Vintage Playboy.....

The perfect birthday gift for the man in your life, an original copy of Playboy published in the month of his birth, providing he was born after 1953 that is! While many of the big bookstores like Borders have closed their doors, Elizabeth's Bookshops are still going strong. Could it be because they specialize in a selection of second hand history, military, literature, erotic fiction, children's books, old and rare editions, they will search and send online and also a limited range of new books. Or could it be that like moi there are still people out there who love the smell of old volumes and the pleasure of perusing book lined walls just to see what's there..not to mention the chandeliers, rugs and quirky ambiance! I know I've posted about Elizabeth's before but somehow my camera just finds it's way into my hands every time and, well you can see what happens! Happy Thursday, take care.....

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Hel(vetica) forest.....!

Howard Lane just off St. George's Terrace was one of the first to be upgraded in the City Laneways Enhancement project. This super cool quirky mural (the unsuspecting guy on the corner was an added bonus haha!) titled 'Night Forest' by Brooklyn based artist Yok in his very distinctive style which I believe originated right here in Perth and can be seen all around the world. I wonder if Daryl in NYC has seen a Yok on her travels about town! Just around the corner is the doorway into Helvetica one of the many small trendy bars in 'the hidden doorway' club scene that is growing in Perth, Yok has been busy here also. There are so many unique murals around Perth created by local and international artists I thought I might just pop one in now and then, what do you think? Hope your week is progressing well, take care and stay safe.....

A man of vision.....

When we were in the city on Friday it gave me the opportunity to snap a few more of the sculptures along St. George's Terrace. On the corner of Spring St.and the Terrace stands a statue of Sir Charles Court by Tony Jones. During his time in the WA Parliament and as the Liberal Premier from 1974 - 1982 Sir Charles would often stroll along this route down the hill from Parliament House (below) to the CBD so it seems a fitting site for his memorial, I'm sure he would have been more than chuffed with this view (below, below) looking down along the terrace. Sir Charles was celebrated for defending the rights of West Australians from the Eastern states and 'didn't mind a fight with Canberra', defending the State's right to manage it's own affairs. We have our State elections coming up next weekend, and for the first time in a long time I can't wait to cast my vote.... Happy Tuesday, take care.....

(Big) cat nap.....!

Yesterday after the Camera Market in Leederville we zipped into the Zoo to see if there were any new baby arrivals since our last visit. We were early, the first through the gates at 9am, maybe a little too early..Mr and Mrs King of the Jungle were flat out refusing to co-operate in any sort of photo shoot that involved...waking up! Mr KotJ's eyes were flickering and I couldn't help wondering if he was dreaming about roaming free on the African Savannah, probably not as he probably never has, sort of sad really! Hope you've had a good weekend and are amped for the new week, take care and stay safe. p.s. there was a new baby Gibbon, show you tomorrow.....

Men at Work.....!

A bit of fun for the weekend. Seen on Hay Street in the city yesterday, this made me smile..seriously chaps! ..the working man's motto..'there's no harm in looking' haha! Hope your weekend is full of  fun, take care and stay safe.....

Spontaneous combustion.....!

Coming down the escalators from ONE40WILLIAM (Aimee's workplace) on a 41C day in the city, not surprisingly I was drawn to the cool blue reflection of Kelly Slater riding the big waves in an advert for Quicksilver surf gear. Thanks be to 'someone' the temperature is dropping to a much cooler 26C today, just in time before we all spontaneously combust!  Wouldn't that make for an interesting headline..'seen yesterday on Murray Street in Perth, Western Australia, one minute she was walking along chatting, the next pouffff! she spontaneously combusted' haha! Excusez-moi , as I type this it's still hot and my brain (?) seems to have turned to mush, normal (?) function will return later in the day, stay tuned. You have no idea how tempting it was to join in the wet fun below, next time for sure. Seriously TGIF, have a good one, take care.....

An unexpected Voyage.....

We had a bit of an unexpected treat last night, Dave (mon fils) flew in for a business meeting and we had just enough time to catch up with him and enjoy a meal at Voyage Kitchen Cafe on the West Coast road. I've been here for breakfast and coffee a few times but not for dinner, very nice! The cosy relaxed atmosphere and no loud music was perfect for catching up on all the news from Sydney. A glass of cold white wine and a dish of tomato, oregano and bocconcini and Aimee and I were transported back to the isle of Capri, lovely! Anyway it's late so will catch up tomorrow, take care.. p.s. do we bloggers ever go anywhere without taking photos haha!

Marvelous Macropodes....!

Ok I agree, not quite as spectacular as yesterdays shots but much easier to execute! One of the things that visitors to Australia love to see are the kangaroos, here in Perth there's no need to go to the zoo to see these marvelous marsupials, one of the many spots where you are guaranteed to see a mob of  'macropods', and if you're lucky espy a 'bit of a biff' (I was mega excited the first time I saw boxing kangaroos) is Pinnaroo Memorial Park, I've shown you them here before, but not with an appreciative audience. I found this super short video on youtube taken by a group of American, or maybe Canadian tourists (can anyone recognize which!) who had a fab experience on a visit here. Aimee and I see this sight often on our walk, but I know how unique an experience it would be for travelers from over the sea. Hope that your week is going well, happy Wednesday, take care and stay safe.....

Jupiter in hiding.....

This wasn't the post I had prepared for today, but when P called me outside last night at (roughly) 8pm I knew that I'd have to record and show you this rather peculiar happening around the moon, I've never seen anything like it before. Knowing that Bill's latest acquisition is a 150 - 500 lens (Sigma) I thought he would probably get a clearer picture than I. He did. He climbed up onto his roof, tripod in hand and captured these two fantastic images, the second shot an hour after the first, merci beaucoup Bill, and P for spotting it. So here's the thing, I'd be hard pressed to explain an 'occultation' under normal circumstances, but with 'le grande mal de tête', impossible! So I shall let The Perth Observatory do it for me (below). Hope your week has started well, catch up tomorrow..Happy Tuesday, take care....

An event that you can more easily observe is the occultation (hiding) of Jupiter by the moon on Monday evening. At nightfall on Monday the first quarter moon will pass between Earth and Jupiter. Jupiter's disappearance at the dark right-hand edge of the moon is quite dramatic. As the moon moves along in its orbit, Jupiter will reappear at the bright left-hand edge: the moon traverses its own width in about an hour. This occultation will be visible across southern Australia.

Sandblasted.....!

Now that's more like it! Talk about a change in the weather! We'll have to make the most of it though because it's a case of here today...gone tomorrow. It wasn't cold, just incredibly windy, 45km/h at times, let me tell you just taking these few shots I had sand in places I haven't had sand for quite a while haha! Seriously the winds were so strong, with hair flying wildly it was a case of point, press the button and hope for the best. The life guards were out, but apart from a few hardy surfies, there was no action on the beach, hard to believe in a few days we'll be back in the high 30C's again, ah well, and just so this post isn't all about the weather..yawn.....

It was wonderful to see on the other side of the marina, along the seawall leading out to the lighthouse, that someone, maybe one of the regulars who fish here, had left a big bowl of milk and dish of food for the many feral cats that call the cracks and crevices along the wall home, poor wee creatures. Hope that you're enjoying your weekend, happy Monday, take care..p.s there were about half a dozen drops of rain, I counted them.....!

Three grains short of a bowl of rice.....!

This clever and amusing art installation that we came across in the city as we were passing through the old General Post Office, was another entry in the Perth International Arts Festival. These pyramid shaped mounds of rice grains are part of an exhibition titled 'Of All the People in All the World' created by Stan's Cafe Theatre Co.based in Birmingham UK. The huge dune in centre represents 'the population of the world in 1700 (?). Just in case you are a wee bit concerned about wastage check out the details below.....

Some of the presentations were a little frivolous, like the comparison below re number of twitter followers between Kylie Minogue and Julia Gillard.....

...and some a bit more serious like the huge divide between those that have and those that have not by comparing the the number of refugees in the world with the number of millionaires.....

The number of people who marched for and against gay marriage in Paris last year.....

...and just in case anyone is interested, the number of billionaires in the world, not many left unmarried and even fewer of them in Australia..but the question is, do they have a sense of humour, billionaires can sometimes be a little 'stiff' oui!

I enjoyed it very much, some of the presentations just made me laugh, like the one below. There were too many to show them all but I think you get the picture. Seriously there's something of interest around every corner these days in Perth, not likely to bump into any billionaires though. Eh! their loss right! Hope you have a wonderful weekend keep warm, or cool whichever part of this wonderful world you live in, take care and stay safe. p.s. check out that parquet flooring, gorgeous!

The first, and the last.....

This is the first shot that I took at the beginning of our walk along Whitford Beach just as the sun was thinking of setting, and below, the last shot before heading up through the dunes back to the car  How the light changes in the space of less than an hour and what a perfect way to end a sizzling hot day! I heard a rumor, well actually I saw it on the link above, that there's a chance of rain on Sunday, halleluiah!! Is it really Friday already, well for us here in Australia anyway, I hope it's a good one for you, take care and stay safe.....

Scattered Light.....

After dinner at Botanical Cafe in Kings Park we walked down Fraser Ave to check out one of the many art installations that are sprinkled around the city as part of the  Perth Festival. This is possibly one of the hardest pieces to photograph, mainly because a still picture just doesn't do it full justice, fortunately I found this short video which shows exactly, (scroll down) how it works.. Called 'Scattered Light', a 'homage to the humble light bulb', it is anything but humble! Created by internationally renowned media art pioneer Jim Campbell, it's a little like 'the face in the tree' in that at first you're not sure if you're imagining things..was that a shadow of someone walking by on the other side? No it was not. it's all in the design, very cool n'est pas! Happy Thursday, hope it's a good one, take care.....

'Welcome to the Jungle'.....!

I took you on a trip around the new Perth Arena when it opened back in November last year. I'm happy to say that it's been a huge success winning high praise from all who have performed there, but for the Perth Wildcats it means a whole lot more than that! Since playing their first game in the NBL back in 1982 in an 800 seat stadium, the Wildcats have won the championship five times and, hopefully not putting a 'hex' on it, could well be heading for their sixth this year. Fans have been wonderful in their loyalty and almost fill the just shy of 15,000 seats whenever the Wildcats play at home! Aimee is the guest photographer for this post, she took these shots on Friday when the Perth Wildcats played the Adelaide 36'ers (highlights), winning after a close game 73/67 phew! Don't you think the red tee shirts look brilliant against the blue background? I had dinner with my 'skin and blisters' (sisters) last night, catch up today, have a good Wednesday, take care and stay safe.....

'oy veh' it's hot.....!

Yesterday I visited mon ami Marie who lives in Maylands, one of Perth's older suburbs along the Swan River, and only minutes away from Tranby House, built by Joseph Hardy who arrived from England in 1830 to join the newly established Swan River colony. Unfortunately he had a bit of bad luck (?), the first two homesteads he built were destroyed by floods and as the bumf states, third time lucky! This house completed in 1839 is a testament to his perseverance! Today the main house is open to the public and a group of very lovely ladies with a fund of knowledge about the history of the area will ensure any history buffs a fascinating visit.....

The two magnificent Oak trees are said to be grown from acorns brought out from England and are on the National Trust's register of 'Significant Trees'.  Marie tells me that up until a few years ago people would arrive in their boats, dock at this little jetty below, and walk up to the the Wardens Cottage built in 1984 just behind the main house, which is now tearooms. Unfortunately the jetty has been in disrepair for a while, with no moves to repair it..shame. I have a feeling Malyss and VP may enjoy the view from the bench snuggled in the trees below! Oi! it's hot in Perth, roll on Thursday and slightly cooler temps! Happy Tuesday, hope it's a good one..take care.....

NYC, looking good.....!

Where to go to keep cool in the city on a 41C degree day when there's so much going on that you don't know which way to turn!  For Aimee and I it was the Art Gallery. Once again the gallery has collaborated with MoMA in New York to bring us 'Picturing New York', a fine collection of photographs depicting iconic NYC, the work of over 90 artists, including one of my heroes, the late Henri Cartier-Bresson. Now here's the thing, this shot of 'the girl with the two shadows' (what's going on there?) is a little grainy, not so sharp, but does that make the content any less interesting? Many of the photo's hanging here in the gallery taken by well respected photographers were out of focus and quite abstract, but at the same time fabulous..what think you on that subject? She was studying one of my favourite images in the show (below), a photograph taken in 1964 by Garry Winogrand, brilliant! We have a bit of a heat wave ahead of us for the next few days in Perth, send some snow pleeeese!! Happy beginning of the week, take care and stay safe.....

LUMINOUSnight.....

The hallowed 'walls' of UWA (The University of Western Australia 1913 - 2013), exploded into life on Friday evening to celebrate the centenary of its inception with the most astounding light show  depicting the history of the university, beginning with the arrival of the first settlers.....

The first university building and the commencement of the university as we know it today.....

This was one of my favourite images, women were among the first students in 1913.....

and I knew as soon as the peacock sauntered onto the scene it would develope into something stunning, it's tail fanned open and covered the whole facade in splendorous colour.....

Sorry about the overload of pics today, these are just a few from the night, the show was so good, if they put up a link to it in the next few days I'll post it and if you have a spare fifteen minutes you can have a gander! There is just so much going on in Perth right now, The Fringe Festival is still running, The Perth Festival opened last night..it's fabulous madness at every turn..I'll do my best, but c'est impossible! Hope your weekend is going well, mine as you can see is crazy, take care.....