Toasty oats, good timing, perfect pillow

I've gone off porridge for breakfast lately, so I toasted some rolled oats with butter, maple syrup and brown sugar to have instead, and it's delicious.

No one put the bins out last night, but as I was leaving for work I got them to the curb just as the recycling truck pulled up (and before the garbos arrived). Phew.

I've been sleeping on a new pillow - well, an old new pillow. I've had it for years, but found it a touch too high for me, but for some reason it's now just perfect. Soooo soft and comfy.

Birthday get-away, mystery building, stair race

Gluten-free chocolate and vanilla cupcake

Luke and I are off to the tiny historic town of Walhalla in Gippsland for my birthday next weekend. It's perched on a mountainside not too far from Mt Baw Baw, so I expect it will be very picturesque but rather chilly.

Walhalla was a gold mining settlement that boomed in the mid-late 1800s before becoming a ghost town. It's had a renaissance as a tourist destination in the last 30 years but still retains its old world appeal. It also has a little old hillside cemetery which I'm a smidge excited about (me and my thing for old cemeteries). It has less than 20 permanent residents these days and it's quite likely we will have no mobile phone reception, so it should be a nice little get-away.

We're staying at a nice B&B. I'm hoping there will be somewhere with an open fire for dinner on Friday night.

I picked up a book at Reader's Feast today called Five Hundred Buildings of New York and I flipped it open to the page featuring a building I fell in love with while I was there but had no idea what it was. Now I know - it's the Ansonia Hotel.

I have a new thing where I try to make it to my front door before the light in the stairwell clicks off (it's one of those push-button jobbies). I have to pick up my stair-climbing pace a little to beat it.

Surprise bonus, Avocado Man, baby plants

I got a fabulous surprise at work this week - a small payrise and a bonus. I knew salary increases were being handed out, but I wasn't expecting to see one of the confidential envelopes with my name on it as I've been on the payroll for less than five months, but yay! I was rapt.

I plan to buy myself a little birthday present with the bonus and put the majority of it towards boring but sensible things like savings.

My boss also said some very glowing things about me, and that was ace too.

It was a busy week at work with the end of the financial year (EOFY) yesterday. It all went smoothly but I'm glad it's the weekend now. All the secretarial staff received a coffee and cake voucher for their EOFY efforts, which was a nice gesture.  

Luke bought an avocado to have with dinner last night and it was the most perfect avocado in the world - soft and buttery yellow and without a hint of bruising.  It's not the first time he's picked a good un. It could be his secret superpower. (cue trumpet fanfare) Look, everybody! In the fresh produce department! It's AVOCADO MAN!

My dieffenbachia indoor plant has three little baby plants growing at its base.

I got a delivery at work today - a new T-shirt. Yeeehaw!

Fog, comfy, day off

 If you squint a bit..

Melbourne got its fog on again today. It was a little foggy when I left for work and it never fully receded before creeping back in the late afternoon as the sun was sinking. It was so thick in places I could only just see the top of the Arts Centre spire protruding out of the blanket of white. It was strangely patchy.

  

(ignore the reflections)

I bought some new trackie pants (sweatpants) on the weekend. I won't be wearing them out of the house, but gosh, they are cosy and comfy.

It's my birthday on Saturday week and I've taken the Friday off before. Yay.

Red balloons, new socks, tender lamb

Yesterday afternoon at work we were surprised by a flock of red balloons floating up past our 47th floor windows. There was a chorus of delight as they wafted upwards. (I think it was the launch of Red Nose Day). And no, I'm not sure if there were 99 red balloons.

New sports socks - the kind with full terry cushioning all around - are rather pleasing. So white. So soft. So cushiony.

I ate a delicious Hungarian lamb stew today. The meat was fall-apart tender and seasoned with exactly the right amount of spice. Very hearty and warming. Yum.

One of my online friends sent me an email this week with the most breathtaking black and white photos of African animals. While googling a link, I read that the photographer, Nick Brandt, doesn't use zoom or a telephoto lens. Woah! You can see a few of them here.

Inner urban grit and gardens

I walked into the city this morning and caught a train to the very multicultural and rather...gritty inner western suburb of Footscray. I've been through there on the train many times, but I've never stopped there. I thought it might be a good place for some photos of old signs and urban decay.

My exploring was cut short because I started to feel unwell, but I did get some good photos of old signs. This is my favourite:

For your convenience, fresh made Darrel Lea chocolates and candies.

Here's a couple more:

Trocadero Arcade

It's been a long time since Melbourne had 6-digit phone numbers

Carpet City...something

I detoured through the gardens just before I got home and took a few photos there too.

Jonquils

I'm always surprised to see a bee in winter.

Strange flower, too.

Dead head

Walking: it's ace

 

Walking is something many able-bodied people take for granted. Indeed, it only occurred to me recently after a comment from a friend how much walking enriches my quality of life: so much of what I write about and photograph I see while I'm on foot. 

Gillian (hello!) commented in response to one of my posts on this blog (or was it Girl in Melbourne?) that there was very little that escaped my gaze. I replied that writing Gleeful and having a photo blog have trained me to take notice, particularly of small things. Then she said she missed so much because she was always whizzing by in her car.

Of course! I hadn't given that a lot of thought, but it's so obvious. I've never owned a car and I've always been a walker, especially in the last six years living on the fringe of the CBD. I walk to and from work most days, I'm often out and about doing stuff on weekends and wandering the Botanic Gardens, the city or the inner suburbs with camera in hand.

If I lived in the suburbs and commuted to work, my blogs would be vastly different.  I suppose it's a combination of walking a lot and being fortunate to live in such a picturesque part of the Melbourne.

If I didn't walk so much in my little part of the world,  I wouldn't see all those birdie couples nearly every day (the plovers, the swans, the ducks) or the flying foxes at dusk. I wouldn't be able to closely observe the elms beside the river transitioning from season to season, to smell the musty aroma of wet autumn leaves on the ground.  I wouldn't be able to admire the reflection of the city lights on the Yarra every day or take in the view of the CBD from my various favourite vantage points. I wouldn't have seen dolphins or jellyfish or fish in the river. 

I wouldn't have so many photos of old painted signs around the inner suburbs of Melbourne. I probably wouldn't even have developed an interest in them at all. I wouldn't know Melbourne -  its laneways, hidden charms and beautiful buildings - as well as I do if I experienced it mainly by car or public transport, and only came to the city for work. Feet were made for exploring; cars were made for getting places quickly.

Walking has deepened my connection with my town, and helped me feel closer to nature despite living less than two kilometres from the centre of the city. It allows me to slow down, to stop and take things in.  Walking...it's awesome.