A bus stop and a grand fence

Ballarat has the best old-style bus stops, such as this one in Sturt Street, even though the council is doing its best to replace them with 'modern' green metal shelters.

When you sit in one of these elegant, old fashioned wood and plastic shelters you can really enjoy the spring plantings along the road

and the the first pink blossoms hurtling into the blue world.

Then there are the drains and gutters. I passionately love the bluestone gutters here,

and the stone bridges for pedestrians.

and the solidly monumental drains. All cut and carved out out the local

volcanic basalt.

So I love this fence being sculpted in the street to much criticism, because it is not like all the other fences and house boundaries. Which are nice enough, especially with moss to green them,

but they won't make you get up from the bus stop and cross over the road to have a really good look.

This fence is a real pleasure to walk past.

and around

although it's not finished yet.

and someone has spray painted it because it is too flamboyant and grand and different.

(Please excuse the thumb).

Fortunately it's going to be too solid to knock over, by even the most fanatical fence enforcer, so it should be around to enjoy for a while.

Almond blossom

I hadn't realised that the almond tree is already blossoming until I saw the moon shining on it late this evening as I came home from walking the dogs.

I love to walk around the quiet streets in these cold blue winter evenings. Moonlight and street light make enticing shadows.

It's still cold outside

Winter is turning over and the dark and cold are drawing back. But I don't want winter to go. I love the icing of frost on the grass and the leaves and the last rose hip in the garden this morning

My fingers were aching in the cold but the air was so crisp and sharp, I crunched around the garden and licked ice off the leaves.

When I looked up the tree was full of brilliant birds - red, yellow, blue, green and black. I just caught a few as they racketted back and forth screeching out to each other. You'll have to take my word they were as dazzling as the bright blue sky because they moved so fast I could barely focus on them.

It's cold outside

It's cold outside tonight and I needed gloves to put out out the rubbish bins, but inside it's really cosy.

Matching up

I love crockery and china-ware and porcelain, and I pick up bits and pieces as I go. Here's a small plate I've had for years.

Just last week I found this solitary cup in a second hand shop in Sturt Street.

Cup and plate suit each other well, although one was made in China and one in England, designed for rather different tables and menus.



And here they sit, on my desk in southern Australia, perfectly happy with each other.

Brown paper

I got a bunch of daffodils, wrapped up in brown paper, when we went shopping this morning.
I put them just above my desk, and then had to smile when I saw that each flower had its own natural brown paper wrapping.

Home again

Driving home through Ballarat city on a day of soft winter rain and pale winter rainbows. There was a rainbow coming into the city and one across the road when I got home.

And then I curled up in a chair in the warm house with a treasure from today's foray into second hand bookshops in Melbourne.

I've lived in Ballarat five years now, and this is the first time I haven't felt a little sad to leave Melbourne and come home to Ballarat. Maybe I've finally settled in.