More wandering

I had an appointment in Prahran this morning then I spent the afternoon wandering about the streets, as I am wont to do. I took a lot of photos of stuff and things. 

Trio of verandah seats, Prahran 

Skull and bricks, Artists Lane, Windsor

Rainbow Tea, Artists Lane again

Well, hello there. Naturalist mann-equin at Chapel Street Bazaar

Ha-haaaa! T-Rex tapping out witty retorts on Facebook

Shady, leafy Davis Street, South Yarra 

Gorgeous house and garden on Davis Street

Blooming 

Rusting

In the front garden at Botanics on Punt Road

Inside Botanics, florest, nursery and giftshop - aka paradise

I bought a stem of gorgeous purple orchids

  

And some chrysanthemums (fittonia on the right)

My mantelpiece 

More 'mums and spathiphyllum with a trio of flowers

Orchid close-up

I walked about 16,000 steps and was plum tuckered out when I got home. I had a nice hot bath and am very much looking forward to getting into bed. I don't plan to emerge from before lunchtime. 

A-wandering

I had an impromptu wander around my neighbourhood this afternoon on my way home from yoga and an osteopath appointment. I spotted a beautiful white magnolia tree on Park Street and stopped to take a photo and it went from there. 

 Winter dining - blankets provided

 Entrecote on Domain Road, South Yarra

 Verandah seat. Millswyn Street, I think

 Lovely row of terrace houses, also Millswyn Street

 Beautiful entranceway

 Spring is springing. Magnolias are blooming all over the place

 Verandah pot

 Wimmera Bakery, an old building on Millswyn 

Street that's now a residence

 Ghost sign - engineer and panel beater - on St Martin Place 

When life gives you lemons

 I LOVE this art deco front window on Millswyn Street

The aforementioned white magnolia, Park Street

Now that's a fence post, also Park Street

I walked about 14,000 steps and then I came home and got into bed - yoga + osteo + 14,000 steps = sore body. 

From the bridge

I stopped on Morell Bridge tonight to take a photo of the silos basking in the late afternoon sun against a backdrop of dark grey sky. 

Then I turned around to take a photo of the setting sun...

...and when I turned back, I saw this:

Then I turned around again to take a photo of the rowers...

...and when I started to head for home, the rainbow was even brighter. 

I'm expecting a parcel in the mail from a friend. I'll tell you more about it when it arrives. 

Tidy, blue, pale, pretty

Photo taken on my new phone with a vintagey look. Wish my eyes were really that green.

Oh, those are my new specs. Forgot to post a pic before.

I had my eyebrows professionally seen to this afternoon for the first time. They didn't need to be shaped because nature kindly did a fine job of shaping them for me, so the brow girl only tidied them up. It really makes a difference. I can't stop looking at them.

I also got my hair cut and coloured - not quite as short as usual and a little more blue in my blue/black (hey, hold those blue rinse jokes!)

The two women who work in the salon are both from Asian countries (one from Indonesia, not sure about the other). They love my pale skin. It's a pleasant change from being surrounded by women with fake tans who probably look at me and think I could do with a bit of colour.

I walked to a polling booth to vote in the State election this morning. My neighbourhood is staid and lacking cultural diversity, but  damn it's pretty.

(I stayed in this place for a couple of weeks when it was a grungy boarding house.

Now it seems to be a big posh residence.)

And I spotted an old sign. Anyone know what it says? It backs onto Park Street, South Yarra. There's also a P, so it's ....PLES. Do you think it could be Maples, like the old piano store on Swan Street, Richmond? Perhaps this was their factory?

A sunny day out in Batmania^

Great building, old brickwork and fading sign, Chapel Street

After a grey start, it turned into a glorious winter's day today. I went for a very long work from Windsor to Richmond and then home, part of it wandering through the quaint-meets-gritty backstreets of Richmond. I love Richmond.

The sun and exercise made me so toasty I not only took my jacket, off but pulled my sleeves up as well. Ah, the first kiss of sunshine on winter-white flesh is a delight.

Other good bits about today:

* I enjoyed people watching on Chapel Street as I lingered over lunch.

* I indulged in a hot chocolate and a raspberry and chocolate mousse at Ganache on Toorak Road. The mousse was almost too pretty to eat.

* I added to my library of books about Melbourne with Jenny Sinclair's When We Think About Melbourne: The imagination of a city. Flicking through, I read this snippet:

"...Chapel Street is a promenade banked wall-to-wall with cars and the South Yarra types who walked there (purple-haired old ladies, gay boys with French bulldogs on leads, confused and muttering mat-haired homeless men, groups of girlfriends swinging bags from boutique, stiff suits with real estate agents inside them) were an endless dumbshow, a never-ending stream of life I loved to feel part of."

Yep, me too.

* I discovered a row of small galleries on a non-descript side street off Church Street. Always something to discover when you get off the well-worn path.

*  I made a quick detour to the gardens and sat on a park bench as the late afternoon sun sank lower over the lake and a chill crept into the air.

*  I smelt spring. It's nearly upon us! 

*  I picked up two DVDs to watch tonight (including The Shining). I have the flat to myself, my pyjamas on already and a pizza on the way.

^ Melbourne really was briefly named Batmania after its founding father John Batman (pronounced BAT-mn, not Bat-MAN). It's both a disappointment and a relief that it didn't stick.  

Blush

I love that pink blush that creeps up along the horizon opposite the setting sun. This was the view from my bedroom tonight.

I heart South Yarra

Have I mentioned how much I love the area I live in? Apart from being so close to the city and having the Botanic Gardens as my backyard, there are so many beautiful old buildings nearby.

Here's a few photos I've taken in Park Street recently:

I love this red door and the pots of flowers.

I stayed in this buiding for a few weeks when I was at uni and it was a fairly scummy guest house. It's looking much nicer these days now that it's approaching the final stages of a posh make-over, although I can't help feeling sorry for all the permanent residents (many of whom were marginalised by unemployment and/or mental illness) who've been turfed out. I imagine it will be turned into a boutique hotel like The Hatton Hotel a few doors up.

Don't you have a statue in your front yard?

PS I didn't end up buying a Paperblanks journal or diary after all. Even the smallest diary is too big for my needs and there weren't many small journals left. I'll just have to have a look online.