Playing with Autumn leaves in MtLawleyShire

Well, some of the leaves are in MtLawleyShire:

Plane tree leaves:

 

 

Liquid amber at Mt Lawley campus of ECU:

& this tree, in West Perth – its leaves are almost gone and are the most amazing colour.

These 2 against the sky:

 

this cropped from a larger photo – leaves against a wall:

& these 3, taken this week – against a wall:

 

& no – not an Autumn leaf in sight, but how could I not include my gorgeous girl 🙂

 

 

MtLawleyShire’s Hyde Park – early Autumn

Yes, these photos were taken in May, I am ashamed to say.  And here it is, almost July before I post this selection.  Oh dear.  This will be a first post in a series of Autumn at Hyde Park posts.

Ot was a cold clear day with the sky as blue and clear as possible.  The night of these photos was, for Perth, very cold.  We had very cold days and nights towards the end of May.

First, the ‘sentry tree’ – I love this guy

 

Along the walkways towards the ponds

 

 

It’s not quite difficult to get photos as they’ve lopped off all the lower branches, but for this year at least, there is still this lovely view of plane trees reflected in the pond in all their autumnal glory.  Next year, the native saplings planted along the edges will obscure this view, so enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

These trees are just gorgeous in their gold:

 

 

 

& I love the revealed strength in the great trunks:

 

 

& the fall of golden leaves – manes of light:

 

 

leaves catching the light:

 

 

& this: love this weird tree & its reflection in the still mirroring water of the pond

 

Leaves against darker native foliage:

 

 

 

 

& this one: plane tree leaves against the sky.

More Autumn & Winter photos coming

🙂

MtLawleyshire’s Hyde Park in Autumn

I took a break from my studies and risked it – I went down to Hyde Park yesterday – a sunny day after days of rain & storm.  We had more rain in 2 days than for almost the entire year (I exaggerate – a little!)  And though its is difficult o find the beauty that I found last year – trees without their graceful bows over the water, an island stripped of everything, construction and barriers and sand piles everywhere, there was beauty.

the first of the Moreton Bay figs as I enter the park.  I love this tree – so straight & sculptural.

 

The path side of the plane trees – beginning to show their shape amidst the gold of their Autumn leaves

For the first time in a long time, there is water in the ponds.  Sadly, there was quite a bit of wind, so no reflection, but this tree is still lovely.

leaves & a coot in the western pond.

The Western island, with most of its growth left intact, reflected in the water.  And with Autumn leaves visible in the water.

 

Along the western edge of the western pond: golden trees and leaves

This isn’t as clear as I wanted, but it goes catch the fall of light through the leaves – it really was golden

He had been hunting – I caught him eating what he caught

reflections

 

Views of autumnal plane trees

 

Autumn leaves & the willow

 

A Moreton Bay fig on the William St edge of the park

Light and shadows in the massed foliage from beneath a Moreton Bay

And as I left, from the other side of William Street, outside of Hyde Park, I saw this – the errant fall of light on the foliage of a young Jacaranda, turning them almost incandescent in the shadows  behind one of the massive conifer.

I hope ou enjoyed this.  I am looking forward to finishing my studies so I can return to this – photographing and posting.

2013 Calendars of MtLawleyshire’s Hyde Park

This is the second calendar I have done (& I am rather terrified of the cost, those I have already pre-sold a few).  Most are done as gifts.  So, as you are all those with whom I have delighted to share my ‘visions’ of MtLawleyShire over the year, I thought I would share the calendars with you as well.

You can’t upload files from Publisher, so I can’t actually upload the actual calendars, so these are just the photos, many of which you will have seen.

I do both portrait and landscape orientation photos, I do 2 calendars.  I will put the photos in the order in which I used them, and put them side by side: portrait with landscape next to it.

The covers:

 

January:

 

February:

 

March:

 

April:

 

May:

 

June:

 

July:

 

August:

 

September:

 

October:

 

November:

 

December:

 

End papers (& these are very small on the last page below December):

 

 

 

I just wish they weren’t so expensive to print.  But it’s great when you see them done 🙂

 

 

 

 

mtlawleyshire – sunsets

Sunsets.  I have heard photography described as ‘painting with light’ – and this is precisely the case with sunsets.  They paint the familiar in shades of wonder & the unexpected.

This is almost a month’s worth of sunsets.  Due to all the storms, there have been some spectacular sunsets which I don’t think is normal for winter.  And they’re not in chronological order 🙂

And it’s clouds that structure an urban sunset, along with telephone poles, wires and rooftops – as well as foliage.

 

 

 

Then there is just the lightm which sometimes intimates the coming cold of night:

 

 

But the real magic is cloud and light.

These are not all on the same day, but they share teh same characteristic: venting sunset light through clouds:

 

 

Some are intensely coloured:

 

Some are a mixture of clear winter sky and cloud like fleece warming the earth below:

 

 

 

 

The solstice sunset:

 

 

 

These are dark and somehow threatening:

 

Some are almost colourless:

 

They seem more threatening, heavy, ominous:

 

 

 

One thing I love about Perth’s winter sunsets are the pale pastel colours in the evening skies.  These would’ve been shot facing east/south-east:

 

An atypical scene, taken from outside my house – I don’t normally see this spire – & Perth doesn’t have a lot of them anyway.  It was a chance shot.

This is from South Perth, looking back over the river to the city.  It was taken the same evening as all the sunsettty shots from the car that I posted in Fleeting Moment (previous post). Beside it east towards the south-east, the soft pastels of encroaching night.

 

This is by no means all my sunset photos.  In fact, I’ve just taken another batch, but I will sae them for another time.  Now I must cook dinner (for me, not the fattee cattee) & get back to work.

I hope you enjoyed this run of sunsets 🙂

Keira.

Mtlawleyshire’s Hyde Park

Hyde Park was drenched and wet and wonderful, although, as you will see in a later photo, the water is in a terrible state.  But Autumn has almost finished and winter is in the exotic trees.  Australian Natives, however, are just drinking the water in.

 

This is a tree in the Australian native section of Hyde Park.  I love the contrasts of greens and the brown of the trunk.

The oak tree hasn’t yet lost its leaves which is strange, but it looks wonderful against the autumn colour:

I’m not sure what this tree is, bit I love the way it almost seems to dance:

There were swamp hens everywhere, but they rarely stay still for photos!

 

and ducks – I am always struck by the beauty of these:

 

The contrast of conifer and deciduous plane tree is beautiful and I love the shapes of some conifers.

 

I really should find out what this tree is – so straight & tall –  & I love its bark:

 

The water, the reflections are lovely, but on closer inspection, parts of the ponds are not healthy at all.

 

But the plane trees & their leaves – beautiful:

 

 

 

Then the Moreton Bay Figs:

 

on the edge of the park – daffodils flowering – in June!  This lets you know how warm it was, earlier in the month ( these photos were taken around the 9th of June)

On the corner of the park – an almost dead conifer made a wonderful straight line with a skyscraper in the city (maybe 10 – 15 minute walk) and a telephone pole:

Across the road, a liquid amber in dull colour:

my lemon scented gum:

& then I walked home the long way around and saw some galahs:

 

a hibiscus in a neglected garden

& a cat watching me from a lane

and that’s it for the time being.  I have many more photos to post, so maybe I will post some tomorrow, if I get the time.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Keira 🙂

Another corner of MtLawleyShire

I walked down to meet a friend on Beaufort Street.  Some of the flowers were lovely

 

& as I passed the sheoak, I thought it looked strange – what was all that red?

Goodness!  Flowers!  The sheoak is flowering!  I have never seen sheoak flowers before.  Tiny & pretty and such a lovely colour.

 

I didn’t have time to go into Hyde Park, but from the other side of the road – a huge Morten Bay fig and the mass of one of the great conifers:

 

As I walked down the road, the brilliance of a liquid amber‘s autumn flames into the sky (most other liquid ambers are still green)

Morten Bay fig trees lining the street:

 

This one had almost perfect symmetry in the arrangement of its branches:

Then my friend and I walked with her dog down to a park on the corner of Bulwer and Beaufort Street.  It’s more an oval than a park, fringed with trees.  Plane trees on one side looking healthy, but on the other, not so healthy:

 

But still beautiful:

 

A couple of Moreton Bay Figs:

 

And then a massive one on the city side of the park:

 

The whole tree is huge:

walking back up Beaufort, I had time to photograph this towering gum:

 

Behind the gum was a conifer and amongst the branches – a wattled honeyeater

And home: sunset on the flowering watering and the gum tree behind

and a willy wagtail chirping and snatching insects from the ether

and there she is – my fluffy little darling 🙂

 

Around MtLawleyshire

I am coming to the time when I am not going to be able to post as often – or even reply to posts!  But over the last few days, I have done little walks here and there, and of course, while I don’t have a dog (and I would so love a dog), I do have a camera that just loves going for walks with me.

I walked a different way to Beaufort Street and came home through Hyde Park.  I haven’t included all the photos, I have saved some for later posts.  I have taken many photos, you see 🙂  And tomorrow, there won’t be much of a chance for photographs.  I have a very busy day.

So, on my walk which was the way I used to walk, long ago, when we first moved to Perth.  The streets have changed and some of the trees have gone.  But most remain.

This is an exceptionally tall tree, I’m not sure what type it is, but it is so graceful.

Peppermint trees.  There is nothing more to say, except I love the massive trunk, and am surprised by the almost symmetrical arrangement of the branches in the next photo – it is of a different tree 🙂

 

These are poinsettia.  Rad and pink.  I love the shape of the flowers, but like many trees and flowers along this street, they grew behind a wall, and were too tall for me to see the flowers properly.  They usually flower around Christmas time, so it is strange to see them in flower now.  They’re often given as Christmas presents.  I used to have one in my garden, but it didn’t get enough light.

 

A gum tree in flower with the most beautiful pink blossom.  It was too tall, and behind a wall, so I couldn’t get real close-up, but hopefully they give you an idea.

 

The sheoaks outside the post office on Beaufort Street.  I love their delicacy and the way they catch the light (& the rain when it rains).

 

This tree is just so massive!

The leaves are wonderful now.  We have had the coldest nights since last year – going down to 7 degrees.  It is welcome and fills me with hope that we might have a winter.

 

The beauty of this tree struck me, as did the colours of all the autumn foliage from the islands to the rank of plane trees behind.

 

The ponds were so still that this swamp hen barely disturbed the surface, and the same tree and other foliage was reflected as perfectly as in a mirror.

 

This tree was fascinating for its bark.

Then the walk home:

Mexican rose on an ivy-covered fence, and pomegranate in someone’s garden:

 

And yes – impatient puss-cat 🙂

 

Then the end of the evening.  If you look carefully, you will see a star amidst the darkening blue.

I hope you enjoyed these few photos 🙂

Keira.

Hyde Park – a walk in the afternoon

Last Sunday I went down to Hyde Park.  It had been a week since I was there, and we’d had rain.  I wanted to see the ponds.

As I stepped out of my gate, I saw:

They are growing outside the gate, underneath the ivy.  It rained, yes, and it is sort of Autumn, yes, but it’s not cold.  I was rather enchanted with the way they grew though.

Hyde Park was its usual beautiful self:

The Morten Bay figs – there are shapes in these trees, and the folds of their bark looks like thick skin:

 

 

 

But there is another tree as big, though not as intricately shaped.  I don’t know what type of tree it is, but it is huge:

 

Then the lovely plane trees –

 

 

The more leaves that fall, carpeting the ground, the more their structure is revealed:

 

 

and their autumnal colours make the park seem more vibrant than the grey rainy air felt, all the ponds looking full of water (it’s probably barely 10 mm deep!) so the colours are reflected:

 

The islands were filled with beauty:

 

I was just so intrigued by the lines of the willow that I had to play:

I found these on the ground near the ponds:

 

And then there aer these: the most ancient looking tree in the park:

 

I looked back before I left – the day wasn’t misty, the light was rather strong, but my little camera sometimes has problems with it, so it makes a very atmospheric photo:

I reflected as I walked home, on the park.  It is going to change.  There are repairs and renovations that are needed.  The original plan, to completely change it, take out all the ‘exotics’ (which would include the plane trees) was voted down by the residents who want it to remain as an ornamental park, although there will be changes to the islands so they clean the water, the lakes will be made smaller, and hopefully all the plane trees will remain and survive as their roots are probably going to be terribly disturbed.

They have not yet decided about lining the lakes because if they do, trees will die as they won’t be able to access water, and if they don’t, the water will drain away.

I have a heartache – thinking about the trees that might die, but it is true – there are problems in the park because of the lack of water in the whole Perth area now.

But it will be there for a while yet.  I am dreading them starting work because I won’t be able to go to the park anymore.

So I came home to my fluffy kitty to find her sharing the armchair with a plush Cthulhu.  🙂

 

Out of mtlawleyshire #2: Trees in the University grounds

Here is the 2nd of the posts from my little outing yesterday to the University of Western Australia.  I can’t include all the photos. – there’s too many.

All these are from within the university grounds, and only a small portion of the grounds at that, but I was still spoilt for choice.  And it was raining, raining, raining!

First, a massive conifer – the detail of the trunk attracted me:

 

Then a massive tree I saw from a doorway:

 

It is really a huge tree:

the colours of bark in a group of trees outside the faculty where I met my friend:

 

2 trees: the one behind is a scribbly gum – more on them later

just love the alien look of this

a series of tall, wet gums:

 

   

 

Now the lemon scented gum.  Of course I would take photos of this lovely tree.  Though I was hampered by rain threatening to fall on the lens of my little camera.  I’m quite sure that would be disaster!

 

 

Trees and foliage from across the lawn

: 

 

The moreton bay fig.  I love how they gleam in the wet:

 

 

Now – the scribbly gum.  It gets its name from the bark which is, I read somewhere, caused by little greeblies munching through the bark – obviously not harming the tree, just giving this bark the look of having been scribbled on.  When I next go to the uni, if it’s a fine day, I will take more photos.  I love rain, but it does – well, it hampers some activities.

 

 

Of course there are plane trees, most around the internal carparks.  But the detail of the trunk, with the gloss of rain shine, brings out the most wonderful colours and reminds me I must go down to Hyde Park again before too long.

 

These guys are everywhere, especially around what used to be known as the Arts Department (where I did my Masters).

 

detail of a beautiful trunk.

These were taken from across an oval while the rain was pouring down – though you can’t see the rain.

 

The most untidy of all the trees: stringy bark!

 

just beautiful trees:

 

and home – well, it was still raining so she was inside on the armchair amongst the books

There are so many photos I didn’t include.  Heaps.  And now I’ve run out of time to do another post, but they will remain on my computer for use another time.

I hope this wasn’t too large and that you enjoyed it.

Keira 🙂