Daytime swim

On my day off, I went to a Pilates class at the Fitness First gym at Sylvania, and stayed for a swim. The pool is at the intersection of two very busy roads, yet can't be seen at all from outside, and the trees outside provide a restful setting on a sunlit day.

I have been asked if my fascination with swimming pools stems from having been a competitive swimmer. The answer is a resounding No! But for as long as I can remember I've just loved swimming. I think my earliest memory of swimming in a suburban swimming pool is teaching myself to swim at about the age of 4 or 5.

Can you swim? Can you remember learning? Do you enjoy it?

Check out my swimming blog here.

PS To people who wished me Happy Thanksgiving - errrrr - thanks, but:

We don't celebrate it in Australia. . . it's about America, pilgrims, harvest, autumn. We're quite a few thousand kilometres away, and, despite occasional appearances to the contrary ( the occasional lickspittle Prime Minister thinking other peoples' wars are a good idea, being a case in point) we don't follow all American traditions. It would make about as much sense as Egypt celebrating Australia Day! I guess we could be thankful it's sumer, and time for cherries and mangoes and peaches....and with halloween now having made its way across the Pacific, who knows - maybe we'll be doing Thanksgiving next?

No (car) parking

Is Fairview St, Arncliffe reserved for boat parking, or was it just a coincidence that it seemed to be used as a dry-land marina as I ambled past one recent morning?

Unfolding 2008 (Sculpture By Sea) Skywatch Friday

Sunrise at Bondi for Skywatch Friday.

Unfolding 2008 by Michael Sibel (Victoria). Made of bronze, stainless steel, mild steel.

"This work is inspired by the relationship and dialogue between form and objects."

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.
To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.
To view other skies around the world, CLICK HERE.

Thongs

It's not unusual to come across footwear around the Australian coastline.....people take off their thongs or sandals, and sometimes forget them, or they might just leave them nearby while they go for a swim.

Do you know the feeling of fine sand between your toes? Do you like it?

Link to Crocs and pink thongs.

Morning laps, Bondi Baths

Morning laps at Bondi Baths.

Bondi Icebergs was founded in 1929 by some dedicated winter swimmers. Every Sunday from May to September, over 700 male and female swimmers compete in races. To be a full swimming member you must swim three out of four Sundays for a period of five years. There are 90-0dd junior members, aged 5 -17, called 'Bondi Icecubes'.

The official winter swimming season opens on the first Sunday in May, when blocks of ice are ceremoniously thrown into the pool.

For more pictures of this lovely ocean pool, click here to see my Swimming blog.

Sucked in?

At first I thought a whale breaching, and in fact there have been whales off Bondi recently. The mothers and babies come quite close to the coast in the migration to the southern oceans during spring.

But on looking closer, I think it's just a strange water formation.

Bondi Baths, dawn.

Chin-ups

A great view to take in while doing early morning exercise.

Little boxes on the hillside ....

I couldn't help thinking of the song Little Boxes (see below) when I looked up the hill from Tamarama Beach.But, here, very expensive ticky-tacky boxes!

Tamarama is often nick-named "Glamarama" or "Glamourama", based on its status as an expensive suburb, and a beach where the "beautiful people" come to be seen. Tamarama may be a corruption of an Aboriginal name, Gamma Gamma, which is how it appeared on European military and naval maps of the 1860s.

Left: a nod to the more traditional aspects of the suburb in the Federation style bus stop. And can you see the family on the balcony of their ultra-modern house at the right?


Little Boxes From Wikipedia:

Little Boxes is a song written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962 that lampoons the development of suburbia and what many consider its bourgeois conformist values. It is best known through Pete Seeger's performance of the song. Click here to hear Pete Seeger singing the song). And here it is used as a theme in the TV series, Weeds.

Little Boxes refers to the areas of Daly City, California built in the post-war era by Henry Doelger, particularly the neighborhood of Westlake. Nancy Reynolds, daughter of Malvina Reynolds, explains:

"My mother and father were driving South from San Francisco through Daly City when my mom got the idea for the song. She asked my dad to take the wheel, and she wrote it on the way to the gathering in La Honda where she was going to sing for the Friends Committee on Legislation. When Time Magazine (I think, maybe Newsweek) wanted a photo of her pointing to the very place, she couldn’t find those houses because so many more had been built around them that the hillsides were totally covered.”

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Bread rolls

Each morning, before opening, a bag of rolls hangs outside the kiosk at Tamarama Beach. Any suggestions why?

The Award Winners (Sculpture By The Sea 31) - Skywatch Friday

I know I'm supposed to limit myself to one photo a day, but, well, while I try to stick to the "rules", there's just times when it's impossible.

Today we look at the works which won the major awards at this year's Sculpture By The Sea. And apart from further Skywatch Fridays, I'm drawing a halt to more from this year's exhibition. However, my full gallery will be available on Sydney Daily Photo Extra - see the link below. (It may take some time to get them all posted!)

Below: The People's Choice Award was won by Kozo Nishino for Harmony With The Breeze. I have shown this before - here.

Photo above by Nola - thanks for the beautiful sunset shot for Skywatch Friday!

And now, the major critical prize winner. Titled She Thought, it's by Mark McClelland, made of mild steel and bronze. McClelland's comment: "She liked to look a long way out to sea sometimes - wondering at the place where it flew up into the sky."

Below: The artist discussing his work in an evening talk on site

Photo by Nola




To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

To view other skies around the world, CLICK HERE.

Rock Pools (Sculpture By The Sea 30)

Above: Rock Pools by Grant Flick of Victoria. It's made of steel and reinforced resin. Flick comments in haiku:
A soft collision
Linked in spiral rhythm
Defy eco rift

For more colourful sculptures at Sydney Daily Photo Extra CLICK HERE.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

Revelation II - Strata (Sculpture By The Sea 29)

By Kath Podger, made of ceramic, stainless steel rod, silicon and sandstone. Podger says: "Humanity is in a continual state of evolution in its journey towards it Creator. Over tiem, spiritual truths are revealed breating new life into civilisation."

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

Passage (Sculpture By The Sea 28)

Passage by Michael Snape. Made of mild steel.

"Two curved plates, two crowds, one reclining, the other on the move. Where they overlap you can walk through the difference between them."

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

The Bush Ranger 2008 (Sculpture By the Sea 27)

The Bush Ranger 2008 by Campbell Robertson-Swann. Made of stainless steel, mild steel.

"This work is influenced by Sid Nolan's Ned Kelly in the landscape. The black armour framed by and framing the Australian bush."

For more about Ned Kelly: click here. For more about Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series: click here.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

On The Beach by Tim Kyle (Sculpture By The Sea 26)

On The Beach by Tim Kyle. Made of resin and pulp.

"My work is concerned with the mapping and recognition of the human condition. I use the figure as a metaphor for existence."

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

Will They See Us? (Sculpture By The Sea 25)

Will They see Us? by Ngardab Francine Riches ( a Bardi/Kariay Kimkorly woman - Western Australia). Made of wood, ochres and paint.

"My artwork represents early ancestors when they saw the arrival of the first fleet - "will they see us?"

Form of Scenery (Sculpture By The Sea 24)

This sculpture is simply amazing. It's called Form of Scenery and is by Japanese artist Koichi Ishino. made of marble and stainless steel.

The first time I saw this, it didn't move me, and that's because it was a grey dawn. The following week I came back - and WOW! look at that sunrise reflected in the mirrored curve and planes! I've put more pictures of this one on Sydney Daily Photo Extra. It also reminds me of this installation in Monte Carlo.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.
To view other skies around the world, CLICK HERE.

Midden (Sculpture By The Sea 23)

Midden by Matthew Harding (Victoria). Made of Australian limestone.

"Accumulating over thousands of years Aboriginal shell middens are small mounds comprised of shell fragment and flaking stone where people once gathered above the tide line."

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.. Today I have posted some additional photos of shelled creatures and sculptures of stone.

We interrupt the sculpture exhibition....

...to celebrate thae most magnificent of Sydney seasonal events - November's display of jacaranda blooms. They are everywhere. If you stand at a high point, whichever direction you look there is this glorious display of mauve. This tree is on my walk to the station. Here it was in 2006, and this is what the jacarandas looked like elsewhere in 2007: click here. And here's the jacaranda in the main quad at Sydney Uni.

Apples and Pears by Chi Phan (Sculpture By The Sea 22)

Apples and Pears is by Chi Phan, and made of cold cast bronze and concrete.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

Phenotype (Sculpture By The Sea 21)

Phenotype by Tim Weatherell (ACT). Made of rusted iron and resin.

Weatherell says: "My work explores people's differing perceptions of reality with special reference to technology and the changes it brings."

Wikipedia tells us this about phenotype: "A phenotype is any observable characteristic or trait of an organism: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior. Phenotypes result from the expression of an organism's genes as well as the influence of environmental factors and possible interactions between the two.". More.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE. Two days ago I published a series called "Heavy Metal".

Panther on the prowl (Sculpture By The Sea 20)

(Photo by Guest Photographer - Nola)

Made of scarificer steel. The artists, Drew Mansur and Derek Mansur say: "Using scrap metal from our farm we designed and assembled this work to capture the grace of this incredible wild animal."

I over the fly on the "nose" captured when Nola took the picture.

Of course panthers aren't native to Australia, but wherever there is bushland or rural areas surrounding cities, there are always stories or wild panther sightings.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.. Yesterday I published a series called "Heavy Metal", and there are more to come.

Wave (Sculpture By The Sea 19)

This sculpture, Wave, is by Blaze Krstanoski-Blazeski. It's made of bronze, and the artist says: "The movement of space and time create the energy of the wave."

Blaze created a work called Wolli Dancing, which is located very near where I live. You can see it here.

I have decided to add many of the sculptures I CAN'T fit on this blog on Sydney Daily Photo Extra. There were 107 works in the exhibition altogether, and if I showed one each day, we will be here for several months yet! The ones I will post on Extra are not "minor works", but ones which I personally found less attractive to my sensibilities, or ones where I wasn't totally happy with the photographs I took. Perhaps you may prefer some of them, so do take a look.

Today's group is called "Heavy Metal" and is a collection of works made from various metals. Please let me know if you have any favourites amongst them.

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts on Sydney Daily Photo CLICK HERE.

To view additional sculptures on Sydney Daily Photo Extra, CLICK HERE.

Nexus (Sculpture By The Sea 18)

It's Skywatch Friday (see below) and it's my birthday, so I'm showing my favourite entry in Sculpture By The Sea this year.

Nexus is by Alex Kosmas. This is a beautifully delicate work in the most exquisite shade of green (I've included one pic below where the colour of this work in bronze shows up against the sandstone). It just made my heart sing, and on both occasions I was there I was so pleased I went at dawn (one grey, one colourful) because I could spend ages alone with it.

The artist says: " The fast paced world forgets its connection to nature. 'Nexus' represents our lifeboat." If I had $50 000 I would buy it, but then I think I'd need another few million to build a house around it!

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts CLICK HERE.

To view other skies around the world, CLICK HERE.

The Drifter and Now That You Are Here (Sculpture By The Sea 17)

Above: The Drifter by Stephen Marr
"My current works attempts to blur the distinction between painting and sculpture and distorts the spatial elements used to construct these multi-dimensional illusions."

Below: The First Agreement by Anton McMurray.
"Now that you are here, perhaps we can begin."

To see all my Sculpture By The Sea 2008 posts, click here.

Urchins by Kelly-Ann Lees (Sculpture By The Sea 16)

(Photo by Nola - taken approx 6.30pm)

Urchins by Kelly-Ann Lees, made of recycled ferrous metal. Lees says: "All my work is strongly influenced by the objects that I find. Their creation is a direct response to form."

Perhaps Kelly-Ann was on the beach at Rosedale the day I found this:

To view all my 2008 Sculpture By The Sea posts CLICK HERE.