SUNNY DAYS - BRISBANE IN MARCH

Although we are nearly at the end of March the weather has been very warm.

Most days have been close to 30 degrees which promises a nice Easter break ahead.

 

Tony has a new wide-angle lens for his camera bought in anticipation of fantastic photo opportunities on our holiday.

But first he needed a trial run to see how he will be able to use it so we decided a few cityscapes were in order.

 

The pedestrian mall was bright and cheerful after a month of rain in February

 

 

and Brisbane is looking more like a sub-tropical city now we have had some rain

 

with colourful plants brightening up the gardens.

We walked down to this lovely square.

 

 

This is ANZAC Square- a small oasis of green right in the heart of the city set aside as a War Memorial.

At lunchtime during the week it is crowded with workers eating their lunches .

 

This statue stands guard at the entrance to the garden with the path behind it leading to the Cenotaph and the eternal flame.

 

The soldier is  Major General Sir William Glascow, a Queenslander born in Tiaro just north of Brisbane.

I didn't know anything about him so I did a little research and this is what I found:

 

 

"In March 1916 when the 4th and 5th Divisions were formed, Glasgow was promoted temporary brigadier and given the task of raising and commanding the 13th Infantry Brigade. He led his men in many important actions including those at Pozières, Messines, Passchendaele, Mouquet Farm and Dernancourt. He was appointed C.M.G. in June 1916 and C.B. in December 1917.

On 25 April 1918 the 13th Brigade, together with Harold Elliott's 15th Brigade, recaptured the town of Villers-Bretonneux after the Germans had overrun the 8th British Division under General Heneker.
 It was a feat subsequently described by Lieutenant-General Sir John Monash as the turning-point of the war.
Before the counter-attack Glasgow, having reconnoitred the position, demurred at British orders to attack across the enemy's front. 'Tell us what you want us to do Sir', he said to Heneker, 'but you must let us do it our own way'. He refused to attack at 8 p.m.: 'If it was God Almighty who gave the order, we couldn't do it in day-light'. They attacked successfully at 10 p.m.

He was appointed K.C.B. in recognition of his outstanding war service and was nine times mentioned in dispatches; the French government awarded him the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre; he also won a Belgian Croix de Guerre.

For twenty years he led the Anzac Day parade in Brisbane as general officer commanding the parade."

So there he stands and I'm sure that very few know anything about this fine soldier but I'm glad he has been recognised and honoured in this way.

 

Have you noticed the trees in this park?

Aren't they unusual?

 

They're  Queensland Bottle Trees

 

The bottle tree has one of the most visually interesting shapes. It's botanically known as Brachychiton rupestris, and is also commonly known as the Queensland bottle tree.

 

The common name derives from the tree's shape, which becomes bottle like as it ages at between five and eight years of age. Some people believe the tree is hollow but the swelling is due to the water held in its trunk. The bottle tree is semi-deciduous and reaches 18 to 20 metres.

 

 It is an icon of the Outback and can also withstand temperatures of -8 degrees up to +50 degrees celsius.

 

 

It is so nice to see them featured here.

 

 

The path leads from the statue to the Shrine of Remembrance which is on a higher level

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It is the centre of all ANZAC Day ceremonies.

 

(*  images from the Internet)

 

 

From there we walked down towards the river past more lovely trees.

 

 

I love the way they have been left in their own traffic island amongst all the new skyscrapers.

They are Curtain Figs .

 

The wide angled lens was getting plenty of work and providing some interesting shots.

 

By now we were at the river.

 

Look at the colour of it!!

 

No lovely clear water for us.

The river is normally brown and murky but after all the rain and releases from the dam it is flowing very strongly and it is very very muddy!

These riverside bars and eateries have been cleaned up once again after recently being flooded and are back open for business.

 

 



 

 

You certainly have to be resilient to keep going in these businesses but luckily they are very well patronised in their lovely position in the heart of our river city.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

DABBLING IN SCARF MAKING

When Sally returned from her last visit to Scotland she brought home with her some yarn for me.

Very different yarn.



When you open it out you get this open weave lacy stuff with a little bobble edging.

The colour variation is very pretty.

 

This yarn was all the rage here last Winter.
It knits up into a very cutesy spiral scarf.
We really don't have a need for scarves here in Brisbane for Winter.
Not cold enough....
but we still love the look of them
so something light is the way to go.
Last night I thought I'd try my hand at knitting up the ball Sally gave me
and in a couple of hours I had this!

About six foot long

and quite pretty

 

Tonight's project is this "ball".

 

It's very different but is to be knitted up in the same way.

I wonder how this one will look.

Cheers.

THE COMPOUND WORD PROJECT - JOIN IN THE FUN !

 

Are you interested in puzzles?

 

How about joining The Compound Word Project?

 

(Just visit http://compoundwordproject.blogspot.com.au/)

 

During the next fortnight, 10 diptychs will be posted on this blog.  Each will represent a compound word. 

Your task is to work out the words.

 

 

Here's a link from the last round to give you an idea of what to do.

 

Come on. Join in

 

It's fun!

 

 

Cheers.

QUILTING PROJECT ONE 2013

It's been a while since I've had the urge to sew.
Too hot, plus the apathy that follows Christmas...

but a need for a small blanket has arisen
and since I had a few blocks left over from Sally's quilt I thought I put them to good use.

Just needed a couple of extra squares from marching fabrics, a couple of borders and it's done.



Or should I say "Almost done !"

Now comes the part I hate !



Down on my knees I taped it to the floor of the main bathroom.
Luckily no-one uses it much as there it sat weighed down with heavy books for about 5 days till I could ignore it no longer!



Down on my knees on a cushion and putting in the pins is my least favourite part of quilting.

Finally all done.
Now for my first attempt at quilting the whole thing myself.
Just quilting in the ditch but I'm not confident I can get it pucker-free.

We'll see how it goes.

Cheers.
 

GREEN AND GOLD

 

Back in 1988 it was the year of Australia's Bicentenary.

 

That is, we celebrated 200 years of European settlement of Australia.

 

Way back in 1788 the First Fleet arrived with a cargo of convicts, their keepers and a handful of Free Settlers who went about the arduous business of carving a settlement out of the bush around what is today called Sydney.

 Two hundred years later we celebrated that beginning and Australia's growth into the multi-cultural nation we are today.

  

Up here in Queensland our major contribution to these celebrations was the staging of a World Exposition.

We called it Expo '88 and it was set up on the South bank of the Brisbane River in the city.

I found these pages in the family photo album.



Of course it was 25 years ago so you might not recognise my family in these photos !

 

 

( sorry they are not clearer - photo of a photo ! )

To commemorate Expo 88 a special plant was created by those clever people who do such things.
It was christened Expo Gold  ( Xanthostemon chrysanthus or Golden Penda ) and it greeted visitors to Expo 88 with a lovely show of large pompom-like yellow flowers that our native birds love as they are full of nectar.



Now, 25 years later Brisbane gardens are reaping the benefit of this lovely plant.

Hidden at the bottom of our garden is one of these, grown tall but almost hidden by grevilleas and covered in buds.

 

 

Expo Gold plants have been widely used as a street tree and many neighbourhood streets are now lined with them. After the huge amount of rain they have received lately, they are putting on a fantastic show all around us.

I set out today with my new LUMIX camera to see how the 20x  zoom works taking photos of Lorikeets feeding in the Expo Golds in a nearby street.

 

They are only just starting to bloom but already the trees are thick with birds feeding on the nectar.

 

Despite their bright colours Rainbow Lorikeets are not easy to spot amongst the foliage.

 

but the zoom was great.

 

I couldn't get close to the tree or they would fly away so I stood across the road, pointed where I could see the leaves moving and snapped away.

 

 

 

The bird below is a Scaley-Breasted Lorikeet and doesn't have the bright blue and red markings of the Rainbow Lorikeets which makes it very hard to see.

 

Can you spot him? 

 

I'll make it a bit easier for you !

 

 

Well the new zoom is a big success.

 I worried camera shake might come into play as I suffer very badly from that at times but I think these turned out well.

 

Cheers.