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The Chinese Gardens

 

Happy Monday (evening)! I hope everyone had a marvellous weekend.

I thought I'd do a post on the Chinese Gardens in Sydney which I visited a few weeks back. I visit these gardens a couple of times per year and without fail I am totally enraptured a new with every visit. This is partly because the gardens change, quite dramatically I've discovered, with the seasons and partly due to the fact that they are impossible to remember because they are so vast and lovely!

As it is Autumn here in Sydney all the camellias were out and the recent rain has made everything so lush and green. There's plenty of wildlife there too - huge koi that swim over for a chat when you pop your head over the side of the ponds, water dragons sun themselves on the paths and cormorants dry their wings on rocks. Below are my attempts at photographing the wildlife with varying degrees of success!

Here's to a productive and smooth week ahead!

Easter / ANZAC Day

Happy Easter! I know it's possibly not the right day to say that but I've been having a mini blog break and I think I missed the correct day to wish everyone that. This photo incidentally is one I took in the National Gallery of Victoria when I was down in Melbourne in December last year. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the artist or much about the work but I thought he was kind of cute all the same! 

It's Easter Monday but also ANZAC day here in Australia. ANZAC Day (25th April) is a day when we remember the soldiers that have fought for Australia. We actually have a few memorials to the ANZACS (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). There's a handsome suspension bridge which was built about 15 years ago called the ANZAC bridge:

 
There's also the El Alamein Fountain which is just up the road from where I live:

I have blogged about this gorgeous fountain before here if you'd like to read up some more about it.

I hope everyone is having a good time relaxing this long weekend and that nobody has OD-ed on chocolate Easter eggs! :0)

ANZAC Bridge photos from here. El Alamein photo from here.

Things that have caught my eye...

Notty by Evangelione

 

Love Park Philly by Allisonostertag

 
Mockingbird print by Miss Brigette

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Porcelain Figurine from JoeVintage  and Black Satin Pumps from Bubblepipe

 

 

Yes! They are all from Etsy - the best shopping emporium in the entire universe!

I hope everyone is having a good week. Tomorrow is Friday here in Sydney and really it just doesn't get much better than that. Well, apart from Friday afternoon that is!

SSS and my Grand Melbourne theory...

This is a detail from a hugely ornate Victorian fountain outside the Exhibition Building in Melbourne. Even though Melbourne is smaller and younger than Sydney it is incredibly grand! I think because Sydney was the first city to be established (1788) it has more colonial buildings which are smaller and less imposing than Melbourne's huge Victorian structures. Sydney also grew in a bit of a topsy turvy way whereas Melbourne was a much smaller town really and then suddenly took off after gold was discovered there in the 1850s. This sudden massive influx of wealth meant big ornate structures could be built all over. Another reason I think Melbourne has more large victorian architecture is that after the gold rush, Melbourne possibly didn't really grow so much and so kept all the old buildings. Sydney, on the other hand continued to grow and the old stuff was pulled down to make way for modern office blocks and the like.

Ah! So there you have my "Grand Melbourne" theory that I yabber on about to my long suffering boyfriend every time I go down there! It's good to share it around!

Here are some more fountain shots and in some of them you can see the Exhibition Building in the background which is where my boyfriend, who is originally from Melbourne, did his end of school exams.

 

 

 

More Melbourne shots to come! It feels terrific to get back into the saddle of blogging! 

Hope everyone is having a super weekend - I look forward to catching up with everyone's adventures!

And! For more Shadowy goodness please visit Tracy's gorgeous blog Hey Harriet! You can even join in if you like - it's a heap of fun! Here are the instructions on how to do so!

Oh my goodness...happy Friday!

 

This is so me this weekend! Not that I have such a glamorous bath or that I would wear such hats in such a glamorous bath if I had one but...What a week! I can't even remember it - I think it was OK-ish and maybe there were even bits of wow! But as always very full - on (does anyone still say "full - on" or is it just me?).

This is Ronald Searle by the way, one of my all time favourite illustrators and artists. You can find out more about him here - which is where the image is from too.

Happy, happy weekend lovely people!

Bats and Apollo: Shadow Shot Sunday

Happy Shadow Shot Sunday! The top shot is of a flying fox mid-siesta in the Botanic Gardens. As he was sleeping, he was slowly twirling around. I managed to get his contented smile though in this shot. The bottom shot is part of The Archibald Fountain in Sydney's Hyde Park. This is a fine art deco fountain commissioned and paid for by a prominent Sydney identity, J.F. Archibald. It was built after he died as a memorial to him and he insisted that the artist be French as he was an utter Francophile and also because he wanted to commemorate the alliance between France and Australia in World War I. The artist chosen was Francois Sicard. It was completed on 1932. Below you can see the entire fountain in all it's art deco glory.

In the centre is Apollo and he is flanked below by the goddess Diana and the god of Sacrifice for the public good, Theseus (with the minator). There is another group which represents the bounty and goodness of nature. 

Shadow Shot Sunday is an awesome meme set up by that fabbo top gal Tracy of Hey Harriet! Everybody can submit a SSS and here are the instructions on how to do so!

King of the castle...

Ah! The sweet, dulcet tones of the melodic Australian Cockatoo! Anybody from Australia and anybody who has been to Sydney and has had the pleasure of listening to a cockatoo will know I am being deeply sarcastic here! The cockatoo's call is the most abrasive, screeching, ghastly sound on the planet and yet they hold a special place in every Aussie's heart. Their name is often shortened to "cocky" and boy are they that! So confident and full of chutzpah! As a matter of fact I'm listening to a lone cocky screeching like a madman in the park down the end of my street right now. Bless!

This is my Shadow Shot for this week. Shadow Shot Sunday is a fantastic meme set up by that all round good gal Tracy of Hey Harriet fame! Anybody can enter and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Happy Sunday mes amis!!

Gabriela, Robert and Florence.

First of all, the Gabriela part: Behold! Another drawing from my weekend drawing festival! This is the very fetching Gabriela. She is a star absolutely and you can find her here in my shop!

...and now for the Robert part!

I have been a huge admirer of this magnificent 3 tiered cast iron Sydney fountain for a while and every time I walk past it I think "I must take a photo of that magnificent fountain for my blog because I just think it's lovely!" Finally, last Sunday I managed to have my camera with me as I walked past.

This fountain was made in a factory in Colebrookdale (UK) and installed in 1907 in the grounds of Sydney's oldest hospital which is now the Sydney Eye Hospital. It was dedicated to the memory of Robert Brough.

Robert Brough was an English actor who came to Sydney in 1870 with his wife and together they were incredibly popular and well loved particularly for their musical comedy routines. So, when Robert died in 1906 it was thought a memorial of some description needed to be erected. So, this lovely fountain is it!

 

In the close ups above you can see the brolgas and the Australian black swans that surround two of the tiers. It has a particularly Australian flavour to it yet it reminds me of something out of Alice in Wonderland.    

Now for the Florence part!

In the picture below you can see the fountain again and behind it a very attractive Gothic revival building which was actually designed by Florence Nightingale. It is The Nightingale Wing and was built in 1869 to house the first nursing school in Sydney and perhaps one of the first in the world. It is now houses a museum which is full of nursing memorabilia and grisly medical specimens floating in jars of formaldehyde.

Good luck with hump day everyone!

ANZAC Day.

Today, 25th April, is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. ANZAC Day is a spiritual and solemn day that was established in 1915 to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought in Gallipoli, Turkey during World War I. This was Australia's and New Zealand's first major overseas conflict. Today, it is a day to remember all conflicts that the Australian and New Zealand defence forces have been in. It begins with dawn services all over the country and there are also marches of all veterens from all conflicts in most towns and cities in the country.

To mark this day, I thought I'd introduce you to a war memorial not far from where I live: the El Alamein fountain. It is in the heart of Kings Cross at the entrance to the Fitzroy Gardens. Built as a memorial to the soldiers that fought and died in two battles in El Alamein , Egypt in 1942 it is easily one of the loveliest fountains in Sydney.

It was designed by New Zealand architect Bob Woodward and was completed in 1961. It has been described as looking like a "blown thistle" and a "dandelion" and looks positively magical at night when it is illuminated.