'Give peace a chance'.....

I really hope that any tennis enthusiasts out there are watching the Hopman Cup being played right now in Perth's brand new arena. I'd be really interested to hear back about what the coverage is like in other parts of the world, if you are watching are you seeing a bit of Perth and maybe recognizing some of the things that have appeared here? I've just watched Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from France win his preliminary game, very entertaining player..interesting to see he has an Australian coach oui! I thought I'd end the year by posting some typical Aussie summer images, taken on Sunday, many Perthites choose to escape from the heat by heading to one of the beautiful beaches along our WA coastline. I took these shots with my long lens looking from Trigg Island down towards Scarborough Beach.  I wish you a very Happy New Year, let's hope that this coming year is better in so many ways compared to the last, in the words of John Lennon it's time to 'give peace a chance'. Take extra care and stay safe, see you next year. p.s. I hope the red haired, white skinned lad below has tons of suncream on or he could end up red as a lobster, ouch!!

40 degrees of madness.....!

High on the hill

Looking out at the city

I couldn't help thinking

T'was such a pity
That instead of sweltering
In the heat
It was not snow I had
Under my feet.....

 Taken yesterday around noon from the lookout at the top of Reabold Hill in 41C. Yes, I am a little nuts, the heat does that to you after a while, although to be fair there are only a handful of days when the weather is so extreme. I'm curious to know, as far as hot weather goes, what would you consider 'extreme'? Hope your weekend is going well, take care.....p.s. has anyone seen any of The Hopman Cup being held right now in the new Perth Arena?

Waiting for...!

Things are heating up around Perth, cozies, towels, thongs (slip slops!) and ice cream are the way to go. I took these shots yesterday at the beach at around 5pm, it was still in the mid 30C's and guess what....? I was wearing thongs and eating ice cream, but not in my cozie haha! Have a great weekend, take care...

Incoming .....!

Talk about lucky timing! After a late night I was really looking forward to a sleep in yesterday morning, but about 6am I had a call from P who on his regular early morning walk had spotted one of the Australasian Osprey that have been nesting in the communication tower along Hillarys Beach. I seriously considered rolling over and going back to sleep, but knowing it may be my last chance for a while I threw on some shorts, grabbed my camera and drove down to the beach. I couldn't believe my luck just as I set up the tripod, the male Osprey, landed, shook out his his plumage, turned and looked down at me as if to say 'did you get all that' and then promptly lost interest..I don't blame him I wasn't looking my best haha! I'm still not happy, but to be fair I was shooting straight into the early morning sun and I was half asleep..as a former Californian Governor once said.."I'll be back"!..I hope your week is going well as we hurtle towards the New Year, take care and stay safe. p.s. take a look at those talons.....!

Comfort Level.....!

Despite the dire predictions about the 'end of days' Christmas has been and gone, I hope yours was a good one, personally me and my extra five kilos (and that's being kind) are glad it's all over for another year, only 363 days to go.. yay! It's been a wee bit hot in Perth the last few days, 37C on Christmas day, I read somewhere that the 'comfort level' was 35C, hmm! there was nothing comfortable about it!  The perfect cool down drink when it's hot is a long cold glass of Lemon, Lime & Bitters always hits the spot, and it's at times like this when I'm even more happy that I live close to the sea.....

You can go fishing with the boss.....!

Even if you're  having 'words', there's plenty space to cool off with a swim....!

We played 'pirates'! A birthday present a few years ago for Aimee from her friends. Is 28 too old to be playing with blow up swimming pool toys? Ha that would be a resounding NO around here. It's a very close call as to who had the most fun, Aimee or the nieces and nephews. Did anyone brave the Boxing Day sales? Way too scary for me, also I'm very dubious as to whether you actually get a 'bargain' at these sales, I think the stores use it as a way to get rid of anything they haven't been able to offload throughout the year. What, me cynical... never haha! Although I may be brave tomorrow, might be worth a shot or two! Happy Thursday. take care....

When Harry met Sally.....

I knew that when I took these shots of the 200 mini Christmas puds Aimee, baker extraordinaire made for her workmates they would be perfect as a Christmas greeting. How fortunate were they, when arriving at their desks, to discover that they each had a little box of deliciousness awaiting them! I was lucky enough to have the 'leftovers' as treats for my visitors who almost all reacted much like Sally in this hilarious scene from the movie, hence the title for this post.. Haha! I just had an image of her whole office gasping in unison! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas whether it be cold and raining or scorching hot as it will be here in Perth, I'm sure we all have things to be thankful for however big or small. Happy, happy Christmas, take care and stay safe. p.s. this is as close as we'll ever get to a 'white' Christmas.....!

Not an Osprey in sight.....

Ever since I took the not so good shots of the Osprey up in the communications tower near Hillarys Beach last weekend I've been back down there with my long lens a few times on a mission to catch a much better close up. No luck, either they've moved on for the time being or they see me coming and vamoose! Not wanting to go home empty handed I had a quick wonder over to the dog beach to see if there were many four footed cuties to snap (if they happened to be attached to two footed cuties all the better haha!) it was 6pm and despite the wind being up a bit the beach was crowded with Perthites and their best buddies having a grand time. Only one more sleep till Santa comes, I hope you're all suitably excited! Enjoy your Christmas Eve, take care..see you on Christmas Day.....  

Yes Perth IS having Christmas.....!

Looking back over my last posts I realized that you could well be thinking that Perth was skipping Christmas this year because of the lack of any remotely 'Christmassy' content! Not true, if you watch this short video made by CityOfPerthWA showing the switching on of the Christmas lights party you'll see that it was a super fun affair and that Perth has Christmas all 'wrapped up'! You might also recognize some of the features in Forrest Place. I hope your weekend is going well, it's party time for me tonight..catch up tomorrow. People seem to go a little 'nuts' at this time of the year so take extra care and stay safe.....

End of days.....

If the world had ended yesterday.

Would the sky have been afire

If the world had ended yesterday

It would have been so dire

Despite all the warnings

the sun came up this morning.....nice!!

I really must stop trying to compose prose (!) my sister-in-law, writer and poet Frances Macaulay Forde must weep whenever she looks in on my blog and sees my lamentable efforts, you know I do like a bit of fun haha! So the original image below is looking up through the steel structure in the Central Park complex, the real reflections of blue sky and puffy white clouds are the world's reply to all doomsday predictions n'est pas!! Have a wonderful weekend, take care and stay safe.....

What the Bishop saw.....!

This neatly trimmed central garden in the Bishops See looks down towards Bishop's House which is now home to Lamont's. It sits right in the heart of the main business area on St. George's Terrace and is a favourite spot for office workers from the surrounding highrise office blocks to sit and have their lunch in very genial surroundings. I read a review of St. George's Terrace a while back, written by someone who said 'St. George's Terrace is like a boring wind tunnel made up of skyscapers'. Really mate! Open the peepers and you'll find treasures galore on the terrace, even, if you're lucky, 'naked nubile nymphs', although I could almost imagine the little Willie Wagtail sitting on the wall in the last shot looking into the garden and tut tutting in disapproval haha! Have a happy Friday, hopefully the world won't come to an end and I'll catch you tomorrow! Take care and stay safe..

Arrive to Paradise, take a seat.....!

I was surprised when we arrived in Subiaco on Tuesday to find a new piece of public art had been installed since my last visit not so long ago. This sculpture by Iraqi born Ayad Alqaragholli titled  'Arrive to Paradise' is 3.3m high and weighs in at 760kg, the angels are sculpted from high tensile steel and the chair silicone brass. I love it, it is so very typical of his distinctive style, do you remember this one I posted back in March from Sculptures by the Sea in Cottesloe. I wonder if any of you recognize his work as he has exhibited in many cities around the world. It was only when I got home and did the research that I discovered that he would actually be happy for people to sit in the chair and have photos taken, darn if only I knew I could have had lot of fun with that oui! Ah well, this time next week Christmas will be well over, nice...bah humbug haha!! Happy Thursday, take care..

Hawk eyes....

Before we went down onto the beach on Sunday to take photos of the Telstra Triathlon Series we climbed one of the lookout points to get a bit of an overall view..we weren't the only ones surveying the scene. From high up (25/30mtrs) on a communications pole this  pair of adult Osprey were watching also. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I hadn't expected to see them and was quite unprepared lens wise. I did go back yesterday, tripod and long lens to the ready, but just to be awkward, the hawks were a no show! I have decided though that this is definitely a project in progress, I will get a clear, close up of them no matter how long it takes, watch this space.....!

It fascinates me that they build their huge nests quite often out in the open atop communication and electricity poles, where as well as the threat of airborne predators there's also the risk of electrocution from shorting circuits in stormy weather, talk about living life on the edge!! This is the outlook that we had from our not quite so high, but high enough viewpoint, so many bikes, so much enthusiastic energy, so many photos to be taken. Is anyone else having probs with blogger, I seem to have had a couple of hiccups with thumbnail images not updating etc. and had my first spam intrusions, how weird is that! C'est la vie, not serious, just annoying oui! Happy mid-week, take care.....

In pursuit....!

Following on from yesterday, this is where the swimmers ran in off the beach, located their bikes, peeled off their wetsuits, put on their cycling shoes to begin the 20km cycling section of the Telstra Triathlon Series.This was the longest part of the race and the hardest I'd say. I've walked this section and there's some long slopes, which may not seem too daunting normally, but when you've just finished swimming and know that after the ride you still have to walk the 5km back up there, blimey I got tired just thinking about it!

Loved this last shot mostly because, if you can see the chap at the back of the picture in the white shirt, he had a confused and slightly annoyed look on his face, as if this was all terribly inconvenient, didn't these lycra clad runners realize that this was HIS daily constitutional haha! I hope your Tuesday is less confusing, take care and stay safe....