springly sprungly saturday

sprng greenery 2007To quote Greg from Evviva Male (who was in turn quoting Henry Gibson)...

Spring has sprung, the grass is ris
I wonder where the birdies is.
Today's the first day of Spring! And because Ma's off over yon hill and dale with her bestest galpal as is their want on occasion (and I think perhaps it will be more of a want as the weather improves), I was essentially at a loose end today.

Which is just weird I gotta say... I'm so used to the whole "Shopping and Excursioning with Ma" thing on a Saturday and I didn't quite know what to do with myself.

But seeing as how the options were a) stay inside where it was a little chilly and be mostly bored, or b) get in car and go to some indeterminate location, I went with Option B.

Unlike last weekend, this time I went east and kind of stayed that way, as opposed to starting out north east, and ending up south west. Actually I was partially making the opposite choice from last week... "hills" instead of "beach".

Not that I really got as far as what you would call "hills"... but the road did get a touch steep for a while. I actually ended up at the Kensington Road Lookout... which is interesting because before Tuesday this week I don't think I even KNEW there was a lookout there... but Stu happened to mention it when he called me to see if I was interested in photographing the Blood Moon, and then I saw a street sign pointing it today, and just kind of followed the proverbial Yellow Brick Road.

As a general rule I hate driving in the hills... or foothills... or anywhere where the road gets very narrow, very steep and has a big drop-off on one side... but that's where I found myself... wondering where the hell this lookout was and how long it would take before I got there.

Actually it's not bad as lookouts go... although, somebody from the Council needs to go up there and maybe prune the trees... it's not really a lookout if you can't look any further than the trees a couple of metres in front of you, ya know?

I also don't get "young couples" who drive up to places like that, and then just sit in the car... they're not even making out... or doing much of anything really... maybe they're doing recreational substances... I dunno... it's just weird!

I took some random panorama shots, but to be honest, when I got them back home and looked at them, they weren't that great... the city just ended up looking a little m'eh... small and poxy... so I don't think any of those shots will be seeing the light of day.

After a slightly less traumatic trip down the hill I ended up in Norwood... I'm still not sure exactly how... I just kept turning and going down different roads, then realised I was headed past The Parade, and figured I could stop and wander around.

Which is pretty much what I did... picked up a copy of Blaze, perved on the pretty Norwood boys, bought an apple turnover, poked around a couple of shops for five minutes, and that was about it.

Then I headed back up The Parade, the same way I'd come, towards Penfolds Winery, thinking maybe it would be vaguely photogenic... turns out, not so much... the vines are still just bare wood, which is less attractive.

However, because of there I ended up parking (down the side of the vineyard) there was a whole heap of lavender along the winery side of the road... and you know me and lavender! Or rather, me, lavender and the bees who congregate on said lavender!

the obsession continues 2007The obsession continues!

I think about half of the shots on my camera ended up being off bees and lavender... and why not... there was a metric ton of lavender and bees EVERYWHERE!

Actually, I think I had a bee land on my head at one point, but unlike another of its brethren some time ago, it didn't sting my scalp... coz that just hurts like the proverbial.

I'm pretty sure there was more than one kind of bee too... there were the big, bright "regular" honeybees like in the photo... but there were also some slightly skinnier and darker ones... and then some really little ones that I think might have been native bees.

But that shot is my favourite I think.

After the bee obsession thing, I kind of drove around with no fixed direction or intentions... got all annoyed and confused and whatnot with the backstreets around Linear Park and the river (too many No Through Road signs and streets that only looped back on themselves... very annoying), so in the end, I just gave up and came home again.

I did find something interesting in Blaze though... this tiny little bit at the bottom of one of the pages from an artist who's looking for models for a Feast art exhibition... he wants guys who would be willing to let him paint on them, then take photos of said painting.... and interestingly he included the line "males of all ages, heights/weights, races"... I'm thinking about dropping him a line and maybe modelling for him... certainly finding out more about it.

If nothing else, it could be good for shits and giggles...

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