Expect The Unexpected

I took this from our speeding car with my point-and-shoot camera as Mr HP and I drove home last night.  We'd had lunch with our family to celebrate the November birthdays.

I wasn't expecting much from the camera, even though the scene before me was one to behold.

I did ask him to stop so I could take a quick shot from the side of the road; but he chose not to hear. It seems there was no need ...

This is in the vicinity of Badgerys Creek, the site for what is being tagged as Sydney's next international airport, and looking west.

The blue finger along the horizon is The Blue Mountains...where we live.

Linking to:

Four Seasons Fill The Measure Of The Year

I don't believe it's been over a month since my last post.

October has been a mixed month, one of gluten free, dairy free birthday cakes (as I struggle with sinusitis and a bad bout of IBS);

hot summer-ish days spent on our beautiful harbour;

windy dry days followed by the mindful sweeping-up of leaves;

days of gratitude and appreciation as plants respond to the sudden burst of warm days after such a long and cold winter.

Having had such a cold winter accentuates the divide of the seasons, something we haven't experienced for some years now.
Welcome, Spring.

When September Comes

September, for our family, is full of birthdays. And then there's father's day too, which, in Australia, is celebrated on the first Saturday of September.

It's been a difficult month for us this year, as the fathers we are missing grew again with the passing of my brother in May, and our nine year old niece spent her first birthday without her Dad. It is also very hard for Mum who has lost both of her sons and for her to know that two of her Grandchildren will never see their Dads again.  But spending as many days as possible with family celebrating birthdays helps to make remembering the birthdays of those that are absent, much easier to bear.

We've therefore had a number of celebrations since the beginning of September and they culminated with a picnic birthday celebration last Sunday at Watson's Bay.  

The weather came to the party too and we languished gracefully under a monstrous fig tree and indulged in take away fish and chips from Doyle's at lunch time. The queues for take away were soooo long!

The day ended in a beautiful show for which I am grateful.

Yesterday was our Mum's birthday so my sister and I took her out to lunch at Mother Earth Nursery Cafe at Kenthurst where we languished some more and indulged in a little bit more than fish and chips...

Affogato...looks too good to eat!

We ordered a 'little' cake for Mum's birthday...and shared it three ways.

All By Myself

Sydney Harbour Bridge from Lavender Bay

Sydney Opera House from The Sydney Harbour Bridge with two Sydney Ferries in the foreground.

Sydney Harbour Bridge overlooking Walsh Bay Pier 2/3

Marina Abramovic visits Sydney. 

And I visited Marina Abramovic's space.

This was not an exhibition in a technical sense.

It was an experience.

A mind altering experience.  

At least this is how I perceived it.

After surrendering all belongings at the entry and being issued sound cancelling headphones, one could choose to participate in a number of activities, such as separating black mung beans from rice then counting them, contemplating coloured boards or sitting opposite another person in silence.

I listened to Natalie Abbott speak and watched some of her performance which included telepathically instructing a dance sequence to three fellow artists. 

Eventually I realised what Marina's work is all about...the whole point of the project. 

Participating IS the project, performing the activities is experiencing activities devised by Marina (the artist).

Marina's message, I think, is about endurance...how much can our body endure, how much can our mind endure.   

And when we push ourselves to endure a little more, aren't we pushed to achieve just a little more than before? 

Doesn't endurance make us stronger, better, faster?
I was converted to Marina some years ago after watching her in her documentary called The Artist Is Present.  

Aspects of Marina's life and art shocked me when I first viewed them, but by the end I was drawn to her, her mindfulness, her spiritually, her individuality.

Linking to

And

Skywatch Friday

Happy Birthday Queenie Part II

Vivid 2015

Vivid Sydney was inaugurated in 2009.  Our first visit to Vivid Sydney was in 2013 and our second in 2014.

This year we attended on the penultimate day of the festival and were a bit anxious about re-experiencing a crowd crush.
Well, the crowd crush wasn't quite as bad as what we experienced in 2013, but it was a bit of a turn off and once more cut our night short.

I've probably said it in the past but I'm going to say it again...the best time to go is Monday to Thursday nights.

Weekends just get too busy.

This year, both Mr H.P. and I thought that Vivid was, well, just not as vivid as it has been in the past.

However, there were a few new installations this year and more venues added that were scattered a bit further out from the CBD proper.  Unfortunately we did not get to installations further out but we did manage to see a new work displayed in the Rocks area and involved a projection onto the ceiling of a tunnel (Argyle Cut)in the Rocks.

For a better view, much of the audience lay on the road to view the projection.

Music accompanied the light show.

The whale and its calf would have to be my favourite.

The peacock feathers are not bad either!

And then there was the selfie tunnel!  Ha ha, my first ever selfie. 

This image was projected onto a pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

And of course, what would Sydney Vivid be without the Sydney Opera House.

We originally had walked from Milson's Point, over Sydney Harbour Bridge, to Circular Quay (above).  And Circular Quay is where organisers funneled the crowd to Customs House and after what amounted to around three hours of walking over the afternoon, we decided to call it a day and caught the train back to St Leonards where we had left our car.

Linking to Our World Tuesday

Happy Birthday Queenie, Part I

Australians celebrate Her Majesty's birthday by declaring a public holiday.  In most states it's held on the first weekend in June.

Many years ago we used to celebrate this weekend with bonfires and fireworks but when firework sales were banned (for safety reasons) and bonfires declared polluting, the practice has stopped. Except for those organised by large community groups and organisations, usually to raise funds for their individual causes by charging an entrance fee to their venues.

These too have died out because of rising cost for public liability insurance.

Our celebrations therefore have been reduced to a small bonfire (aka the brazier) and melting marshmallows on a stick over the flames.

This year we decided to visit VIVID in Sydney...simply because we couldn't resist.

So on two Sundays ago, we drove into Waverton, parked the car, walked to the Coal Loader before heading into St Leonards to have an early tea at Gilroy's Hotel . Then catching the train to Milson's Point and walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

We wanted to make a day of it, so today's post is dedicated to what we found in Waverton.  

Even though I was born and raised in Sydney, there is still so much I haven't discovered!

The Coal Loader was a pleasant surprise and Mr H.P. and I will definitely be going back for further investigations and to complete the walk along the coast.

First off we found an art work installation called Urban Serpent by Anthony Whyte and constructed from street signs.

The wharf is in disrepair and cordoned off from the public.

There is talk that plans are afoot to restore the wharf.

Some of the historic remains on the site.

A tunnel links up to the walk along the coastline.

View over the water, HMAS Waterhen is nearby.

At the entrance you will find a sustainability centre and community garden.

Strawberry plants grow in vertical gardens.

Herbs also grow in vertical gardens and this water tank feeds water to other container-grown crops as well as supporting more produce growing in the tank.

Both Mr H.P. and I were inspired by the native bee hive!  The hive produces 500g of honey a year...the perfect amount for our household as we are not huge consumers of honey.

And what else would you find at the bottom of the garden besides a chicken coop?

I just hope that the person collecting the eggs has a steady gait, because literally, there were quite a few flights of stairs to negotiate to reach the coop.

And as we returned to our car, I came across this gorgeous yellow rose bobbing its head over a perfectly maintained picket fence. 



Apologies for the sloppiness of this post...google is not coming to party on this one!  I'm hoping for a better performance next time.  SP 

Oh Happy Day

The perfect end to a perfect day.

Happy New Year 2015 From Sydney

Sydney knows how to party.

Some Rain Must Fall

Day Two of our mini-holiday and we wander down to Milson's Point via Luna Park. It's cloudy but we're brave and leave our umbrellas at home.

We see a cruise ship waiting to enter Circular Quay and think it's left the quay and for some reason is returning but later we realise that it's a different ship but from the same cruise company.

From Milson's Point a ferry ride takes us to Circular Quay once more and we head off to The Rocks again, only to find that the museum we plan to visit in Susannah Place does not open until 2 p.m.

So we wander around, a little bit lost as where to go.  We find some stairs that lead to the Sydney Harbour Bridge but instead take a less strenuous route alongside the stairs and found ourselves at Observatory Hill.

Little Miss and I spend a wonderful couple of hours inside the Sydney Observatory and take a tour of the telescope room.

 The domed roof of the room turns.

Not only does it turn, but it opens up too.

Outside, we are disappointed to see the clouds.

Clouds mean we can't view the sun through the solar telescope, so instead we look at the traffic on Sydney Harbour Bridge, which, weirdly, is all upside down!

Outside, the sky gets darker and darker, 

the clouds get heavier and heavier

..we manage to eat morning tea in the gardens before feeling the first drops of rain and make a dash for Circular Quay.

We make it in time to miss the heavy shower which lasts long enough for us to meet up with my daughter for lunch.

After lunch it's back to Susannah Place to visit the museum.

Little Miss is enthralled with the stories our tour guide tells us about families that once lived in the row of terrace houses that is Susannah Place.
Each room we visit inside remains as it was when it was occupied by various families before being turned into a museum.  We learn that initially, The Rocks was not necessarily a desirable place to live, and local residents would sometimes lie about their address.  My how times have changed!

Afterwards, we purchase lollies at the 'corner shop'.  (I can't believe that I've taken no photos of Susannah Place!)

Across the road from Susannah Place is The Big Dig which is an archaeological dig of an 18th century European development in Sydney which was demolished to prevent the spread of plague.

Around the dig is the YHA building.

And we return'home' without the need for our umbrellas!