Hands up

If you're one of those people who hates finding single gloves on the ground you might want to avert your eyes for a minute...

These are mostly from our trip to Melbourne a few months ago.

I love these eerie disembodied hands...they were in a shop window in Prahran

This one above's closer to home - at the Shaky Isles on Customs St, where we had lunch today and watched the world go by in the rain...

And we spotted these in the St. Kilda Community Gardens. They're a bit spooky too!

St Kilda gardens

In the shadow of the rickety old rollercoaster of Luna Park in St Kilda, there's an amazing community garden.
There's an aviary, a chicken coop (complete with a guinea fowl whose discarded feathers I wanted to steal until I remembered I would have a hard time bringing them back to NZ), artists' studios and a whole lot of decorations. People have their own garden bed to decorate as tastefully, or as wackily as they please.


We sat and watched cockatoos roosting clumsily in the trees. And if you sit there a while you might end up with a bird resting on your head. Like this fellow:

The Rose St. Artists' Market

We got back from Melbourne in the wee small hours this morning and before I wade through all my photos of beautiful laneways, cockatoos and giant owl sculptures I thought I'd show you some pictures from the Rose St. Artists' Market, one of my reasons for crossing the ditch.

The stall (pre-coffee I think). My assistant

My wares

Owl bags that had their debut at the market

I wish I had taken some photos of the rest of the market, you'll just have to take my word for it that there were lots of beautiful things there, as well as Jack Russells aplenty and mighty fine coffee! Mr. Millicent Crow and I made each other scavenger hunts with the camera and I really liked this little guy I found lurking around the corner from the market...

Melbourne

Melbournians! Millicent Crow is going to be at the Rose St. Artists' Market tomorrow - 60 Rose St, Fitzroy, from 11-5! See you there perhaps?

Crossing the ditch

We're off on a fleeting Melbourne adventure next month; I will be selling my wares at the Rose St. Artists' Market in Fitzroy on the 26th of March and Mr Millicent Crow is hopefully going to be playing a show and is definitely going to be having a birthday.
We lived in Melbourne briefly about 4 years ago, and while we had lots of great times, it was quite stressful, so it will be lovely to go back on business/holidaying. So far on the menu we have: eating stuffed mushrooms and drinking wine at the Wesley Anne, swimming at Brighton, boating at Studley Park, taking in the Gustave Moreau exhibition at the NGV and a children's book illustration exhibition at the State Library, gelato in Carlton, finally going to the Exhibition Building and lots of wandering around. And lots of photos - when we lived there we didn't have a digital camera and most of our photos from that time seem to be out of focus shots of cats!

Pictures are from Cedric Flower's Picture Book of Australia When... which is a bit of a dubious history of Australia but does have some great pictures.

Do you have any cheap and cheerful Melbourne recommendations?