Friday 18 December 2009

A Sydney Christmas - Eighth Day (Skywatch)

City Council banners along George St looking south
The Three Drovers (Verse 1 of 3)
Across the plains one Christmas night
Three drovers riding blithe and gay;
Looked up and saw a starry light
More radiant than the Milky Way
And on their hearts such wonder fell,
They sang with joy Noel! Noel!
Noel! Noel! Noel!

View other contributions to Skywatch Friday.


Sydney Eye's Twelve Days of Christmas features the lyrics to Australian Christmas songs and carols, reinforcing that our Christmas is during summer.

Looking west along Park St between the two sections of Hyde Park (North & South)
Australian Christmas stamps - 1967, 1968 & 1969

48 comments:

Olivier said...

de superbes décorations (cela nous change des décorations de noël ;) ), on pourrait se croire dans un immense zoo

brattcat said...

Oh, the sight of people in their shirt sleeves and that glorious warm sunlight make my winter bones ache and my heart turn toward the southern hemisphere with a nibble of envy.

Anonymous said...

Well done, good idea! I'm searching for a good idea too, but they told me that it's when you're searching that you can't find... or something like that.
Serge

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

Wonderful! Beautiful photos and bright cheery banners. All the warm and sunny best of the season to you!

Three Rivers Daily Photo

Anonymous said...

Let's see, parrots, cockatoo, bottle brush tree or grevalia, can't make out some of the others...

Julie said...

The large image is the Major Mitchell Cockatoo. Followed by the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Grevillea (Spider Flower), Crimson Rosella, and Native Fuschia. There are others in the display which was absolutely everywhere but is now giving way to an uninspired set of banners for NYE10.

What is commonly known as the "bottle brush" tree is the callistemon.

Regina said...

Wonderful Sydney. Great captures. Happy Holidays.

Photo By Manka said...

Great pictures of a warm sydney, but i'm more used to snow as we have right now in Sweden, but for how long no one never know.

/Magnus

Colin Campbell said...

Very cheery.

eden said...

I haven't been in Sydney since October Those are wonderful photos and colorful banners.

Happy Friday

bitingmidge said...

I'm waiting for "Christmas where the Gum Trees Grow" Julie.... or is that reserved for moi?

I'm loving this week (and lastfor that matter!)

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Unknown said...

These are photos that would lose much of their impact in B&W. The colors are wonderful. Good eye Julie.

My name is Riet said...

NO white Christmas for you then. A nice warm Christmas instead of cold and snowy. Not bad at all. I like the banners in your photo's. Nice.

Unknown said...

How cheerful having these beautiful birds wishing everyone a Happy Christmas instead of the most-of-the-times-boring stars and bells and ribbons and so on....

Jim said...

They certainly look great and brighten up the city. I like these more than some of the usual Christmas decorations.
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Marka said...

Those are fun banners!

storyteller said...

What lovely colorful Christmas banners and beautiful blue skies! I'm sharing my marvelous beach sunset views at Sacred Ruminations this week ;-)
Hugs and blessings,

Ann said...

Snap indeed. Great minds think alike. At least we shot different locations.

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous Christmas banners decorating your city! Love them against the blue sky.
Merry Christmas!

Unknown said...

Love your blog and photos.

Tara R. said...

Gorgeous Christmas flags. It's still odd for me to see people in shirt sleeves in December.

Anonymous said...

I love the banners, though it takes some getting used to the idea of Christmas occurring mid-summer.

Joe Todd said...

Nice skies a sunny warm christmas would be fine by me

Anonymous said...

Coming from the North of Germany it is mostly snow and cold that I connect with Christmas - still have to learn to share it with trees full of oranges and lemons, and a temperature warmer then the inside of me fridge.

Virginia said...

How gorgeous and makes our fake greenery wrapped around the street lights pale in comparison. Happy Summer Australia!
V

Hildred said...

Gorgeous photos, - the banners are so colourful and perfect for Christmas in the summertime. Also loved the poem.

Lakshmi said...

Seasons Greetings..so much of energy and colour in the pictures

hetty said...

I love those wonderful colourful banners! I've always wondered what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in the summer.

Unknown said...

beautiful colorful banners! and the peeking blue sky is perfect--a warm Christmas to you!

raf said...

The brilliant banners all round town evoke the joy and warmth of the season . Lovely series of Christmas in Sydney.
All the best too with your new aspirations in the year 2010! Your Stangers project was, not surprisingly, beautifully rendered and always a feast for eyes and mind.

Carolyn said...

Julie you have a beautiful blog and your photos are spectacular. It is hard to think of Christmas in summer with no snow but I'm thinking I could be convinced. I have enjoyed your songs and wish I could actually hear them...I'll try youtube! I will be back to read more of your blog. Thanks for stopping by mine and yes Greyhound will have a lot of things to answer for.
Blessings and smiles

VP said...

After this post (and our weather) the idea of a summer Christmas seems every day more interesting...

Maria said...

Dear Julie, thank you for your visit on my blog! With great pleasure I have looked through your posts and enjoyed your Sydney Christmas series. I put your graffiti Santa on my desktop - it makes me smile now every time I start to work!
Have a nice (summer) Christmas time in Sydney! Greetings from the other side of the globe which is turning a bit snow-white :)

magiceye said...

neat!

jabblog said...

Beautiful and - to Northern Hemisphere eyes - most unusual. The stamps are gorgeous too - such intricate little works of art and like coins so often overlooked.

Birdman said...

Thanks for sharing the carol lyrics and the colorful banners... and WARMTH!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Julie: Very nicely captured with the banner in the sky.

syel said...

colourful banners fit for christmas!

Halcyon said...

I wish I lived in a place where Christmas was in the summer. What a beautiful blue sky and those banners are very colorful! Love that they have parrots and such instead of the typical (at least for us) snowmen and whatnot!

Happy Friday!!

Eaglesbrother said...

You sure do get some wonderful Blue skies down under.


Eaglesbrother

Unknown said...

I LOVE seeing these photos of Sydney at Christmas!

Debra said...

I love those colorful banners of birds...they're so cool! That's a pretty sky and clouds peeking between those buildings too. It looks so nice and warm there...oh how I long for summer!

Thanks for the nice comment on my skywatch photos....I too am trying to get better at my photography, so I won't need to do any editing. I've actually tried to learn how to use photoshop and it is very difficult and takes so much time, so I tend to not use it. There's still so many simple things that I don't even know how to do with it and I do want to learn, so I need to start playing around with it again. Happy Skywatching! :)

eileeninmd said...

Love the banners and the pretty sky. Great photos.

Victoria Tsavdaridou said...

Great banners of birds!!! Thanks for sharing. Have a nice SWF!!!

tapirgal said...

The close-ups of these bird banners are STRIKING! I'm listing your blog on my side bar :)

Arija said...

Very cocky decorations, not very christmassy perhaps, but certainly very striking.

Stephany said...

Beautiful banners, green grass, green trees, blue skies...what more could you ask for? We still have 6" of snow that's trying to melt. Wonderful shots!

Joan Elizabeth said...

Ok, here's were I left off. I see what you say about the banners looking great ... I guess I am just so used to banners in the city that they came across as nothing special. But when photographed like this they are special and very Australian ... as is the 1967 stamp.