Sling your hammock

Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks — heritage-listed former barracks, hospital, convict accommodation, mint and courthouse — has reopened after extensive renovations and renewal. One room is set up as a dormitory with reproduction convict hammocks; audio brings alive the experience of trying to sleep in a room crowded with men talking, snoring, shouting, singing, fighting, etc.
The very rough texture of the rope used to hang the hammocks looks as if it would play havoc with soft modern hands and I hope the workers who tied those knots wore sturdy gloves!

Posted Posted as part of Jude’s 2020 Photo Challenge, specifically: Texture; and also Debbie’s One Word Sunday Challenge, specifically: Knot.

Floral Friday – planters in the city

Mobile gardens.

I always know when summer officially arrives in Sydney — it’s when these planters magically appear overnight! The city is full of them, metal squares stuffed with plants in pots. Instant gardens pop up on streets everywhere. The plants don’t last the whole summer, so one day I’ll come along and completely new fresh plants have appeared. Though I’m not sure about what appears to be decorative cabbage in the planter above …

Floral Friday – flower kiosk

Some of the flowers on sale at a kiosk in Martin Place, Sydney. I never buy them (too expensive!) but they’re always nice to look at as I go to or from work.

Rainlight

Those streaks in the photo are rain. At last! (This view is from my balcony, looking at what I call ‘the jungle’.)

Okay, I freely admit that ‘rainlight’ is not a word. But it’s raining, and I’m too happy about that to worry too much about madeup words!! And you know, there is a special quality to the light when it rains. 🙂

Here in parched Sydney, we are finally getting some rain. Since last Thursday we’ve had some good falls of rain, which have not only made a visible difference to grass and trees and gardens in the city (not to mention cleaning the ash buildup from surfaces), but have eased conditions in some nearby bushfires. I don’t know if any rain fell in the dam that supplies Sydney’s water (the last figure I saw was 43% capacity — eek!), but let’s hope so.

Posted as part of January Squares, the theme for which is words ending in light.

Searchlights

Searchlights stabbing into Sydney’s night sky during the Vivid light festival

Posted as part of January Squares, the theme for which is words ending in light.

Smoky morning

My morning view, 21 November.

You may have heard about the terrible bushfires in Australia. Sydney itself is in no danger, but we do get smoke from fires when the wind is right (wrong?). A large, intense fire in an area about 150km (90 miles) northwest of Sydney, called Gospers Mountain, brought us much smoke recently. I live in the east of the city, about as far from that fire as you can get before encountering the ocean, yet the smoke was bad for me too. The air quality in Sydney on days such as this is rated ‘hazardous’. Just imagine how awful it is for people so much closer.

Below, for contrast, is what I see on a normal morning. And if you’re wondering — no, I did not walk to work on 21 November.

My morning view, 27 November.

Black cat, Purple petals