In 2019, my yearly visit to the Abbey was in July. As always around this time, it was a bit crisp at dawn, but it was still lovely to be up with the birds.
Now, I’ve come to realise that if I were to ask anyone for guidance during these trying times, it would guidance from this little community, who have chosen to live the secluded life. So I’ve left a little video here for you to ponder on if you will.
Two completely unrelated photos, the only connection is that they are of the natural world.
Some Egg and Bacon Pea flowers besides the walking track at Mount Ettalong on the Central Coast last spring. Drought or not, the show must go on.
And this is a sight that most of us won’t forget in a hurry – the sight of a blood-red bushfire sunset in the middle of the autumn bushfires last year, as seen from my backyard. This scene was repeated for weeks. Spectacular but not one I really would like to see repeated.
Hope you’re going alright out there in isolation. I’m alright here in Sydney. It’s certainly given me a reason to complete things that were let go months ago.
At the moment, I’m going through my photo archive for things that I missed out on posting in recent years. I’ll be posting these in the coming weeks. They might not always be related, but a bit of randomness these days isn’t a bad thing.
These pictures hail from all the way back from winter 2018, when we had a run of frosty days in the suburbs. Frost is a rare thing in our part of Sydney so I had to get my camera out.
Winter might be just around the corner, but as long as you’re warm and dry, it’s not such a bad thing. It certainly gives me a better reason to hibernate, and not regret it.
The majority of the year was taken up in doing much more substantial knitting. This cardigan had been on my knitting queue for awhile, so it was great to be able to see it to the finish. It’s made with a combination of two thin-ish yarns held together (one variegated and one solid). The buttons were bought at the op shop in the tiny NZ town of Granity by a local maker (not sure who).
This vest was actually completed in early 2020, but the bulk of the work was done in 2019. The wool was actually bought by Mum while she was in Reykjavik, Iceland (thanks Mum). The buttons were bought in Hobart, Tasmania, but was machine-made, I think. It’ll be a cosy garment mid-winter, worn underneath my coat.
I know, it’s been a long time between posts. I’ve lost much of my blogging momentum last year but hopefully I can still continue on this year, catching up on my photo posts. First, my knitted works for last year.
I made two sets of baby booties last year for various new mums of my acquaintance. I hadn’t knitted these for awhile so it was a bit like a trip down memory lane.
We’ll end the series with some interesting details from the walk.
Cafes are a big part of Newtown and you can choose to sit at one of 100 or so in the area. Always sit by the window as there’s always something interesting to look at.
And there are also lots of interesting shops to browse too. This one is from a second-hand shop specialising in antiques – a grouping one does not ordinarily see.
What makes Newtown very striking these days is the proliferation of street art.
It’s everywhere from the main to the back streets.
I like it a lot. As well as brightening the suburb up, it deters much of the vandals and gives Newtown’s substantial creative community much needed exposure.
It makes for an interesting walk, I think. Turn a corner, and you can come across touching tributes like this.
Being an old suburb, it also has one of Sydney’s oldest cemeteries, Camperdown Cemetery, located behind St Stephens Anglican Church.
I find cemeteries fascinating places to walk through, and this one is the oasis of the inner west. I can indulge in my love of big moreton bay fig trees.
It’s no longer in use, but retains a very restful atmosphere. I think the plaque below is a reference to the many paupers buried here in unmarked graves.
However, I didn’t find the grave of Eliza Emily Donnithorne, whose story may or may not have inspired Charles Dickens.
Newtown is one of Sydney’s earliest suburbs, so it’s not surprising that the architecture is very mixed, with an emphasis on repurposing.
We’re still trawling through last winter’s photos! Back in July, I took a bit of a walk through the inner-west suburb of Newtown, and this series is all about that walk.
The walk started out on busy King St, the hub of the suburb.
Lots of diverse events about the place, as you can see.
I didn’t stay on King St too long as the back lanes were far more interesting.
Static and Silence 