SEAFARERS BRIDGE, MELBOURNE

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 Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Weekend Reflections meme.

SUNSET SKY

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

NEMESIA

Nemesia is a genus of annuals, perennials and sub-shrubs in the Scrophulariaceae family, which are native to sandy coasts or disturbed ground in South Africa. Numerous hybrids have been selected, and the annual cultivars are popular with gardeners as bedding plants.

In temperate regions the annual cultivars are usually treated as half-hardy bedding plants, sown from seed in heat and planted out after all danger of frost has passed. The flowers are two-lipped, with the upper lip consisting of four lobes and the lower lip two lobes. The cultivar 'Innocence', a low-growing bushy perennial with white flowers, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

'L' IS FOR LEMON

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." - Julius Rosenwald

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

CAGLIARI, SARDINIA

Cagliari (Sardinian: Casteddu; Latin: Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 150,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan city (including Cagliari and 16 other nearby municipalities) has more than 431,000 inhabitants. According to Eurostat, the population of the Functional urban area, the commuting zone of Cagliari, rises to 476,974.

Cagliari is the 26th largest city in Italy and the largest city on the island of Sardinia. An ancient city with a long history, Cagliari has seen the rule of several civilisations. Under the buildings of the modern city there is a continuous stratification attesting to human settlement over the course of some five thousand years, from the Neolithic to today. Historical sites include the prehistoric Domus de Janas, very damaged by cave activity, a large Carthaginian era necropolis, a Roman era amphitheatre, a Byzantine basilica, three Pisan-era towers and a strong system of fortification that made the town the core of Spanish Habsburg imperial power in the western Mediterranean Sea.

Its natural resources have always been its sheltered harbour, the often powerfully fortified hill of Castel di Castro, the modern Casteddu, the salt from its lagoons, and, from the hinterland, wheat from the Campidano plain and silver and other ores from the Iglesiente mines. Cagliari was the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1324 to 1848, when Turin became the formal capital of the kingdom (which in 1861 became the Kingdom of Italy). 

Today the city is a regional cultural, educational, political and artistic centre, known for its diverse Art Nouveau architecture and several monuments. It is also Sardinia's economic and industrial hub, having one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean Sea, an international airport, and the 106th highest income level in Italy (among 8,092 comuni), comparable to that of several northern Italian cities. It is also the seat of the University of Cagliari, founded in 1607, and of the Primate Roman Catholic archdiocese of Sardinia, since the 5th century AD.

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.

AQUARIUM

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.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #33 - CHILDHOOD

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

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

EASTERN ROSELLA

The eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) is a rosella native to southeast of the Australian continent and to Tasmania. It has been introduced to New Zealand where feral populations are found in the North Island [2] (notably in the northern half of the island and in the Hutt Valley) and in the hills around Dunedin in the South Island.

Three subspecies of eastern rosella are recognised:
P. e. eximius, Victoria and southern New South Wales. Black feathers on the back have green margins. Rump is pale green.
P. e. elecica, northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland. In the male the black feathers on the back have golden-yellow margins, and greenish-yellow in the female. The rump is bluish-green. This subspecies is also called the golden-mantled rosella, often abbreviated to GMR.
P. e. diemenensis, eastern Tasmania. White cheek patches are larger and the red on the head is darker.

The eastern rosella is 30 cm long. It has a red head and white cheeks. The beak is white and the irises are brown. The upper breast is red and the lower breast is yellow fading to pale green over the abdomen. The feathers of the back and shoulders are black, and have yellowish or greenish margins giving rise to a scalloped appearance that varies slightly between the subspecies and the sexes. The wings and lateral tail feathers are bluish while the tail is dark green. The legs are grey. The female is similar to the male though duller in colouration and has an underwing stripe, which is not present in the adult male. Juveniles are duller than females and have an underwing stripe. The diet of eastern rosellas mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers and insects.

Eastern rosellas usually breed in spring but if needed summer as well. They can have 2-9 eggs. In the wild their breeding hollow is 1m deep and 30m high up a tree. The sign the eastern rosella mostly shows that they would be breeding is that they give food to each other. 

The eastern rosella is sometimes kept as a pet. These birds are desired for their beautifully coloured plumage. They are intelligent creatures, which can be trained to whistle a wide repertoire of tunes and may even learn to speak a few words or phrases. Rosellas can make good companion parrots; however, they require a great deal of attention and many toys to satisfy their need for social interaction and mental stimulation. These birds sometimes won't adapt to life as a family pet. Hand-raised birds can be fully domesticated, but usually they turn out still wild. Usually, this species doesn't like getting “petted” or “cuddled” and can bite in response to this type of handling. Many people believe that rosellas are best housed in large aviaries that enable them to fly freely with minimal human socialization. Despite these difficulties, many people enjoy the eastern rosella as a beautiful but sometimes feisty pet bird.

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,
and also part of the I'd Rather Be Birdin' meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

AT ST ANDREWS

St Andrews is a town in Victoria, Australia, which is 36 km north-east from Melbourne's city centre. St Andrews has a population of about 1600 people and is well known for its alternative market which is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. It also has a hotel, general store, school, bakery, CFA, a community centre and of course St Andrew's Church.

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

WAX FLOWER

Philotheca myoporoides, commonly known as long-leaf wax flower, is a shrub in the family Rutaceae. The species is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is usually up to 2 metres high and produces white flowers in spring and autumn. The species was first formally described in 1824 by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who gave it the name Eriostemon myoporoides. It was transferred to the genus Philotheca in 1998.

Five subspecies are currently recognised in the Australian Plant Census:
P. myoporoides subsp. acuta
P. myoporoides subsp. brevipedunculata
P. myoporoides subsp. euroensis - occurs in the Garden Range near Euroa, Victoria
P. myoporoides subsp. myoporoides
P. myoporoides subsp. petraeus - occurs on Mount Stewart in East Gippsland, Victoria

In recent years a number of subspecies have been raised to species status including Philotheca conduplicata, P. epilosa, P. glasshousiensis (syn. P. myoporoides subsp. leichhardti), P. obovatifolia and P. queenslandica.

Philotheca myoporoides occurs in dry forest and heathland in New South Wales. In Victoria, it is recorded in woodland in rocky, mountainous areas in association with Eucalyptus regnans. It is also found in Queensland. Caterpillars of the Orchard Butterfly feed on this species.

The species is well adapted to cultivation, and plants are commercially available at nurseries in Australia. The species prefers a well-drained position in light shade. Established plants tolerate both dry periods and moderate frost. Plants may be propagated from semi-mature cuttings, though some forms are slow to take root.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

'K' IS FOR KITE

"Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it." - Winston Churchill

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

PORTOFINO, ITALY

Portofino is an Italian fishing village and vacation resort famous for its picturesque harbour and historical association with celebrity and artistic visitors. It is a comune located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore.

According to Pliny the Elder, Portofino was founded by the Romans and named Portus Delphini, or Port of the Dolphin, because of the large number of dolphins that inhabited the Tigullian Gulf. The village is mentioned in a diploma from 986 by Adelaide of Italy, which assigned it to the nearby Abbey of San Fruttoso di Capodimonte.In 1171, together with the neighbouring Santa Margherita Ligure, it was included in Rapallo's commune jurisdiction. After 1229 it was part of the Republic of Genoa.

The town's natural harbour supported a fleet of fishing boats, but was somewhat too cramped to provide more than a temporary safe haven for the growing merchant marine of the Republic of Genoa. In 1409 Portofino was sold to the Republic of Florence by Charles VI of France, but when the latter was ousted from Genoa the Florentines gave it back. In the 15th century it was a fief of families such as the Fieschi, Spinola, Adorno, and Doria.In 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, from 1861, of the unified Kingdom of Italy.

In the late 19th century, first British, then other Northern European aristocratic tourists began to visit Portofino, which they reached by horse and cart from Santa Margherita Ligure. Aubrey Herbert and Elizabeth von Arnim were amongst the more famous English people to make the area fashionable. Eventually more expatriates built expensive vacation houses, and by 1950 tourism had supplanted fishing as the town's chief industry, and the waterfront was a continuous ring of restaurants and cafés

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.

AROUND MY NEIGHBOURHOOD

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

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #32 - LEAF SKELETON

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple: 1) Create your image and post it up on your blog; 2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here; 3) Leave a comment here once you have posted; 4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

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

MELBOURNE: SKYSCRAPER CITY

Melbourne is a city that is currently going through an extreme development phase and an ongoing skyscraper boom. Considering the CBD and Southbank, especially, Melbourne looks to become a world-class, mega-tall metropolis. In the near future, Melbourne will compete with cities like Chicago, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo in terms of having a large number of buildings of 200+ metres tall. As the effects of this boom are becoming increasingly visible and the strain on the city's infrastructure is clearly evident, the controversy is raging regarding the benefits and drawbacks of hyper-dense, supertall overdevelopment...

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.

SUNSET

Sunset in one of Melbourne's parks.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

THREE-CORNERED LEEK

The three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum) is an invasive weed in the Amaryllidaceae family, which is native tot he Mediterranean and which can carpet large areas very quickly because of its rapidly germinating seeds that quickly form a dense clump of leaves and flowers. Both the English name and the specific epithet triquetrum refer to the three-cornered shape of the flower stalks.

Pretty though this three-cornered leek may be, don't be tempted to pick it as a cut flower because it does reek strongly of an oniony smell! However, you can pick it for eating, as all parts of the plant are edible. The leaves and flowers can be added to salads, and the bulbs can be substituted for garlic. The taste can be described as subtly flavoured like a leek or a spring onion. It may be consumed raw or cooked.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

'J' IS FOR JAM

Juicy berries make  jars of tasty jam!

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

9/11 - A TRIBUTE

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." 

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR

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.

FUNNY BUSINESS

Luck |lʌk| noun [mass noun]
Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions: "It was just luck that the first kick went in" | "Four leaf clovers are supposed to bring good luck."
• Shance considered as a force that causes good or bad things to happen.
• Something regarded as bringing about or portending good or bad things: "I don't like Friday—it's bad luck."

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

MY SUNDAY BEST MEME #31 - SUNSET

Welcome to the meme, "My Sunday Best", which is a photographic and creative meme that allows you to showcase your talents in imaging. Every Sunday, you can post here showing an image you have created using your camera, (and/or) image processing software, and/or painting and drawing in the conventional way and have scanned in.

The rules are simple:
1) Create your image and post it up on your blog;
2) Put the "My Sunday Best" logo image link somewhere on your post so people can click and come by here;
3) Leave a comment here once you have posted;
4) Visit other posters' blogs and be amazed with their creativity!

Please do not use this meme to advertise your goods or services. This is a creative meme and any inappropriate links or comments shall be removed immediately!

This post is also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme,
and also part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

Please leave your link below:

CAT

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

ROSE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme,
and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

CALLERY PEAR BLOSSOM

Pyrus calleryana, the Callery pear, is a species of pear native to China and Vietnam, in the family Rosaceae. It is a deciduous tree growing to 5 to 8 m tall, often with a conic to rounded crown. The leaves are oval, 4 to 8 cm long, glossy dark green above, and slightly paler below. The white, five-petaled flowers are about 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter. They are produced abundantly in early spring, before the leaves expand fully. The smell of these blossoms is offensive to many people.

The fruits of the Callery pear are small (less than one cm in diameter), and hard, almost woody, until softened by frost, after which they are readily taken by birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings. In summer, the foliage is dark green and very smooth, and in autumn the leaves commonly turn brilliant colours, ranging from yellow and orange to more commonly red, pink, purple, and bronze. Sometimes, several of these autumn colours may be present on an individual leaf. However, since the colour often develops very late in autumn, the leaves may be killed by a hard frost before full colour can develop.

Callery pears are remarkably resistant to disease or blight though they are regularly killed by strong winds, ice storms, heavy snow, or limb loss due to their naturally excessive growth rates. Some cultivars, such as 'Bradford', are particularly susceptible to storm damage. The species is named after the Italian-French sinologue Joseph-Marie Callery (1810–1862) who sent specimens of the tree to Europe from China.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

'I' IS FOR IGLOO

The Inuit inhabit igloos of ice.

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