A photo shoot

The Hopetoun Tea Rooms

 A delightful day in the warm sun, with great company and a variety of sights in Melbourne CBD.

A lane off Collins St

Very Aussie graffiti

One of the Mali sculptures in the CBD

Looking up brings great surprises- things gone unnoticed by me at least.

The mobile office

The lunch break

The mobile library

Enjoying the sun and the smoke

Another Mali

Parked

Ethnic dinner

I must have been in Australia a long time as I got to go to Ethnic dinner again! We have been going to a different restaurant every six weeks for about 30 years now.
It was my turn to take us all somewhere and thanks to Michele's great suggestion we went to The Crimean a fabulously renovated old pub in Queensberry St in North Melbourne.

The food was delicious- the dumplings, the sardines and  green beans, the duck and lamb (by others accounts) and the desserts. I got a spoon and had a taste everyone's. The company as usual was great- talk ranged around all manner of things especially theatre and our current life experiences.

The attention span of a gnat

Having spent a lovely time with Dylan at play group it was completely apparent that he and all toddlers have the attention span of a gnat- flying from one thing to another. The video give a little indication of that flitting from bat and ball to car. his feet are barely inside the car before he's getting out of it.
Such a lovely time spent with kids in parallel play.

Similar?

Morning tea at a school review-chocolate eclairs- August

 I was looking through my photos and the similarities of these two photos struck me.

View from the bridge during our Revolutionary Walk July 4

Dinner with mates

 Anne invited the NYC mob to dinner- it was lovely to again be sitting around with these great mates. The friendships formed in NYC have been wonderful. I miss the mob that have returned to Melbourne and have settled back into life there. Visiting Anne's place was great to see what she has done with all her New York things. The things she got while traveling or while living in the city.


Julia and I tried to find fresh flowers to bring to the dinner and drove up and down High St to no avail so I popped into one of the many cheap stores and got these lovely fake flowers which Anne loved the silliness of and proceeded to place them in a vase and on the table.

 Julia offered to help hence the apron. Annie regaled us with recounts and reminders of her medical forays in NYC- we can now laugh heartily about the Kelation Therapy, more importantly how her cousin helped her get out of that "cycle". 

Sue helped me get some closer photos of the meal by opening the lid at the right time for the photo.
 The meal no surprisingly was delicious and a great night had by all.

 Anne's place is right opposite the railway crossing- I loved the light when the gates were open and then getting the blur of light of the train.

Visitors at Aireys Inlet

Blue Wren

 A week working on writing the reports- what better way than to hole up at Aireys Inlet. The fire going full pelt ( so long as I remembered to put a few logs on) and my camera beside me in case I could capture the visitors to our garden.

Satin Bower bird

 I really only spotted the bowerbird in this tree because I was so taken by the lovely sky and trees!

Through the kitchen window

The kookaburras weren't so obliging they were sitting behind some very leafy branches. And the magpies tended to chortle from some distant place.

Sisters

Celia & Michele

Sandy and Chez organized the "Beauie block kids" lunch and again it was great catching up with people we played with over 50 years ago. 

Our parents had built the houses in an area "sooo far out of the city in Beaumaris- unmade roads and few amenities" to begin. While we were growing up there were so many places to play and meet up with those who lived in the little street that is Bruce Street. We think there were about 34 kids in the small street and its environs. Three families of six helped build the numbers!

Sandra and Cheryl

 Sandy and Chez and their little sister Linda were our next door neighbours. We like to try to catch up each year but this year was particularly important to meet and raise a glass to Tony who was at the last gathering out the group. It was also our chance for a "wake" as none of us had been able to go to my borther's funeral in Perth, WA nearly 5 months ago.

Alan and Gerry

 Alan was the brave bloke to come along to the lunch and her brought his sister Gerry. But as he pointed out his whole life has been surrounded by women as he has four sisters.  Hopefully next time at least two more of his sisters will make it to the lunch back in Beaumaris next time!