The Neighbourhood
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Third Places
This week I’ve encountered the concept of “third places” three times. The first in a newspaper article arguing that what makes European cities so good are their third places and that in general new world cities and towns lack these places. In Australia third spaces have been neglected, prioritising the home. In the article, Melbourne was singled out as the most “European” major Australian city, largely because of its places. Later I read a piece by Tsh Oxenreider (paid Substack) where she describes her third place and a common desire to live in a “humane-sized community.” In that, she offers some ideas for community building, several of which are already…
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A common sight … but still beautiful
It’s not hard to spot a Rainbow Lorikeet around our place. It wasn’t always this way though. They disappeared from Melbourne in the 1920’s but are now back in greater numbers than before settlement. Experts think this is due to the flowering gums from other parts of Australia that were planted by councils and gardeners in the 1970’s. The trees provide an excellent and more abundant food source than indigenous Victorian bush and the heat island effect of the city provides a warmer environment which the birds prefer. Rainbow Lorikeets also need tree hollows to breed which are in short supply which leads ecologists to believe that most are probably…
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Looking Forward, Looking Backward – February 2023
Reviewing my progress on my February intentions, and setting my intentions for March. I had a substantial mid-month motivation slump, so I didn’t move forward quite the way I would have liked this month, but I managed to pull myself together and get a few things done. Daily Routines: I’m still doing the Lectio365 app each morning. Daily strength exercises did not happen. I started OK but fell off the wagon during my slump and haven’t picked it up again. I think I’ll shelve this for now. In March, I want to concentrate on getting a good breakfast and lunch with enough protein each weekday. Three Times a Week is…
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Friday Thoughts #7
This summer has been cooler than usual. We haven’t had any days over 40C, and when the temperature finally reaches 30C, the heat is followed quickly by a cool change. That has changed this week; after a very cold week last week (some days didn’t even make it over 20C), we are now on our third day over 30C. The current temperature is 39.4C, according to my app. We often have slightly lower temperatures here near the water; it is currently 41.0C in Canterbury, where we used to live (only 11km away). This means I reached my goal of five swims in the ocean for the summer. I walked down…
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Detouring from my usual paths
To get my project of running every street in a 5km radius of our house kick-started again, I added some detours to my usual run along the beach path. I found a couple more cut-throughs to the beach from some of the local roads. I also ran along the opposite side of the Elwood Canal. I enjoyed seeing a cheeky white cockatoo doing acrobatics from the power line before flying off to join its mates, feeding in the dry canal overflow. Blanketing the fence near the primary school was an overgrown passionfruit vine covered in flowers. Unfortunately, it looks like a sucker, but I will pop back there periodically; maybe…
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Friday Thoughts #1
A post about my week. Random thoughts and things that are happening. I’m progressing through the unpacking; most of the boxes are unpacked. Today’s project is the laundry. I’m hoping to get everything off the bench and into the cupboards. After that, the pantry. Everything is in but not in any sensible order. This Sunday, we have my family coming for early Christmas drinks before my sister and her family go to New Zealand, and we should have the apartment entertaining ready. We needed to quickly install a patch of lawn for our dog Riley to do his business on, and it looked like it might be a problem. The…
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Indigenous Plants
One of the goals for our garden is to include plantings to enhance our local biodiversity. To this end, I’ve been doing some research. I found several helpful resources: Once I had a reasonable idea of the main plants in our area, I took notes as I walked and ran to see how they grow. Some plants I’m thinking of including: Banksia. Good for birds of all sizes, mammals and butterflies. Large yellow flowers Feb-Jun followed by seed heads. White Correa. White star-shaped flowers in spring and summer. Good for honey-eaters, small birds and butterflies. Flax-lily. Blue flowers Sept-Dec. Good for reptiles and butterflies. Common Everlasting. Yellow flowers in Sept-Dec.…
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Walking
Several years ago, one of my university assignments was to do a neighbourhood exegesis. This involved a two-hour walk around the neighbourhood, with a list of questions to help me notice important details. A couple of years later, I did a subject called Mission in the Australian Context. The major assignment was to do an in-depth Community Exegesis of either our neighbourhood or our faith community neighbourhood. This time I used my half-marathon training to run many of the streets in the local area. Each time I got back, I would mark down my path and any observations I had made. I tried to cover as many streets as possible…