Heartbreak in MtLawleyShire’s Hyde Park

I don’t know what to say about Hyde Park.  It hurts every time I go down there.  This should be the start of the most beautiful tome, but the place is a ruin.  Certainly opportunities for taking photographs is very limited.

You are not allowed into the native area:

The beauty of the plane trees has been compromised by the lopping of all their lower branches:

The island where all the bottle brush flowered?

Do you remember this? (last September)

Now it looks like this:

The graceful avenue around the ponds?

Many of the paths are compromised – behind this hoarding is a huge trench where they are laying pipes.  I was told they were intending to establish a reed bed to clean the water as it flows down the hill when (if) it rains, but I don’t understand what the pipes are for:

And it is not just the plane trees that are being lopped:

But I found a few angles:

A small moreton bay fig

Trees as frames

 

An unspoilt corner:

A heron in one of the ponds:

 

Finally, some plane trees in the strong, hot light of a supposedly Autumnal sun:

 

It hurts, seeing the park in such a state, and I am not the only one horrified by what is happening.  I have been told the works are not following the guidelines laid down by the conservation society and I will be following that up over the next couple of weeks.

& I took some other photos here and there:

a lovely pink rose & red roses in a roadside garden:

 

 

 

Cloud blossom on a tree in William Street – with a bee!

Galahs on a telephone pole in the evening:

And finally, a hibiscus flower caught in the lowering light of a hot day:

bit of a mixed bag, this post, fill of as much ugliness as beauty.

I am so saddened by what is happening in Hyde Park.  I don’t know that I will be producing a calendar this year 😦

 

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close to home in MtLawleyShire

No great walks over the last couple of days, and I didn’t mean to take photos, but – well, how could I not: sunsets and cats and flowers and trees in flower – and my favourite lemon-scented gum ….

The first walk I saw some roses in people’s gardens:

 

and then discovered this in a hedge of mexican rose flowing over the fence of a lady’s garden.  I know her and her little dog to say hello to.  One of her neighbours saw me taking photos of this flower and told me its name was ‘Dutchman’s Pipe“, then turned it around to show me why – you can see the shape of a pipe at the back of the flower.  He then found some seeds which I will plant later.

 

While we were talking, this sweet little tabby purred around my legs but it was too quick for photos of its very sweet little face.  I only got this one:

I walked home in time to catch sunset clouds and the glow in the western sky:

 

 

In the last of the light, I saw this wonderful wattle bush in full flower.  The perfume was wonderful.

Coming home was this: the eastern sky filled with reflected sunset pastel colours:

and here she is – waiting for me to come home:

Today I went a little earlier.  I was a warm day, not one cloud and the sunlight was bright.  All the street trees on William Street looked glorious – the paperbarks or cloud blossom trees.  You can see why it’s called cloud blossom.  I love the way one is almost growing around the speed sign.

 

I managed to take some close-ups of the blossom:

 

And then, no apologies – I took photos of my favourite tree – growing outside where I used to live.  The great glorious lemon-scented gum:

The tangle of the long thin outer branches, the strength of the core internal branches:

 

The wonderful chaotic tangle of it:

Branches compartmentalising the sky, looking like elbows:

 

The strength and size of the trunk and main branches:

 

and this – this looks just like a hand:

Further down the road, still outside where I used to live, is an ancient Grevillea – with a scarlet flower:

Further down, people had roses in their gardens:

 

and here is a lovely young gum on the street verge.

And couple of trees had gum nuts (its flowers had been yellow) and red gum blossom.  I love these 🙂

 

Walking past one place with a huge frangipani tree in flower, there was one dropped on the pavement:

and over the road, a driveway almost swallowed in white Bougainvillea:

I went to my favourite cafe – it has a bookshop next door.  I took a photo of Beaufort Street from inside, but it was too dark to be really successful.

     

Beaufort Street, looking towards the city.

Then I met my cousin who gave me a ride home, so there were no more photo 🙂

Mtlawleyshire, night and fairy tales

I walked down William Street today, on the way to meet a friend for coffee.  It had been strange day – all day it had been cloudy, as though the air itself was brooding.  No rain, just heavy air and a silence despite the sounds of traffic.  She wasn’t happy to see me go.

I was surprised to see the cloud blossom trees in flower – different trees this time

 

 

Some flowers, a little closer.  They are just a little too high for me to get a good shot without zooming (I am rather small)

 

This one had grown to envelope a telephone pole 🙂

 

The first of the next shots is the last of the wattle, and this brilliantly red tree caught my eye amongst all the green street trees. One day, I will go down that street. So much green!  All those trees!

 

And here is my old friend, the lemon-scented gum that is so massive you can’t fit it into a photo without standing almost a block away.  It is one of the largest trees in the area, and that includes the Moreton Bay figs of Hyde park!

 

 

I love how the great branches taper through the chaos of smaller branches into the delicate tangled tracery of thin long flexible twigs which is where most of the leaves are.

 

And now, Hyde Park.  I hadn’t realized how dark it was  when I got there, and my little camera doesn’t do well in low light.  So, many of the photos were blurred. As a result, I had some fun 🙂

These first 2 are from when I walked beneath the trees and too shots of the branches against the canopy.  There was enough light between the leaves to confuse the camera’s sensors.

 

Then the Moreton Bay figs.

 

This next one intrigued me with its almost fluted pillars:

here they are a little closer:

 

 

The next shots I took were all blurred.  I played when I got home – with the images:

 

   

I took a shot of the water, but I was still too far into the trees

This is what it actually looked like when I came out from under the trees: the water green with algae.  It has been very warm the last few days, and warm nights as well.  It is not good for the water quality, as there is now so little of it.

But I didn’t stay. I was running late for my coffee date, and the light was no good for taking photos, so I left, but not without taking some more.  And when I got home, none of them were any good.  So I played and discovered the secret fairy tale world within Hyde Park:

 

I will have to discover more of this world, I think 🙂

Over the road from the cafe is a florist, and I found these: Banksia flowers:

 

I will have to find trees somewhere for you.  They don’t grow in Mt Lawley Shire – I have to go further out, or maybe King’s Park.

Finally, the cafe – and here is a corner.  I like all the lines and wooden boxes and cups (for me to have my coffee in!)

Here are some shots of the city from the cafe.  It is a different perspective from the post I did above the city – those 3 buildings I last saw from above!

And here is Beaufort Street looking north – the way I went home.

I hope you enjoyed my little walk.  Next time – my magnolia flower.

Keira 🙂

Getting caught in the rain

This time, I start out with my cat.  I love the way she sleeps: 

  

then she woke up

After cuddles, I set off, looking forward to my walk after a week of no walking.

Rain was forecast, and there were clouds, but also sunshine and bright blue sky.

Then I heard the mournful calls of black cockatoos: these birds are heading for extinction.  They are flocking to Perth because of the fires and logging that has ruined their food supply.  When we first moved here, the flocks were huge.  Not any more.  They are beautiful birds.  There was a story that when they were flying and calling, it meant rain.  I managed to photograph them, and where they flew, the clouds were grey.

 

I wish I could have taken closer shots, but these I took without my glasses, quickly and aiming towards the sound.

When I got to the entrance to the park, the ground was covered with the remains of pine cones.  The cockatoos love them:

 

Then I got caught by the shifting light and shadow amongst the green and shadows

 

The water in the ponds is still decreasing, but the birds don’t seem to mind

 

and then, of course, all the trees.  plane tree branches with their yellowing leaves against evergreens and a glorious plane tree in its gold and green:

 

I tried to capture the light on this Morten Bay Fig:

Looking up the trunk of a plane tree to the sky, and just the trunk:

 

Then I was caught by the contrast of the brilliant green of Jacaranda trees against the sky & the dark of closer trees, & the contrast between a palm and a Morten Bay Fig:

 

There is still some cloud blossom:

Trees behind one of the islands & the colour of those plane tree leaves!

Then – it rained!

 

 

 

The brilliant green of Jacaranda through dark branches was slightly blurred by rain.

Then there was serenity:

Before it rained again & I was unable to resist taking my camera out & it got ruined, I thought I should go home.

I passed this Morten Bay Fig, rain-stained:

Then I passed one of the Norfolk Pines:

 

A pine cone:

And from the William Street edge of the park:

 

Some of the trees are so beautifully green:

 

And there is a small tree that has brilliant red flowers – I didn’t expect to see any flowers at this time of year:

And in the sky –

and on the way home – two flowers.

 

When I got home, my fat little cat was inside.  She doesn’t like the rain 🙂

Cloud Blossom at Hyde Park

Despite not feeling all that crash hot, I did go down to Hyde Park, but I drove down, parked my little car and merely walked around the ponds.  I was intending to just walk to where I know I could see the trees, but of course, that wasn’t going to be enough.  I ended up walking around both ponds, though I was restrained in the amount of photos.

It’s very difficult to photograph, cloud blossom, and these trees are all on one of the islands, so I had to use the zoom.  They’re small, white bottlebrush type flowers, but being so pale, they’re  more difficult to see, and they don’t have the spectacular & showy scarlet that reflects in the water.  They’re more like a delicate light brushing over the foliage.

This far away, you don’t get to see the amazing trees themselves, their bark: paper bark, but I’ve shown that in some earlier posts, and will undoubtedly take more photos of it.  It’s rather beautiful, and feels so soft.

So, the photos:

These first two are of the island itself. for this moment in time – Cloud Blossom island 🙂

 

Following – the trees & their blossoms.  In each, you will have to look carefully to see the blossoms.  My little camera, though wonderful, does have its limits 😦

 

 

 

 

Now some closer shots of trees and blossoms.  I noticed there weren’t many large trees – a few, mostly difficult to photograph against the light so that the flowers showed, so most of these are smaller trees.  Not a bad thing, just an observation.

 

The last two are the best shots I could get of the flowers themselves.  The zoom was stretching my little camera’s capabilities:

 

For those who don’t remember – here is a close-up of a cloud blossom (& bee) that I took from one of the trees halfway up the block from me.  This is also from an earlier post (Flowers, I think).  These trees just don’t photograph well in the suburban environment of house fronts and fences and telephone wires and poles.

So, that all the cloud blossoms.  They weren’t the only photos I took – there was also a spectacular sunset.  Next post 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this.

Keira

Trees

Today I photographed some trees and some bark.  The bark of the paper bark is intense and fascinating & has been used in artwork by the indigenous people.  I was a bit experimental as the trees are too damn big to fit in my little camera 🙂

A selection (of the photos that worked!):

These 3 are of a ghost gum (I think) on the Mt Lawley ECU campus.  It’s a young one so not very big, but still seems a giant in these photos, striding into the infinite blue of this unending summer.

    

Sunset colours on a large gum tree on a corner on William Street.

  

The paperbark or cloud blossom – & the flowers & bark explain the 2 names.  I don’t know which is correct – or if, indeed, either is correct 🙂

 

The bark of these trees is truly amazing & my photos don’t do it justice.  I will have to try again, but I offer these anyway:

 

 

Only a short post – I have so much work to do.  But I will definitely be taking more photos of more trees.  They are amongst my favourite things, trees.

I hope you enjoyed these photos.