Searching for colour.....

Reflections of the old Fremantle Technical School caught in the colourful window of Wendy Binks Gallery (click the link and check out her work it's brilliant) in Fremantle where I went in search of something quirky and vibrant to hang in my new kitchen.. It was almost impossible to choose it's all  fabulous. I narrowed it down to two.. galahs or kookaburras, finally as I see galah's every day in my back garden I chose the kookaburra's (below) because they only pop in now and then, this way I'll see them every day :) I hope you have a colourful weekend, take care.....click here to see more reflections from around the world.....

Ciao Bella.....!

The freedom to be who you are

and to enjoy 

what is!

This is 'Bella' .. Bella on a bench by the beach! J'adore Bella, she is voluptuous, curvaceous and confidently wearing a beach cap that most... wouldn't :)  Just one of many sculptures around the state by WA artist  Greg James, he is brilliant.. I have rather a surprising one to show you soon! Taking photos of bronzes at midday or at any time is a bit of a challenge, any tips for me! Here we are Friday again, there can't be that many more until.. bah humbug! Have a super Friday, take care.....

I think she likes me :)

Hyde Park encore et fini.....

A few last shots from Hyde Park .. the Jacaranda's are not the only spectacular trees in the park, the magnificent Moreton Bay Figs on the lawn area dwarf the walkers and provide much appreciated shaded picnic areas in the summer, the two young ladies sitting way back there below found the perfect spot to play their guitars.. the span of the branches is just a wee bit impressive oui!

  I think these two 'portly' beauties should do a few more laps to earn those treats. :)

Public art sculpture by Judith Forrest called 'Pieces of Leisure' depicting the vibrant social life in the park.....

Could any bird be more gawky coming in to land than the Yellow-billed Spoonbill.. all legs and wing! A tell tale sign that it's breeding season is the black outline around it's face.. you never know when that vital piece of info might come in handy :)

Yarn bombed.....!

Not too shabby a spot to read the Sunday paper.....

.....and guaranteed if I'm there taking photo's there will be others, would have loved to see his shots! I hope you've enjoyed this visit to one of our prettiest parks, no doubt at some point we'll be back there! Can you believe that it's Thursday already.. crazy oui! Have a good day, take care.....

Ruffled feathers.....

With one youngster on land and three upstream it hardly seemed the right time for Mum to be having a 'Zen' moment (third shot). It wasn't long before she had to pull her head out and attend to her motherly duties! I enjoy watching the Black Swans, they have such long necks that seem to stretch forever and bend into the most extraordinary shapes.. there was a slight breeze that gently ruffled their feathers in a very appealing fashion! One day I'm going to find the time and patience to sit and wait for that elusive landing or taking off shot, would love to catch sight of the white flight feathers. Swans are herbivorous and in the last few shots you can see that there was enough 'aquatic algae' for them to skim it right off the surface..good eating in Hyde Park :) Happy Wednesday, take care and stay safe.....

Look Grandad...look!

Excitement! Well I absolutely had to dash across and have a 'sticky beak' (peek) too! If you look closer down there in the water near the boy's left shoulder you'll see what was looking up at him! These little critters are Oblong Turtles and are endemic to the south west of WA as opposed to the Red Eared Slider which is native to parts of the US and Mexico.. as one of the most popular 'pet' turtles, the Red Slider is shipped around the world, with some escaping into the wild resulting in their inclusion on the 'list of 100 globally invasive species', and not welcome in our wetlands. At one point the young boy was joined by his brothers, one of whom clutched my leg as he looked over the edge, I had the fleeting feeling that I could end up in beside this angry looking little turtle with the big claws :) Happy Monday, hope your week is off to a good start, take care.....p.s. it's going to be a Hyde Park few days.....

Africa memories & Jacaranda trees....

They say that certain sights and smells can trigger childhood memories, whenever we visit areas in Perth where the streets are lined with Jacaranda trees like the avenue above in Hyde Park yesterday, it makes me think of growing up in Africa, very happy memories. When we arrived in Rhodesia, or Zimbabwe as it is now I was just a tot :) we lived there for ten years before moving up to Zambia. I found this short video (super soundtrack) showing a fabulous Jacaranda lined road in Salisbury, now Harare, I think I remember it :)) the bottom two shots are some of the lovely old and not so old cottages around Hyde Park.. Hope you've had or are having a good weekend, take care.....

Not 'little green men'.....!

It's not often that you look up from your coffee (there was cake also) to see a green man striding towards you.. my reflexes can't be all that bad, I had about four 'strides' to focus and click :) Ah! the weird and wonderful things you see in the city. Yesterday Aimee and I checked out the Christmas markets organized by Made on the Left, a not-for-profit organization formed in 2008 by independent designers to support Western Australian creative talent. Aimee made a bit of a dent in her Xmas shopping list, me.. not so much!

Come on, you know there has to be a tree..it's nearly Christmas..what was that.. did I hear a 'bah humbug' :))

Carillon City has Christmas all wrapped up....!

On the way home we got held up for ages, at least ten minutes :) by one of the many roadworks going on in Perth at the moment.....

  ... but it did give me time to snap this gorgeous red leafed tree, I have no idea what it is but it looked so pretty there on the side of the road.....

If you need a bit of TLC 'Guys Grooming' below is the place to go..that didn't sound right :) but you know what I mean! the reviews are all good.  Hope that you're having a super weekend, will catch up today. Take care.....

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Come in No. 13.....!

Reflections from an office on the 13th floor of ONE40WILLIAM. (excellent link). It was only after reading a post written by Andrew in Melbourne pondering the superstitions associated with the number thirteen that made me register the floor number.. how do you feel about the No.13 bad luck or just another number? Why is it that whenever I catch a reflection (or five as below) of myself it's usually in something curved in a way that instead of making me look tall and slim, does the exact opposite :) Hope you have a wonderful weekend, it's a busy one here in Perth.. just for a change :) take care and stay safe... Click here to see more Weekend Reflections.....

Future dinosaur.....?

I have heard it said that the decline of the public payphone is rapidly approaching..with most people now using mobile phones they are becoming a bit of an anomaly. Personally I would hate to see the demise of the good old British red telephone boxes, we had a lot of fun on our last trip to London doing the 'Clarke Kent/Superman' thing, remind me to show you the pics sometime :) The payphone in Australia is alive and well for another 20 years due to a deal between Telstra and the government and looking in pretty good shape here in the city.. if you are like me and leave your phone at home now and then it's handy to know they are there, even though I've never used one! Are you one of the 3% who has in the last few years? Happy Friday, take care.....

The horticultural 'finger'.....!

Wouldn't you like to lean against the rail here in Kings Park and look out across to the city and the Swan River, whatever the weather the view is pretty fabulous! The plaque above, just to the side of the State War Memorial is dedicated to the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the ANZAC's who lost their lives in the battle of Gallipoli in 1915. If you visit here regularly you'll know how I feel about the Elisabeth Quay project, I tried to position the long seed pod of the Australian native Grass tree in a sort of horticultural 'rude finger' gesture :)) at the churning up of the foreshore down there to the right of the shot, not sure if it worked but you catch my drift right! Hope your week is moving along nicely, take care..... 

Pimp my ride.....!

On the way out of the city taken in a split second from the car.. fear not I wasn't driving :) Amazed to see that the car in front of us (above) had not one but three TV screens all playing at once and not a soul in the back seat to view them, was like something out of Pimp my Ride! We whizzed past a cafe on Murray St. too fast to espy the name, and in the last shot the Perth Arena which celebrated it's first birthday a week ago with two sellout Beyonce shows. While it's not worth enlarging these shots here I would love it if you could take just 4 minutes to click the Perth Arena link and watch the video to check out just how fabulous this venue is..Hope your week has started well, take care.....p.s. remember they are 'drive bys" :)

Before the sun went down.....

What better way to end a hot humid day than a walk along the coast. I took these shots while Aimee and I were enjoying our 'constitutional' along the West Coast Rd. yesterday evening just before the sun determined that it had shone quite long enough over WA! I enjoyed that even though the ladies above were chilling, their mobiles were 'at the ready' :) I love to see young families having fun and even at that time a few surfers and sunbathers were out. Couldn't resist the silhouette of the bird in the sand dunes and in the last shot heading home..the bright white light is the biggest full moon..but you'll have to take my word for it :) Even though my Sunday is overs, I hope some of you are still enjoying yours, take care.....