SUMMER IS ON ITS WAY

We had a maximum temperature of 36˚C today, which was a little uncomfortable, especially as it was quite high after the few 20s and mid 20s we'd had previously. The sunset turned out to be quite summery too...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

HIPPEASTRUM

Hippeastrum flowering in our garden. Hippeastrum is a genus in the family Amaryllidaceae. The name Hippeastrum, given to it by William Herbert, means "knight's star", although precisely what Herbert meant by the name is not certain.

For many years there was confusion among botanists over the generic names Amaryllis and Hippeastrum, one result of which is that the common name amaryllis is mainly used for cultivars of this genus, often sold as indoor flowering bulbs particularly at Christmas in the northern hemisphere.

By contrast the generic name Amaryllis applies to bulbs from South Africa, usually grown outdoors. The genus is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas from Argentina north to Mexico and the Caribbean.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

ALTONA WETLANDS

The Altona Important Bird Area (IBA) comprises several wetland sites on, or close to, the north-western coast of Port Phillip in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Collectively they total 1223 hectares in area and lie within, or adjacent to, the western suburbs of the city of Melbourne. They were classified as an IBA because they support more than 1% of the world populations of Red-necked Stint, Chestnut Teal and Pacific Gull.

This post is part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme

and also part of the Nature Notes meme

SOUTHERN CROSS

Southern Cross Station is the most important rail terminal in Victoria and has been redeveloped into a world-class public transport interchange, with fast rail connections to regional Victorian centres and new facilities for rail, taxi and bus passengers. Now more than just a railway station, Southern Cross Station is a combination railway, shopping centre and bus terminal.

The shopping centre includes supermarkets, DFO - Direct Factory Outlet and over 100 other shops, bars and restaurants. On Spencer Street between Collins and La Trobe Streets at the western boundary of the central business district, it is the hub of the state's regional railway network, serving as a terminus for long-distance V/Line trains.

It also serves the twice-daily Countrylink XPT service to Sydney, and The Overland to Adelaide three times per week. It has a bus station with 24-hour Skybus service to Melbourne airport. Southern Cross is one of five stations forming the City Loop, a mostly underground railway that encircles the CBD. Southern Cross and Flinders Street are the only stations in the Loop that are above ground.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

NATURE WALK

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

SUPER!

Superheroes being kind to animals, isn't that just great as role modelling? Celebrations at our Gym today for its 55 years of history and one year since its reopening recently after a full refurbishment.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

QUIET SNOOZE

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

SUNRISE ON THE YARRA

Sunrise across the Yarra River, taken from Princes Bridge in the City.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

ADVERSITY

"Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity." - Og Mandino

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

COLUMBINES

Aquilegia (common names: Granny's Bonnet or Columbine) is a genus of about 60-70 species of perennial plants in the Ranunculaceae family, that are found in meadows, woodlands, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals of their flowers. The genus name Aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for eagle (aquila), because the shape of the flower petals, which are said to resemble an eagle's claw. The common name "columbine" comes from the Latin for "dove", due to the resemblance of the inverted flower to five doves clustered together. 

Columbine is a hardy perennial, which propagates by seed. It will grow to a height of 30-60 cm. It will grow in full sun; however, it prefers growing in partial shade and well drained soil, and is able to tolerate average soils and dry soil conditions. Columbine is rated at hardiness zone 3 in the USA so does not require mulching or protection in the winter.

Large numbers of hybrids are available for the garden, since the British A. vulgaris was joined by other European and North American varieties. Aquilegia species are very interfertile, and will self-sow. Some varieties are short-lived so are better treated as biennials. Several hybrid cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

AT THE UNIVERSITY

The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of Melbourne's central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria.

The university comprises ten separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute. The university has fifteen graduate schools, including the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School, the Melbourne Veterinary School, and the Melbourne Medical School.

In the QS World University Rankings 2025, the University of Melbourne was ranked 13th (1st nationally). Times Higher Education ranked Melbourne 33rd globally (1st in Australia) in the 2021–2022 iteration of its annual World University Rankings. In 2022, it ranked 33rd among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. I am proud to call this University my Alma Mater (all photos are from the Parkville Campus).

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy, and Armistice Day, to mark cessation of hostilities on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918), is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. The day is also marked by war remembrances in several other non-Commonwealth countries. In most countries, Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of First World War hostilities.

In Australia, Remembrance Day is always observed on 11 November, regardless of the day of the week, and is not a public holiday; it is a time when people can pay their respects to the substantial number of soldiers who died in battle. Some institutions observe two-minutes' silence at 11 am.

During the Second World War, many countries changed the name of the holiday. Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations adopted Remembrance Day, while the US chose Veterans Day.

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

WETLANDS

At the Darebin Parklands after some rain, with the large pond overflowing onto the flats. The water birds love it and it makes for a good photo!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

LUNCHTIME

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

WEATHER CHANGE

Our Spring weather can be very changeable, with heat up to the mid-thirties (degrees Celsius, that is), and then in few minutes a change rolls in, clouds gather and the temperature plummets to 20˚C or less. Wind, rain and thunder are optional extras. Never a dull moment!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

SPRING AT THE FLORIST'S

 This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

SUMER IS ICUMEN IN

Summer's coming and we've had the hottest day so far this Spring with a maximum of 33˚C. The parks are beginning to look a little parched already as we haven't had much rain lately.

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

MELBOURNE CUP 2024

The Melbourne Cup is the horse race of all Australian horse races. Every year when this race is run around 3:00 pm, it literally stops the entire nation. Melbourne Cup Day is fixed on the first Tuesday in November and although it is a public holiday only in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, Australians all over the nation are glued to their television screens or listen on the radio (or more likely on the internet, nowadays, I suppose) to watch this historic race.

The race is held over a distance of 3,200 meters, the traditional two-mile cup distance, for horses three years and older and is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world. It is held in Flemington Racecourse, located in Flemington, one of Melbourne's inner city suburbs, which is named after a butcher who lived there in the 19th century. I certainly hope he didn't sell horse meat - that would be grand irony!

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and the prize was 170 pounds and a hand-beaten gold watch (this was the trophy given before the traditional Loving Cup which the Melbourne Cup is known for). “Archer”, the first Cup-winning horse, had been walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, New South Wales, a distance of about 800km. “Archer” won again the following year to a prize of 810 gold sovereigns (£810) and a gold watch. “Archer” went on to win the race the following year once more, making him one of the five horses to win the event more than once.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

LET'S HAVE MUSIC

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

And remember if you wish to hear some of my own musical compositions, you can find me under the handle: Otidorchestre

In Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Deezer, Instagram, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Boomplay, etc

CHRISTMAS?

With Halloween barely over, the marketing machine of the shopping centres wasted no time and launched into the Christmas narrative. Is it just me or has this year just flown by like a big jet plane?

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 recognised.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

MOONSET

Looking towards the West at the Darebin Parklands, seeing the moon setting, while the sun is rising behind me.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

CAMPANULA

A self-seeded Campanula seedling growing and flowering amongst stones and rocks.

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity." - Albert Schweitzer

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

URBAN GARDEN

The irises are in bloom...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

IN 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.

It is a farming and pastoral region many parts having become highly productive dairying and vegetable-growing regions. Gippsland supplies Melbourne with most of its needs in these commodities. Gippsland has no deposits of major industrial nonmetallic minerals, but it does feature the world's largest brown coal deposits and, around Sale and offshore in the Bass Strait, some of the largest deposits of oil and natural gas in Australia.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

HAPPINESS

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

LIGHT SHOW

When you have no tripod and  the camera slips from your hand after you've pressed the shutter button! I superimposed the same image enlarged and flipped in Photoshop. Just for fun. This was a photo of the road with cars going by our house at night.

This post is part of the  My Sunday Best meme

SHY DOG

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

RAINBOW

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

A ROSE...

And what a rose! The magnificent 'Mr Lincoln' currently in bloom in our garden.

Rosa 'Mister Lincoln', also known as 'Mr. Lincoln', is a dark red hybrid tea rose cultivar. Bred by Herbert Swim and Weeks Rose Growers in 1964, the rose was named an All-America Rose Selections winner in 1965.

The stock parents of this rose are the hybrid tea rose cultivars 'Chrysler Imperial' and 'Charles Mallerin'. The plant was introduced into the United States via California by Star Roses in 1965. 'Mister Lincoln' was the best-selling crimson rose in the US for many years. Known as the "California drought friendly native rose", it won the All-America Rose Selections award in 1965.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

PLANE TREES

The plane trees (Platanus × acerifolia) in our neighbourhood suddenly went very green over a couple of weeks, sprouting their Spring finery of new leaves.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme

YARRA VALLEY

The Yarra Valley is less than hour’s drive to the northeast of the Melbourne CBD and is the place where Victorian wine-growing started in the mid-19th century. As one goes past the outer suburbs of Melbourne, one encounters rolling hills densely planted with vines, beautiful verdant valleys and distant blue mountain range backdrops. There are lush pastures, beautiful forests and rivers with villages surrounded by bushland like Marysville, Healesville, Yarra Glen and Warburton.

There are many vineyards to visit, ranging from the small family concerns that produce boutique wine ranges in small quantities, to the larger concerns that have many hectares of vines and produce wine by the megalitre each season. There are hundred-year-old vineyards and wineries as well as the new arrivals that have just planted out their vines. One may sample the wines, tour some of the winemaking facilities, and there is no dearth of places to linger over a meal as one discovers the regional fresh produce, well-prepared food that is matched to the local wines in the vineyard restaurants. One may also choose to stay a night or two in a chic boutique B&B, a self-contained cottage, a winery retreat or even a five-star luxury hotel/resort.

We visited the Domaine Chandon Winery close to Yarra Glen.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

LIFE BY THE POND

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