This week for the Lens-Artist Challenge, Tina from Travels and Trifles has asked us to post any photos that have not been posted this year. Just two rules, they must be from this year and not have been posted before. The first rule is easy but the second.. I’m hoping I haven’t posted them, but who knows.
I have been photographing doors every time I see a good one, but have not got round to posting them for Dan on his weekly challenge Dan’s Doors. Sadly the door is closed now but you know what they say:
“When one door closes, another one opens”
~ Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open ~ John Barrymore
_autotoneA turtle from Bali and an English squirrel
Plant lined walls in Hong Kong
♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️♦️
The iconic Langkawi Eagle, a symbol of the island.
A big thanks to everyone who hosts challenges, it’s a wonderful way to post photos and words. Best of all though is the interaction between the fantastic bloggers on WordPress. I have made many friendships over the last few years and love chatting with you all.
Enjoying an early champagne with my son’s lovely girlfriend while out shopping yesterday. There was a free pop up Tattinger Champagne bar! Just a donation to the food bank. We weren’t going to pass up a free champagne.
Here’s hoping you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
I’ve noticed on the last few occasions travelling through these small country towns that the Councils have been doing their best to spruce them up and bring them back to life. The efforts have been so worthwhile making these small towns worth a stop or even a night’s stay.
We recently stopped at Capel for a coffee break on our way back from Dunsborough and we had a lovely walk up and down the high street, reading signs, looking at murals and enjoying a coffee in a quirky cafe.
The Capel area was originally inhabited by the WardandiNoongar people. It was then established as a town in 1897. Historically Capel was a farming area, mostly dairy and beef. Nowadays it is very popular for hobby farms, including alpacas.
There was a real sense of community in this small town with lots going on and there was not a leaf out of place.
Capel Library
Once upon a time in a town called Capel, I looked through the branches and guest what I saw, Hidden deep in the Tuart Forest there was a Eucalyptus Under the bridge by the river there lived a …pultenaea skinneri (Skinner’s Pea)
A place to sit and while away a few momentsand taking a rest from toiling in the fields
We didn’t dare venture inside, imagining a butcher with a meat cleaver dripping in blood and a rifle under his arm.
Artist – Erin Rafferty
Stepping back in time!
Mosaic Mural with phrases from the local primary school children
St. John’s Chapel, Higgins Bell Tower and Church Door
Mother Horse and Foal sculptures outside the vets
I imagine this event would be well attended and everyone knowing each other. It would be like one big party, such fun.
Well that’s all folks and I hope you’ve enjoyed this walk along Capel High Street with me. There was so much more to see but not enough time. I will definitely be stopping here again.
As the challenge from Sofia at the Lens Artists Team is urban, I thought I would take you on a tour of my home town. It’s not a large town by any means but is filled with cafes, restaurants and shops. I tend to go two or three times a week for food, a bit of retail shopping, lunch and dinner. It has a large shopping mall where two grocery stores are located but it also has small laneways off the high street filled with quirky shops.
Claremont Quarter
Looking through Maude Jackson Walk
A street off the main high road
I took these photos today as I was doing a shop and I was amazed to find some wonderful murals, sculptures and new coffee shops. I tend normally to drive straight to Claremont Quarter and back again. I did have to dodge a few rain showers though as we are having some storms at the moment.
On the side of the bottle shopThe above two murals are painted by Fintan Magee and titled Road to Nowhere, depicting displaced people during the Brisbane Floods of 2015
I had to take two shots of this brilliant mural above by Dipesh ‘Peche’ Prasad to capture it all. It was only after I looked at the photos I realised there was a man painted there. I could not see it from the street. It features Walt D. Drabble, the lane is named after him too. He was a painter, signwriter and ironmonger and established his business in 1865.
Highs and Lows by Kyle Hughes-OdgersColourful sculpture in the High StreetMetal elephant sculpture outside jewellers
Claremont Post Office, built in 1896 and is now a heritage listed building
Claremont Railway Station established in 1881. This is still a working railway station and trains go to Perth City
Bellissimo’s Restaurant has been here longer than we have and still has the same owner/manager. We visit here at least once a month. The menu doesn’t change that much but you can always be guaranteed a fantastic dinner and service. There is no booking, you just have to wait in line, but in all the times we have visited we’ve never been turned away.
Corvo is a relatively new restaurant and we have been once. Great vibe and service but the menu wasn’t to our taste. There have been many restaurants in the 18 years we have been here.
This sushi place is extremely popular and has only been open a short while, but there are always queues outsideA new coffee shop I found! Will have to try this soon.
Claremont is home to many high end boutiques, very expensive and also a bit too fancy for my taste and probably don’t do my size anyway!
This lane leads to another coffee shop and a cute little book shop. Around the corner there is a huge gardening and hardware store where we go and buy all our garden paraphernalia.
I fell in love with Claremont when we first came for a visit 20 years ago and I still enjoy going there. I hope you’ve enjoyed visiting my home town with me.
To stay near or go far that is the question that Terri from Second Wind Leisure is asking this week for the Sunday Stills Challenge.
For me it will always be to travel far and hopefully on a plane to somewhere exotic. But any kind of travelling is okay, as long as it involves a suitcase and a new destination. I love the planning stage of a trip and normally by the end of it I know the place inside out! Sometimes I’ve completely changed my mind after sifting through reviews and images of the destination I had in mind.
During the two year “lockdown” that Australia had – no-one in and no-one out – only the most extenuating circumstances accepted, we did a few “home” trips. By that I don’t mean staying in the house but actually exploring Western Australia. Western Australia was the most locked in state, we couldn’t even travel to anywhere in Australia.
We did most of this travelling in the South West of Western Australia and tried to go to towns that we had never been before, although one trip was to Kalgoorlie which is 600 km east of Perth.
I have written posts about most of these mini-breaks but here’s a gallery of some of the photos.
2020 was also the last year that my parents would visit us, so Covid was good in the fact that they had to stay for five months and not their normal three! My nephew was also visiting and we had some wonderful days out.
Gidgeganup
Gidgeganup
Shelley Beach
Cottesloe Beach
Baskerville Winery
“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”
Some fun for Cee’s Black and White Challenge this week, it’s all about signs. I thought these were very eye catching. Most people here are very good about picking up rubbish, but a reminder is necessary at times.
I always like leaving a touch of colour to bring them alive.
All these were taken walking along the esplanade at Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia
We spent a few hours in Fremantle today to enjoy the winter sun. Sitting in a beachfront pub enjoying a drink and watching some children playing in the waves. The sun was shining but the temperature was only 14 degrees! Kids can’t resist the sea and they were all fully clothed, jackets, jumpers and trousers, we watched them squelch past us later dripping wet. They had a blast though.
I took some photos for Debbie’s One Word Sunday – Straight.
The masts of yachtsPainted planks of woodFremantle HarbourThe straight trunks of Norfolk Pines
It’s the end of winter next week, I’m looking forward to Spring and warmer days.
I took these photos yesterday walking the Yarra Trail in Melbourne. We are here for a short break visiting Laurence and Maddy. I thought of Patti’s Challenge of pictures in motion.
Dwight’s Falls, Fairfield, Victoria
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” – Rumi
