28th December 2011 - SkyWatch Friday

This is my last sky for 2011.

As you can see it’s an example of what I think is called crepuscular rays. I was up early yesterday and the picture is taken just after 6.30 am. There were other very nice skies all around me as I drove, but it’s next to impossible (and deeply unsafe!) to take pictures while driving on a freeway on your own.

When I finally stopped to be able to take a picture I could not believe my luck. There was interest in the fore ground and the sky behind. Also I like the way that there is light and dark on the horizon, and an open gate. This seems like both an invitation and a statement of reality for the New Year. There may be patches of darkness, but they lie through the same gate as the light. You really cant have one without the other.

If you don’t wish to spoil the romance of the picture I suggest you stop reading now and leave a comment, visit my other web page, but don’t read the next paragraph.

This picture was taken at Werribee Sewage Works. It’s a grassland area that was once used to process all of the waste (you know what I mean) from the eastern side of Melbourne. It’s now a fantastic (if a little smelly) place to bird watch. The sewage is still treated here, but no longer by flooding grassland with “waste water”.

I’ve had a great year and I like the irony of posting an image at the end of it which is basically a pile of sh*t!

You can be able to find other skies at Skywatch Friday.

You can also see the most recent post on my other blog by clicking the “Paying Ready Attention” link on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the skies, enjoy the weekend and see you in 2012

World Bird Wednesday - Royal Spoonbills

A walk by the Barwon River on Christmas afternoon yielded these Royal Spoonbills. These birds are about 75 cm tall and the remarkable black bill is a giveaway as to which of your two species you are looking at.

Had I not been wearing semi-smart sandals (you can tell I live in Australia – I have dress sandals!) I may have got involved in a bit more wading and mud hopping to get closer to the birds. But, as it was Christmas day I decided that discretion was the better part of valour!

You can find more birds from around the world at World Bird Wednesday.

You can also see the most recent post on my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention picture on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the birds.

Our World Tuesday - Barwon Heads

In the middle of Christmas morning we headed for the coast. This is the first year in many that we did not have people to our house for lunch – so the stress was exported to someone else!
With met up with other members of the family at Barwon Heads – which is about 2 hours west of us – in what can only be described as a rather impressive house. Lunch followed.

Late in the afternoon we took a walk along The Barwon river – the skies were an intense blue grey. Although we did not know it at the time huge storms were dumping 50mm + of rain and

golf ball sized hail stones on parts of Melbourne. Ah, summer!



Turns out there was no damage to our house or car, but some people got a rather unpleasant Christmas present from the weather.

Hope you had a good day!


You can find more places from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

You can find the most recent post to my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention image on the RHS of the screen.
Enjoy the pictures.

Macro Monday - Number 37

This fine beast is known as ‘Number 37’ – for most of the year he lives in storage upstairs, but during December he comes out to play.

He is one of the charterers on our Advent Calendar. Each year I make up a story based around the characters on the calendar – for reasons which are lost in the mists of time this reindeer was called Number 37 in one of the stories and the name has stuck. You may be able to tell that the stories are rather daft as one of the other characters is a multi-lingual bear called Bearski – who may or may not be Polish!

You may find more close ups at Macro Monday – but given the time of year you may not!

Have a great Christmas.

Carols Sky - SkyWatch Friday

Another school event, another school sky.

In the middle of the week we had the school carol service – outside at the ending of the day. It was surprisingly chilly, but a glass of wine helped.

The kids sang in their classes and I was “asked” up on stage by the Principal!




The sky was grey for most of the night, but as the Sun was just on the horizon the sky blazed with colour. There was even a little patch of pink cloud in the sky.

The excitement of the coming weekend seemed to distract the kids and their parents from the sky – well that’s the charitable analysis anyway.


You may be able to find other festive skies at Skywatch Friday.

You can also see the most recent post on my other blog by clicking the “Paying Ready Attention” link on the RHS of the screen.
Enjoy the skies, enjoy the weekend and see you other the other side!

World Bird Wednesday - Osprey

I took these images on the first day of our trip to Magnetic Island. It was only when I took a look at the images later on that I realised that the Osprey had a fish in its talons – from the fishes long nose I think it’s a garfish. The ospreys were our nearly constant companions on this trip – and if you could not see one you did not have to wait too long.

You can find more birds from around the world at World Bird Wednesday.

You can also see the most recent post on my other blog by clicking the Paying Ready Attention picture on the RHS of the screen.

Enjoy the birds.