One of these things is not like the others.

Wattles

Another floral offering from Ian De Gruchy is being projected onto the William Jolly Bridge for the next few days. This one is called Wattles. As I learned when I became and Australian citizen last year, the wattle flower is Australia's national flower and is bright yellow just like it is here.

This is the last in the current series of projections and you can see it each night until Tuesday.  To see all the projections I have managed to catch, click on the "WJB Projections" label below.

Retail Therapy, Queen Street Mall

Salad Days

Bloody Marys all round! With plenty of Worcester and Tabasco. And Vodka.

No Pressure

This is two dads on Boxing Day morning,  perhaps after a one or two festive beers the night before, constructing a complicated trampoline in the boiling sun with 6 children watching their every move ...and advice from the gallery too.

They did a fantastic job - it took about two hours - and the kids were over the moon.

The base of a palm tree in the rainforest at Mt Glorious

Mount Glorious is less than an hour from Brisbane and you can go frolicking in the rainforest and searching for waterfalls, huge plate fungi and giant tadpoles and all sorts of bugs and birds. That's where I'll be today. Poor old me.

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!

Off With His Head!

This one just makes me laugh - it's of a cameraman and a journalist taken at work a few weeks ago. The cameraman on the left is about 6' 8".

Delicate Bokeh

Twas the night before the night before the night before Christmas last night so that's more than enough reason for me to have a glass or two of vino, right? Besides which, I needed something in the foreground of the shot, didn't I? Yesterday I learned a bit about putting some bokeh in your photos (say "bouquet") which is when you get the lights all out of focus like this. This was using the lights on the Christmas tree.

Shady Characters

Here's another look at these street lamps in Woolloongabba. Smart!

Light Entertainment

Right near yesterday's traffic signal box is the top end of Logan road. One of the things that sets it apart is that it is a no through road and so, in this really busy area of town, it is a bit of an oasis (although I haven't really captured that calm in this shot, I realise). There are several fancy restaurants and some antique shops and the cars park down the middle of the road like in country towns. But the best thing about it for me is the lamp shades. Aren't they great??

Traffic Stopping Art (number 57)

It's been a while since I showed you another of our traffic signal boxes. Today's artist is Pen Donovan who has been very busy around town - she's painted 44 traffic signal boxes so far! See them here. This one is called "Footy" and as you might be able to see is controlling traffic outside the 'Gabba football/cricket ground.

Here Comes The Sun

It'll be our longest day soon and then the sun will head north so we can only sing that song for a couple more days.

Right now there is a projection on the William Jolly Bridge called "Summer Solstice" by artist Kate Shaw. See more of her stuff here.

(Little darling) It's been a long, dark year for this side of the bridge since the floods so it's really satisfying to see the little lighthouses back up and running again. This slide will be on view until tomorrow night. Then on Wednesday we've got two weeks of Ian de Gruchy - that's one week of Poinsettias and one week of Wattles. The projections start at dusk and go for about 5 hours.

Yule-kulele jam

On Thursday night we trotted down to The Joynt on Montague Road for a festive final BUMS meeting of the year (that's Brisbane Ukulele Musicians Society). We played Santa Baby which turned out really well - and a stonking rendition of Blister In The Sun by the Violent Femmes (not very Christmassy but still lots of fun). It helps that we have a double bass and some very good ukulele players amongst us who carry the others. You can't hear the wrong chords at all. At one point I had been confidently strumming away and concentrating on the words projected overhead - then I looked down to see my hand curled into the right shape but in the wrong position... which would have been resulting in a deliciously awful dischord. I am getting better, though!

Portable DVD Player

We had a street party recently. Some of us got stuck into a game of street cricket, some stood around with a beer and had a chat and some took charge of the BBQ. These two must have found us all a bit boring!

All Aboard The Six White Boomers Bus!

Each year for the last 15 years the bus depots in Brisbane have had a competition between themselves. They each dress up one of their buses for Christmas. This is the winning bus from this year's comp courtesy of the Bowen Hills depot and I think yule agree they have gone that extra mile. We've got tinsel on every pole, gum nuts and gum leaves, a huge Aussie flag and a fleet of kangaroos (Six White Boomers, no less) all roped up to a "sleigh" piled with presents at the back. There are all sorts of Australian Christmas references like...

 

A day at the beach! Inflatable palm trees, a bucket and spade, junk food and tinnies! 

There's even a thong tied up to one of the railings: 

(That's the footwear variety)

And let's not forget the native animals riding up the front - kangaroos, an emu, a kookaburra, a platypus, a wombat... and a few other things I don't recognise... all festively draped in tinsel!

I was having a chat to the driver (Hi Lyn!) and she said passengers love it. Everyone smiles. People take photos and really get into it. Some of the drivers dress up as Santa - it's hilarious.
One woman even told her that she hadn't been looking forward to Christmas until she got on the bus.

In case you were unaware of the Aussie classic hit "Six White Boomers" well I have a little treat for you here.

Vintage Frocks

Despite Brisbane being extremely hot and humid in the summer, there are quite a few outlets around selling vintage 100% polyester non-breathable frocks in every colour of the rainbow. Why are they here?

* because women continue to sacrifice comfort in favour of fashion
* because the fabric has a half-life of 500 years
* the people who bought them the first time round can't give them away
* or maybe they died from heat exhaustion/asphixiation/spontaeous combustion

Either way, if you like looking like Margot from "The Good Life" while smelling like a Cornish Pastie then head one of Brisbane's many vintage fashion outlets.

P.S. If any of the friends who bought me a very special vintage poly frock recently are reading this, I love it and will be wearing it on Christmas Day all day even if it is 33 degrees and 90% humidity.

The Fast Bit

If you travel by CityCat, it can be a bit slow when it chugs from one stop to another in the centre of town... but once you get out of town a little bit you can have a "King Of The World" moment by leaning on the rail at the front and singing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion really loudly.

The Movement Spreads

It's been a big deal in Rural Queensland for quite some time but the anti-coal seam gas movement's trademark "Lock The Gate" signs are now cropping up in Brisbane. The crux of the matter is that the government are set to make billions of dollars extracting gas from underground... a nice little earner, that's for sure... and they've even promised a huge chunk of the profits to schools. BUT the extracting method ("fracking") is potentially lethal to the land above it including prime agricultural land and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Read more here.

By the way - cheers, Phil/Nell for this photo.

Tea and Cupcakes at Donna's

 Donna had cooked a surplus of fairy cakes for one of her kids' end-of-year class parties... so I helped her out there. Not normally photo-worthy until she brought out the fancy china. Dead posh or what?