Changing seasons

The golden hour from work

We still have some warm days to come this week, but our glorious Indian summer is coming to an end. There was a chill in the air when I set foot outside this morning - partly due to the end of daylight savings on the weekend - and I wore a jacket most of the way to work for the first time all year.  It was much more comfortable than the very humid weather we've had recently. 

It was nice to be greeted by the yellow morning light, rather than remnants of darkness, when I got up and I love seeing the golden hour settle on the city from my 38th floor office, but I'm a little sad about getting home in the dark (I finish at 6.00pm). I'm not at all sad about cooler nights and being cozy under the blankets again though. Swings and roundabouts.  

I can't wait for the autumn colour to start appearing around Melbourne and I'm hoping the trees will be putting on a show when we go to the high country for Easter. 

Halfway home 

Sick but happy

I do not know what's going on with this avocado...

I've been slack at blogging the last couple of weeks, mainly because I've been sick. This is obviously not gleeful, and I'm especially displeased because I've been virtually free of colds, the flu and other contagion for almost 10 years. Yes, 10 years! 

But since I got back from Brisbane at the end of July, I've had a head cold and then bronchitis (for the first time ever), which now seems to have morphed into another head cold. In between those two lurgies, I had a blood clot in my leg (not serious), but I can't blame my faltering immune system for that. 

Anyway, enough of that. On with the gleeful stuff! I remain happy, despite feeling poorly

Today was a quiet day at work, so I had no excuse not to tackle a crappy job I've left on the backburner for too long because there was one aspect of it I just could not figure out the last time I worked on it, and I've been struggling for brain power lately. But today I finally found the answer, albeit through little skill/mental agility of my own, and it was practically staring me in the face the whole time! I feel like a goose, but I'm so relieved it's solved. 

Last night I was doing a Target puzzle on my phone while the AFL Brownlow medal presentation was on TV. There's was something on about the Hawthorn Football Club, whose team colours are brown and gold, which prompted Luke to chortle, "Poos and wees!"...at exactly the same moment I found the word 'poos' in my word puzzle.  (Yes, the puzzle allows 'poos', although it doesn't accept 'pooed' - or 'penis' or 'anus' - but it's not due to American prudishness, as evidenced by the fact that 'vagina' is accepted and so is the C-bomb, the rudest word of them all! It's just because the puzzle a bit shit ('shit' is also acceptable). I just posted a review of the app pointing out its deficiencies and was pleased to see  others making similar comments. Puzzle pedants unite!)

One of the indoor plants we bought recently has sprouted a flower. I was surprised because although it's healthy, it needs to be repotted and I didn't think it would be happy enough to bloom. 

Daylight savings starts this weekend! Hurrah! Winter doesn't seem in any hurry to leave us, but at least the days will start getting longer soon.

Delicious brunch, old theatre, ravens in the cemetery

Luke and I had brunch at a newish place in Richmond on Saturday. I'd been meaning to go there for months, ever since I first noticed Hellas Cakes had been transformed into a café. In all my years hanging out in Richmond, I'd never seen the old Greek cake shop on Lennox Street open; it was always closed, with the blinds drawn. I wasn't sure it was even an operating business. 

Then one day I walked past and the blinds were up and the old shop was a light, airy café, still making and selling Greek pastries and other sweet treats, but also serving Greek-influenced breakfasts and lunches. 

I'm so glad we finally went. I had the most delicious pancakes ever. The most delicious brunch I've had in ages. I almost drooled a bit like Homer Simpson after the first bite. The blueberry pancakes were chunky, a little crisp on the outside and dense and cakey inside. They were generously drizzled with maple syrup, and served with more blueberries, pistachios and two pear quarters perched on top. There was a little jug of orange-spiced Greek yogurt on the side.  Visually appealing and a taste sensation. Yum. 

I like the old mixing machine on display at the front of the café. 

On the way back to the car, I saw another old shop on Lennox Street that I'd never seen open before. It still wasn't open on Saturday, but the blinds were up. I thought it was a dental prosthetist, but I must have imagined that because on the inside it looks like a barber shop and wig seller. A very old-fashioned barber shop and wig seller. Check out the old chair:

Up the back of the shop there was a shelf with men's wigs on faceless man-mannequin heads (like the lady-mannequin heads above). As well as wigs, the male heads also sported moustaches that looked like they were straight out of the early 70s. How peculiar. Lennox Street has a few other peculiar old shops. It's like the street that got left behind.  

After brunch, Luke and I were on mission to buy a new bookcase to house the many books that don't fit in the one we already have. We started off at Swan Street Sales down the Burnley end of Richmond. 

I thought I'd been there before, but I must be mistaken because I'm sure I would have remembered that the sprawling, jam-packed furniture store is housed in an old theatre. The salesman who served us said the building used to be the Burnley Theatre. I didn't even know there was an old theatre in Burnley. 

The stage is now used for displaying mattresses, among other things

To describe is as 'faded' would be quite an understatement. According to Walking Melbourne, it was built in 1928, but closed in 1958 and has been a furniture warehouse since 1959. It's now heritage listed. The salesman said the owner wanted to restore the building, but the restoration would be prohibitively expensive and difficult, if not impossible, to recoup the costs. What a shame. 

We ended up buying a bookshelf out in Nunawading, which was less than half price. Luke's going to pick it up during the week and then we'll have to assemble it. 

On the way back we stopped off at the Booroondara Cemetery in Kew to take photos. (The same cemetery I wrote about in this post back in 2010. Yes, the one about the time I peed behind a bush in a graveyard). 

It was a gloomy day and raining very lightly when we arrived, which I think is the best kind of weather for taking photos in cemeteries. Not only was the weather co-operative, there was a murder of ravens hanging about in the cemetery. Some even perched on headstones and statuary long enough for us to take photos. Awesome. (I've become a little fixated on ravens since we saw the stuffed ravens at Wunderkammer a few months back. I'm not sure why.)

I took some photos of the Cussen mausoleum, which my ancestor, the former Supreme  Court of Victoria judge Leo Cussen, had built as a memorial to his son in 1912-13. 

I didn't realise when I visited the cemetery in 2010 that the little sandstone building had a family connection so I paid more attention to it this time. (Incidentally, on the day Luke and I saw the ravens at Wunderkammer, we also went to the Supreme Court library where Sir Leo's portrait hangs). 

After traipsing around in the cemetery for an hour or so my sneakers and socks were very damp. It was nice to change into dry socks when I got home. 

Today was the first day of daylight savings, but I was too busy doing stuff to notice the extra daylight. I'm sure I'll notice tomorrow though. 

PS For the the taphophiles among you, I'll be posting some of my cemetery photos over at Girl in Melbourne in the next day or so. 

Warmer, longer, straight

Mushroom hiding in the grass

I walked to work and home again after the gym without a jacket, in short sleeves, for the first time since the end of summer. Yay for spring. Tomorrow is going to be warm as well - 29 degrees C (before a return to more wintry weather. *sigh*)

Daylight savings starts this weekend. Wooh! 

I accidentally stuck an address label crooked on an envelope at work, but peeled it off cleanly, without removing a layer of paper. Quite satisfying. I also find it pleasing when I place a label exactly square on an envelope, or on the spine of the folders we use for our files.  

Swan egg, carving, longer days

There's a swan baby on the way! Maybe more than one, but only one egg was visible when I walked past the nest, near the um...Swan Street Bridge, on Sunday.

In other news on things I've recently seen near bridges, I spotted this very intricate stone carving beneath the Church Street Bridge on Saturday when I went for a late afternoon walk. You will walk past it if you head down the steps half way across the bridge on the city side. It says, "Victoria...Peace and Prosperity". It's not new obviously... Either I just didn't see it on the one or two other occasions I've walked down those stairs, or it was revealed during the recent lengthy restoration of the bridge.

Daylight savings started on the weekend. Yay! It was so nice walking home in proper daylight tonight, even after finishing work at 6.00pm.

Homecoming, baby stone, exact

Camera shy swans (and you thought

swans were graceful birds)

Luke's back! Yay! And he bought me presents, my favourite of which is a trio of small, smooth stones he picked up on the beach at The Needles on the Isle of Wight. One is a like the baby of the stone Luke found on the beach when we visited Cape Schank on Good Friday.  Oh, he got the card I sent too. He liked it a lot.

Yesterday I had exactly the right cash in my wallet to pay for my lunch.

I got another delivery at work from Etsy.com - a black and white striped bolero (I'm a little obsessed with B&W stripes). It's my first custom made item and it fits. It came from a designer in Latvia too, which makes it extra special, I think.

The days are getting longer. It was still light at 6.00pm when I was on my way home from work. Not long until daylight savings starts now...

Silver lining, learning curve, Friday

Daylight savings ends this weekend. Although I will be sad it's over, I'm looking forward to being able to see the sun set from my office window.

I was on late shift today (late = 9.45am start). I get to sleep in until 8.30 (hurrah!) and my 1.00pm lunch time comes around very quickly when I start a little later. I don't even mind working until 6.00pm because I'm really loving my job. I was feeling overwhelmed for a while, but now I've settled in and I feel like I know what I'm doing most of the time, I'm enjoying it much more. I feel a nice sense of satisfaction from successfully surfing that steep learning curve (so far...I'm still learning).

Wooh! It's Friday eve!

Bubbly, new hair and glowing greenery

We finished work at 3.00 pm today and sat in the boardroom all afternoon sipping champers and nibbling nibblies. Yum. It was partly to mark Oaks Day (another big day on the Spring Racing Carnival calendar) and partly to celebrate the arrival of a partner's second child.

I got my hair cut and coloured tonight. Aaaah.

I love the way the trees and grass seem to glow in the early evening sun. I love that there is sunshine in the evenings, now that it's daylight savings.