PERTH, AUSTRALIA

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia, with an estimated population of  two million living in the Perth metropolitan area. The metropolitan area is located in the South West Division of Western Australia, between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range. The central business district and suburbs of Perth are situated on the banks of the Swan River.

Shortly after the establishment of the port settlement of Fremantle, Perth was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the Swan River Colony. As the business and administration centre for the resource-rich state, Perth has grown consistently.  Perth became known worldwide as the “City of Light” when city residents lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962. The city repeated the act as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998. Perth is tied for eighth place in The Economist’s 2011 list of the world's most livable cities.

Perth’s residents have traditionally enjoyed the highest standard of living of any of Australia’s big cities.  Until recently, the reason for this has been that, for most occupations, wages were only a little less than could be found in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne while house prices in Perth were considerably lower than the other cities.

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.

DRY & WET

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

'HOT COCOA' ROSE

'Hot Cocoa' rose was bred by Tom Carruth, USA, in 2001. Don't plant this beautiful rose at the back of your rose garden because you will miss the most unusual array of colours as the blooms start to flourish. Early in the season, the buds can be quite orange on the outer petals, however, the surprise is when the bud opens, the petals are distinctly brown and then as they age, they turn are dusky, muddy mauve. It is quite stunning at all stages and when the bush is in full bloom, the colour range is amazing.

'Hot Cocoa' is outstandingly disease-resistant with glossy, green foliage which adds to its unique beauty. The bush habit is rather upright and if pushed against a wall and wasn’t pruned, this bush would create quite a spectacular pillar rose. There’s no great perfume but Hot Cocoa is a highly recommended rose to plant for its unusual range of colours.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SPRING MORNING

 In the Darebin Parklands, suburban Melbourne.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

TRIPARTITE

Beauty is to be found all around us, provided we slow down and open our eyes so that we can look for it.

Echium flower cluster, gumnuts (seed pods of eucalyptus) and Ipheion (Star of Spring).

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

WILD LEEK

The three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum) is an invasive weed that can carpet large areas very quickly because of its rapidly germinating seeds that quickly form a dense clump of leaves and flowers. Pretty though this three-cornered leek's white drooping flowersz may be, don't be tempted to pick it as a cut flower because it does reek strongly of an oniony smell! However, all parts of the plant are edible. The leaves and flowers can be added to salads, and the bulbs can be substituted for garlic.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SUNRISE SILHOUETTE

A noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), a bird in the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae, enjoying the sunrise in Melbourne.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

IN BLOOM

 An Australian native (ID?), which I thought was a Philotheca, but apparently not. I encountered it on my walk this morning in Melbourne's Yarra Bend Park.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Moscow (Russian: Москва́) is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 12.5 million residents within the city limits and 17.1 million within the urban area. Moscow is one of Russia's three federal cities. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific centre of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. According to Forbes 2013, Moscow has been ranked as the ninth most expensive city in the world by Mercer and has one of the world's largest urban economies, being ranked as an alpha global city according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and is also one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world according to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index.

Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth. It is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe; the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe; and the Moscow International Business Centre. By its territorial expansion on July 1, 2012 southwest into the Moscow Oblast, the area of the capital more than doubled, going from 1,091 to 2,511 square kilometres, and it gained an additional population of 233,000 people.

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.

An excellent video by Expedia gives you an idea of the delights of this great city:

PIGEONS

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