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. 

Morning sights

When I got up this morning I went to check my little window sill garden in the loungeroom to see if anything needed a drink and something caught my eye...

So close! It sank quite low and I thought it was going to land in Gosch's Paddock across the river, but then it rose up over the city. Such a captivating sight. 

Then sSomething else caught my eye...

The chain of hearts plant I bought Friday has sprouted a flower! A strange little flower, but a flower all the same. 

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 list of happymaking stuff

A bowl of foraged botanical bits n bobs

I'm quite the happy camper lately, as I've mentioned here recently. Actually, it's more accurate to say I'm an even happier camper, since I was fairly happy before (apart from that brief period I was off my meds). 

I've mentioned some of the reasons for this here and there, but here's a comprehensive list of reasons just because I like lists:

• I'm working four days a week instead of five. Less 
• I'm getting up earlier, which makes me happier because I like being up that early even if I don't love getting up that early (it makes sense to me...); I like seeing the sunrise from my bedroom window; I like not rushing in the mornings to get to work and having time to potter around a bit; I like getting to work on time (or even early); and I like having the time to walk to work again.
• I'm walking to work every day and home again most days. Walking along the river to work (and not having to deal with nuisance people on the tram) is a pleasant way to start the day. I get 40 minutes of exercise under my belt before 9.00am and a little dose of nature (as close to nature as you can get when you live a few kilometres from the CBD anyway).  
• I broke my almost-compulsive shopping habit (I have only about two months left of my year 12-month shopping ban and a new challenge in the pipeline). Overcoming that constant yearning to acquire more and more shoes and clothes has made a huge impact on my life satisfaction. It's hard to feel content when you are always wanting. 
• I've been in a super creative phase, fuelled mostly by my Instagram feed, which is full of flowers, nature and flatlays. Foraging for the bits and pieces to use in my flatlays is fun. 
• I've stopped complaining on social media and am actively being more positive (eg posting complimentary comments on Instagram). Not complaining boosted my happiness, but spreading positivity about the net wherever I go turbo-charged it.  
• I spend a fair bit of time on social media, but I actively manage my feeds to get what I want from them - entertainment (obviously), and news and information on topics that are important to me, but also connection with like-minded people, inspiration and positive vibes. For example, I follow many women who are feminists and body positivity advocates and their posts have had an impact not only on how I think about my own body, but about other women's bodies too. I'm less judgemental about them and less judgemental about myself (not that I hated my body before, but every bit of extra kindness helps). 
• I've been practising being less judgemental in general and trying not to let insignificant things get to me (I am normally irritated by many, many, MANY insignificant things). I do this by second-guessing myself - when I notice judgemental or irritable thoughts creeping in, I counteract it with another thought - e.g. "How can these idiots I work with not know how to stack a dishwasher?!" is replaced with, "Well, at least they're putting their dishes in the dishwasher instead of leaving them on the sink for someone else to deal with." And then I let it go. Most of the time. 
• I've been seeing a dietician who specialises in intuitive eating to help repair my unhealthy relationship with food. I have a history of disordered eating (but not a diagnosed eating disorder), which hasn't been helped by a long list of food intolerances that means I just can't eat whatever I want. I'm good at restriction...until I'm not and then I eat everything in sight. I lose weight and feel OK (physically, I mean)...then I put it all back on and feel rotten. Rinse and repeat. I decided I needed to finally get this feast/famine cycle sorted out for the sake of my health (physical and mental). I've seen the dietician three times and I feel like I've made good progress. 
• I've stopped eating gluten, which means I don't feel utterly exhausted and wracked with pain. Fatigue and pain really drag you down.
• The procedure I had in December has dramatically reduced the number of migraines I get (and also potentially prevented a brain haemorrhage/stroke. Not dying or being permanently incapacitated is very good for your mental state!). 

Urban foraging and flat lays

Instagram, as with social media generally, attracts a lot of criticism for various reasons (narcissism, phoneyness etc), but I love it, especially since I started my shopping ban and stopped following online fashion retailers and (most) fashion bloggers on social media.

Instead I have - I hate the word 'curated', but it fits - I have curated an Instagram feed of people who inspire me with their creativity, positivity and kindness (and also people who make me want to kidnap their adorable pets, most notably British shorthair cats and greyhounds). 

Recently I have been inspired by a few Instagrammers who create gorgeous nature and flower flatlay photos - check out Vanilla Lemon Cake and Charis in Wonderland, to name but two. I love, love, LOVE their work and decided I would have a go at doing something similar myself. 

I wasn't overly thrilled with my early efforts, but I'm happy with my progress.  

The photo above is from a few weeks ago. I picked the purple heart-shaped leaf from in front of someone's house in Richmond (it was overhanging the path). It was beautiful then and the colour and texture are still beautiful now even though the leaf is dried out. The background is printed card, not real wood. 

The photo above and those below are from today. The flower in the centre of the photo above is an everlasting daisy I picked on the trail to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko when Luke and I walked it a few years ago. The lambs' ears are from the Botanic Gardens (ssssh!) and the lavender and spiky little balls were scavenged from front gardens in South Yarra.   

Part of the fun of creating the flatlays is gathering the materials. I've turned into an urban forager, scanning footpaths, nature strips and public gardens for seed pods, gumnuts, feathers and all sorts of bits and bobs. Nearly every day I come with something I've found on my wanderings. I'm like a child, gathering little souvenirs from my travels. The acorns were collected beside the river on my walks to work (intact ones - with their little hats still on  - were surprisingly hard to find). I found the spiky chestnut burr in the middle (along with two others) when I was meandering the streets of Cremorne today. It was in a laneway just off...Chestnut Street! I would have had no idea what they were if I hadn't just started following a chestnut farm on Instagram, which was mostly only because they followed me, but it's proved useful. 

Here's the purple heart-shaped leaf from .above, all dried out (not that you can reeally tell). This collection also features dried hibiscus blooms and fallen flower buds from a laneway near my place and seed pods from the Botanic Gardens, which I first noticed because they were very crunchy underfoot. 

It's just as well I have more energy now that I have to wonder the streets looking for flatlay stuff, #verandahseats and ghost signs. 

Click here to see my Instagram pics.

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