Poppies and travelling dogs

Yesterday afternoon looking outside the window of the Medical clinic where I work, I spotted a man parking his motorbike and there was a Border Collie sitting in a box attached to the bike.
The dog was a seasoned traveller and was also enjoying the attention of various people surrounding him taking pictures.

It reminded me of a Border Collie we had when we lived in South Africa - Honey, being a working dog and not having to chase sheep used to busy herself digging up our garden... one day I arrived home from work and there she was lying on the grass with white foam coming out of her mouth!

I rushed her to the Vet who told me she must have eaten a poisonous plant. After a few days at the vet hospital she was fine and back to her antics. In the meantime I had a gardener come around and remove all the poisonous plants.

Another good surprise when I looked out the kitchen window this morning, was to see that a poppy had bloomed in one of the three poppy plants I planted in a couple of weeks ago.

So pretty isn't it? I had too hold it to photograph it as the wind was blowing and the flower was swinging away...

Murals in Fremantle at Many6160

On a recent visit to Fremantle I photograhed this gigantic "Praying Mantis" painted by Amok Island, a Dutch artist based in Fremantle. 

It's on one of the side walls of Many6160, a former department store now housing small retailers in an open plan space.  The building's main entrance is in Kings Square.

On the main side of the building the wall above the doors right up to the rood has been painted with a huge mural of a Ram, done by Japanese artist Twoone.                                                                                                       

Both murals were painted in April 2015 for the Form project.

To check more fun murals around the world please click here.

Birthdays and Father's Day weekend

We've had a very busy weekend.
Friday 4th, was my son's birthday, so we went out to dinner to Joy Kitchen in Fremantle. We've been there quite often and although the food is good I always find the restaurant a bit too loud. Also because I'm gluten intolerant I know for sure that I'm going to feel slightly off after eating there - bloated stomach, nauseous...
Oh well, but it's not everyday that we eat out so I just go with it.

Then Saturday 5th, it was my husband's birthday, and we had a small celebration at home with a few friends. No lunch or dinner this time, just snacks and drinks in the afternoon.
I had intentions of having a bigger party in the garden with a lot more people, but with rain predicted and still being a bit cool I didn't invite many people just in case we had to have the party indoors.  It just happened that it rained a little bit but it was very, very windy and cold, so indoors we had to go!

Sunday 6th, it's the celebration of Father's Day in Australia and although I would have loved to go out to Kings Park for a walk, my husband wanted to just laze about at home.
We had 2 complementary tickets to a movie, given to me by a former colleague who now works at a Radio station, so I managed to convince him we should go to the movies in the afternoon.
The movie "Trainwreck" was funny, although at times I thought it was a bit slow, it picked up in the end and it was an enjoyable afternoon.

Back home it was time for party leftovers for dinner. Healthy food back on the menu from tomorrow!
We just watched a program on SBS1 TV entitled "The Sugar Conspiracy" and after reading quite a few health books I have to agree it's not the fat but the sugar that makes people fat, diabetic, etc, etc.
I'm glad we have stopped eating packaged food, no cereals and eat a very limited amount of sugar in general.

28 years ago - husband and son celebrating their birthdays  (Michael's 1st birthday)

First day of Spring - Kings Park

It felt a bit more like a Winter's windy day, but today was the first day of Spring!

Apparently this week a cold front is passing through Perth and next week the weather will start to get warmer again.

Today, the month long Kings Park Spring Festival started, this year celebrating it's 52nd anniversary, while the Botanic Gardens celebrates it's 50th anniversary.

I'll leave you with just a few photos of the hundreds I took.

I'll certainly go back for some of the events planned for this colourful season - music, talks, plants sale, seminars, etc.

The great Boab dressed in the Aboriginal flag colours

This year there are a few dressed tree trunks, and the one above is the show stopper -
this eucalypt tree was planted by Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II on her visit to Perth in March 1954, and now it was dressed with a white ball gown, a blue sash, long gloves on two of it's branches and a crown further up the trunk. Cute isn't it?

The Queens tree with the War Memorial at the end, and further behind you can see a sliver of the Swan River

More colourful tree trunks

                                                                        

Wattle trees

Banksia

Bracteantha (straw flower)

The "Bella Umbrellas" is another playful addition adorning the entrance to "Aspects of Kings Park" gift shop, right next to the Visitor's Information centre.

Hope you enjoyed the short visit and I'll bring you some more Spring beauties soon.

Monday Mural - Do aliens dance the Flamenco?

This mural on the corner of Beaufort and Harold Street in Mount Lawley, was painted on a wall of a laundromat by Martin E Wills (MEW), a Perth based artist born in the UK.
His murals mainly depict aliens with 60's beehive hairstyles and desolate landscapes.

The whole wall is covered by this mural which also has an Asian dancer/instrument player with a red flower in her hair. I'm not sure this part of the mural which integrates with the aliens is also Will's work, it's got a totally different style so I presume it isn't, but I couldn't find the artist's name anywhere.
Hope you enjoy the quirky characters.
You can see more of Monday's murals by following this link.