Round and round the garden

I wandered across the road to the Botanic Gardens this afternoon for vitamin D and photo taking. It's my first visit in months, partly because of our non-existent spring, but the sunshine today was splendid (my attention to re-applying sunscreen isn't so splendid...)

I saw a paddling* of teeny tiny ducklings, plenty of busy bees, a couple of caterpillars and some butterflies and moths. Also lots and lots of flowers. 

Strange bud 

One of only two poppies left in the herb garden 

Bananas in the glasshouse 

Tiny pond in the centre of a bromeliad

Purple

Munch, munch, munch  

The living and the dead

Succulent

Coming in to land

Bzzzzzz....

....bzzzzzz

Spent

*That's one of the collective nouns for ducks on water.

NaBloPoMo: day 20

Have you seen this amazing footage from David Attenborough's Planet Earth II? It's heart-stopping! 

We had a fun day out for Luke's sister's surprise 40th birthday party today. She had no inkling whatsoever, so the look on her face was priceless. Her three-year-old daughter, who was in her arms when we yelled "Surprise!", had not long woken from a nap and she could not have been less underwhelmed by the whole thing! 

The food at the winery was tasty (Cheese! Slow-cooked lamb! Pavlova!) and the weather was warm and sunny, albeit a little too warm where we were sitting. I was well and truly ready for a nap by the time we left, but I haven't had one, which is actually a good thing because, after two bad nights' sleep, I need to maximise my chances of a good eight hours tonight. 

NaBloPoMo: day 12

Old knob

We ate lunch at Parlour Diner on Chapel Street today. I had a beef burger that was oozing - OOOOZING! - with melted cheese. Twas an oozapalooza. It was sensational. They also do amazing onion rings, which I shouldn't eat (they upset my belly), but they  are irresistible. 

I got a good dose of vitamin D when I was out and about this afternoon and yesterday. 

I'm meeting an old friend from uni for afternoon tea tomorrow. She's down from Wollongong for the weekend. It's been a few years since I've seen her.

NaBloPoMo: day 9

Bridge graffiti 

The sunshine was lovely and warm this morning while I waited for the tram. I almost wouldn't have minded if the tram had been delayed, but it wasn't. 

I spent most of my work day archiving old files. It's kind of boring, but it's also satisfying to clear out the clutter and to reclaim all of the lever arch folders, bulldog clips and paper clips that had been sitting around on shelves doing nothing.  If I had my way I'd clear out a lot more junk, but my boss is a bit of a hoarder. 

I refilled the pepper grinder at dinner time tonight and we had exactly the right amount of  peppercorns in the pantry to fill it to the top. 

NaBloPoMo: day 4

Wispy clouds this morning 

I had a brief moment just after I woke up this morning when I thought it was my day off and I wasn't even cross when I remembered I was going to work. I was surprisingly chipper for most of the day until I had to help out another team with its bills and they were annoying (I had to do maths!) and they kept me at work beyond my usual home time. But, yay! It's the weekend now. 

I have no plans, except for relaxing and reading.  It's a hard life. 

It was, as forecast, a lovely warm day today. I spent most of it inside, but the sunshine still lifted my spirits. I think I would have been less chipper if I had to go to work on my usual day off and it was cold and miserable. 

NaBloPoMo: day 2

Albert Park verandah seat

I'm debt freeeeee! I paid off my credit card today. Hurrah. I paid off the bulk of it with my tax return last month and the last couple of hundred today. It wasn't a massive debt, but it was more than I was comfortable with, so I'm very pleased it's history. Now I can focus on saving money for an overseas holiday next year. Paying off debt is a great feeling, but watching your savings grow is even better. 

Yesterday was the five-month mark of my shopping ban. It's going so well that I've almost made up my mind to extend it beyond the end of the year and stretch it out to a whole year of no new shoes and clothes. That will mean it ends on 31 May. 

When I was walking through the park on my way home tonight the sun was getting low and a beam of sunlight shone through a gap in the clouds over Government House. By the time I got into a good spot to take a photo it was gone. 

One day of my short week done, two to go! 

November: day 9

I walked to walk today for the first time in months - not because I leapt out of bed eager to make the most of the mild, sunny morning, but because I woke up before six o'clock and couldn't get back to sleep.  I was up early enough to eat breakfast at home instead of at my desk, conduct my full skincare and make-up routine instead of the bare basics I usually manage due to over-sleeping, and then make the almost 40-minute walk to my office. AND I was there five minutes early! It's such a nice way to start the day...but it probably won't happen again for months. Many months. 

I walked half-way home as well (racking up 13,000 steps today in total) and found some cool street art along an alley off Flinders Street.

Foggy, sunny, foggy

 The fog clearing on my way to work this morning

On the city fringe...the sun reflecting off 

Eureka Tower onto a wisp of fog

Around 5.15 this afternoon

The fog returns as I return home

Sunshine, botox, bridal binge

Yesterday's golden hour 

The last two days have been filled with glorious sunshine. I walked the 40 minutes to my osteopath appointment this morning for the first time in aaaaages to make the most of the warmth. I bared my pasty white arms and gave my vitamin D levels a boost. Aaaah...spring. The smell of jasmine is everywhere and magnolias are blooming, even though the trees are still bare of leaves. 

I had my neurologist appointment yesterday. I'm gonna get botox! As well as its cosmetic and other therapeutic benefits, the toxin is effective at preventing migraines in many sufferers. I have to keep a diary to show that I have 15 migraines a month before the government will subsidise the treatment, so for the first time ever I'm willing my head to ache! Fifteen seems like a lot, but I think I'll get there. The treatment costs $1,200 and lasts only three months so it's not an option if I don't qualify for the subsidy.  

It's weird that being injected with the most deadly toxin known to humankind feels preferable to taking medication every day. (No one has ever been poisoned by it during a treatment.) I didn't ask about whether the treatment will have cosmetic benefits, if you're wondering! 

I had a lovely dinner with the girls last night - a farewell dinner for a friend from my old work who is leaving to for an extended stint of travel, the lucky thing. The food was tasty and we had a lot of laughs.  

I've had a huge wedding show binge this afternoon. I've lost track of how many hours of wedding programs I watched*. I'd be watching Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta right now if I hadn't already seen the episode earlier in the day.  So annoying! 

(*Yeah, I know I should have been outside enjoying the late winter sun, but I didn't have the energy for it. I still enjoyed the sun shining in my big lounge room window and the gentle breeze blowing through my flat.) 

Fake Friday, sunshine and pavlova

Today was the last day of the working week for me. I now have four days off. Yay! I don't have any special plans; I'm just worn out and need a rest. I've had a pretty full-on year and haven't had a week off since Christmas. (I'm not taking a week now because I went into negative leave at Christmas and it's taken months for me to catch up.  I don't want to use too much of what leave I on resting at home.)

I probably will leave my bed/couch/house though. I have an appointment with a neurologist about my migraines, and dinner with the girls on Friday night. I might get a massage, maybe an eyebrow wax and tint. Thrilling stuff, I know.

Happily, the weather is on the improve from tomorrow, with sunshine and milder temperatures than we've had for the last month or two. Good timing, me! 

I've had delicious mini-pavlovas for dessert the last two nights. Makeshift pavlovas, anyway - pre-prepared meringue nests with whipped cream and berries, no cooking skills required. I did whip the cream though.  I have enough for the several more serves too. It's pavlovapalooza. 

I've worn different pairs of new shoes to work the past two days and have no blisters or tender spots.  

Yum, sun and lots of leaves

The anticipation of my first taste of gluten-free Weetbix got me out of bed a little earlier than usual this morning and it was worth sacrificing some of my Sunday sleep in. As gluten-free substitutes go, these are a triumph. Just as good as the original. Yum. I had them for breakfast and for an afternoon snack with cold milk. Next up, mooshed up with warm milk. I think I might need to stock up on them (especially as my local supermarket doesn't sell them). 

It was another beautiful winter's day - one of those ones that starts off icy cold and clear (so they said on the weather report; I didn't get up that early) and turns into utter perfection: blue sky, barely a cloud and sun warm enough to coax you into baring your forearms (even if only for a little while when I was out walking). 

I made the most of the sunshine with a lengthy stroll in the Botanic Gardens. I took some photos, of course. 

 Reflections

 Blue sky and bare branches

 In the herb garden. 

 Heart-shaped leaves

Enormo-leaf in the glasshouse

 More bare branches

 Fern Gully 

 Upside down fungus on the Fern Gully Rest House

 Spring is coming! 

Leaf

 I don't know what this is - the beginnings of some kind

 of flower. And leaves

More leaves

Weetbix, cracking, sunshine

Mission accomplished! I haven't tried them yet. I'm making myself wait for breakfast, even though I'm the "breakfast cereal is anytime food" type.  I almost can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. I bought them at Coles in Prahran, which has a pretty good health food section, although these are in the normal cereal aisle. 

I saw the osteo today. He cracked my neck on both sides, which hasn't happened for a while. I like having my neck cracked...well, not so much the cracking, but the way it feels afterwards. The release. 

Today was a beautiful, blue sky winter's day - a vast difference to yesterday, which was our coldest day of the year, with rain and hail and even snow in parts of the state that don't often get snow.  

JBPM: day 28

A seal was spotted frolicking in the Yarra River not far from my house this morning! A seal! Unfortunately I was at work at the time. Dammit.  

Photo by Joe Armao, from The Age

It swam 14 kilometres from Port Phillip Bay and caught and chowed down on a couple of fish before heading back the way it came. I've seen seals in the wild plenty of times, but never in my neighbourhood. 

It was a lovely mild day today so I made the most of it by going for a walk on my lunch break. The sun was so warm I had to unbutton my jacket a little. 

I made it from bed to desk in under an hour today - 58 minutes, to be exact, beating my 59-minute effort last week.  Go, me!  

JBPM: day16

I've had a migraine for two days, but several glasses of sparkling wine and natter with the girls after work helped to get rid of it. Good riddance!

We're still having a rather chilly winter round these parts, but today the sun was warm on my back  as I strolled along William Street at lunch time.

Several people complimented me on my dress today (another recent bargain purchase), although we couldn't agree whether it was blue or green. I and the tag say green, everyone else says blue.

Oh! I nearly forgot! My friend Gillian shared this adorably amusing animated video on Facebook today. The bit with the plungers is my favourite, particularly where the pig marches off with the plungers stuck on it, and its head held high.

Jacarandas, golden hour, 12 days

The jacarandas are flowering in Melbourne. So, so pretty. The one above is in my street. I love the purple against the cream bricks.

The jacaranda trees down here tend to be more spindly than their northern cousins, but on Saturday when Luke and I were at the intersection of Toorak and Orrong Roads, I spotted a tall jacaranda growing in a tiny park beside the road. I looked up to see its broad purple canopy spreading out against the clear blue sky. Beautiful. I wish I'd stopped to take a photo. 

You'll have to make do with this photo from Google streetview. I used google maps to confirm we were at the Orrong Road intersection, and whaddya know? Google was there when the tree was flowering too. (I would have taken a better photo.)

I love walking home through the park after work when the sun is shining and the grass and trees are so bright and green. My photo doesn't really capture the glowiness. 

Twelve working days until I'm on leave. 

Day 18: Sunshine

 I walked to Southbank to eat my lunch in the dappled shade of the gumtrees, and crossed back over the Sandridge Bridge past The Travellers

 I walked home along Southbank, stopping for icecream along the way. 
This is the view across the river

Almost home. Morell Bridge basking in the sun

NaBloPoMo Day 2: Down Canadian Bay way

The city from Canadian Bay

As predicted. today was warm and sunny. Luke and I drove down to Mornington, stopping at Canadian Bay on the way to poke about in the rock pools along the beach.  I like the name Canadian Bay, probably because of the rhyme. Canay-dian Bay. (I don't know why it's called Canadian Bay and I'm too keen to go to bed to google it now). 

We didn't find much in the rock pools - mostly snails, but I did find a dead...one of these. I forget what it is.

 Is it an urchin of some kind? It's got spiky bits on it, 

mostly on the bottom half

And then Luke spotted one in the shallows nestled among the seaweed. 

I saw a ghost sign in Mordialloc while we were stopped at the traffic lights, but only had a second to take a photo before the light turned green. 

I saw some other, better signs as we passed by in the car today... I've taken dozens of photos of old signs over the past few months, but I've finally decided to start a dedicated blog for them. I think I'll still post the really good ones here though. 

I bought a drink today and had the exact change in my wallet (not counting the French Polynesian coin I got in change somewhere). I like when that happens.

No rain, sign find, new camera

There are only three days this month where there is less than a low chance of rain, and one of them is my birthday (the 9th). 

We've had a few sunny days this week. It's nice arriving at work to a desk bathed in morning sunshine. It'd be nicer to not be at work, but since that's not an option...

I went for a walk one lunchtime this week and found a ghostsign on the side of one of those men's establishments on King Street.

I bought my new camera a few nights ago, but it will take 2-3 weeks to be delivered. That'll be an exciting day in the office. It's a Canon Powershot (like my previous two) model SX50. It's still a compact camera, but it's one of those ones that looks like a mini DSLR. It has quite a few features that make it a step up from my current camera, but it should still fit in my bag so I can take it everywhere.  It will no doubt lead to more regular posting on my photoblog.