"THE NEST"

This artwork in the Darebin Parklands was quite controversial when it was first installed, but over time it has grown on people and it is quite well accepted now. The birds like it too...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

MELBOURNE WEEDS 14 - ITALIAN ARUM

Arum italicum is a species of flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the family Araceae, also known as Italian arum and Italian lords-and-ladies. It is native to the Mediterranean region (southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East) plus Great Britain, the Netherlands, Crimea, Caucasus, Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores. It is also naturalised in Argentina and in scattered locations in the United States.

It grows 30–46 cm high, with equal spread. It blooms in spring with white flowers that turn to showy red fruit. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for traditional and woodland shade gardens. Subspecies italicum (the one normally grown in horticulture) has distinctive pale veins on the leaves, whilst subspecies neglectum has faint pale veins, and the leaves may have dark spots. Some gardeners use this arum to underplant with Hosta, as they produce foliage sequentially: When the Hosta withers away, the arum replaces it in early winter, maintaining ground-cover.

Numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use, of which A. italicum subsp. italicum 'Marmoratum' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Arum italicum can be invasive in some areas. Arum italicum may hybridise with Arum maculatum. In 1778, Lamarck noticed that the inflorescence of this plant produces heat.

Leaves, fruits and rhizomes contain compounds that make them poisonous. Notably, leaves are rich in oxalic acid; other active principles are present in other parts. The ingestion of berries, which are showy and red, may result fatal for babies and young children. As a general rule, avoiding consumption is advisable for adults too.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

HOUSE

The "California Bungalow" style houses was particularly popular in Australia from 1913 onwards. This period coincided with the rise of the Hollywood film industry, which popularised American clothes, furniture, cars and houses, and also with the increased importation of U.S. architectural magazines into Australia, a society which previously had been heavily influenced by British domestic styles. Here is one such example in Fairfield, an inner suburb of Melbourne.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

AT PORTARLINGTON

Flowering fields of Canola at Portarlington, a short drive from Melbourne, or if you prefer, a scenic ferry trip away. Either way, it's a wonderful day trip!

This post is part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

SPRING

Walking in the Parklands yesterday was a joy as the sun was shining, the sky was blue, birds were singing and the flowers had bloomed. A real taste of Spring, which is round the corner...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

"DOWNTOWN"

When I talk to American tourists invariably they say something about "Downtown" Melbourne. This is an Americanism as my trusty dictionary says:
downtown chiefly North American adjective| ˈdaʊntaʊn | in or relating to the central part or main business and commercial area of a town or city: downtown Chicago | a downtown bar. 
Here in Australia the term for the same area of the Central Business District is "The City". However you call it, at night it quite pretty!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

PURPLE SWAMPHENS

The Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), family Rallidae, is a species of swamphen occurring in eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands, as well as in Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is also found in New Zealand where it is known as the Pūkeko, derived from the Māori language. The Australasian swamphen previously was considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio).

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,
also part of the Camera Critters meme.

YARRA SUNRISE

A panorama of the Yarra River at sunrise, showing the Queen's Bridge on the extreme left (where I am standing to take the photo) and the Sandridge Bridge in the centre, showing the outline sculptures adorning it.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

MELBOURNE WEEDS 13 - PERIWINKLE

Vinca major, with the common names bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle, greater periwinkle and blue periwinkle, is species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the western Mediterranean. Growing to 25 cm tall and spreading indefinitely, it is an evergreen perennial. Vinca major is a commonly grown ornamental plant in temperate gardens for its evergreen foliage, spring flowers, and groundcover or vine use. Many cultivars are available, with differences in flowers, such as white to dark violet flowers, and different patterns and colours of variegated foliage.

Blue periwinkle’s broad-leaved runners form a dense mat, shading out native plants and competing for moisture and nutrients. Its growth is particularly vigorous in riparian and other moist habitats. It competes with native plants for moisture, light, nutrients and recruitment niches. Its growth is particularly vigorous in riparian and other moist habitats. Once established, periwinkle’s rampant growth is very difficult to control, especially in bushland.

It occurs in southern Australia and into southeastern Queensland in regions with winter, summer or year-round rainfall, but its distribution does not extend into the semi-arid or alpine zones or the tropics. Extensive infestations have generally been recorded in regions receiving more than 600 mm annual rainfall. In drier areas it occurs along watercourses and drainage ditches and there are isolated records associated with plantings such as old or existing gardens.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

GORILLA IN ZOO

The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Melbourne Zoo, contains more than 320 animal species from Australia and around the world. The zoo is 4 kilometres north of the centre of Melbourne. It is accessible via Royal Park station on the Upfield railway line, and is also accessible via tram routes 55 and 19, as well as by bicycle on the Capital City Trail. Bicycles are not allowed inside the zoo itself. The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Nobody misses a visit to meet the Western Lowland Gorillas at Melbourne Zoo. These fascinating creatures, which are from the same family as humans, Orang-utans and chimpanzees, share many features with us – they even giggle when amused! Melbourne Zoo is one of 150 zoological institutions worldwide participating in a survival breeding program for Western Lowland Gorillas. The population within these participating zoos totals 856 gorillas. 

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

YARRA RIVER TWILIGHT

As evening falls in Melbourne, the Yarra River becomes a magical mirror...

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

SIGNS OF SPRING

We are having a mixed bag of weather these last few days, with wind, rain, sunshine, cool and warm temperatures - all in the same day sometimes! However, the signs of Spring are about and they seem to be a little early this year...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

OLD & NEW

The architecture of Melbourne is characterised by an extensive juxtaposition of old and new architecture. The city is noted for preserving a significant amount of Victorian architecture and has some of the largest in the country. Additionally, it features a vast array of modern architecture, with around 60 skyscrapers over 100 m in the city centre which have deliberately been set back from thoroughfares and streets to preserve historic architecture—leading to the title of "Australia's most European city".

The juxtaposition of old and new has given Melbourne a reputation as a city of no characterising architectural style, but rather an accumulation of buildings dating from the present back until the European settlement of Australia. The city is also home to Eureka Tower (2006), which was the tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor for some time. Here are some landmarks of our city.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

MOORHENS

Moorhens — sometimes called marsh hens — are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus Gallinula, Latin for "little hen". They are close relatives of coots. They are often referred to as (black) gallinules. Recently, one of the species of Gallinula was found to have enough differences to form a new genus Paragallinula with the only species being the Lesser moorhen (Paragallinula angulata).

Two species from the Australian region, sometimes separated in Tribonyx, are called "nativehens". The nativehens differ visually by shorter, thicker and stubbier toes and bills, and longer tails that lack the white signal pattern of typical moorhens. 

"Marsh Hens" are briefly mentioned in the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Gold-Bug", as part of a description of the ecology of Sullivan's Island. The main characters also prepare Marsh Hens for supper at one point early in the story.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,

and also part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

POND REFLECTIONS

"The way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world within us." - Gabrielle Bernstein

Ponds at the Darebin Parklands in suburban Melbourne.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

FLOWERING TIME

Wild plum flowering in Melbourne currently. Hint of Spring!

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DAWN ON THE YARRA

Dawn on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne.

For a record seven years, Melbourne has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Index — but things have changed. Vienna has dislodged the Victorian capital as the most pleasant city to live in. The two cities have been neck-and-neck in the annual survey of 140 urban centres for years, and are separated by less than a point. Vienna scored 99.1 and Melbourne scored 98.4.

Vienna scored top spot with an improved security situation and a lower crime rate. Melbourne scored well in culture and environment, and maximum points in healthcare, education and infrastructure. The survey tends to favour medium-sized cities in wealthy countries with low population density.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

RAIN

We've had some rain recently, which was a blessing, but we are still below our average for the year. Inland, the drought is plaguing the farms...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

BOATHOUSE

Fairfield Boathouse was established in 1908 by John St Clair as a picnic, camping and refreshment room area. John St Clair was a piano tuner from Smith St, Fitzroy, with a vision. He firstly wrote a letter to the Premier suggesting that he open a refreshment room and boat shed area, with motor boats at Fairfield Park. The Premier had to seek the approval form Yarra Bend Hospital of the Insane because the proposal for the boat shed was actually on the hospital grounds. The Premier gave his permission for the boat shed project to go ahead.

Today the Boathouse has been refurbished and is the site of a café and restaurant, a place where may rent boats, relax in the shade, with a place to launch kayaks if you are that way inclined.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

CAT ON A ROOF

My bedroom is on the first floor and I can see the neighbour's roof from my window. I saw their cat and it saw me...

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

CHANGE COMING

Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria and second largest city in Australia, has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) and is well known for its changeable weather conditions. This is mainly due to Melbourne's geographical location. This temperature differential is most pronounced in the spring and summer months and can cause strong cold fronts to form. These cold fronts can be responsible for all sorts of severe weather from gales to severe thunderstorms and hail, abrupt temperature drops, and heavy rain. In late Winter and early spring we do get a lot of weather and it's quite dramatic to see the sky darkening with clouds as the change moves in.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

SIGNS OF SPRING

The almond (Prunus dulcis, syn. Prunus amygdalus) is a species of tree in the Rosaceae family, native to the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and North Africa. "Almond" is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus Prunus, it is classified with the peach in the subgenus Amygdalus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated shell (endocarp) surrounding the seed.

The fruit of the almond is a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed, which is not a true nut, inside. Shelling almonds refers to removing the shell to reveal the seed. Almonds are sold shelled or unshelled. Blanched almonds are shelled almonds that have been treated with hot water to soften the seedcoat, which is then removed to reveal the white embryo.

The almond is a deciduous tree, growing 4–10 m in height, with a trunk of up to 30 cm in diameter. The young twigs are green at first, becoming purplish where exposed to sunlight, then grey in their second year. The leaves are 5 -10 long, with a serrated margin and a 2.5 cm petiole. The flowers are white to pale pink, 3–5 cm diameter with five petals, produced singly or in pairs and appearing before the leaves in late winter to early spring.

Almond grows best in Mediterranean climates with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. The optimal temperature for their growth is between 15 and 30 °C and the tree buds have a chilling requirement of 300 to 600 hours below 7.2 °C to break dormancy. Almonds begin bearing an economic crop in the third year after planting. Trees reach full bearing five to six years after planting. The fruit matures in the autumn, 7–8 months after flowering.

Almond trees are currently blooming in Melbourne giving us a taste of Spring!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

ECHINACEA

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called purple coneflowers. They are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas.

They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming from early to late summer. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echinos), meaning "sea urchin," due to the spiny central disk. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. A few species are of conservation concern.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme,

and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Melbourne's main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb north of the Melbourne central business district, with several other campuses located across Victoria. Melbourne is a sandstone university and a member of the Group of Eight, Universitas 21 and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

Since 1872 various residential colleges have become affiliated with the university. There are 10 colleges located on the main campus and in nearby suburbs offering academic, sporting and cultural programs alongside accommodation for Melbourne students and faculty. Melbourne comprises 11 separate academic units and is associated with numerous institutes and research centres, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and the Grattan Institute.

Amongst Melbourne's 15 graduate schools the Melbourne Business School, the Melbourne Law School and the Melbourne Medical School are particularly well regarded. Times Higher Education ranked Melbourne 32nd globally in 2017-2018, while the Academic Ranking of World Universities places Melbourne 39th in the world (first in Australia), and in the QS World University Rankings 2018 Melbourne ranks 41st globally. Four Australian prime ministers and five governors-general have graduated from the University of Melbourne. Nine Nobel laureates have been students or faculty, the most of any Australian university.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

WINDOW

A fanciful window view out onto the Darebin Parklands.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

WEBB BRIDGE

Webb Bridge (or Web Bridge) is a walkway/cycleway across the Yarra River from the southside housing developments to the northside entertainment, shopping and dining venues at the Melbourne Docklands. It's an interesting, unique-looking bridge which is part of a Melbourne public art project.

Webb Bridge was designed to represent a Koori (Australian aboriginal) eel trap. The bridge reused the remaining sections of the disused Webb Rail Bridge. But because the framework of the bridge does look like a mesh or web, the name Web Bridge may become the more common appellation.

Crossing Webb Bridge from the Yarra River southside area known as Yarra's Edge brings you to Docklands Park on the north side and thence to Victoria Harbour Promenade, Harbour Esplanade with Docklands Stadium on the right, and on to NewQuay and Waterfront City on the north side of Victoria Harbour.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.