HIGHWAY NOISE BARRIERS - Again !

 

Firstly today let me apologise in advance for the poor quality of the photos.

They were taken from the car as it travelled along the highway to the Gold Coast.

 

 

Quite some time ago, in this post, I wrote about the artwork on the noise reducing barriers that are constructed along many of our highways that go through built up area of housing.

 

These works of art evolve very slowly.

Some take years to complete.

 

 

They begin with building up a background then foliage and trees are added.

 

Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the trees are painted or real ones growing in front of the large barriers.

 

I have no idea who does them but it appears to be the same person/ people as the style is very similar.

 

 

Next comes the detail - often native animals and birds - but sometimes themes like beaches or a salute to our armed forces or whales.

 

 

Recently delightful portraits of children have begun to emerge from the foliage.

 

Such a great idea.

 

 

I love them. Don't you ?

 

Cheers.

 



YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY - What's a Theremin ?

 

  

I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that I am a great fan of the television show Midsomer Murders

 In fact on our last visit to England we spent a week in the area of the Chiltern Hills where many episodes were filmed so we could see the pretty villages for ourselves.



I blogged about it here.

 As I've watched the beginning of the show I've often wondered what instrument was used in the theme music as the music has an unusual sound.

Today, through the world of Facebook ( thanks to my second cousin Julie !), I learned that it is played by a Theremin.

Now, I'm not at all knowledgeable about musical instruments and I had never heard of a Theremin so I looked it up.

 "A theremin is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (performer). The instrument's controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the relative position of the thereminist's hands and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker" ( Thank-you Wikipedia )

They look like this :-

So today I have included this clip from Youtube for your enjoyment and education ( if you are a bit of a dummy like me ! ).

Hope it works !

Cheers.



JULY PROJECT

Hello, I'm back!

 

I've had a week or so of doing practically nothing while suffering with a chest infection.

Two recent bouts of illnesses for someone who is rarely ill is ENOUGH !

So today I'm giving you a sneak peak of my latest project.

 

As you will know on our recent holiday I fell in love with Positano.

 

 

How could you not ?

 

 

So I have decided to turn this outdoor area into a Positano themed room.

 

 

This requires lots of lemony props as Positano is all about lemons.

 

 Of course I couldn't afford to bring all these lovely ceramics home with me

 



so I've been working on gathering together some lemony props. 

 

 Life-like plastic lemons in my mosaic vase.

 

and a painting project to add a bit of zing ( and lemony-ness ) to a wall plaque that was already out there.

 

 

 

 

 

There's been a bit of sewing too

 

so it's all coming together nicely.

 

Now, we just have to wait till the weather warms up a bit so we can use the outdoor area without freezing !

( It's been very cold for Brisbane - down to 2- 4 degrees here at night then up to 15-20 degrees in the daytime but with cold westerly winds ).

 



Hopefully there'll be a grand reveal soon.

 

Cheers.