MOSAICS AT LALOR PUBLIC LIBRARY

I have blogged before about the Lalor Public Library here. Inside the library there is a mural composed of butterflies that have been fashioned of mosaic work. They adorn a wall that leads towards the children's books area and are quite appropriate there.

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

EMPORIUM SITE PROGRESS

Grocon has been working at the Emporium site in central Melbourne since late 2010. Buildings on the site between Lonsdale and Little Bourke Street have been progressively demolished and excavation is underway to create a two level basement. The construction of a new retail building began in 2012. Grocon has completed night works to erect steel retention systems supporting the historic facades fronting on to Lonsdale and Little Bourke Streets, which date back to around 1920.

The new Emporium will ultimately have around 250 speciality shops, creating a new shopping precinct in the heart of the city, linking the current Myer and David Jones buildings in Bourke Street with Melbourne Central in Lonsdale Street. Two tunnels have been constructed under Little Bourke Street and multi level airbridges over Little Bourke Street will also be established to ease pedestrian access between the buildings. Grocon is building the new Emporium for client Colonial First State Global Asset Management.

This post is part of the Shadow Shot Sunday meme,

and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme.

SUMMER SUNRISE 2

A couple more photos from the sunrise at the Darebin Parklands.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,

and also part of the Pink Saturday meme.

SUMMER SUNRISE

Our pleasant Summer weather makes it easy to get up early and be out and about before the sun rises. It is then good to take the opportunity to enjoy the early morning and even take a photo or two. Here are some photos of this morning's sunrise.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MYER YEAR OF THE SNAKE DISPLAY

Myer is an Australian chain of upscale mid- to high-range department stores. It is Australia's largest department store chain, retailing a broad range of merchandise including women's, men's and children's clothing, footwear and accessories; cosmetics and fragrance; homewares; electrical; furniture and bedding; toys; books and stationery; food and confectionery; and travel goods.

The Bourke St Store in the City of Melbourne is the flagship store that has undergone a recent renovation. Here in the atrium, one may see a constantly changing display of topical decorations. In this instance, a celebration of the Chinese New Year of the Snake.

This post is part of the Signs, Signs meme.

VALENTINE'S ROSE

The hype around Valentine's Day has been quite pronounced this year in Melbourne and there were people carrying around bunches of flowers or single roses all day. This particular observance was rather rare and understated in Australia say, 20-25 years ago, but it has been escalated to a major marketing and retailing opportunity.

My tribute is a rose growing in our garden and blooming this time of the year. It is the Rosa 'Wekplapep', which is the first striped rose to win AARS honours. No two flowers are alike, but all share the same distinctive deep red/burgundy on white to cream features that make this rose so unique. Spicy fragrance and dark glossy foliage just enhance the overall look of this striking rose.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

DAWN AT THE PARKLANDS

We are experiencing some delightful sunrises and sunsets in Melbourne at the moment. As Summer slowly gives way to Autumn, the days are warm to hot and the nights cool. Although we have hardly any rain, wispy clouds in the sky sometimes turn to a more substantial cloud cover that makes the dawn and evening especially photographable.

This post is part of the Water World Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme.

HIGH ST, NORTHCOTE

Located just 7 km from the city, High Street Northcote is one of Melbourne's dynamic and creative locations, with a history spanning 150 years. Today High Street is home to one of Melbourne's most interesting and eclectic mix of retailers, bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants.

High Street Northcote is an incubator for some of Melbourne's most innovative independent designers. The street houses an impressive array of vintage and retro fashion and furniture retailers alongside contemporary fashion and design boutiques. High Street Northcote's range of contemporary and epoch fashion, jewellery, gifts and home wares make it the ideal place to find something a little bit different and a whole lot special.

Melbournians love their food, wine and coffee and High Street has some of the best on offer, from fine dining to quality take-away, the variety of quirky cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars, make High Street a foodie's haven. When dining on High Street you can enjoy a unique cross-section of contemporary dining, multicultural food, cheap eats or a traditional pub meal.

This is our local shopping centre and it is good to see that despite the proximity of the Plaza, the strip shops have been retained and the street is still buzzing with shoppers. The retailers are busy at the moment preparing for Valentines Day. The red hearts are everywhere, complemented by the obligatory stuffed toys, and of course the flowers...

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

ALICE MURAL, NORTHCOTE

A graffiti hotspot in Northcote was transformed into a colourful mural filled with characters from Alice in Wonderland in March 2011. "Phatast", a Brisbane-based not-for-profit arts organisation and local artists spent several weeks spraying stencilled images on to the brick walls of the rather mundane and ultra-functional Telstra exchange building in High St, Northcote.

The work is part of a pilot project, which will see artists painting 5900 exchange sites throughout the country. Northcote street artist Gearty, aka Geoff Taylor, said he stumbled across the project when he was walking up High St and decided to join in. He said:  “I think it’s really good Telstra is doing things like this, but rather than just getting people to make art to cheer up their own buildings, maybe they could extend the project."

Unfortunately, since 2011 the mural has been spoilt by graffiti and tagging and some extraneous design elements have crept in (the anarchic image on the left side of image 7). Otherwise the mural is still bright and curious in its mixture of East and West imagery to illustrate the "Alice in Wonderland" story.

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme.