ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

The Metropolitan Cathedral of St Mary is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney, currently Cardinal George Pell. The cathedral is dedicated to "Mary, Help of Christians", Patron of Australia.

St Mary’s holds the title and dignity of a minor basilica, bestowed upon it by Pope Pius XI on 4 August 1932. St Mary's has the greatest length of any church in Australia (although it is neither the tallest nor the largest overall). It is located on College Street in the heart of the City of Sydney where, despite the high rise development of the Sydney central business district (CBD), its imposing structure and twin spires make it a landmark from every direction. In 2008, St Mary's Cathedral became the focus of World Youth Day 2008 and was visited by Pope Benedict XVI.

This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme,
and also part of the Weekly TopShot meme.

AUTUMN APPROACHING

This post is part of the Weekly TopShot meme,
and also part of the I Heart Macros meme,
and also part of the Weekend in Black and White meme.

GARGOYLE

A dragon gargoyle spotted in our neighbourhood during a walk today. There are quite a few of these architectural ornaments around and made a mental note to take some more photos of them...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

SUMMER BOUQUET

A summer bouquet of flowers from our garden. There are roses, daisies, feverfew, jasmine, lantana, coreopsis, geranium, perennial statice and montbretia. Although the heat has been excessive lately, with a good watering most of the plants seem to be doing well.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SPRINKLER

Early morning watering in the garden centre on a hot Summer's day. I was grateful for any stray droplets that came my way...

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

CHILLI

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Floral Macros meme,
and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

SUNNY

The sunflowers are in bloom at the moment and it's very hard not to take photos of them, they are extremely photogenic!

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Mandarin Orange Monday meme,
and also part of the Nature Footsteps Inspiring Photography meme.

LEONOTIS SEED CASES

Leonotis leonurus, also known as lion's tail and wild dagga, is a plant species in the Lamiaceae (mint) family. The plant is a broadleaf evergreen large shrub native to South Africa and southern Africa, where it is very common. It is known for its medicinal and mild psychoactive properties. The main psychoactive component of Leonotis leonurus is leonurine. This is the empty seed case shown below. See the flowers here.

This post is part of the I Heart Macros meme.

ARCHITECTURE CHALLENGE

The building here is found in the lower end of LaTrobe St that leads to the Docklands area. The typical high rise, public service, block construction has been disguised somewhat by some interesting textures.

This post is part of the TR-black and White challenge.

CAT AND FRIEND

This post is part of the Weekend in Black and White meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme.