COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD

Our public library (like most others around Melbourne) has a Community Noticeboard on which people place advertisements, notices, photos, lost-and-founds, art or even bits and bots of pure whimsy. It's always amusing to look at these noticeboards every now and then as you never know what you will find...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

WILBUR'S MURAL

About a week ago, we chanced upon this mural being painted on the wall of Wilbur's Café on Dawson St in Brunswick. We watched the graffitist at work and got a chance to sample the good coffee within. Today we drove past again and saw the completed mural/advertisement. It is eye-catching and certainly draws your attention to what this café is best at: Coffee, not art!

This post is part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

CHRIST CHURCH, BRUNSWICK

Last week I published some photos from St Ambrose's Catholic Church in Brunswick. A couple of hundred metres diagonally across that church is the Anglican Christ Church on 9 Glenlyon Rd.

Christ Church is a good example of  the Italian Renaissance architecture, although the campanile alone is of Romanesque design. Dedicated in 1857 and classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), the church has been a centre of anglo-catholic (High Church) worship in Brunswick for more than century and a half.

The Church espouses the following (from their website):
"Our Vision: We are a community of people, following Christ, making his presence known in the breaking of the bread.
Our Mission: To show God to our parishioners.
Our Values: We are an Anglican Anglo-Catholic community that brings God’s word and sacraments to our members. We are an exclusive church that teaches the faith, providing a focal point for worship using traditional and modern liturgies including the Book of Common Prayer (1928) and A Prayer Book for Australia (APBA)."

This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme,
and also part of the Spiritual Sundays meme.

SEAFARERS BRIDGE, SUNSET

The Seafarers Bridge is a footbridge over the Yarra River between Docklands and South Wharf in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bridge connects the north and south banks of the river while providing a formal entrance to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The bridge main span is supported by steel ties connected to elliptical arches, with three arches on the north side and four arches on the south side. The bridge was named in homage to the ‘Mission to Seafarers’ centre located nearby on the northern bank of the Yarra River and to represent Melbourne’s rich maritime history.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.

SUNSET ON THE RIVER

Sunset over the Yarra River in the City.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 89 - CEANOTHUS

Ceanothus L. is a genus of about 50–60 species of shrubs or small trees in the family Rhamnaceae. Common names for members of this genus are California Lilac, Wild Lilac, and Soap Bush. "Ceanothus" comes from a Greek word meaning "spiny plant". The genus is confined to North America, with the centre of its distribution in California. Some species (e.g. C. americanus) are found in the eastern United States and southeast Canada, and others (e.g. C. coeruleus) extend as far south as Guatemala. Most are shrubs 0.5–3 m tall, but C. arboreus and C. thyrsiflorus, both from California, can be small trees up to 6–7 m tall.

The species illustrated here is Ceanothus thyrsiflorus (also known as blueblossom or blue blossom ceanothus), which is an evergreen shrub in the genus Ceanothus that is endemic to California. The term 'Californian lilac' is also applied to this and other varieties of ceanothus, though it is not closely related to Syringa, the true lilac.

In late spring and early summer, this bushy evergreen shrub is smothered in clusters of of dark blue flowers among small, dark green, glossy leaves. It looks great in the middle of a south or west-facing mixed border, or as a specimen at the edge of a terrace or path. It requires protection from cold, drying winds. Each year, after the plant has flowered, take out dead, diseased or damaged shoots and trim back the flowered shoots to the required shape. Apply a 5-7cm  mulch of well-rotted organic matter around the base of the plant in spring.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SANDRIDGE BRIDGE

The Sandridge Bridge is a historic former railway bridge over the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The 178.4 metres long bridge which runs diagonally to the river's banks was redeveloped in 2006 as a new pedestrian and cycle path featuring public art. It is the third bridge on the site and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

This post is part of the Waterworld Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

ALL NATIONS PARK, NORTHCOTE

It turned out to be a brilliant, very warm, sunshine-filled Spring day. We enjoyed the sun and birdsong, the flowers and the warmth. The windows of the house were open, the heaters well and truly turned off and even dinner was seasonally adjusted with asparagus quiche, fresh garden salad and lemon sorbet for dessert. A delightful day that left us thankful for life and its bounty, which good fortune has allowed us to enjoy!

I realise that as we enjoy Spring and its delights, many of my friends in the Northern hemisphere are embarking on the more sombre voyage of Autumn. However, one must take delight in whatever each season metes out, for there are many pleasures that are specific to each one. On this day of the Spring Equinox (or Autumn Equinox, if you live up North!), enjoy the natural delights of your season…

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Floral Macros meme,

and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

MURAL IN BRUNSWICK

I blogged last year about the Grollo House murals in Thornbury. These fine murals were painted by the Italian artist Paola de Manincor. She passed away in 2011, but we are lucky in Melbourne to have some of her work to admire.

This mural is in Brunswick, near the corner of Sydney Rd and Glenlyon Rd, on the grounds of St Ambrose's Catholic Church, about which I blogged yesterday. It is a joyous representation of music-making and it shines with shades of blue, terracotta, green and yellow. There is a strong spirit of community and communication through the universal language of music. It was painted in 1997 and the work is signed and dated on the top right hand corner.

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Monday Murals meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

ST AMBROSE, BRUNSWICK

St Ambrose's Catholic Church, in Brunswick, has been around for over 140 years. Today St Ambrose's is a vibrant community and it welcomes newcomers and visitors most cordially. The church is an imposing one situated at 287 Sydney Road, Brunswick, VIC 3056.

The foundation stone for the church was laid for St. Ambrose Church in 1869. The newspaper of the time reports:
"The weather was beautifully fine, and about 800 persons from the various parts of the surrounding district were present at the sacred ceremonies. The want of a Catholic Church in Brunswick has been severely felt for a long time by the Catholics of the Borough, who are obliged to go to Coburg to Mass or come to Melbourne. The land for the church was donated by Mr. Michael Dawson, a resident of the neighbourhood. In 1873 the church was completed at a cost of 6,000 pounds."

In those days, there was an Italian family in the Parish, maybe the only Italian family in the area at that time, and this family came from Milan. The Italian family suggested Saint Ambrose as the name for the Parish because St Ambrose was a bishop in Milan in the 4th century. In 1888 Brunswick was proclaimed a town and it had a population of 14,792. In 1890, St. Ambrose became a parish in its own right, being cut off from the Coburg parish.

With the need for more room, the church was extended in 1899 when the transepts, with the sanctuary and the two chapels, the porch and the baptistry were added. The memorial stone was laid near the door of the northern transepts on 19 February, 1899. The Parish Church building, is of a late Gothic style, and is one of the finer churches of Melbourne, built in bluestone, with a timber supported ceiling, a 19th century organ and high quality stained glass windows. Most recently extensive restoration of the church was carried out, both inside and out, beginning in the year 2000.

This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.