New Green, New Women.

In the intervening weeks since I last wrote the rain has fallen steadily at times, in torrents otherwise. It's wonderful to be able to walk through the city Botanic Gardens and see them turning from that dry and desperate state to lush and green. Then swiftly onwards to an exhibition I have been meaning to catch for some time now "New Women" at the Brisbane Museum as it ends on the 15th of March and a shout out to anyone who hasn't seen it to go https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/new-woman-curator-tours/.
Last weekend I had the pleasure to go on a tour with Vida https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/whats-on/walking-with-vida/ which was so much fun and it was my starting point to want to see more of the women artists.
So through the city Botanic Gardens...

To one of Daphne Mayo's work in the city - The Women's War Memorial in Anzac Square. She put a nurse in right at the end to make sure women were represented - can you spot her? It was said of her that she was a slight woman but did a man's work!

The Exhibition is a collection of women artists work over 100 years. It presents personal stories and the work of ground breaking women who fought to have a place in the art world of the time, as well as the more recent work done by women artists, innovating and challenging boundaries.

I have always been a great admirer of one of Brisbane's early woman sculptors, Daphne Mayo who is responsible for the Tympanum above the city hall but also many other significant art works in the city. Vida Lahey another of Brisbane women artists and Daphne were great friends and collaborators and the latter painted a portrait of Vida in her later years. Here is Vida in 1965.

Jeanette Seldon took the shape of Gum leaves and put into them the most exquisite sea and land scapes which you can just discern in this photo.

Pamela Macfarlane 1926 - 1999 painted this beautiful portrait entitled Bloden Mead.

Betty Quelhurst has a background in the army and was a well known painter - this self portrait painted in 1947 is entitled The Red Coat. She reminds me of my mother. On the right of matron.

Megan Cope created something specially for the Quandamooka People. 

And Donna Marcus produced this art work in 1961 which is an iron slide made of Aluminium teapots and steel rods. 

Its a considered and well curated collection of women artists - do see it if you can.

Discoveries with Dougall 16 The attraction of flowing water

Blue up above and blue below and in between hues of green.

 Look at the colour of this tree - a cadaghi eucalypt with Chlorophyll in its trunk according to my friend Verity. 

 And the girth of this one fig which is taller and wider then the houses behind it. 

Our footpath impassable in the gushing water 

Dougall and I set out without a moments hesitation today to catch the sun before more rain came down. He loved the gushing water and it became a game to see where he could approach the creek without being carried away. He darted in and out of the bushes with such delight. We came back dirty and muddy and so very happy to have had our walk out and about.

From raindrops rainbows of fungi grow.

I look up and it is a solid covering of cloud cover slipping into gun metal grey for the whole week. Not a crack of blue in the sky. The rain is coming down as if someone up there realised that not enough had been released and decided to chuck it all down in one. Rainfall that has exceeded monthly levels in a day, warnings are out now for local flooding. Dougall and I had to find another walk as the creek had burst its banks and we could not cross the flooded plain without gumboots. 

And growth - well you could sit and watch it. From one day to the next and this happens.

Staggering colours, shapes and sizes and popping up everywhere. Thought I would share them with you before they all disappear once more.

A garden home

The garden has loved the rain and I have been very excited to see the first bloom on our Tibouchina tree after we had it cut back. It is so very beautiful you will agree. And the sky is Blue.

The rain has made a difference of course and the weeds have sprung up, so I spent an afternoon weeding like mad and just generally tidying up after all the weeks away. I filled the buckets and carried them down to the open compost bins we have at the bottom of the garden near the Bee hive.C mowed the lawn and all the grass clippings go into them as well. Our activity in the last couple of days clearly disturbed a new occupant. It has probably nested there so we expect lots of slithery sidlets might be hatching out soon. Good thing I didn't go too close to the bin eh. 

 One of my cheeky chappies is back on the deck and life takes its course. 

The sky has turned grey and we await the rain. 

Discoveries with Dougall 15 After the Rain

I have been away in Europe for three weeks and in that time it rained in Brisbane.What a blessing, what a change to the whole landscape. Dougall and I set off today to explore our hood and its paths and to record some of what was going on. A black and white symphony of cockatoos and crows on a grass verge sent flying by his appearance. They were calling and cawing in their own talent show. A bush Turkey busily preparing its nest, scratching away on a hillock of steaming mulch. A very beautiful turquoise butterfly fluttering wildly to find a mate or a leaf to lay its larvae. Tips of new growth on the bunyas and the hoop pines, walking through long grass. Dougall loves nothing better. Colours coming to the fore, the yellow dry and dust receding. The skies still heavy with rain clouds which we hope will burst over us as we walk. 

Returning to the warmth of the weather and the people around us. Neighbours who sweep our pool side clean before our return and "accidentally" fall in it to cool off. Others who stock our fridge so there are dinners for us while we adjust to our altered timings. A ready smile from passers by, an Aussie joke about big dogs. Waking up at 4 am to the laughing kookaburras shaking the neighbourhood out of its slumber. The dawn chorus erupting to my utter, utter delight. Its an early start for me today embracing the morning light. 

Mer de Glace - Montenvers.

A short train ride up the valley and through the forest took us to the Glacier - Mer de Glace.

We walked some 530 steps down to the caverns and of course 530 steps back up. The stark message on the way down was pinned onto the rocks giving the height of the glacier at various times dating back to the 1870s. There is a telecabine there which takes you half way down because not so long ago that is where the glacier was. Now of course it has receded a lot further and you have to walk down into the valley. Climate change, warming of the planet, call it what you will, its there for us all to see ... just. Remarkable in its beauty, translucence, blueness and depth.

From one Majesty to another

A few days en famille, a rarer occurrence these days as the kids grow into their own busy lives. So we moved from the Majesty of Granny to the Majesty of the Mountains - and they have brought a flood of memories, tastes, sensations and thrills back for us all.

Waking up to the view of the moon still visible over those glorious peaks.

And then watching as the sun rises and bathes the slopes in a warm glow, while the gang gets ready with all their paraphernalia to head out. 

Remembering the times we spent in this part of the world, reliving the moments on the mountains and reaching into the inner grey matter for the right French word, while throwing cholesterol levels to the wind as we dive into our first fondue for years.