The lane that cried Wolfe.....!!

Described as Perth's best kept secret, late night lounge bar Wolfe Lane Bar is located on Wolfe Lane, named after William Wolfe an architect born in NYC, trained in Germany who migrated to Australia in 1877 working in Sydney and Melbourne before settling in Perth in the 1890's. Mr. Wolfe (sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale!) apparently exemplified the characteristics of the desired clientele the lounge bar hoped to attract..well traveled, worldly, educated, artistic, passionate and successful, okey dokey!!

Behind this discreet, unpretentious black door lies a very stylish area that still has many features from it's previous life as a warehouse, the matte floorboards and huge windows, plus a few additions like a big black glossy bar, lots of contemporary leather furniture and artwork. According to the blurb there's no discrimination in attire between jeans (as long as they're designer) and suits, it's all in the way you wear them.. I might have to check it out sometime, I'd get in..I'm cool right!! Not sure if my Levi's would cut it haha! Mid point in the week once again, happy Wednesday.....

Standing on it's own merit.....

When I started putting this post together it was going to be all about the QV1 building on the corner of Milligan St. and St. George's Terrace, but looking at the shots I took, I could see that that might have to wait for a while, because this sculpture by Charles Perry seems to dominate. Perhaps you've seen a C.O. Perry sculpture in your own city, he has works in USA, Japan, UK and many more cities (including Sydney), if you click here you will see a guide to his sculptures, this one in Perth is in the 'Planar' section and is called Conic Madrigal, but you might see and recognize one in your city that you hadn't noticed before. Charles Perry (1929 - 2011) believed that a sculpture 'must stand on it's own merit without need of explanation', I have a feeling that more than one person would have stood looking at this sculpture thinking 'what's THAT all about'! If you don't recognize his sculptures you might own, or know about his ergonomic chairs, the Perry, Uno or Virtuoso. Whatever you might think of his work, I believe this one here in Perth was not popular in the beginning, he had a brilliant mind and was a talented artist in many areas. I hope your week is off to a good start, stay safe.....

More healthy than dangerous.....?

Interesting fact, did you know that way back in 1990 Australia was the first country to make the wearing of bike helmets compulsory, 1991 for Perth.  Two reasons I decided on this post, the first being that in a rather controversial move the City of Fremantle, 19 kms south west of Perth (bikes above and below parked at Fremantle docks) has just announced a two year 'no helmet' trial (not including cyclists under the age of 18) that has safety experts rather hot under the collar. Helmets will still be compulsory in high traffic areas and where the speed limit is above 50kms. So basically not compulsory in recreational 'safe' areas. It really is one of those subjects that evoke a divided reaction, I know people who actually stopped riding because of the compulsory helmet law, not moi, I stopped as soon as I finished high school mainly because I looked pretty daft riding a bike! Some say the benefits of riding outweigh the dangers, others that they would wouldn't be alive today if it hadn't been for the fact they were wearing a helmet, the debate will go on for the next two years I'm sure. What do you think about it all? Oh yes, and the other reason was to show some bike shots that otherwise wouldn't get a look in! Hope you had a good weekend and are fit and ready for the week ahead.....

This one below shows the best and healthiest way to get to Cottesloe Beach to avoid the parking nightmare at the weekend is to ride your trusty steed.....!!

Interpretive Dance Guy, Mothers Day and iPods.....!

Or at least that's what Aimee calls him. He's been doing his 'thing' in the city for a while now, his story goes like this..'I used to work for the bank and make people unhappy, now I work as a street performer and make people happy', and yesterday he certainly did, there was a lot of spontaneous audience participation. I did laugh at the end, where he mimed taking the money out of the wallet and putting it into the top hat, excellent! It's Mothers Day in Australia today, not sure if it is elsewhere, I overheard this conversation between two young men at the shops "what if we get Mum an iPod?" the reply "she hasn't figured out how to use the phone yet!" made me smile, nice to know there's at least one other technophobe around! Have a wonderful Sunday whether it be Mothers Day or not..... p.s. sorry about the poor quality of the video, it lost something in the translation from HD to above.....!

Nothing but blue skies.....!

Well the skies over Perth are blue again, the rain will be back next week but a brief respite is always welcome. Thanks so much for the kind wishes, believe me some of the suggestions for dealing with a migraine will be trialed and tested next time. Robert in Athens I'm totally with you on the 'drink lots of water', this plus an apple a day is my sure fire cure for pretty much everything! Oh yes and some very 'interesting' suggestions re the aphids attacking my roses problem, best two the tobacco infusion suggested by Nick in Melbourne, definitely trying that one and the ladybugs, which we do have here but not in enough numbers to be effective, suggested by Pat in Toronto, leading me to follow up on a tip from Andrew in Melbourne and yes, you can mail order ladybugs from where else but a bug shop who knew!! The last time I took pictures of this sculpture of Rajah, Mila and Echo at Hillary's Marina was over a year ago, a sad story and a wonderful tribute to three gentle creatures, it's definitely one of my favourite sculptures around Perth. I know it sounds a little masochistic to say, but it's almost worth having a migraine once in a while to experience how fantastic it feels when it's gone, now if I could just get rid of the pinched nerve in my back haha!! Hope you have a fab weekend, stay safe.....

Yay, I have a brain.....ouch it hurts!

The skies over Perth may be cloudy and grey, but they have nothing on what's going on in my head. My dear old Dad, who suffered from migraines and passed them on down to moi always used to say "you canna hae a migraine hen (in heavy Scottish accent!) you've got tae hae a brain to hae a migraine", good old Dad, how I miss him. Well the proof is in the pudding as they say, I must have a brain, deep down I've always suspected it haha! I've pulled out a few shots from last year which  look pretty much how the skies over Perth have been for the last week. I'm going to give my eyes a couple of days off looking at the computer screen, so I'll catch up soon. Have a great week and keep safe.....

Aphids with a taste for the good life.....!

These are probably the last pictures of roses from my garden that I can post for this year, with summer well and truly over it's almost time to prune in preparation for winter. I was a little disappointed with my roses this year, they weren't quite as prolific as usual and there seemed to be twice as many aphids (you can see them clearly on rose below, icky little creatures). If anyone can suggest a sure fire 'natural' solution to the aphid problem I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm not too keen on using chemicals and am growing garlic plants amongst the roses and spraying with garlic and soapy water, it could be that we have connoisseur aphids here in Australia, they seem to love a touch of garlic with their rose!!What I usually end up doing is just washing them off with the hose every few days, something systemic would be the best solution, must find out if there is such a thing before next spring. Still raining in Perth, but only for a few more days and then back to blue skies. Happy and safe Tuesday.....