Outstanding

Awesome nearly 100-year-old Japanese Maple

I had my performance review today at work. I'm "outstanding". Yay. Hopefully outstanding enough to get a pay rise, because my rent is going up soon. (Boo.)

Luke made creamy chive mashed potatoes the other night, just like you get in nice restaurants, with lashings of butter and cream. Delicious. Will eat again.  

I had a lumbar puncture on Friday (not a gleeful event, although it was much less painful than anticipated). I asked the doctor what spinal fluid looks like and she showed me a vial of my own spinal fluid, which is kinda cool. Surprisingly, it looks exactly like water: clear and...watery. I thought it would be more viscous. 

Misty, but still colourful 

Luke and I visited Cloudehill Gardens in the Dandenongs on the weekend and it was lovely, despite the rain that started not long after we arrived. It was awkward trying to juggle an umbrella and keep the rain off my camera lens, but mostly it was quite delightful being in a garden in the rain, listening to the sound of drops pattering onto leaves and seeing the clouds close in around us. 

The lyrebirds seemed to like the rain too - we saw four of them! I'd only seen four in total in my whole life until then. They look funny when they run and I never noticed before they have big feet.

Lyrebird not hanging around for photos

Anniversary day tripping

Jindi views

Luke and I celebrated our six-year anniversary on Saturday with a day trip to West Gippsland. Flowers? Romantic dinners? Pffft. We went to the Rare and Unusual Plant Fair in the tiny picturesque town of Jindivick. 

We parked in front of a house with a large shady garden, and a couple of greyhounds came out to eye at us warily, much to my disappointment. I love greyhounds and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to love me instantly in return.  They could not be won over with friendly words and kissy sounds.  

Like the city slickers we are, we forgot to bring cash with us for the market. Jindivick is too small for an ATM so we travelled the windy road to Neerim South to get some cash. We had a bite to eat while there and bought a couple of yo-yo biscuits for later. They were probably the best yo-yo biscuits I've had, apart from those made by my Nanna and Mum.    

Back in Jindi (as the locals call it) at the market I bought a couple of succulents and another plant, the name of which I've forgotten (it might be an elephant ear philodendron). My indoor garden is getting quite extensive now. I think Luke and I should move house just so we can have an outside garden too. 

After the market, we visited the cricket ground, which has one of the best views - if not the best view - of any cricket ground in Victoria.  

From the crease

On the ground

We then took a stroll through Nangara Reserve (a reclaimed quarry) where I found a really long gum leaf. It's about 25cm long! (The tiny pine cone is from the Botanic Gardens.)

We headed back home to Melbourne through the Bunyip State Park, which brought us out near Gembrook in the Dandenongs. We caught a glimpse of Puffing Billy steaming through the trees on his way to the terminal in Gembrook. 

April is a big month of anniversaries for me. Tomorrow it will be five years since I started my job. There will be morning tea and (I hope) a bunch of flowers. 

Not rare or unusual, but certainly pretty

Flowers and bees and a mantis

I cut through the south end of the Botanic Gardens on my way to catch a tram on St Kilda Road this morning. As soon as I set foot inside the gate near Guilfoyle's Volcano I was greeted with a riot of beautiful cactus flowers.  

  

A bee photobombed some of my flower pics, which always pleases me. I asked a bee-keeping friend about the blobs of pollen on the bee's leg and she told me bees collect pollen in "pollen baskets", which delights me. Baskets! They are also called "corbicula", which also delights me because I love words that end in "icula(r)", like funicular...and other words I can't think of right now. 

I visited the gardens three times today. I cut through again on my way home just after lunch and then I had a more leisurely wander around on my way back from the city. 

This fuzzy ferny bud was conveniently located in a shaft of sunlight in an otherwise shady spot. I didn't notice the little insect on it until I uploaded it to Instagram. 

I visited the Ian Potter Children's Garden on my longer wander because I haven't been in there in years.  There's some ace stuff in there, including fruit trees, herbs, vegetables and flowering gums that are just starting to burst into bloom. I think I was the only person in there without a child in tow, but my inner child enjoyed it.

This bee was so intent on filling its pollen baskets that it was oblivious to my camera hovering right over it. 

 Pretty flower

Anyone know what flower this is? 

I unintentionally made a praying mantis very cross. I was taking photos of some shrivelled berries and I was so focused on them that I didn't realise I'd invaded the personal space of Mr(s) Mantis. It gave me a little scare until I realised what it was (or what it was not).

Do you mind? I'm trying to pray here. 

Just before I left the gardens a Nankeen Night Heron landed nearby and sat there...and sat there...and sat there...I was hoping to see it catching its dinner, but maybe it couldn't see anything because of the weed cover, so it just sat there like a little birdy hunchback. I was still happy to see it. 

The Waifs, the gardens and the flowers

The Waifs show on Thursday night was great. We had good seats with an uninterrupted view, and the sound quality at Hamer Hall was, of course, top notch. Vicki and Donna's voices were so clear. I was hoping to hear more of my favourites, but you can't please everyone. It was a good mix of songs from their new album and songs from over their past 25 years together. (And yes, we were home before midnight.) 

Yesterday Luke and I went to the International Flower and Garden Show. So much gorgeousness. Sigh. I wish I had a garden. I did buy a few plants to add to my indoor collection though - a couple of tiny succulents, a string of  pearls plants, and a chain of hearts. 

Of course I took a lot of photos. 

 No visit to the Carlton Gardens is complete without a 

photo of the Hochgurtel Foundatin 

 Clematis

The bees are gonna be confused when they come back 

to the gardens on Monday 

 Coneflower

 Upside down, Miss Jayne. The glass orb in the 

centre of one of the garden sculptures

 Another garden sculpture

 Freaky flower growing on a succulent in the

 hanging basket competition 

 Smiley water feature 

 Lovely tulips

 Ram skullpture

 Part of my fave of the garden displays. So shady

 More of the above garden

And another part of the above garden

   Wiry lady

 Floral display 

 Do you like my flower crown?

 Part of the gold medal winning floral display by

 Victoria Whitelaw 

 One of the entrants in the RMIT fashion student competition 

Nest of flowers 

I was so tired after all that walking around yesterday that I spent most of today in bed. 

Something's coming

One of my fave songs from the new Waifs album

I have some fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks, which I'm a little bit excited about. 

This Thursday Luke and I are going to an Evening with The Waifs, the band's 25th anniversary show at Hamer Hall. They've been one of my favourite bands for years and they are fantastic live. I'm also (now-not-so) secretly pleased it's a sit down show because I've passed the stage where I want to stand up in a crowd for hours jockeying for a view of the band and being jostled by annoying people going back and forth to the bar.  This show will be far more civilised and we should be home by midnight. (Yep, I'm an old lady.)

On Friday Luke and I are going to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. This will be my second time, but my first visit was many, many moons ago and I wasn't particularly interested in plants and stuff then. But now, I'm obsessed with flowers, I have a growing collection of indoor plants and I love visiting gardens.  I can't wait. I expect to be overcome by the beauty.

Then for Easter Mum is visiting for the first time in ages and we're heading off to the High Country for a night. We're staying in Merrijig, which is close to Mount Buller. Luke has been before, but I haven't and I'm looking to it. I love the High Country and autumn is a great time to go.  We're also going to Werribee Zoo while Mum's here and there will also be a Meeting of the Parents (I guess it had to happen one day). 

I am full of anticipation. 

A hot, but beautiful, day out

Luke and I visited the Blue Lotus Water Garden at Yarra Junction on the weekend. I didn't even know it existed until a few weeks ago when I saw a post about in on Facebook, which seems bizarre to me. I've lived in Melbourne a long time and it's been open for around for 10 years (although I think it's only open to the public during lotus season, which starts late December).

I love visiting the Yarra Valley/Yarra Ranges. It's just so pretty with the blue mountains lining the horizon and the (still) green fields dotted with hay rolls or lined with vineyards. I feel my yearning for a tree change rising every time we're there. (Have I mentioned before that Luke and I have been thinking of moving to the country - or back to the country, in my case - at some stage? No particular place in mind as yet.)

Anyway, the garden is beautiful. The many ponds are brimming with flowers. It was stinking hot, especially in the greenhouses, but that did not deter us. Here are some of my many photos: 

 Our lunch view 

 Giant lily pads

The lilies above are the world's largest water lily, Victoria Amazonica. The lily pads regularly grow to more than 1.2 metres across, with one said to have measured 3 metres in diameter! These ones were big, but probably a bit less than a metre wide.  

 A selection of the many water lilies on show 

 The centre of a lotus 

 Lotus flower again 

 Heart-shaped tree trunk 

 The flower of the silk tree 

 Another lotus flower centre

 A dragonfly that sat still long enough for me to zoom
in for a (relatively) clear photo

 Stripey skies 

Lotus fountain with actual lotus

After the lotus garden we decided to visit the William Ricketts Sanctuary in the Dandenongs. Despite visiting the Dandenongs many times, I've never bothered to visit the sanctuary before. The shady, ferny pathways dotted with sculptures were a welcome respite from the searing heat of earlier in the day.

  

 My favourite of the statues 

Close up 

Friday wanderings

Luke and I had a pleasant day out in the Dandenongs on Friday. We visited two gardens and two waterfalls and had lunch at a (former) piggery. 

I'd often seen pictures of the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens on Instagram and thought we should go for a look, so we did. Then we spotted the George Tindale Memorial Garden just a few hundred metres down the road, so we had a look at that too. 

The Piggery Cafe is just next door to the Alfred Nicholas gardens and we had a quick lunch there. We said hello to the two pigs who live in the grounds (until they end up as lunch, I guess. I think they might have an (o)inkling of their fate because they were not as happy as pigs in mud are supposed to be. They seemed pretty glum.) 

Anyway, here are my photos (out of order but *shrug*):

 On the walk to Sherbrooke Falls

 Mossy log on  Sherbrooke Falls walk

 Even the fungus had moss on it

 Moss

 Sherbrooke Falls (or, more accurately, Sherbrooke Rapids)

 Conifer at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 Succulent at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 One of several lovely old lamps at George Tindale Memorial Gardens

 The pigs at The Piggery (yes, he's peeing; no, that's not why I took the photo)

 Bee watering hole in the trunk of a tree fern

 There were a lot of hellebore at both gardens 

 Bugs

 Both gardens also have a lot of azaleas which are a riot of colour right now

 Another hellebore

 Very big insect (the leaf  is bigger than my hand)

 More fungus

 The lake at Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens

 The lake again

 I took A LOT of photos of the hellebore

 Curly leaf thing

Another leaf