Rain, rain and more rain

We've been seeing a lot of these sort of skies in Sydney this past week.

Red Cross Blood Service

I'm not sure why all these people can't donate blood, but I know why I can't...because I lived in the UK between 1980-1996 for a cumulative period of 6 months or more. It's possible I'm a mad cow! It gave me something to think about while I waited for my train this morning, anyway.

Window cleaning

Two days ago I posted the view from my (dirty) window. Well, the abseiling window cleaner came past today!

After the rain

It rained pretty solidly for two days here in Sydney. This morning when I left for work I saw a beautiful shaft of sun beaming through the foliage on the shrubs at the front of my house, making them glisten.

After years of drought, we need much more rain - it would help if more fell in the dam catchments, but longer term it would help even more if there were schemes to harvest Sydney's rainfall runoff, which all ends up running out to see via the stormwater drains.

The view from my office

Paperbark trees

These beautiful trees border some local playing fields. They provide much needed shade in summer. This photo was taken yesterday; today it poured rain all day - and shade was the least of our concerns!

Winter cricket

Cricket is a summer sport, however the local cricket clubs have organised a winter competition this year for the real cricket tragics, like my son.

It's just a pity someone has flicked the switch to "brrrrrrr" cold this weekend, and being a parent on the sidelines is a bracing experience!

Conservatorium of Music

Museum of Sydney

This installation is in front of the Museum of Sydney. Called Edge of the Trees, it is by Janet Laurence and Fiona Foley. It is the first public artwork in Sydney to be a collaboration between a European and an Aboriginal Australian.

"From the edge of the trees the Cadigal people watched as the strangers of
the First Fleet struggled ashore in 1788. We can only imagine what their
thoughts would have been. This sculptural installation by artists Janet
Laurence and Fiona Foley symbolises that first encounter. Richly embedded with
materials and language, the sculpture evokes layers of memory, people and
place."

http://www.hht.net.au/collections/museum_of_sydney

You can walk among the massive pillars - some inscribed with the names and words of those who arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 or Eora people, others with glass panels through which you can see human hair, ash, feathers or other organic matter suggesting the physical traces of the past - and listen to the haunting, evocative sounds of Eora speech.

Back sheds

There's a great tradition of backyard sheds in suburban Australia, and Sydney is no exception. In days gone by one may have been a "chook shed" (a chook is a chicken), but they're pretty much extinct now, what with smaller backyards and council health regulations. Some people kept racing pigeons. But the most commmon shed would be for tools and gardenning things.

I fancy the shed on the left may have been a chook shed - I put my eye up to a gap in the fence palings and saw it had an open front, and chicken wire on the sides. It's now a greenhouse / fernery.

I also loved the contrasting textures of the wooden fence palings, the chicken wire and corrugated iron. The only thing missing is a choko vine.