THISTLEDOWN

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

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

AT THE WINDSOR

The Hotel Windsor is a luxury hotel in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1884, the Windsor is notable for being Melbourne's only surviving purpose-built "grand" Victorian era hotel. The Windsor is situated on Bourke Hill in the Parliament Precinct on Spring Street, and is a Melbourne landmark of high Victorian architecture. For much of the 20th century, the hotel, dubbed the Duchess of Spring Street, was one of the most favoured and luxurious hotels in Melbourne. It has hosted many notable national and international guests, and has a 5-star rating.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITION

My solo art exhibition "Seasons in the Garden" will open in the Northcote Public Library Exhibition Space at 32-38 Separation St, Northcote 3070 Victoria, on June 1st, 2023. Entry is free and the exhibition is open until June 30th. Here is a small sample of what is on show.

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

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.
and also part of the Seasons meme.

RAINBOW

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse... You're right! A rainbow appears and things get better.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MAGPIE-LARK

The magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), also known as wee magpie, peewee, peewit, mudlark or Murray magpie, is a passerine bird native to Australia, Timor and southern New Guinea. The male and female both have black and white plumage, though with different patterns. John Latham described the species in 1801. Long thought to be a member of the mudnest builder family Corcoracidae, it has been reclassified in the family Monarchidae (the monarch flycatchers). Two subspecies are recognized.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme

and also part of the Saturday Critters meme

IBIS REFLECTION

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme

MORNING GLORY

Blue morning glory (Ipomoea indica) is a vigorous, perennial climber. The thick, smothering growth of this plant is a common sight on many rural roadsides and forest edges in Australia and in some parts it has been declared a noxious weed. The blue colour of the flowers, however, is quite sumptuous!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

TREE

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

SUBURBAN PARK

Melbourne is Australia's largest city and widely considered to be a garden city, with Victoria being nicknamed "the Garden State". Renowned as one of the most livable cities in the world, there is an abundance of parks, gardens and green belts close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways, and tree-lined avenues, all managed by Parks Victoria.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

MAGIC MIX

This image is a mix of portions of three different photos, with each of the three trees being in different parts of the Darebin Parklands. I've superimposed the images, have masked and revealed different parts of them and then merged to create this mosaic. With a bit of practice, one can make an almost seamless new photo.

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

AUTUMN'S BOUNTY

Autumn comes laden with its bounty. It is indeed a season of "mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun..." The figs have ripened until they are luscious and honey sweet. Quinces are fragrant and tart, begging to be made into delicious quince paste, the grapes beckon the vintner, but even to the teetotaller provide a sweet delight with their ripe juiciness. Citrus begins to blush and apples crisp and red give taste buds a treat. Pumpkin, chestnuts and winter cherries vie for attention, but the winter cherries - with their brash overcoats on - win hands down...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

I DON'T DO 'FETCH'...

"...So go fetch it yourself!"

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

SUNRISE ON THE RIVER

Early birds get to see the sun rising over the Yarra River in Melbourne City.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

SPRING IN AUTUMN

Force-flowered Spring bulbs are out in full force in our nurseries and florist shops, even though we are in the last month of Autumn. Hard to resist some of these fragrant beauties and perfect for gift giving this Mother's Day.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

PARKLANDS

This post just is.

TWIN REEFS, INVERLOCH

Close to Inverloch, in Victoria's Southeast, is a secluded beach, called Twin Reefs.  Twin Reefs are two protruding, exposed reefs, in lee of which is a narrow, 500 m long, crenulate platform beach, lying between the base of the vegetated bluffs and the continuous intertidal rock flats. The Cape Paterson Road runs along the top of the bluffs and there is a car park and track down to the beach and rocks.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

COFFEE

A digital mosaic incorporating a pic of my real cup of coffee, photo of coffee beans, and a vintage botanical print of the coffee plant.

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

FISH LADDER

The newly installed fish ladder in Darebin Creek at the Darebin Parklands allows fish in the creek to move moe freely upstream and downstream. This enhances biodiversity in the major tributaries of the Yarra River.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

BIRDS AT THE PARKLANDS

Birds at the Darebin Parklands, an oasis of green in suburban Melbourne. They are:

1) Male Australian wood duck, maned duck or maned goose (Chenonetta jubata),

2) Crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes),

3) Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus).

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

AT SUNRISE

Sunrise on the Yarra River, Melbourne, with the Southbank Pedestrian Bridge reflected in the quiet waters.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

WHITE HAEMANTHUS

Haemanthus albiflos is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to the coast and mountains of South Africa. It is sometimes given the English name paintbrush, not to be confused with Castilleja species which also have this name. It is an evergreen bulbous perennial geophyte, prized horticulturally for its unusual appearance and extreme tolerance of neglect. H. albiflos is the only Haemanthus species found in both winter and summer rainfall regions, and has a mainly coastal distribution from the southern Cape through the Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal, showing a preference for cool, shady spots.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

FRUITING TIME

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

CATTLE COUNTRY

Gippsland is an economic rural region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of that state. It covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres, and lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, and to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps.

Gippsland is generally broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, and the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions. As at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, being Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island.

Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

AUTUMN'S WEBS

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

RAINY SUNRISE

We've had a lot of rain over the last two days with cold, short, grey days. This morning the sun peeked through the clouds as it rose, with rain falling till the sun was hidden by clouds again.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

KOI POND

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

MELLOW

As the days get shorter and the temperatures cooler, rains begin to fall and it's important to enjoy the sun and clear skies whenever they happen...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

CHRYSANTHEMUM TIME

 As Autumn progresses, more and more of our chrysanthemums are coming into bloom in our garden.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

PERENNIAL

Always appreciate the fact that most of our native trees here in Australia are perennials and that our Winter is relatively mild. This gumtree (eucalypt) is looking pretty spiffy on this mild late Autumn day.

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

GIPPSLAND

Gippsland is an economic rural region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-eastern part of that state. It covers an area of 41,556 square kilometres, and lies to the east of the eastern suburbs of Greater Melbourne, to the north of Bass Strait, to the west of the Tasman Sea, to the south of the Black-Allan Line that marks part of the Victorian/New South Wales border, and to the east and southeast of the Great Dividing Range that lies within the Hume region and the Victorian Alps. Gippsland is generally broken down into the East Gippsland, South Gippsland, West Gippsland, and the Latrobe Valley statistical divisions.

As at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, being Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations— Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

SEASONAL

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