Breathtaking Blue

After 3 days of rain, -much needed- & grey skies, yesterday was windswept, blue & sunny.

This beautiful old Jacaranda tree grows in the front garden of an old house, the grounds of which are weed covered, & neglected. Every year, this beautiful tree blossoms in a rich opulent spread of purple, which is almost obscene in it's wealth of bloom.
I have been wanting to take a photograph for a week. When the rain came, was about when it peaked at the height of it's perfection. Of course, I missed the opportunity, & yesterday was my first chance to try to capture the beauty.

It grows at the side of the Pacific Highway, & is much admired each year, & often discussed. I hate to think, that when the old house finally is sold, some developer will buy the place, & this lovely old tree will be taken down.


An errand at a shop, which is adjacent to the railway yards, prompted me to take a pic of the sheer ugliness of the yard.

The hill in the background is above the Hospital, & on the right of the pic, if you click on it, to enlarge it, you can see the windsock on the Heli Pad of the hospital. One year some idiots lit fires in the bush up on the hill, which of course endangered the Hospital.

This yard is full of machinery for track maintenance, at present. I wished I had a zoom feature on my camera, to show the old rusty wheels, on one of the frames above the tracks. Those old frames date from the first railway to open, & it is a wonder they are still standing when I look at the state of rust.

This is the main line to points north, on the East Coast of New South Wales, & on up to Queensland. All North & Southbound Passenger trains stop at this sad looking station. Certainly no beauty to be seen at the actual station! This dishevelled yard is just north of the actual Station.

As I stood in the car park, I turned my gaze to the East, & saw this lone Norfolk Pine, reaching up to the blue sky, & the puffy white clouds. A contrast after the ugly rail machinery!
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I have just been over at Ian's "Or so I thought", reading an interesting post about 'Faking it'.

He asked the question have you ever Faked it? in the sense of pretending to have read some book, seen some movie, or some other item that is 'hot' & it seems everyone but you has read/viewed/or listened.

In the arrogance of youth I once drunkenly argued discussed the merits of a drummer called Gene Kruper. I had/have no knowledge of the person, have probably never heard any of his drumming & had only briefly heard him discussed by someone who was probably even less informed than I was, in matters musical!

Why would I do this? Who knows. I suppose I was wanting to impress the person I was arguing with. I do remember having borrowed my flat mate's coat for the evening, & on waking the next morning, I realised with horror I had left the coat at the residence where the party had been held.

My flatmate was rightfully irate, so I called a friend, who took me back to the house, hoping to retrieve the coat. I did not know the actual resident, but had met a girl I had known as a child, & as I knocked, I hoped she actually lived there!

No one answered my knock, & since the door stood ajar, I ventured inside. There were sleeping forms lying about in the rooms, & the borrowed coat, lay on a bed, which luckily, was not occupied. I grabbed the coat & took my leave, feeling like a sneak thief, even though no one stirred or seemed aware of my presence.

My friend took me home, & my flatmate was suitably placated on the return of her coat. I mentally vowed never to borrow clothes again, & also, kept thinking about what an utter idiot I had made of myself over the Gene Kruper conversation.

As to 'faking it', I haven't made a practice of faking it, since that night. I have often resisted joining the tide of hyesteria to read/view/ or listen to, something everyone else is raving on about.

I was determined not to see The Sound of Music. Some friends tricked me into going, & I was shocked to realise I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had previously detested musicals. I once walked out of Showboat, I found it so irritating.

My brother & I joke about our 'stubborn streak'. We feel it comes from our contrary Yorkshire ancestors... but then, we have contrary Irish, & also contrary Scots too, so I guess we are doomed to just be contrary!


David Gray, Babylon