Tuesday 22 February 2022

Rain Check

There's a little bit of this* going on again today. So Anna and I are taking a rain check on our fair-weather companionable sit in the park. But this is what you might otherwise see of us on a fine day, Dear Reader:

Anna & I

It's not that Your Correspondent is a mere lotus eater. There's also been a bit of this around here:

Progress at my window, eh? The Sound of Sydney.

Speaking of Lotus, this is what's turning heads at our local park:

Everyone stops to look at it,

And photograph it,

By the stone bridge,


Getting the koi terribly excited as you step closer.

This is, of course, the Fish Park by Elizabeth Bay House.

So you may remember this view?

Which can distract one from Anna's company - but I'm getting along nicely.

And in the Random Department:

There are no Beach visits to show for there is none of that nonsense.
Ol' Pipistrello's colouring rather resembles a Guinea Fowl these days!

The Hydrangeas are past their best now,
But this was the recent Glory about the Condominio.

And it's now Crepe Myrtle season

In a rather big way.

Of course the native Eucalypts are just as showy.

What can I say? I Covet this window display of Cos.

Favourite Summer Fruit at the moment.

Favourite Bird. Always.

Street Fair with Bonus Battered Bicycle [& Tattooed Lady].

Finally, when did you last see a sky writer? On Valentines' Day Your Correspondent noticed this:

I waited until he was finished - but it was just Sky Scribble in the end.

It looked like the obvious I 💜 YOU was in play. Not to be! But let's pretend it was so and I'll finish on that happy note!


* Our year of La Niña is making merry with the eastern seaboard of this country. None of the hideous summer bushfires that the Kingdom of Western Australia is enduring have arrived to these shores, which is a welcome change, and the rain rain rain has made our land uncharacteristically green for this time of year. La Niña ordinarily means a cool, wet summer for us, but it's been hot and humid instead. So sultry, as my dear father-in-law used to say.


PS: For the oh so curious, around 105mm was clocked up about the casa for the day, or just over 4 inches in old money. Some parts of the city were graced with nearly half as much again. Of course, the Bureau of Meteorology promises plenty more where that came from in the week ahead. Joy.



Photo credits: Flying With Hands



25 comments:

  1. I would just carry that hardback Anna Karenina around with me wherever I went …… such a beautiful dust jacket ! Beautiful images of your part of the world …… windswept and battered Is what’s going on in the U.K. right now !!! XXXX

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    1. It's a beauty for sure, dear Jackie! And the blue hardcover underneath is just as lovely. I particularly like how I can, ahem, coordinate it nicely with the summer frocks :) ... I hope you're holding onto that fence of yours!! And your shed! And your roof!! What weather everywhere! xx

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  2. I do not have to have a house where the sand brushes up against the back door or the sea washes the back windows. But I do HAVE to see the sea, over the lawns and the back trees. Your photo called "So you may remember this view?" would make me a very happy elderly home owner. Ditto the small boats.

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    1. Dear Hels, yes, Alexander Macleay was rather canny positioning his colonial home where he did. This view from his front porch across the tiny park to the harbour is a winner. A pity he didn't get to sit out his dotage there on a rocking chair as he couldn't afford to keep it for himself. But, lucky us get to borrow the view for free when we fancy! The boats, as bonus, are always a moving feast; even the big grey Men o' War are fascinating to watch.

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  3. Dear Pip, thank you: it is always so broadening the mind to see photos of blooming crepe myrtle while here a few brown leaves swirl through the stormy cool air; only the knowledge that our turn will come too later in our summer stifles being envious of those gorgeous lotus..
    Your post makes my feel warm during a kind of European hurricane we endure at the moment!
    PS: What is that about the earthen fowl? Just give me a hint where I can find something about them, please.

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    1. Yes, a spot of colour and calm to send your way, dear Britta, to give you a teaser for what's just around the corner for my Northern friends. You are in luck to ask about the pottery hens as they are made around the corner from you in France by the potter Heidi Caillard and the range is called La Pintade (Guinea Fowl). They've been made since the 70s, so there is even a vintage market of the lovely birds. Aren't they adorable?

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  4. And the Pippy, eh... shape? Does that also resemble the alarmingly (or perhaps I should say pleasantly?) plump Guinea Fowl, or is she more of a delicate Anna? (If I may be so rude, or even if I may not be, for age makes me care oh soooooo much less about what I say with every day that passes, a change I enjoy every day that passes too, although those around me may not),

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    1. Dear Andrew, that's not in the least an impertinent question as it was an inadvertent bit of misdirection on my part in the first place. It is not the shape of Your Correspondent you see in the form of the Guinea Fowl but the colour. Hem-hem, decades of Sun: a once smooth caramel tone is now Speckled Hen, as I give its official Pantone shade. The shape, meanwhile, is determinedly more elongated and angular. So perhaps the whole more resembles Giraffe, hahah!

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  5. Apart from the sound of progress at your window, Anna and you are obviously enjoying a quiet life.
    Speaking of which, the favourite summer fruit makes a fine still life.
    Perhaps I should ask Tetrapilotomos if he could spare fifteen minutes whilst being busy with proofreading his 1669 pages short opus magnum "Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell" to ... invent a stable wormhole between Seanhenge to Sydney.

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    1. Oh, a stable wormhole would be most welcome, dear Sean, and if Tetrapilotomos could drag himself away from his most pressing of duties, I think we could all benefit. Do emphasise stability, mind, as a roaring wind tunnel would not be an enjoyable outcome. We've all had quite enough of that nonsense.

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  6. Your landscape filled with blooms is heartening given we are still in the cold, rain and snow season. Even April can bring light snow. Also, you and Anna are in good company.

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    1. Dear Susan, I've been sharing in your snowy fortune as there's been much talk of sledding through the night, fur rugs and howling winds between Anna and I :)

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  7. Dear Pip - I too love the green lady who has been dressed with such an imaginative topknot. Your flowers and blue skies are a joy to see especially that perfectly formed cream Lotus flower.

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    1. It's been fascinating to watch both the magnetic allure of the Lotus and it doing its thing in the pond, dear Rosemary. The first of the two blooms is already a bare seed pod and just as intriguing. And the green lady would make a wonderfully eccentric kitchen addition! No space in mine, sadly. Or not ... if Mr. P could have his say :)

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  8. I do note that the two arrows missed their heart target; does this tell us something about the result of all his excellent efforts?

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    1. Dear Cro, I see what you mean and that would have been an impressive and creative result. Alas alack, it was something far more pedestrian that he had in mind. I was sure he was out of practice for skywriting because it seemed liked he was getting the letters all wrong. But seven letters later, it turned out to be an advertisement for a Real Estate Agent & not some Valentines' message. It was the longest time I've spent watching an ad in yonks, hahah!

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  9. PS: The photo of the heart in the sky might be interpreted as a symbol for our time - or do I read it wrong: much steam for "I do love me/I" ?

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    1. Oh yes, dear Britta, the ultimate form for a narcissist's public declaration!! Very much a symbol of our time. It could be so, but, as I said to Cro, this snap was taken before the skywriter finished his job. We didn't need to see what he finished with, it was just scribble :)

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  10. My favourite image is the guinea fowl. They look good together as a flock. I would like them and to play with moving them around and changing their order each morning.

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    1. There is something so lively about them massed as a flock, dear Rachel, more so than just a single bird on a sideboard. It's my fave, too.

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  11. I read Anna K last year; it ends badly.

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    1. Oh, dear Ur-spo, I'm well braced for Tragedy.

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  12. I have been reading your post on a different blog about Gentlemen. I just wanted to say that although I have no great interest in detectives myself, I did know someone who was more than delighted to hear about Erast Fandorin. I was glad to be the bearer of good news in telling him of Erast's existence.

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    1. Dear Jenny, I find little bookish snippets are always handy to slot away for future reference, for you never know when they may prove useful. I'm very pleased that your dipping into the Company of Gentlemen gave you an opportunity to give a wink to a detective fiction aficionado. Hopefully, they'll also enjoy the company of EF!

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