Friday 29th August

Hymenanthera dentata (Tree Violet)

Recovering today from the loss of the Grand Final (tennis) yesterday........very sad. So I went down to the river, looking for Jasper again, and discovered it was a beautiful day, quite mild and sunny. I was also pleased to discover a few plants I hadn't noticed before, two of which I could actually identify.

Spyridium parvifolium (Australian dusty miller) (Tree violet again)
So I made a repeat trip to the river, still looking for Jasper, and took my camera this time.
Here are some other photos of our plant group's excursion to Strathewen last Sunday too.
















Needless to say Jasper came home when he was good and ready (and tired), and Lady says she
doesn't mind if Jasper disappears everyday, if it means she gets to go looking for him!

Saturday

Enjoyed my day at Eltham Library today, even if it was a bit quiet. Guess it was better than being too busy to be able to find my way around, as every branch is a little bit different and have their own ways of doing things.
Thursday was disappointing for our Grand Final to be washed out. So we go back this week to finish off.....albeit with a slightly different team, as one of our girls can't make it this week. We went ahead Thursday night however with our end of season dinner out, which was very enjoyable.
Saturday last week we went out with Ginny and Kerry to a Heidelberg Choral Society concert....Nabucco in concert. Was a great concert, with wonderful soloists too. Just wish they had access to a bigger venue, as it was rather close quarters for full orchestra, 8 soloists and 100 strong choir. We all came away having thoroughly enjoyed the performance, but just a little bit deaf. I managed to take a couple of photos with my phone camera:
Then last Sunday we had another night out with some of Ginny and Kerry's other friends to celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary. Was a good night, enjoyable company, and good food at the Mylin Vietnamese restaurant. Again I forgot to take my camera, so have just a couple from my phone camera:
My current project is to go through a lot of botanical photos to select some for a powerpoint presentation. Need to have this done in a couple of weeks I think, ready for a community talk a couple from our plant group will be giving at Mill Park Library.

Sunday 3rd August

It is nice to be home again after my brief sojurn to Cairns to help Margaret. I am not sure how much help I was, but certainly hope I wasn't a hindrance. Wish I could have stayed longer to help with all the running around, and maybe I will get back if I am still needed later on. It certainly is a good time to visit Cairns, not that there was any sightseeing done, but the weather was just balmy compared to Melbourne at the moment. Even the windy day was okay if you had a cardy on - maybe a bit more if you were a Cairns-ian.
Got through tennis on Thursday after the late flight back Wed night, in a bit of a daze, but we won, so we are still on top of the ladder and into the start of the finals next week. Then Thursday afternoon and evening was spent getting stuck into finishing the newsletter, getting it printed Friday, collecting it, folding, stapling and labelling them, and posting today....hooray. The email version is already sent.
And now I have just successfully uploaded photos from the two July garden visits onto my web album - see link to My Botanical Web Albums under Plant Links on the top right.
Had a nice birthday dinner out with Neil tonight at the Machan, a local Indian restaurant - a bit noisy, but nice food and ambience.