OUTDOOR CAFÉ

Treating Mum to a lovely lunch on a sunny, mild Autumn day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

WOMEN'S DAY

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY 2021

A day to:

• celebrate women's achievements
• raise awareness about women's equality
• lobby for accelerated gender parity
• fundraise for female-focused charities

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SYDNEY FIREWORKS

Sydney has a great reputation for fireworks and New Year celebrations on the Harbour. After all it is a perfect setting for a fireworks show. This year, however, it has been tough as the bushfires around the country with great losses of lives, property and natural resources has made many people question the wisdom of letting off fireworks as way of celebrating the coming of the New Year. Alternatives that have been proposed include laser light shows, which seems to me a much more sensible way of doing things.

All the best for a wonderful New Year! I hope that 2020 is full of health, happiness and prosperity for you all.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FESTIVE OCTOBER

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

FESTIVE JUNE

A Happy June to you, full of Summer joys or Winter delights!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

HAPPY GREEK EASTER!

Many Orthodox Christians in Australia celebrate Easter (Pascha) according to the Easter date in the Julian calendar, usually later than the Western Church Easter, which is calculated according to the Gregorian calendar. Easter is the most important event in the Orthodox church calendar. As most Orthodox Christians in Australia fast during Lent prior to Easter, Easter Sunday is a time for families and friends to get together for a festive meal, where meat and dairy products can be eaten again. Lamb and tsoureki (a baked, sweet loaf of soft bread) are popular Easter dishes in many Greek Orthodox communities in Australia. Many people leave the city and go in the countryside to celebrate Easter and spit roast the lamb over an open bed of charcoal.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,

and also part of the Camera Critters meme.

FESTIVE FEBRUARY

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland, and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of 2.24 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred on Brisbane, encompasses a population of more than 3 million. The Brisbane central business district stands on the original European settlement and is situated inside a bend of the Brisbane River, approximately 15 kilometres from its mouth at Moreton Bay.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

FESTIVE FARE

I love the traditional Christmas fare, which is so well-suited to the Northern Hemisphere winter climate. We still sometimes have the type of food you see below, especially if the weatherman predicts a cooler Christmas. However, in Australia, Christmas is a Summer festival and the food is often nothing like what is below. If you are curious about what Australians put on the Christmas table, you may like to look at this link here.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons 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.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Christmas in July is a Christmas celebration held in the month of July, the nature of which differs by hemisphere.

In the Southern Hemisphere, seasons are in reverse to the Northern Hemisphere, with summer falling in December, January, and February, and with winter falling in June, July, and August. Therefore, in some southern hemisphere countries, such as Australia, Comoros, Madagascar, Bolivia, Angola, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Samoa and South Africa, Christmas in July or Midwinter Christmas events are undertaken in order to have Christmas with a winter feel in common with the northern hemisphere. These countries still celebrate Christmas on December 25, in their summer, like the northern hemisphere.

Our local pub organises a Christmas in July event with traditional Christmas fare, Christmas decorations, carols, Santa and blazing fires in the fireplaces!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

CHRISTMAS WISHES

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

GIVE THANKS

Living in Australia where we celebrate no Thanksgiving holiday, I have had to educate myself regarding this North American tradition. My lessons in history had certainly made me aware of the reasons why this holiday was celebrated and its special significance to the US, especially.

We have forgotten to be grateful in our everyday lives and we don’t say “thank you” and really mean it, often enough. A family sitting around a table and enjoying a meal together, enjoying each other’s company and thanking God, providence, each other, and life, for all the benefits they enjoy on a daily basis is a wonderful thing.

I think more countries around the world should adopt such a day: A day that celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year in a family environment, where there is time to stop, reflect and be truly thankful for all the good things that we enjoy in our life often without a second thought. Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to exercise some gratitude and be truly thankful for what we have…

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

BOUQUET FOR MUM

Mother's Day is a celebration of all the mothers in the world, honouring the mother of the person, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. It complements similar celebrations honouring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents Day. In Australia we celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May, May 14 in 2017.

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

HAPPY 2017

May you have a Happy New Year full of health, joy and prosperity!

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Our Beautiful World meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

GHOULIES & GHOSTIES...

This is our local historic cemetery (you can read more about it here), which i have post-processed and edited in Photoshop, just to give it that Halloween edge...

This post is part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Our World Tuesday meme.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

H A P P Y   H A L L O W E E N !

I've merged photographic images with digital art in Photoshop to create this image.

This post is part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Our Beautiful World meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Photo meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.