QUIET SUNDAY

The normally busy Burgundy St shopping precinct in Heidelberg, is quiet and sleepy on a Sunday.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

REMEMBRANCE PARK, HEIDELBERG

Remembrance Park pond, in this little oasis of green close to Austin Hospital, Heidelberg. It's wedged between busy roads, residential streets and of course the hospital. Always pleasant to walk there and de-stress...

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.

HEIDELBERG PANORAMA

View towards the East from Heidelberg, to the skyscrapers of Box Hill. Box Hill is an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 14 kilometres east of the city's Central Business District (CBD), located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Box Hill recorded a population of 14,353 at the 2021 census.

Today, Box Hill is notable for its large Chinese community, having the largest percentage of individuals of Chinese heritage in Melbourne (The 2021 Census recorded 46.6 % of the suburbs residents as of Chinese origin), and is home to the city's tallest high-rise buildings outside the CBD.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

HOSPITAL

The bottlebrush flowers soften the rather harsh architecture of the utilitarian Austin Hospital and somehow give some hope to all who enter there... 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

YESTERYEAR

A lovely period home in Heidelberg, a Melbourne suburb with much green space and beautiful homes.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best 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.

HAVING A REST

While the master is shopping.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

OLD TIMER

Having a rest until his master returns...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

REFLECTING

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.

AT OUR LOCAL PUB

The Old England Hotel in suburban Melbourne was established in 1848. Celebrating its 170th birthday this year the Old England is an iconic part of Heidelberg’s rich and vibrant history. The hotel with its warmth and historical significance has been engrained in the traditions and social landscape of Heidelberg since its foundation. For the last century the old England hotel has attracted Melburnians as a fashionable place to dine, drink and socialise.

Some of the most notable patrons of the day included Heidelberg School of Arts founders: Arthur Streeton, Fredrick McCubbin, Tom Roberts and Charles Conder who as young struggling artists would frequent the hotel during the years they were painting the Heidelberg area around 1888. During this time they would meet regularly to share their dreams, stories, struggles and achievements.

We often go there to dine or have a quiet drink in the cosy lounge. The quality is consistently good and the service efficient.

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.

AT THE JUICE BAR

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

MURAL IN 'THE MALL', HEIDELBERG WEST

The other day, we found a lovely mural in Heidelberg West in "The Mall". It is a design of polo players that is very much reminiscent of Persian miniatures found in manuscript books. The artist is Ronak Taher, an Iranian-Australian.

This is the artist's bio from her website:
"Ronak Taher is an Iranian-Australian artist born in 1984. She finished her bachelor of Graphic Design at the University of Tehran, also holds a Master of Illustration and Animation from the Azad University of Tehran.

In 2013 she was celebrated as one of the 300 upcoming world talents in film industry at the “Berlin Film Festival”. Her last animation was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival 2011, Chicago World Film Festival 2011, Shnit World Film Festival 2011 in Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, Austria, Costa Rica and Singapore, Florida International Film Festival 2012 to name a few.

Ronak also works in the fields of graphic design, illustration and sculpture. She has had over 6 solo and group visual art exhibitions and has illustrated more than 8 books for children and young adults. Her latest book “The Conference Of The Birds” will be published in France in 2014."

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 172 - PINCUSHION PROTEA

Leucospermum (Pincushion, Pincushion Protea or Leucospermum) is a genus of about 50 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, native to Zimbabwe and South Africa, where they occupy a variety of habitats, including scrub, forest, and mountain slopes. They are evergreen shrubs (rarely small trees) growing to 0.5-5 m tall.

The leaves are spirally arranged, tough and leathery, simple, linear to lanceolate, 2-12 cm long and 0.5-3 cm broad, with a serrated margin or serrated at the leaf apex only. The flowers are produced in dense inflorescences, which have large numbers of prominent styles, which inspires the name. The genus is closely related in evolution and appearance to the Australian genus Banksia.

Shown here is a Leucospermum patersonii hybrid. An excellent ornamental hardy shrub for most well-drained soils and full sun positions. It is a relatively fast growing landscape shrub for coastal or inland gardens. The two-tone orange-red flowers make a great long stemmed cut flower. Grown commercially.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SON & DAD

Bike riding in the Yarra Flats Park.

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

AT HEIDE

Heide Museum of Modern Art, more commonly just "Heide", is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum comprises several detached buildings and surrounding gardens and parklands of historical importance that are used as gallery spaces to exhibit works in various mediums by contemporary Australian artists.

The museum underwent major redevelopment in 2005-06 which included the installation of several sculptural and installation art pieces, landscaping & redesign of the gardens, construction of a new education centre and gallery space, extension of the Heide III building and various other works. The gardens and parklands surrounding the museum are a joy to wander through at any season.

This post is part of the Scenic Weekends meme,

and also part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

HEIDELBERG WEST MURAL

The Bell Street Mall is located on Bell Street in West Heidelberg, a typical centre zone Melbourne suburb. The Mall includes 80 businesses and public areas for patrons to sit and rest during their stay. Stores include food stores, clothing stores, supermarkets and various specialist stores catering to the local Somali community. Across Oriel Road in the newer development, there is Aldi and other stores.

At the entrance of the Mall, shoppers are greeted by the Mall Sculpture, showing a family of three sculptural figures, probably made of cast metal and lately re-decorated through the application of paint. The mall is the focus of a yet-to-be-implemented Urban Development Framework and Master Plan.

This was Melbourne’s first Mall and still retains an authentic 1950’s feel. The Housing Commission of Victoria designed the Mall in 1954-56, at the same time as the nearby Olympic Village. It was the shopping centre for its Heidelberg estate and was in the “American style, drive-in shopping centre” model. The central, open-air mall is restricted to foot traffic, and in the surrounding areas there are set aside off-street car parking areas to accommodate the shoppers. When it was opened in 1956, the Argus newspaper praised the shopping centre’s simple lines, and the shop fronts designed and fitted by Silverwood and Beck, as examples of how plain, utilitarian planning can be attractive.

At many times during the day the mall is deserted and wandering through it can be quite a surrealistic experience, with one imagining to be in a time warp. Lately, there have been attempts at renewal with the installation of fake lawn and the occasional street art mural turning up, such as the zebra illustrated below.

If shoppers look above the Mall on Bell Street, they will see a vintage neon sign signifying the time the Mall was originally built around 1956. This sign has been recently restored to light up at night and forms the basis of the Bell Street Mall Logo.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,

and also part of the Monday Murals meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

BANKSIA-DUNDAS STS BRIDGE

The Banksia-Dundas Sts Bridge over the Darebin Creek was opened on 27 November 1987. The footbridge was constructed during the Darebin Creek trail redevelopment and links the three suburbs of Heidelberg, Northcote and Preston. The trail provides many opportunities for walking, cycling and other leisure activities in the midst of a bustling metropolis.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Trees & Bushes meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 128 - CALLERY PEAR

Pyrus calleryana, the Callery pear known in the USA as the Bradford Pear, is a species of pear native to China and Vietnam, in the family Rosaceae. It is a deciduous tree growing to 5 to 8 m tall, often with a conic to rounded crown. The leaves are oval, 4 to 8 cm long, glossy dark green above, and slightly paler below.

The white, five-petaled flowers are about 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter. They are produced abundantly in early spring, before the leaves expand fully. The fruits of the Callery pear are small (less than one cm in diameter), and hard, almost woody, until softened by frost, after which they are readily taken by birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings. In summer, the foliage is dark green and very smooth, and in autumn the leaves commonly turn brilliant colours, ranging from yellow and orange to more commonly red, pink, purple, and bronze.

Callery pears are remarkably resistant to disease or blight though they are regularly killed by strong winds, ice storms, heavy snow, or limb loss due to their naturally excessive growth rates. Some cultivars, such as 'Bradford', are particularly susceptible to storm damage. The species is named after the Italian-French sinologue Joseph-Marie Callery (1810–1862) who sent specimens of the tree to Europe from China.

The initial symmetry of several cultivars led to their attempted use in settings such as industrial parks, streets, shopping centres, and office parks. As such they proved so successful that they are deemed an invasive species, outcompeting many native plants and trees. Their dense clusters of white blossoms are conspicuous and very pretty in early spring, however their smell is commonly found unpleasant by many people (me included!). The smell is often described as 'fishy' and 'putrid'.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.