Make the most of it

The rain is coming. A wet weekend beckons in Brisbane town!

Roots Down

The big fig trees which line Oxford Street by the Memorial Park in Bulimba have these funky sleeves to protect them. Prop roots spring from the branches like scaffolding and grow downwards to support the huge weight of the tree and as a consequence they can grow over a vast area. Here's a closer view:

It reminds me of a poem by Brisbane's newly elected Greens councillor who recited it as part of an unprecedented maiden speech in council last month. A poem in council!? The rest of the councillors probably thought he was mad; a bit out-there for Brisbane! But you don't get more Brisbane than this:

Roots down
roots down
roots down
roots down
my heart's buried deep under Brisbane town
creekbeds, hilltops, riding around
cracking macadamias and putting roots down
I am of this city
its history is my history
my scraped knee and my favourite tree
and swimming lessons in the pool at Craigslea Primary
and Oxley's expedition back in 1823
and our Year 4 excursion to Saint Helena Island
and those weather-worn tennis balls that we were always finding
and the floods of 1974
and the invasion of 1788
and the park on the north side where I rode without training wheels for the first time
and the frog pond of drowning Christmas beetles
and Joh Bjelke-Pietersen
and hunting Easter eggs in the backyard
and hunting kangaroos by Breakfast Creek
and the roller coaster at the top of the Myer Centre that looked like a dragon and screamed at the madness beneath
Roots down
roots down
this town
roots down
My roots are tendrils, tentacles
reaching down below
splitting concrete and bitumen digging in
The soil is soft after summer storms
and the roots grow quickly, thickly
but Brisbane's burbs're built on clay
so once they're down they're down to stay
Roots down roots down brushtail growl hear that sound
But now and then in this circus I encounter a clown
who thinks that because he's got his roots in the ground
he somehow gains the right to define this town
and decide who else gets to put roots down
See the surface seems sufficiently serene
but if you peel back the bandaid you'll see the gangrene
And now I see you've forgotten
I see your roots are rotten
but this garden has no gardener
that's how we got to where we've gotten
The question on my mind is where we going?
This city is growing
sauropod construction cranes on every horizon
jackhammer clattering drowns out the cicadas
the relentless march of apartment towers makes suburbanites nervous
so they build higher fences
and mow their lawns weekly
Roots down, stolen ground
dead trees, river brown
I know something's awry in this city
but I can't quite put my finger on it
It's like we've outgrown the garden bed
roots in a twist
slumbering suburbs
silence those who resist
Vision blurring
but now I hear them stirring
climb Mt Cootha at midnight
see them lighting candles and switching off TVs
Flying foxes in the trees
stench of rotten mangoes
gives way to a cool south-easterly
Pumpkin vines wither and die but the passionfruit keeps growing
skyscrapers sprouting up from the bedrock
Wivenhoe overflowing
activists invade city hall and the clocktower falls silent in anticipation
Change is coming to Brisbane town
we feel it in the soil
while we cracking macadamias and putting roots down

(by Jonathan Sri)

Canopy

At the back of Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.

Passionfruit Squiggly Bits

Autumn Shadows

The clocks changed in England last night and it reminded me about how subtle the change in season is here. Queensland doesn't have daylight saving and if you are used to big seasonal changes you might not even notice the difference between summer and autumn. Generally here in the autumn months the nights get a little bit chilly so that you might need a blanket. The sun is supposed to shine a bit more than the cloudy, wet summer and the overall humidity of the past couple of months lifts. Good news for shadow shots! This one was taken in the local school playground. I like the defined leaves and the "bokeh" leaf shadows too!

Princess Flowers For International Women's Day

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day. It celebrates how far we have come in our efforts to gain equality with men in every day society and examines the (often long) road ahead.

 For every woman reading this, these flowers are for you! They are Princess Flowers (also known as Tibouchina urvilleana) and are blooming right now in parks and gardens all over Brisbane. They are native to Brazil but do very well here in our subtropical climate.

By the way - the International Womens Day official colours are purple, green and white.

Orange Flowers in Cathedral Square

The council gardeners have planted a sea of orange flowers in the square opposite St. John's Cathedral - oooh lovely!

What I like about 'tu'.

One of the things I love about growing turmeric in Brisbane is that for several months of the year it hides away. The only sign it's there is when you dig underground and find the orange root which looks a bit like ginger or galangal and is excellent grated on just about anything. Then, in spring, tiny green spears poke through the soil for what seems like only a moment before they shoot upwards and unfurl these huge thick leaves. After a season or two you start getting the flowers which, as you can see, are really beautiful. But the BEST thing for me is that they seem to thrive with no attention whatsoever. My kind of plant.

My favourite recipe using turmeric at the moment is Parsi Scrambled Eggs. It's the breakfast of champions. Use the powder in the cooking and then grate the root over the top. Delicious!

P.S. Australians born in Australia tend to pronounce this plant/spice without the 'r' and with the 'tu' and in Tuesday. ie ' Tu-meric'. We all know that this is wrong and that the correct pronunciation is with the 'r' and the 'tur' as in 'turban': Turmeric. Feel free to argue with me but I know I am right.

Anyway to make the title work I've adopted the Aussie pronunciation.

Blooming Yellow

It's a perfect summer morning right now - blue skies, birds singing, the sun sparkling on the river. I snapped these blooms when I went for a walk this morning - I'm not sure what they are but they're putting on a bit of a show at the moment.

Deck the bridge with blooms of Poin...er...

Doesn't our bridge look good at the moment?  This is Poinsettias by Ian De Gruchy and will be projected onto the bridge each night for about 5 hours from when it gets dark up until tuesday night. Poinsettias are Brisbane's floral emblem. At the risk of sounding like a smarty pants, I reckon that these flowers are actually from a Poinciana tree. What do you think?

 Either way, the floral tribute is very Christmassy as both red flowers are blooming in Brisbane right now. If you are celebrating, Happy Christmas to you!

The Papery Bark of a Tree Around The Corner

I've heard of a Paperbark Tree. Maybe this is one? It stands with two others on the pavement of a local street with its bark all ragged and falling off. Some parts come away in chunks, others in gossamer-thin leaves that float off in the wind. I love these trees!

Baby Paw Paws

Afternoon Beers by the Hibiscus

Bald Spots

Ok last one from the Bunya Mountains till my next trip. This one was taken whilst walking on the 'Balds' which are hills with natural grassland growing all over them. The balds support a wide range of native plants and animals and are shrinking due to the encroachment of the surrounding forests.

If you want to read a bit more about the Bunya Mountains habitat there's an interesting PDF you can download here.

Prickly Pears

Well I hope you like plants because you're not getting anything else from me at the moment. I'm still all loved-up from my Bunya Mountains camping experience, frolicking in the natural world and being at one with nature and all that. These cacti are about 2 metres tall. I love the way they are lit from behind. If you look closely you can see a spider web in the bottom right of the picture providing a bit of contrast.

The Elders

Some of the largest trees in the Bunya Mountains are the Australian Red Cedar trees like the one in the middle of the picture which right now in Spring have small red leaves that turn green later on. Most obviously, though, are the Bunya pine trees - that's one on the left. From December to March the trees drop their cones which contain lots of nuts inside. The cones look like a large green pineapples and weigh about 10kgs and the trees are about 60m high. So if one of them drops on your head it'd kill you stone dead. Yes, September is a very good time to go!

Postcard From The Bunya Mountains

Bunya Mountains National Park is about 200kms north-west of Brisbane. The mountains themselves were formed 30 million years ago supposedly from the remains of a volcano. They seem to rise out of nowhere from the plains around them and peak at 1135m. Walking around the park is different at every turn. It can't seem to make up it's mind if it's rainforest, eucalypt forest or natural grassland. There are idyllic waterfalls and rockpools and you get frogs there that are found nowhere else in the world (with the biggest tadpoles you've ever seen). There are kangaroos and plenty of other native mammals as well loads of reptiles and 130 different species of birds. If you like that kind of thing, it's definite WOW territory.

Are these forgetmenots?

Spring at last! The weather has really improved over the last week. Temperatures are in the mid twenties, it's really sunny and there are buds and blooms everywhere. These flowers are growing on the pavement on my street. There are white, lilac and purple flowers all on the one plant and they smell AMAZING! Someone once told me they were forgetmenots... I always thought they were blue.  What do you think?

City Branch

If you've ever been to the junction of Eagle Street and Creek Street, right in the heart of Brisbane's skyscraper area, you'll notice some gigantic old fig trees in the middle of the intersection. Read all about them in the very excellent Your Brisbane Past and Present here.

I love the texture of these old aerial roots. They are sent down from the branches until they end up planting themselves in the ground forming gnarly twisted curtains. The contrast to the cars, buildings and construction that surround the trees on all sides is striking.

Loss

Australia woke yesterday to the horrific news that eleven people including eight kids had perished in an infernal house fire in Slacks Creek just south of Brisbane. They were from two families, one Tongan and one Samoan, and spanned three generations. As the day wore on, we heard about the father who had jumped from the upper floor and called to his wife to help their five kids jump onto the mattress he was setting up but she and all five kids were found later in the ruins all huddled together. Members of both communities arrived at the scene and started singing so beautifully in amongst all that agony. It was absolutely heart-breaking.

See and read more here.