It's raining, it's pouring ...

It's raining, it's pouring. The old man is snoring. He went to bed, and bumped his head, And he couldn't get up in the morning. Rain, rain go away, Come again another day. Note: I got myself soaked to make this image!

Wild and wooly weather

Here in Sydney we are at the mercy of an intense low pressure system, streaming wind and rain in from the ocean. We should be over the worst of it tomorrow. Hundreds of thousands of folks are without electricity. The city has received 120mm of rain, and wind has gusted to 100kph. Regional areas, under the same system, have recorded over 300mm of rain. Not disaster proportions, just annoying. Something we should expect every Autumn. Perhaps all my leaves will hit the turf in one fell swoop.

Autumn in ... anywhere

This is me for the rest of the day! My first raking this season was February 21, making this the 9th weekend of raking. I usually count on 13 weeks. I am now into two sessions a week. There is a forecast downpour this arvo, so want this all squared away before that! Next season, I want to have me a small mulcher in place, to make use of all this beauty. Also need to spread my current bin of compost, and load up another. I'm late, I'm late, for a most important date. Ciao my lovelies!

Gamelan - Bridging a cultural divide

The Autumn Vibes Festival in the Botanic Gardens was essentially 'cool' music in between the trees. There was a mix of Asian music and Western music. A conscious effort to bridge the gap between our appreciation and understanding of music that is tuned differently. There were two pianists, a couple of string quartets, a saxophone quartet, a shakuhacki orchestra, and a gamelan. I thought I would close my week long sojourn in the Botanic Gardens with a look at a Gamelan.

A Gamelan is a group of musicians of percussion type instruments, mainly variations upon xylophones, together with a variety of gongs. The gamelan originated on the Indonesian islands of Bali and Java.


The xylophones are tuned differently, and played differently from a western xylophone. Fingers are used as 'pegs' to alter, and stop the flow of sound. Played like this, out under a tree, on a brilliant summer's day, the sound is unbeatable. There are many variations of composition and style, especially along traditional and modern divides.

I went to U-tube to find something for you to hear. I was torn: the gamelan from Indonesia were struck with a metal fork, ours were wooden. The music I heard was from a 'modern' composer. I compromised in my head and choose another sample to further bridge the gap. The video clip shows a gamelan playing with an orchestra. Some traditionalists will be challenged by this. But persevere ...

This is my contribution to the Sunday Bridges community.

The Vibes of Autumn

It was the first Sunday of Autumn. A gentle nor-easter eased in over the waters of Farm Cove. The temperature hovered somewhere between 27 and 30C. The sun shone. The sky was a brilliant blue.

And the crowd built up.


The Royal Botanic Gardens hold pride of place on the foreshore of Sydney. In another five years, they will have been established for 200 years. A project of that remarkable couple, Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie.

Come with me over the next couple of days as I take in the mellow sounds of Autumn, amid the rather long, moist lawns of the gardens.

Sydney Seasons

As I tried to explain last week, one needs to be a seasoned observer to note the passing of the year here in Sydney. If the temperature goes down to a maximum of 17, and there's a bit more wind, and a bit more rain about, that pretty much ticks our winter.


However, our recently departed Autumn, the most glorious season of them all, has maybe a rainy day a fortnight if we're lucky. Not much wind, spare a light nor'easter. And with the temperatures between 22 and 25. These shots were all taken during this recent Autumn. The first two were in Hyde Park South, and the final two in Ormond Street, Paddington.

Refuge

Battered during a period of intense off-shore lows, these entry-ways are alternate entrances to St Andrews, one of two Christian cathedrals in the city centre. Mostly, the leaves have fallen from Liquidamber trees, once freely planted by local councils, but more recently regarded as 'noxious'.

Left: 1840s Right: 1860s

The original foundation stone for this cathedral was laid in 1837 using the plans of one architect, although it was consecrated in 1867 after being supervised by another architect, Edmund Blackett who was very active in the city in the middle of the 19th century. This central part of the city, bounded by George, Druitt, Kent and Bathurst Streets was the site of the first colonial cemetery shown in the two old images from the City of Sydney site.

Dreams of childhood

I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by t.s. Eliot

Sunday in my City - Chilling in autumnal warmth

The Paddington Reservoir Gardens are just up the hill from where I live. I meander through some higgledy-piggledy back streets, very narrow, very picturesque. As I plod up the street, I hear behind me the horn of an ocean liner as it progresses up the harbour to safe anchorage in Sydney Cove.


Bringing old industrial sites back into community use is an agreeable aspect of living in the inner city of Sydney. This park used to be part of the water supply of Sydney from about 1850 to about 1880. With neglect and the ravages of time, the site became unsave and was fenced off for many years. One of our top architectural firms used the remaining industrial fragments to entice the residents back into the space.

A coffee cart and mid-century jazz will do the rest.



A member of the Sunday in my City community.

Autumn in the park