YEAR'S END

As the year draws to a close I am reminded of a sunset and the memory of a long, full day ceding its place to night. The hope of morning and a bright new tomorrow is implicit in the golden hues of the sunset clouds.

I hope your past year was full, and that your happiness far outweighed your sadness. I wish you a New Year full of health, many joyous moments and enough spare time to devote to yourself and to those you love. Be creative, be positive and praise good effort whenever you see it displayed. It's less stressful to be kind and gentle than it is to be nasty and belligerent.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

COFFEE

Melbourne is well and truly on top when it comes to coffee. Melbourne baristas take pride in their coffee and it is appreciated by locals and tourists. Café culture is a part of our lives and is a very unique thing to Melbourne. There are many great specialty roasters in Melbourne that consistently strive for excellence.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme

THE ORANGE MINUTE

A sunset walk along a nature reserve parallel the Werribee River in Melbourne's Western outer suburbs.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

BEACH

Altona is a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km south-west of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Hobsons Bay. At the 2011 Census, Altona had a population of 9,918. Altona is a large suburb consisting of low density residential in the south-eastern half, with mixed industry in the north-western half. A key feature is Altona Beach on Port Phillip, which is one of only two swimming beaches in the western suburbs (the other being Williamstown Beach). Altona takes its name from the then independent German city of Altona which is today a borough of Hamburg.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

ROSEMARY

"There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember." - William Shakespeare

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme.

HAMSA

The hamsa (Arabic: خمسة‎ khamsah; Hebrew: חַמְסָה‬, also romanised khamsa; Berber languages: tafust) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.

Depicting the open right hand, an image recognised and used as a sign of protection in many times throughout history, the hamsa is believed by some, predominantly Muslims, Jews and Catholics, to provide defence against the evil eye. It has been theorised that its origins lie in Ancient Egypt or Carthage (modern-day Tunisia) and may have been associated with the Goddess Tanit.

Khamsah is an Arabic word that means "five", but also "the five fingers of the hand". The Hamsa is also variously known as the Hand of Fatima after the daughter of the prophet Muhammad, the Hand of Mary, the Hand of Miriam, and the Hand of the Goddess.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

CITY LANES

The lanes and arcades of Melbourne have collectively become culturally important. The Melbourne central business district's numerous lanes mostly date to the Victorian era and as a result of the original Hoddle Grid, they evolved as service laneways for horses and carts. In some parts of the city, notably Little Lonsdale area, they were associated with the city's gold rush era slums. Among the most notable are Centre Place and Degraves Lane. 

Melbourne's numerous shopping arcades reached a peak of popularity in the late Victorian era and the interwar years. Among the most notable include Block Place and Royal Arcade. Some notable demolished arcades include Coles Book arcade and Queens Walk arcade. Since the 1990s, Melbourne's lanes, particularly the pedestrianised ones, have gentrified and their heritage value officially recognised as well as attracting interest from Australia and around the world. Some of the lanes, in particular have become particularly notable for their acclaimed urban art. The city has several festivals which celebrate the laneways, they are major tourist attractions and frequently feature in tourism promotions, film and television.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

FIRESIDE

Making a fire by a campsite provides flames for a cheery sight as night falls. Then it's time for some fireside tales by the warmth and flickering flame light...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
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SUNSET, MELBOURNE

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YARRA BEND AUTUMN

Yarra Bend Park is the largest area of natural bushland near the heart of Melbourne. The park features steep river escarpments, open woodlands, playing fields and golf courses. It is always a pleasure to walk there, but especially so during Autumn near the plantings of deciduous trees, which display their beautiful Autumn colours. This is a post in sympathy with all you Northern Hemisphere denizens, that are in the midst of Autumn.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

ART GALLERY

In the National Gallery of Victoria, taking time to enjoy the art as this man is enjoying seeing "The Crossing of the Red Sea" (1632-4) by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
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ANT EYE

This is a macro 3D photograph of a greatly magnified ant eye. It was taken when I was using a confocal laser microscope quite a few years ago. The image can be viewed in 3D if you have a pair of red/green stereo glasses. Ant eyes are typical compound eyes seen in the arthropods.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

CITYSPHERE

You may have seen those photos where a panoramic shot is taken and converted into a round, "tiny planet" spherical structure in Photoshop. Well, I watched a short video on YouTube and created one myself without spending too much time neatening it up. The results are below, with the original photo and the "tiny planet" version underneath. Try it yourself!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

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FURRY

The quokka (Setonix brachyurus), the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal. 

Quokkas can be found on some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, in particular on Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. A small mainland colony exists in the protected area of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, where they co-exist with the critically endangered Gilbert's potoroo.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

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and also part of the Saturday Critters meme.

MT CONNER

Mount Conner, also known as Attila and Artilla, and occasionally found as Mount Connor, is an Australian mountain far into the outback of Central Australia. It is located in the southwest corner of the Northern Territory, 75 kilometres southeast of Lake Amadeus at the border of the vast Curtin Springs cattle station in Pitjantjatjara country. It reaches to 859 metres above sea level and to 300 metres above ground level.

Mount Conner is a flat-topped and horseshoe-shaped inselberg/mesa, part of the same vast rocky substrate thought to be beneath Uluru/Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta/Olgas. It can easily be confused with Uluru, since it can be seen from the road to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, when approaching from Alice Springs. It was named Mount Conner by William Gosse in 1873 after South Australian politician M. L. Conner.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

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SOUTHERN CROSS STATION

Southern Cross (formerly known, and still colloquially known, as Spencer Street) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the central business district. The Etihad Stadium sports arena is 500 metres north-west of the station.

The station is managed, as part of a public-private partnership with the state government, by Southern Cross Station Pty Ltd, a private consortium which includes ABN Amro, Leighton Contractors, Daryl Jackson Architecture, Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners and Honeywell Limited. The station is the terminus of the state's regional railway network operated by V/Line, The Overland rail service to Adelaide, and NSW TrainLink XPT services to Sydney. 

It also served by suburban rail services operated by Metro Trains, being one of five stations on the City Loop, a mostly underground railway that encircles the CBD. It is the 2nd busiest railway station in Melbourne's metropolitan network, with some 16.8 million passenger movements recorded in 2011/12. These figures exclude V/Line passengers who use the station.

Southern Cross Station also has a coach terminal underneath the Spencer Outlet shopping complex. Skybus Super Shuttle services to Melbourne Airport and Sunbus Shuttle services to Avalon Airport operate from there, as well as Greyhound Australia, Firefly Express, Premier Motor Service interstate coach services, and V/Line coach services to Mildura, Yarram and Mansfield, and other parts of Victoria not served by rail.

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ST PATRICK'S

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. In 1974 Pope Paul VI conferred the title and dignity of minor basilica on it. In 1986 Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral and addressed clergy during his Papal Visit.

The cathedral is built on a traditional east-west axis, with the altar at the eastern end, symbolising belief in the resurrection of Christ. The plan is in the style of a Latin cross, consisting of a nave with side aisles, transepts with side aisles, a sanctuary with seven chapels, and sacristies. Although its 103.6-metre length is marginally shorter than that of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, St Patrick's has the distinction of being both the tallest and, overall, the largest church building in Australia.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

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and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

AT ST KILDA

The St Kilda Pavilion is a historic kiosk located at the end of St Kilda Pier, in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The kiosk was designed by James Charles Morell and built in 1904 by John W. Douglas. The kiosk was proposed and operated by Francis Parer. Until the 1930s the structure was widely known as Parer's Pavilion however its actual name was the Austral Refreshment Rooms. In the 1930s it was renamed Kerby's Kiosk. The Kerby family were involved with running the kiosk from 1934 through to 1987. Noble and Ivy Kerby acquired the lease from the Victorian Government in 1939.

From 1987 through to 2003 the kiosk was leased and operated by Joe Sillitoe then Carmel Grant. On 11 September 2003 the structure was destroyed in an arson attack. After massive public support to rebuild the kiosk and the support of premier Steve Bracks, it was reconstructed to the original 1903 plans, utilising some of the salvaged components, such as the cast iron roof, decorative cresting and weather vane. An additional structure, expanding the capacity was erected directly behind the kiosk and is obscured by the pavilion when viewed from the pier. The Pavilion is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The kiosk re-opened in March 2006.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

SUNRISE

Sunrise on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia.

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OLD AS THE SPHINX

Giza, is the third largest city in Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River, some 20 km southwest of central Cairo. Along with Shubra El-Kheima, Cairo and Helwan, the four cities form the Province of Greater Cairo metropolis. The city's population was 2,681,863 in the 2006 national census.

Giza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau: The site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx (ca 2558–2532 BC), the Great Pyramid of Giza (ca 2560 BC), and a number of other large pyramids and temples. The plateau and its monuments have been recorded in the Giza Plateau Mapping Project run by Ancient Egypt Research Associates, directed by Dr. Mark Lehner.

Visiting the Giza plateau and seeing the great pyramids, temples and the Sphinx was one of the most memorable of our travel adventures. Crawling inside the Great Pyramid of Cheops and seeing the burial chamber in the heart of the pyramid was an awe-inspiring experience, making one feel the weight of the centuries on one's shoulders...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme,

and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,

and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.