Ten things I loved about Melbourne (1 and 2)

1. The cute rubber ducky theme of The Como, (the hotel where we stayed) right down to the toilet paper!

2. Chapel Street, the shops, the fashions, the cafes and bars, the great buzz, and the elegant facades of the old buildings.

Morning Glory

It was the kind of morning when even that pesky weed, the Convolvulus (aka Morning Glory) looked good enough to photograph.

I was in a pretty relaxed frame of mind too because I was in Melbourne for a couple of days, happily amusing myself while my DH was occupied in meetings.

The sun was getting uncomfortably warm, so I kept to the shaded pathways on my walk into the city through the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Later in the day the clouds would roll in and a gentle shower of rain would cool things down again.

That's Melbourne, they tell me - four seasons in one day.

Nevertheless, on this sunny morning with my Runkeeper recording my walk and camera in hand I was in my own happy place.

The gardens were looking their very best.

I had a glorious morning! In fact the rest of the day was a winner too, but that can wait till another post.

Di

Love books? You’ll love this!

{Disclosure: I’m writing this post as a Book Depository Affiliate}

It’s no secret that I love to read. You only have to run your eyes down the left sidebar of my blog to see the growing lists of books I’ve enjoyed, both on paper and as audiobooks.

Have you ever stayed awake all night reading a book you simply couldn’t put down? I did this with Australian author Belinda Alexandra’s book, Tuscan Rose. I just couldn’t turn out the light and go to sleep until I found out how it ended. So I read all 600 or so pages in a single sitting … er, reclining!

Have you ever driven round the block a few extra times so you could finish listening to a particularly exciting part of an audiobook in the car? Susanna Kearsley’s books have made me do this too many times to mention.

She’s a new-to-me author who writes intriguing historical romances involving time travel, and the plots of the two I’ve listened to, Mariana and Sophia’s Secret, have been fantastic tales of parallel romances in  the present and the past.

And have you ever taken a long walk with your iPod just so you could listen to your latest audiobook without interruption? Maeve Binchy and her engaging characters always have that effect on me, and while I’m reading one of her books I can’t wait to get back into their community each time, to see what they’ve been up to while I’ve been gone

 

OK, so if that’s you too, and you’re madly nodding in agreement, I feel it would be downright selfish of me not to tell you about a special promotion, starting on Thursday 10th November at Book Depository.

For 24 hours they’ll be announcing a new offer every hour - that’s 24 different offers! Whoopee!

The particular books promoted each hour are to be a surprise – no-one has any idea what’s coming up - and we’re going to have to be on the ball if we want to take advantage of any particular offer because once the hour is up it won’t be repeated (though we can always buy the book at its usual bargain basement Book Depository price, postage free).

Of course these are books of the conventional paper variety, books that will set your little heart racing when they arrive at your door in a couple of weeks’ time all pristine and new-smelling.

So how about it? Simply click on the link here or in the sidebar to start shopping once the promotion starts in your part of the world.

Here in Australia that’s 10 o’clock tomorrow (Thursday) night. I can’t wait!

Di

Out and about

It's that time of year. You know it. The time when the sun shines, the breezes are warm, and you can at last get back to the freedom of summer clothes. Tragically some of my favourites have shrunk, can you believe it?

I can't afford to replace them so there's been only one solution - get out in the fresh air and start walking regularly.

Here are some of the views I've enjoyed on my walks around the neighbourhood.

This is one of my very favourite walking routes, along the harbour"s edge. Trouble is, I live on that high ridge you see in the background and while I can coast down the hill to the park, the journey home involves a very steep climb.

Sometimes I just walk along the spine of the point, a nice, level route from which I can look out on views like this while I challenge myself to walk at a faster pace each time.

I have a very sedentary occupation, and my relaxation, quilting, doesn't work off too many calories either - unless you count the stress involved in getting points to meet! I'm always conscious of those "fat quarters" (lol) so I must tell you the secret to my newfound enthusiasm for exercise - Runkeeper my new DiPhone app.

The GPS records the route I take, and with my phone in my hand I can see (and hear) how far I've walked, my average pace, and the number of calories I've burned. I can also listen to the playlist of upbeat music I've created in iTunes to help me keep up the pace. Couldn't manage without that beat to keep me moving :-))

Finally, at the end of the walk I upload this information to the Runkeeper website where I can see my progress - or lack of it!

I absolutely can't resist gadgets, and this one has put the fun back into exercising for me. Oh, and did I tell you it was free?

Di

"Team Di" has been at it again

Just sayin'.
All will be revealed in time :-)

Di

November in Sydney

For too many years the sight of these magnificent trees in full flower filled me with dread because they heralded the start of exam time.

These days I’m  glad I can just enjoy the brilliance of the Illawarra Flame trees and jacaranda trees that are so quintessentially Sydney in November.

I don’t have far to go for this one. It’s growing right here in my back garden

Plenty of trees shed their leaves in autumn, but the Illawarra Flame tree does this at the end of winter, replacing its foliage with a brilliant coverage of flame-red flowers and not a bit of green.

The blue-purple of our jacarandas provides the perfect contrast, and the lovely canopy of this one, growing in a school near us, towers over our garden. (Have another look at the first picture.)

Thanks to Erica’s link, I’ve been able to generate this colour palette, in case I feel inspired to capture the season in a quilt.

The harbourside suburbs of Sydney are an absolute symphony of jacaranda blue and scarlet right now, and ferry companies run jacaranda boat cruises on Sydney Harbour where you can appreciate the full effect.

Even when they start to drop their flowers the blue/purple carpet is so pretty. Here’s a photo of our church’s garden that I took a couple of years ago.

 

Di

Halloween

Halloween hasn’t really taken on in a big way here in Australia, but on my walk this afternoon it did make me smile to see this Welcome sign.

I passed a few little groups of fairies, ghosts and witches out trick-or-treating, always accompanied by a protective Mummy (of the non-bandaged kind!), but otherwise our neighbourhood was very quiet and not at all scary, being the beginning of summer and daylight saving.

Back home the Princess popped in with her pumpkin bucket - and that sweet smile won her quite a few treats

Di