Sydney summer

For those of you in the Other Hemisphere, lay aside your summer-envy. Here is my view last week. Hot, no?

Yesterday was Australia Day, or more properly, Invasion Day.

Twenty years ago, we stood on our balcony at the Werrington in MacLeay Street and watched the Tall Ships sail into the harbour.


It was our bicentennial. The slogan was Celebration of a Nation, Give Us A Hand, which naturally we changed to Masturbation of a Nation, Give Us a Hand (really, it writes itself).

Walking through Kings Cross yesterday evening, I wondered to myself - where do people get Australian flag thongs, Australian flat singlets, Australian flag beauty queen fringed sashes, Australian flag Australian flags (both the hand-held-on-a-stick, and the larger, shoulder-draped variety). Even if I yearned to own these objects, where on earth does one buy them? And why is it that so many of them are sported by Bristish backpackers?



Given my ambivalence towards our National Day, some might find it ironic that I have a photograph published in this week's Time Out Sydney. (No, not the cover.)

The Australian of the Year is announced on January 26th, and this year it is country music singer Lee Kernaghan, who has a name that's fun to say.

Viburnum opulus

This is a guelder-rose in the garden of Schatzi's parents in Bubenreuth.

Springfield Avenue

Sometimes Kings Cross is not a filthy skank-ridden hell-hole. Occasionally, on a fine day, it can be quite pleasant.

a little year

Ah yes, it was on this day in 2007 that I posted the view from my window. Thanks for your company during my first 365 days on the interwebs. Stand by for more of the same for the next 366.

duck!

Latte art by Michaelangelo Optica, photography by Cissy Strutt. Caffe Sofia, Erskineville, Sydney, 3:39pm, 10th January 2008.

And today I'm in Melbourne. It is 40 degrees. That's 104F folks. Believe me when I say I'm hot.

Cygnus atratus

2008 is going rather well so far, don't you think?

city at night

party on the roof

Oh they were all there on my roof last night, sausage sandwiches in hand, methode champagnoise flowing. Manntra was there, and Fonda Asana, Big K, The Gucci Mamma and Fynn7, Michaelangelo Optica and Cowboy Gee, Emm'n'Pee, the Maori Warrior and Mary of Springfield, JK and many others. And me, your hostess, Cissy Strutt. We watched the fireworks over the Harbour, and wished each other well. This is how we celebrate the New Year down under.

(Anaglyph & Violet Towne, you were missed.)

gnome

May the gregarious garden gnome of glory spread his gorgeous garment of grandness over you this year. Twenty-oh-eight, it's going to be great!