may require light pruning right after blooming, but otherwise plants can be left alone in autumn and early spring.

It is drought-tolerant once established. It prefers a well-drained site, so heavy clay soils that stay wet in winter should be avoided. It is not easily divided. Iberis is so named because many members of the genus come from the Iberian Peninsula. Sempervirens means "always green", referring to the evergreen foliage. This plant and the cultivar 'Snowflake' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

FAUVISM

Fauvism | ˈfəʊvɪz(ə)m | noun [mass noun]

A style of painting with vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic use of colour that flourished in Paris from 1905 and, although short-lived, had an important influence on subsequent artists, especially the German expressionists. Matisse was regarded as the movement's leading figure.

DERIVATIVES

Fauvist noun & adjective

ORIGIN

French: Fauvisme, from fauve ‘wild beast’. The name originated from a remark of the French art critic Louis Vauxcelles at the Salon of 1905; coming across a quattrocento-style statue in the midst of works by Matisse and his associates, he is reputed to have said, ‘Donatello au milieu des fauves!’ (‘Donatello among the wild beasts’).

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

The artists, their work, their relationships, their achievements and the critical and commercial response to their work are discussed in this absorbing book by Sarah Whitfield, the first in many years to offer a reappraisal of Fauvism.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. "Street, Dresden". 1908 (reworked 1919; dated on painting 1907) - MoMA, New York.
In 2018, MoMA shared some of its collection with Australia when 200 works travelled to Melbourne for MoMA at NGV, an exclusive exhibition for the National Gallery of Victoria’s Winter Masterpieces series.

WINTRY MELBOURNE

Flinders Street railway station is a railway station on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Australia. It serves the entire metropolitan rail network. Backing onto the city reach of the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the complex covers two whole city blocks and extends from Swanston Street to Queen Street. Flinders Street is served by Metro's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland. It is the busiest station on Melbourne's metropolitan network, with some 92.6 million passenger movements recorded in 2011/12.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

ANEMONES

Anemone ( /ənɛˈməniː/), is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones. They are closely related to Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla) and Hepaticas (Hepatica); some botanists include both of these genera within Anemone.

The name of the flower is from the Greek ἀνεμώνη (anemōnē) which means "daughter of the wind", from ánemos "wind" + feminine patronymic suffix -ōnē. We have many anemones in our garden and take great pleasure from them as they bloom and announce the coming of Spring.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme.

WATERFALL

It's been wintry, rainy, cold and grey in Melbourne the past week and there's been a lot of run off from the storm water drains. It always looks picturesque in the Darebin Parklands where the storm water drains into one of ponds. Always good to remember this and put all rubbish in the bin, don't throw it in the street. Keep our storm water drains clean!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.