SUNNY

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

RED ROSE

This is Rosa 'Mr Lincoln' blooming in our garden. It is a wonderful, rich red rose with a strong fragrance and makes for an excellent cut flower.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AT THE STATION

Fairfield Railway Station in Suburban Melbourne, at night.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

At the 2016 census, 356,324 (or 8.5%) of the inhabitants of Melbourne who nominated their ancestry, nominated Chinese ancestry solely or along with another ancestry.

Chinatown (Chinese: 墨爾本華埠) is an ethnic enclave in the Central Business District (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Centred at the eastern end of Little Bourke Street, it extends between the corners of Swanston and Spring Streets, and consists of numerous laneways, alleys and arcades. Established in the 1850s during the Victorian gold rush, it is notable for being the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western World and the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere.

Chinese New Year has a long tradition in Melbourne, and includes free cultural festivities across the city. Feasting and the awakening of the dragon are just some of the traditional festivities in Melbourne's Chinatown. Join in and explore Melbourne's rich Chinese heritage as Chinatown comes alive in stunning hues of red and gold. Chinese New Year also lights up our city streets from Queensbridge Square to Southgate, South Wharf and Docklands to Queen Victoria Market, with light installations, street performances, outdoor food stalls and acrobatic lion dances.

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.

SUMMER

We had a perfect Summer's day today, so what better than a walk by the river?

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

YARRA BEND PATH

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 Park provides a great open space for walking, bike riding, riverside cafes, golf, boating, BBQs, picnicking and a host of other leisure activities. Numerous winding paths provide plenty of opportunity for leisurely promenades in the natural serene surrounds of the park.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

PLAYFUL CAT

Met him while walking in our neighbourhood.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

BROWN RAIN

A dust storm picked up by a front moving through Victoria led to a downpour of "dirty rain" across Melbourne last Wednesday, forcing public swimming pools to close and leaving cars looking like they were "sprayed with mud".

In many parts of Victoria, the average monthly January rainfall fell in a matter of a few hours. Rivers and creek swelled and ran with red, muddy water. As the rainwater dried off, it left considerable quantities of red dust on exposed surfaces...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SUNFLOWER

Sunflowers are in bloom in Melbourne at the moment and despite our weather vagaries, they have flowered well.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

CITY BATHS

The City Baths and Fitness Centre in the City. Currently in the midst of a construction site adjacent to the Metro Tunnel train network expansion.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World.

GREEN HEART

In the heart of the City in Melbourne, some wonderful touches of verdant green to relieve the eye amongst all the concrete and asphalt.

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.

SUMMER FLOWERS

Despite the vagaries of our weather and the devastation wrought by drought and bushfires, Summer flowers managed to make the garden beautiful once again this year.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

NECTARINES

Nectarines almost ready to pick as Summer progresses.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

TOUGH TOM

The neighbour's cat having a catnap after painting the town red last night...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

BLAZING SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

PHLOX

Phlox drummondii in the Polemoniaceae family has been around in various cultivars for many decades. Native to Texas, it is also widely distributed in the southeastern United States, especially along public highways. P. drummondii is often used as an ornamental plant. The flowers have a wide range of colours from white and cream through pinks, lilacs, roses, purples and reds, to almost black.

Phlox drummondii is named after Scottish botanist Thomas Drummond, who sent it and a variety of other plant samples back to Britain following his 1833–1835 expedition to Texas. It is an annual, growing from seed each year. The branches have sharp, pointed, lengthy, ciliated leaves with rounded flowers. The flowers are single or double, with lightly scented, flat, star-shaped petals. The flowers mature to 2.5 cm in diameter. The plants tolerate cold weather well, but require plentiful watering and dislike drought, wind and heat.

A popular cultivar the last few years is the very attractive Phlox drummondii 'Twinkle Stars' seen here. It flowers profusely, is available in a variety of colours and has a characteristic flower shape with deep indentations in the petals, reminiscent of a star. It brightens up the garden and also grows well in containers. It blooms starting early summer and continues all summer long. It likes full sun, but I have been successful with partial shade. It doesn't like being transplanted much, so be careful with the root system.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AS THE WEATHER CHANGES

Today was another topsy-turvy day in Melbourne, with the temperature climbing to 36˚C in the early afternoon. Severe thunderstorms bringing heavy rain and hail to parts of Victoria then started later on, improving air quality in Melbourne, after "hazardous" ratings across much of the state prompted concerns about the long-term health impacts of bushfire smoke.

Here is the view from Southbank, looking towards the southwest and to Port Phillip Bay, first at 3:28 pm, the at 5:32 pm (rain falling) and finally at 6:42 pm (still raining and the temperature fallen to 21˚C!). The fourth image is a zoom towards the South Melbourne Town Hall and the Bay, much obscured by smoky haze. The last image was taken on a fine day a couple of years ago, showing the same view...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the My Corner of the World.

MELBOURNE BY NIGHT

Although the Australian bushfires continue to burn, and Melbourne's smoke-filled atmosphere today was declared "hazardous" with air quality the worse than any other major city in the world, some relief is expected later in this week. Rain is forecast in the bushfire-affected areas and it is hoped that this will help the fire-fighting efforts. We anticipate the best scenario and an end to this major natural disaster, the magnitude of which is not realised by everyone who hears about it.

Everyone in Melbourne tries to carry on as usual, although the omnipresent smoke and the constant news bulletins are reminder enough of the hardships still endured by many of our compatriots in the affected areas and the animals in the farms and the devastated forests. Numerous fund-raising efforts are being organised, as well as many events whose proceeds will give much relief to fire-affected areas.

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.

MEDITATION

In times of great hardship and difficult trials it is especially important to stop, think and meditate on the countless beautiful things that still surround us and for which we should feel grateful. Life is not always kind to us, but all around us there are people, situations, things and feelings that will make us feel better. If we live we are able to hope, and our spirit should remain strong in order to help us overcome adversity.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

LEAVES

Gum trees (= Eucalyptus) are perennial trees that shed leaves when they naturally senesce, or when the tree is under stress. Drought, heat, extreme conditions will cause leaf fall and the shed leaves are a multitude of colours.

This post is part of the  My Sunday Best meme,

and also part  of the  Photo Sunday meme.

GRASS PARROTS

The red-rumped parrot (Psephotus haematonotus), also known as the red-backed parrot or grass parrot, is a common bird of south-eastern Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. Red-rumped parrots are slim, elegant, moderate-sized parrots approximately 28 cm in length. The male's plumage is a bright emerald-green with yellow underparts, a brick-red rump and blue highlights on the wings and upper back. The female's plumage is less vibrant, with pale olive underparts, dull green wings and back and blue-black wingtips. The characteristic red rump is only found in the male.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

Male bird (Left) and female bird (Right)

Male bird.

SULTRY SUNSET

Another typical Melbourne Summer day today: A hot morning with the temperature reaching 34˚C by lunchtime and then in the afternoon, a cool change moving in with the temperature dropping 15˚C in a matter of minutes, with a good amount of rain falling. As I see now, the temperature outside is 14˚C...

The sunset was quite spectacular, aided no doubt by thee weather, but also by the smoke in the atmosphere - always a reminder of the bushfires still raging in the East of our state.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

THISTLE

Cirsium vulgare (spear thistle) is a species of the genus Cirsium, in the family Asteraceae, native throughout most of Europe (north to 66°N, locally 68°N), Western Asia (east to the Yenisei Valley), and northwestern Africa (Atlas Mountains). It is also naturalised in North America, Africa, and Australia and is as an invasive weed in some areas.  It is the national flower of Scotland.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BY THE RIVER

The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the plain West of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres.

The river flows through the Werribee Gorge State Park before being utilised for irrigation of market gardens at Bacchus Marsh, then through Werribee where it is crossed by the Maltby By-pass. It then flows through the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Werribee Park, and finally the small coastal settlement of Werribee South before entering Port Phillip.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the My Corner of the World meme.

BUSHFIRES

Unfortunately, this Travel Tuesday is a sad one as it concerns our current nationwide emergency with tens of bushfires still burning across Australia.

The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season involves a series of bushfires that are currently burning across Australia, predominantly in south-east Australia. The 2019–20 bushfire season is of notable intensity compared to previous seasons as it has burned an estimated 8.4 million hectares (21 million acres; 84,000 square kilometres; 32,000 square miles), destroyed over 2,500 buildings (including over 1,300 houses) and killed 25 people as of 5 January 2020.

The bushfires are regarded by the NSW Rural Fire Service as the worst bushfire season in memory. In December 2019, the New South Wales Government declared a state of emergency in New South Wales after record-breaking temperatures and prolonged drought exacerbated the bushfires. It was estimated that close to half a billion animals in New South Wales were killed by the ongoing fires.

In eastern and north-eastern Victoria large areas of forest burnt out of control for four weeks before the fires emerged from the forests in late December, taking lives, threatening many towns and isolating the towns of Corryong and Mallacoota. A state of disaster was declared for East Gippsland. Significant fires also occurred in the Adelaide Hills and Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Moderately affected areas were South Eastern Queensland and areas of southwestern Western Australia, with a few areas in Tasmania and the ACT also being impacted.

For several days now, Melbourne has choked under hazy, yellow-grey skies with smoke from East Gippsland drifting over the city. This is a minor inconvenience compared to the staggering loss of life and property in fire-ravaged areas and the immense ecological disaster that has occurred.

You can help the thousands of victims who have lost loved ones, property and the roofs over their heads, here. 

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.

LAST YEAR...

A mosaic encapsulating moments of the month from 2019. In these difficult and trying times, my best wishes to you and those dear to you for a New Year filled with peace, health and happiness.

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

SUMMER

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

NEIGHBOUR'S CAT

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

SMOKY SKY

Currently in Melbourne, we are experiencing very bad air quality, and there is a choking smell of burning with widespread hazy conditions as the smoke from the devastating East Gippsland bushfires drifts across hundreds of kilometres to reach the City. Here you can see the hazy outline of the city skyline across the Port Phillip Bay.

You can help the thousands of victims who have lost loved ones, property and the roofs over their heads, here.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.