Random acts of kindness

Don’t you love it when you happen upon someone doing something totally unexpected and kind for someone else?

The other day, while I was out to get some groceries,  it suddenly started to absolutely bucket down with rain. Happily, I had an umbrella with me.

As I walked past a small corner grocery, an elderly lady came out, and stopped abruptly, looking quite distressed. She didn’t have an umbrella. The owner of the shop appeared with a brand new umbrella, still in its wrapping, and gave it to her to use. She said she’d bring it right back, he told her not to worry, next time she was that way would be just fine.

I wish that nice man many blessings.

A quiet day

That old smooth voiced Garrison Keillor would say "It's a quiet day in Lake Woebegone". Well for me, it's a quiet day in South Melbourne.

The sun came out for a little while, and I spied Fletcher, the gentleman cat, taking advantage of this to have a little catnap in one of his favourite spots, a cozy hammock formed by part of the shade cloth that covers the back deck. He made me quite envious.


My presence must have wakened him. A slightly grumpy feline face appeared over the edge of the shade cloth.



My apologies, Fletcher.

Rivalry

There are many types of rivalry: sibling, political, social and so on.


But, here in the south eastern part of Australia, you'd go a long way to encounter more avid partisan rivalry than that found between the football teams of Sydney and Melbourne. (There is rivalry between the Melbourne teams, also, but that's a whole different story.)


This football is AFL (Australian Football League), not to be confused with rugby or soccer. Sydney has one team: the Sydney Swans. Melbourne fields 10 teams, I haven't got the energy (nor interest, if truth be told), to list them.

So, here am I, walking down a quiet residential street in Melbourne, when I noticed this sign, attached to the wall of a private driveway.

I dips me lid to these brave (? foolhardy ) folks!

Odds and ends

There is a lot of good street art in Melbourne; it has been encouraged in some areas, by the city council. When it's not  so hot, I'll get out and capture some more. But, here's a little sample:

There are 2 lovely cats at the house I'm minding. They are Fletcher, the former male, and Weaver, the little lady. Here is Weaver in her post-prandial contented phase:

This morning, she burst into the house with her tail about 3 times its usual size. I went to see what had given her a boost of adrenalin, and found a very handsome Siamese cat trapped atop the fence  between me and Fletcher. The Siamese tried to leap onto the roof, missed, scrabbled down the wall, did a half pike with twist from the clothesline, then quickly did a standing high jump that took him over the fence and off to freedom. Three very agitated cats!

November 21, 2010 Vale, lovely old German gentleman

Today, the most loyal, gentle friend you could ever know quietly  slipped away from us.

Booka, I hope you're up in canine heaven, with a never ending supply of juicy bones, balls to chew and water holes to swim in.

November 20, 2010 Where in heck am I???

So, first of all, I saw this paved street:

Next, I noticed this pretty sculpture, guarding a house:

Then, I spotted these zucchini blossoms:

And, finally, was that really some Nesti Dante soap?

Had I fallen asleep and dreamed I was in Italy? A little pinch soon told me I was awake. All of these photos were, in fact, taken here in Melbourne. The first 3 I found within 5 minutes walk from my home for the next 2 months. The soap was a gift from my son: he'd found it while out for a wander.

PS I have managed to disrupt the format of this blog, and have lost some of the features: blogs I follow, people who follow my blog, and so on. I'm waiting for some help to get things back on track again. (Cross your fingers for me, please.)



November 19, 2010 Almost back!

Tonight, I start my house/cat/goldfish sitting stint. And, I’ll have my little laptop back on line, so I can begin to share some of the delights of Melbourne.

This morning, a friend in Connecticut sent me the following link, and I was delighted to find that it was written by none other than the bloke whose house I’ll be minding. Another small world happening. He writes so well, I’ll have to nag at him to start a blog.

http://www.fodors.com/community/fodorite-lounge/a-journey-with-leonard-cohen.cfm

For something completely different, we attended a rock concert last night: a tribute to David Bowie. Very energetic, very loud .. my ears have finally stopped ringing.

November 12, 2010 Blog Break!

I'm in Melbourne now, and can't get my laptop onto the network. So, no access to photos for now, and therefore, no illustrated blogs!

Tonight, I'm going to see and hear Leonard Cohen: what a treat that will be.

My grand cat and 2 grand dogs were underwhelmed to see me again. I may have to work harder on the bribery.

So, until I can work out what's wrong with the laptop, good bye, faithful reader(s). Don't abandon me, please.