Travel: Winter Magic Festival, Katoomba (lots of photos)

After raining all night, the day dawned with another thick fog and we were in two minds whether to head off up the mountains to what looked like being a cold bleak day, but by the time we crossed the Nepean River we had left the fog in Sydney and the mountains were clear and sunny and a brisk 10 degrees C.

The Winter Magic Festival celebrates the winter solstice each year, in a true hippy pagan heaven.

There's more pictures from other festival goers at the Flickr Winter Magic Festival page

By the time we arrived the main street was packed, with the scent of patchouli in the air and the soft swish of lots of panne velvet.


Yes, all those little dots spreading up the hill of Katoomba Street are people, we joined the throng and shuffled our way along the street stalls.

Just reached the top of the street as the crowd parted and the parade started.
The lovely thing about this festival is the participation by who ever wants to dress up and join in - there were lots of families, old and young.
We were surprised to see some friends dressed up and in the parade, didn't get a photo and couldn't find them later in the crush.





there were stormtroopers



and a bear raising money to free captive bears in asia



there were lots of dragon fly motifs, because the Blue Mountains is home to the endangered Giant Dragonfly - petalura gigantea and the push is on to try and save it - (it's survived 190 million years, but good old mankind and his urban development is about to wipe it out)







don't know who this was, but guessing, being a solstice festival, he's probably the horned god


These young green frogs hopped all the way up Katoomba Street



while this little viking took the easy way on dad's shoulders



the socialists were all dressed up to plot John Howards' downfall



there were big mermaids:



and little mermaids:



there were little fairy princesses



and big fairy princesses



some had lots of panne velvet



and others just had a smidgeon



there were witches in black



and witches in purple



and witches with drums



this was a float in the parade - don't ask me to explain why an animal of indeterminate breed (wearing his pj's) is on a surfboard atop a two headed snail - I guess you had to be there when the planning committee met.





Lots of stilt walkers in the parade, and coming up behind this one you can make out the bright pink and green feathers belonging to....



...well, you tell me who!! "Her" feathers stretched right across the road and we all had to duck them as "she" passed. Would have loved a full on photo but it was impossible in the crowd.

It seemed everyone had their dog with them, most dressed for the day - there were big dogs



and little dogs



and some just hoping that mum will take them home soon, before their friends from puppy preschool see them in this getout



After the parade had passed, we again joined the shuffle to the Carrington Hotel area were we watched the most fantastic performance by tribal dancers and drummers , "Hands, Heart and Feet" from Blue Mountains Drum and Dance group











the girls danced for ages, individually and together, so much energy! then these three young boys took over



and then the guys in the group showed what they could do



we wandered up and down the street a couple more times, met people we knew, (what a small place Sydney is!) stopped for soup and chicken focaccio then watched the gypsy dancers



At the other end of town were folk dancers dancing to an irish sounding jig, having a great time but seeming subdued after the tribal dancers

As we watched them dance, I thought they had a sort of 'cult' look to them, then saw their food stall later and realised they were from the Peppercorn Creek Farm which sounds all warm and fuzzy but hasn't always had the best press

By late afternoon the main street looked like it had even more people in it than in the morning



We had shuffled up and down several times, bought a leather belt for him and a silver dragonfly necklet for me so decided that was enough for the day.

On the way back to the car we passed some of the old mountain houses that I drool over







and then a last stop at a lookout as the fog started to settle in the valley and off home

pea soup

Not frequently, but now and then through winter we can expect a pea soup fog to descend on us, it closed Sydney airport and disrupted the ferry services on the harbour, the Sydney version can be found here but out in the 'burbs it was enough just to be able to make out the birdbath in next door's front yard - end of the street was shrouded away - I like it, has an ethereal 'werewolf on the moors' feel about it,

Travel: Fairfield City Museum, NSW, Australia

Near the busy intersection of Horsley Drive and the Cumberland Highway in Fairfield (western suburbs of Sydney) is the Fairfield City Museum and Gallery.

The original building was built in 1913 and served as the council chambers until 1920 when the property was sold to James and Florence Morris and their daughter Maisie.

In 1980, when Maisie died, her final wish was for the house to become a museum. Fairfield Historical Society lobbied council, who bought the property and the museum became a reality.

Since then, several old buildings have been relocated here, creating the working village in the ground, very popular with school groups.

There is also an art gallery here specialising in textile exhibitions.
It was the "Quiltessence II" exhibition that brought me here this week,
I've been meaning to photograph the village for some time, and didn't really pick a great moment, as a visiting school group was all over it, so I had to try and avoid the children, sad indictment of today when you have to avoid photographing children in public.

This first photo is looking down the main street of the village

This is a collection of old machinery


The first building along the street is the Victoria Street Schoolhouse

School groups love this one, they have a lesson inside and get to write with pen and inkwell (hey, I remember them!) I remember desks like these too, (of course I was very young - a child prodigy)


Next is the slab hut

The 1880's slab hut is made from roughly cut Australian hardwood and is classified as a heritage item. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the Fairfield area. Thought to have been constructed as early as 1836, it was taken apart and carefully reconstructed here at the museum.

Caversham Cottage was built in 1880 on Smart Street, Fairfield, dismantled and rebuilt at the museum. An example of late Australian Victorian period Georgian style weatherboard cottage.


Caversham is a one room cottage, the inside just as it would have been at the turn of the century (1900 that it, not 2000!)







In the corner next the Caversham, is the blacksmith shop, with a couple of very incongruous modern witches hats.

On special open days, a blacksmith gives demonstration in here


Along the back of the property is the garage

and next door is "The Biz" which was the local newspaper for many years, first published in 1917 - this reproduction of the newspaper office has the original printing press used to produce the newspaper.



Next is Wheatley's general store which dates back to 1892, this is a reproduction of the original building which still stands in The Crescent, one of Fairfield's main streets.


Inside the shop

haberdashery:


a lovely collection of green depression glass (now worth considerably more than 7 pence!)


and some nice pottery which I think could be Carlton Ware - hmmm, I'd give them 8 shillings and 3pence ha'penny for the set of leaf plates.....


and just before I leave to tackle the traffic outside on Cumberland Highway - the Italian bread oven, not just a decoration, it produces delicious wood-fired bread

what kind of flower are you

thanks to Stuart, the happy little daffodil, I've just found out that I'm a Morning Glory - "Dedicated is one word for you. You have a tendency to overwhelm other people occasionally with your enthusiasm for life."

I am a Morning Glory What Flower Are You?

Sounds great except that in Australia it's a noxious weed
...and I think I recall something from the '60s about hallucinogenic seeds
....not that I ever did anything like that in the '60s
.......me mum would've had a fit

Pacman

tag: cacti



here's one for the cacti lovers, taken at the Botanic Gardens Sydney, and reminding me of the games that came with our old Commodore 64.

Pacman was released in 1980, and is still around - want to play? or here

red clouds at night

tags: clouds

I was bringing the washing in off the line just as the sun was setting and a flock of noisy cockatoos made me look up at the sky where this was happening:





Our house is in a dip so I never seem able to get a clear sky shot, too many roofs and wires overhead,
I just had time to run inside and grab the camera, the sun slipped away as I was watching.





technorati tags: clouds

end of summer roses

I've been playing with my macro settings again:

I find a sculptural beauty in the dead heads of the roses - I think I need to use a tripod though, I seem to be lacking the sharpness of the photos in the macro pools, where they leave comments for each other on their wonderful DOF - had to google for that one, it means Depth of Field - if you hang out in the macro circles you have to know these terms.

Then there is COF, which is Circle of Confusion (said to be a group of photographers trying to understand DOF)
I move in a permanent COF so before it widens further, here's my dead heads:

rainbow

I meant to post this photo last week on the first day of rain, it seemed like a promise of what was to come - the view through the telegraph wires isn't the most aesthetically pleasing but it was a superb full rainbow



and it wasn't a bad sunset either, through the bare tracery of the crepe myrtle (not as good as Alice's sunsets, but it's the best I could do from the backyard)

Rain, rain..don't go away

tag: flowers

We've been having some nice steady rain around Sydney, gardens are lapping it up, unfortunately not much is falling in the catchment areas at the moment but it's predicted that those areas should get some falls through the coming week.

Today we had a short sunny spell between showers and the rain drops were glistening on all the plants





The bromeliads have some nice flowers appearing, I like them for their low care and splashes of colour when not much else is happening.



The zygocactus was looking lovely a few days ago when I took this photo but now after the rain its flowers have a decidedly soggy compost look to them.

another aussie gardening blog

the Cosmic gardener in Tasmania looks like being an interesting read - I found it during a google search on planting by the moon- the cosmic gardener says:
"This blog combines my own garden experiences with some comentary on moon phases, plant lore and whatever I feel like writing."

Sydney photo blog

You might have noticed I love showing off my city so was delighted to find Paul Murphy's blog "Sydney Webcam" - Paul posts a daily photograph and his photography is brilliant!

Travel: Newington Armament Depot, Homebush NSW

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks, getting a display ready for the Sydney Miniatures Show and a demonstration I did for our little textiles group, so we’ve been missing our Sunday drives.

However, a couple of weeks ago, daughter grabbed me late one afternoon to go with her to see the Artexpress exhibition at Homebush.

Artexpress is a collection of work by high school students submitted for their High School Certificate examination in visual art, because of the quantity of work it is usually divided between a number of exhibitions spaces.

The venue we went to was at the Newington Armoury which is on a section of the Bicentennial Park next to the Olympic Park at Homebush, NSW

We didn’t allow enough time to find the place, so got there very close to closing, on a cold afternoon, I was more interested in the history of the site itself and promised myself another visit later.

In 1882, approximately 88 hectares of the Newington Estate on the Parramatta River was resumed by the Government for the development of an armaments magazine.

The armoury gate house was built in 1897.

In 1921 management of the Depot was transferred from the Royal Marine Garrison to the Royal Australian Navy and the complex expanded into adjacent grazing land and wetlands.

The largest expansion of the site was between 1941 and 1944 when the site expanded south, providing space for the construction of additional magazines for the US Navy and the Royal Navy as support facilities for the US and British Pacific Fleets.

By 1950 demolition of war time stocks had commenced.

Conflicts between the Naval Depot and surrounding commercial and residential areas occurred in the 1960s, when tear gas and other noxious fumes escaped and affected nearby office workers, and in 1961 certain explosives were removed from the site and relocated to the Kingswood depot.

Landfilling had been occurring around the site since early 20th century and there were a number of areas (including the Olympic site) where wastes were dumped or that operated as municipal and industrial waste tips.

Historical naval records indicate disposal of residues arising from Depot activities including laboratory wastes, burning ground wastes, detonated and burnt ammunition, military waste including containers, boxes, petroleum, obsolete stores and propellants in the Nature Reserve Saltwater Wetlands and other land areas.
A large proportion of the Wetlands has consequently been fenced off to the public due to the possible existence of unexploded ordnance.

It was a standing joke in Sydney when the Olympic site was being constructed that it would “tick”, and everyone knew someone who had worked at Homebush in the chemical plants or the state abattoir, and had stories of buried toxins and chemicals.

All of this dumping just another tiny example of the horrific things we do to our planet, and dumping in a wetland, where seepage carries into the river - what were they thinking??!!

None of this has been good for our long suffering Parramatta River, this old sign on the armament site not only shows the usual workplace warnings but also against eating fish caught from the river.

Earlier this year commercial fishing was again banned in Sydney Harbour.

One small saving grace was the discovery of the endangered green and gold bell frogs on the Olympic site, the presence of the frog meant the building plans were halted and a frog habitat had to be created nearby.

The Navy vacated a portion of the site in 1996, when ownership transferred to the State Government to be developed as the Athlete's Village and the suburb of Newington.

However, they did not leave the Armoury Precinct until December 1999. The last ammunition operation was conducted over the wharf on 14 December 1999

So back to our visit – a long stroll from the car park to the wharf –






Then we followed the little railway tracks:-



from the Light Railway Research Society of Australia -

“From 1909 – 1999 an extensive network of lines carried armaments from the wharf to a series of storage bunkers. The line was worked by battery-electric locomotives”



through the tunnel to the gallery which must have been one of the storage buildings, a bunker almost buried in the centre of the hill.

Outside, before we entered the tunnel, were sculptures (not made by students but, I think, left over from the annual “sculpture by the sea”, I should have paid more attention to the signage)

I really liked this table, cast metal with a camel theme, bit strange finding it standing in this open field with "buffer zone" sign next to it - what was it buffering, I wonder.

(is this what they mean when they say “it was outstanding in its field”)



behind it you can see the hill of the bunker.

And this piece with a wave motif

So getting cold and late we headed off home til next time.

(...and how *do* you spell armoury - according to my dictionary it's armoury and armory is the US spelling, so why does the Sydney Olympic site keep calling it armory - another takeover/corruption of our spelling - I get really annoyed when Australians use US spelling, I have enough arguments swearing at the microsoft spell check)

apropos nothing.....

I really hate cooking, I mean I *REALLY*...*HATE* cooking, which has always been hard to reconcile with the fact that I like eating - I cook because I have to, not for pleasure, so what ever possessed me to buy 1kg of ricotta cheese at the supermarket....I mean....1 whole KG for heavens sake!

Husband suggested I could make cheese pies (like mother used to!!)

Couldn't find a pie plate in the whole house that hadn't been used to mix paint when I suddenly remembered another of my impulse buys - a pie maker - another of those whatever possessed me moments, what did I think I was going to do with a pie maker - you can't even dye stuff in it!!!

So here it is - the first and most likely the last time you will see my cooking on this blog!