GPO Christmas Lights

Perth GPO was lit up prettily prior to Christmas.

Hopman Cup

Smuggling my camera into the Hopman Cup a few weeks ago, I was able to snap some decent shots from the France vs Poland tie. This is Alize Cornet.

Floreat Time-Warp

Swimming at Floreat Beach this morning, I was curious to investigate its development over the decades. So returning to the Landgate Map Viewer , here are some aerial photos.

Floreat Beach 1953

The grid of huts at the south mark Floreat Beach.

Floreat Beach 2014

Floreat 1974

Wish I Were in Augusta

But this is my favourite temperature map of the day. Zoom into the south-west cape of WA, and notice how that region around Augusta / Margaret River never exceeded 33 degrees for the whole of the last year. Source

A Cool Change

In the midst of a summer heatwave, it's refreshing to look at some of the Bureau of Meteorology's cooler maps.

Sturt's University Pea

What a surprise to see a Sturt's Desert Pea blooming in the gardens of the local university. What are the chances that a seed had blown 1500km towards the coast from the arid interior, and had germinated.

Benoit's Serve

From the recent Hopman Cup at the Perth Arena, my front row seat was perfect for catching stray tennis balls. The Frenchman Benoit Paire even thanked me for returning a ball to him in the warm up. "Merci beaucoup monsieur" he might have said if he'd known I was bilingual.

Lost in the Labyrinth

Hopelessly lost in a labyrinth near Margaret River recently, I realised that an aerial view of the layout was essential in finding my way out. The GPS in my phone was hopeless and the rats I'd brought with me had found the path out successfully, but had headed off too fast for me to follow. Eventually emerging into the sunlight after five hours of frustrating puzzlement, having been winched out of the centre by the rescue helicopter, I headed into Bunnings and bought a cheap drone with onboard camera. And here is the result. Next time, armed with this photo, I'll have no difficulty in navigating the hedge maze.

Extended Christmas Season

Every year I'm tempted to extend the Christmas season further. Now that we're in late January and supplies of mince pies and Christmas puds are still holding out, I'm inclined to leave tinsel and other decorations up for another month. But I'm also conscious of the looming deadline of Candlemas - the 2nd February, which marks 40 days after Christmas, and is the traditional end of the festive season. In previous centuries, holly and ivy was taken down on Candlemas Eve, for any decorations left up too long would result in a death among acquaintances.

It also seems that Candlemas is associated with Groundhog Day, which falls on the same day.

So my plan this year is to leave the decorations up until 1st February, and then I shall release my groundhogs the following day.

Mystery Plantings

Spotted near UWA's sunken garden recently, please identify this plant.

My Cats' Top Ten Films

By the way, my PC has been uncooperative, and I've not been able to boot it more than a couple of times in the last fortnight. So my blogging has been severely hampered.

So in response to my top ten movies of 2014, my cats got together and decided on their personal favourites. Here they are, in no particular order.

Still Life

The Desloation of Smaug

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

Finding Vivian Maier

Only Lovers Left Alive

Magic in the Moonlight

The Infinite Man

Pride

Mr Turner

Top Ten Films of 2014

2014 was a quiet year at the cinema for me, not only due to the low number of films seen (100), but also the mediocre quality, and extended gaps between decent releases.

But here are my top ten (plus my favourite scene for each).

10. The Wolf of Wall Street (Leonardo tripping out on Quaaludes, crawling to his sports car)

9. The Lego Movie (Emmet forgets his pants)

8. Interstellar (Matthew McConaughey stuck behind a bookcase)

7. X-Men Days of Future Past (Quicksilver mocking a room of guards at supersonic speed)

6. Gone Girl (they resume their domestic bliss, happily ever after)

5. What We Do in the Shadows ("we're werewolves not swearwolves")

4. Pride (miners and gays marching together in London)

3. Guardians of the Galaxy (dancing baby Groot)

2. Broken Circle Breakdown (the music)

1. The Great Beauty (the first party scene)

Honorable mentions go to All is Lost, Her, The Desolation of Smaug, Stories We Tell, The Invisible Woman, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Yet More Street Art

Street Art of West Perth

St George's Cathedral

His Stage

A tour of His Majesty's Theatre

Fleeing Honeyeater

This honeyeater was fleeing from parliament towards the safety of Kings Park.

Barrack Street

State Parliament

Here's a chamber, or to. I snuck into State Parliament as part of their open day.

A Viwe

After 48 minutes of bushwalking, ant bites, blistering 23 degree heat, and surprise willy willies and a whirly girly, eventually a river glimpse appeared. It was so worth it. But notice how the river slopes to the left by a few degrees. What a remarkable natural phenomenom, or phenomemon, or phenonemon, or phoneme.

Bobtail

A scaredy-skunk.

Subtle Grasses

Sublime pastel colours abound.

Micro-Pom Pom

This tiny spiky pom-pom is often used as a weapon by small fairies.

Kangarooooo Pause

Did you know that Kangaroo Paws are so named because our national marsupial has to pause his hopping to avoid impaling himself on them?

Early settlers ran out of pencils, so only named newly discovered botanical specimens verbally. Once a shipment of JB Steadman HB pencils did eventually arrived, they wrote "paws" instead of "pause".

Wireless Hill Expedition

Rewinding a month or so, my last wildflower expedition of the year was to distant Ardross and its Wireless Hill Park, strangely enough, the site of an old wireless (i.e. radio) station.

Here's a delicate Lady of East Fremantle Lily. Notice the East Freo Sharks footy colours of blue and white.