"May the Fourth Be With You!

Happy Star Wars Day ("May the 4th")! The first photo was doctored by one of our primary school students and posted on twitter or some such social media! How smart are kids these days? I think I was at Mass at the school when the photo was taken!

These next couple of shots (2-3) were early ones of a sun rise before 6.45 AM Mass. I love the way the rays of light cause streaks in the sky, bouncing of the clouds and highlighting them.

I was invited to Juliette's house last Sunday. She is an elderly Syrian woman, born in Jerusalem. "The best place in all the world!" She swears it's the best because "Jesus walked there." Isn't that sweet? Anyway here is some of the homemade stuff of which I can't get enough (4). She says it's peasant food and that I should let her make me something else. Yet this is what I love: tabuli (green in the front), humus (in the far back, left), and falafel (centre)! (I think that's how to spell them!) It was lovely, and lovely to listen to her talk about being there. These are some really exotic blooms along her driveway (5). Never seen flowers like these anywhere else.

And here are some other unique flowers growing on our property (6-8). The whole bush was coverd in these velvety blooms. On another day I took photos of these red, gladiola-like flowers (9-10) and this is another variety growing down the street (11). I love the way these last flowers look paint splattered!

Now we move on to my "cockatoo series." I kept running into these fun birds throughout the week. This first image is at one of our primary schools, St. Angela's. The fountain has a pair of concrete doves at the top which became the parrot's perch (12)! On the way home from the ferry ride last week, I came across three cockatoos on a fence by a supermarket. One had a nabbed a hotdog bun and the other two, one on either side, kept trying to take nibbles out of it, much to the frustration of the thief. Eventually it got tired of his "friends" and flew away, just as I took this shot (13). The other two just sat there then, wondering what all the fuss was about (14). Look at this "cheeky" bird, as they say here; this is one of the remaining pair trying to look innocent (15). And some more shots of the same bird (16-18).

Finally, I just love the variations on the flowers here. These last images (19-23) are variations of "bottlebrush." This first image (19) is the typical color you see. The whole bush can grow quite tall and at certain times of the year, it is fully covered with red bottlebrush blooms. Here an Australian mynah is sucking out some of it's nectar (19). Around the shops they grow a lovely white variety that I have not seen anywhere else (20-21). Finally, check out this variation (22-23). It reminds me of lace, or maybe frost.