Bicentennial Park

I have been fighting a terrible cold that just won't let go. It keeps me up at night with dry coughs and nothing coming up. My chest and throat are so sore from the coughing. I thought I was better, and then today I feel exhausted again. Could it be becuase I walked home 9 miles from Parramatta the other day? Hmmmm....but I get ahead of myself.

I had an appointment in Epping which is a suburb that is about halfway between where I live in Kellyville and Sydney Downtown. I decided to do the mass transit and stop along the way back at Bicentennial Park which was a place made during the Sydney Olympics in 2000. My bus took me through Parramatta (the center of my diocese) and so I decided to explore the downtown Parramatta lunch scene.

While waiting for the bus, I noticed that the bottlebrush bushes were already budding (a sure sign of Spring!)(1). These buds were very soft and almost seemed like new painter's brushes or one of those caligraphy-brush pen nibs. Really lovely—and all over the shrubs. They will soon be glorious.

The center of Parramatta is this lovely pedestrian walk (2). At night, little squares of glass block light up with different colors (3) and the fountains are lit in different colors too. It's all very very nice to walk about in, just off the bus stop. I had lunch at a make your own pizza place (4) which is perfect fo me, who likes to control what I put in my stomach. I had a ham and salami pizza with my sparkling water. Very nice.

By the time I got to the park (5-7), I was short on time with my appointment! So I quickly wandered about. Its a landscape of rolling hills, natural amphitheatres (8), lakes (9-10) with bridges and walkways across the large park. In the center is this tower structure (11-13) that you can climb up and a long mall with fountains (14-17). Here are some colorful duck close ups, too (18-19). Also a shot of a clump of trees (20). I like the verticality of the trunks and the muted colors.

And then that was about it. I went to my appointment, then caught a Chinese Zombie movie (Last Train to Buson—if you're into Zombies, it's pretty good) back in Parramatta, had a frozen yogurt and then decided I didn't want to wait for a bus, so I started to hoof it. The night was unseasonably warm for this time of the year. Though the sun had set and that usually means colder temperatures, the thermometer remained around 72 degrees F. It was early when I left Parramatta (around 6). I arrived home around 9:15 pm. Needless to say, this did not do me any good. The next day, my cold was much worse. But I did enjoy my hike and glad I can say I did it.

The following night, I was heading for a meeting at the offices when I came across the friary cat, Leila, acting very strangely, like we were having a visitor. A neighborhood cat we call Samson sometimes comes and wants to get frisky with our fixed madame. But it wasn't him. I heard some movement in the bushes and I thought it might be a stray dog or something. Mind you, this is just outside our back door. It was a fox (21-22). I've run across him before. When our paths cross in close range, like they often do, he stops, and I stop, and we look at each other, and probably both wonder, "Gee...I wonder what I should do next?" and then we go on and pretend we didn't see each other. I suspect he is afraid of Leila as she is very grumpy cat and fairly large and sassy. Surely able to defend herself from such a scrappy looking fox!'

Here is a shot from the other day (23) when the wind was blowing and the temperatures dropped again. This bird is just holding on to the branch as if to say, "Go ahead winter, do your worst! I'll still be here waiting for spring!" In our church, we had confirmations again this weekend. Here's a close up of one of our bouquets for the Mass (24).

Eddie and Marylou celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They brought in these lovely flowers (25) and here is a selfie with them (26). It' always nice to be with people who are so very grateful for everything and anything you do. The littlest things I did for them got me the most gracious thanks and tearful smiles. It was veyr sweet.

Finally, these birds were eating off our frosty field this Sunday morning (27-28). As you can see, birds of a feather don't always flock together. I love the morning light. But now, back to resting and hopefully feeling better next week. I am tired of being sick!