Good to Be Alive

A walk after work takes me around Weston Park and past the SIEV X Memorial. It marks a tragedy, but is a very peaceful and inspiring place. 

 

In some ways it is similar to Bougainvillea with its beautiful bright flowers but very thorny stems. This one is round the side of our house. 

As we approach Christmas, I find my energy runs out for the forced fun and the commercialisation of the days leading up to it. I content myself with the small things such as fresh air and exercise, and give myself a break if I'm not up to socialising. 

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to remove the string from the cat litter bag in one well-timed pull - it was a movement of exquisite execution. I tell you, if you can find joy in the little things; it's good to be alive.  

Student life

The interior of nearly all education establishments looks the same. Several still have the one-way and distancing signage that was put up in COVID-times. One wonders if 'temporary' signs are left in place for so long that they are invisible, this presents a danger that new warning signs will be equally ignored. Does that mean that obsolete signs present a risk hazard themselves? I told you I was doing workplace Health & Safety units for my course.

 

Meanwhile, the exterior and surrounds of said establishments differs greatly. I don't recall anything like this in Manchester.

I popped into town to meet Him Outdoors who was setting up a stall at the Multi-cultural Festival. As I walked past the Big Little Man sculpture, I noticed that it had acquired an Asian conical hat. Perhaps this is appropriate for the festival, while also encouraging a sun smart message.  

The Big Little Man by Dean Bowen

Earlier this month at The Ovations Awards and Celebration Dinner, I won a voucher for Saffron restaurant in a raffle. So, before we went to see another play for the Ovations judging committee, Purple Lady and I made the most of the voucher to enjoy a meal and show. The East Mediterranean restaurant serves Greek, Lebanese and Moroccan dishes with a focus on shared plates and lots of chick peas, rice, yoghurt and garlic. We had the Mezze House Banquet for two.

Selection of dips and dolmades

Kabak, Bourak and Mantar

At the weekend I walked around Weston Park, where, unbeknownst to me, there was a rowing regatta taking place. I find the sight of colourful blades laid out in neat rows on the grass very pleasing and it takes me back to growing up beside the river. 

Suburban walks

Labour Day seems like the perfect day to do no work but to mentally and physically refresh with a walk around the local hill where tempting pathways lead off across green fields and past fragrant blooms.

 

After posting photos of these beautiful wisteria, people asked to see pictures of mine - so, ever happy to oblige...

I've been on walks recommended by walkcanberra.com, which lead me around areas familiar and previously unknown. I picked the walk around Hawker, which I know well and, while I enjoy the views, the added bonus of street libraries and free lemons were a highlight. 

I also stumbled (almost literally) across this neighbourhood herb garden, where the community share their love of  herbs with everyone. Each herb has a guide to help tell us how to cook with that particular herb and the associated health benefits. 

To ensure the success and longevity of the garden it is requested that folk use the scissors provided to pick the leaves, and to refrain from touching the covered plants as they are resting and regenerating. I love this initiative, particularly the recommendation to "Take what you need and leave what you don't". That is surely an apt lesson for life.

Another walk around the Weetangara suburb revealed more street libraries, sculptures, and beautiful flowers in gardens.

This ingenious method of training a wisteria appears to use an old rotary clothes line

This is a beautiful memorial to a person called Vanessa Louise Sutton. The inscription reads 'fly high beautiful butterfly'.

Ellen Clark Park is named in tribute to a long-serving teacher at Weetangera's first school from July 1894 to January 1920. In the 1870s the area was a thriving farming community , and the first school had 27 students when it opened on that that site in 1875: many of the surrounding streets are named after the families who attended it. 

The school building was made from blue gum and stringy-bark timber with slab walls and a shingled roof. Parents provided desks and benches. Later, a teacher's residence was built nearby. Children from the school planted a number of pine trees in the park over the years. The first pine trees were planted to commemorate 11 former students who had enlisted for the First World War. 

At the weekend we had beer and played our vinyl, while Melantho instantly jumped into the box we had used to carry the goods home. She does love a box, that girl.

And the weekend walk with friends was to Weston Park to admire the English Garden, planted with azaleas, rhododendrons and various other colourful flowering shrubs. 

I see Liverpool FC colours everywhere. I make my friends pose with them. Oh, come on; they were in matching outfits!

Our walk took us past the moving and emotional SIEV X memorial, which I have previously written about. 

I'm including these last two photos because Purple Lady says I always take pictures of her stuffing her face at the end of our walk - she wasn't able to accompany us this week, so I made sure I photographed Design Diva and The Luminosity complete with takeaway food instead!

Back home it was the perfect afternoon for a spot of gardening - everything is green and verdant... and growing! It was mainly mowing and weeding and pruning, but I captured some of the colour to take indoors with me.

A bonus weekend gift was being invited round to The Lovely Bonkers' house to meet their new puppy who is as yet so new that she hasn't got a name. But she is very cute

Calamity Sue with puppy

General Philosopher with puppy

Him Outdoors with puppy