Winmalee

Christmas Eve

Christmas is nearly here and I shall not be posting any more until the new year.  I wish all my followers a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.  Ken and I will be doing more trips next year and I am looking forward to recording them all on my blog.  Here are some photos from my garden. 

A sure sign that Christmas is here.  The Agapanthus are beginning to bloom in my garden.  Here is one under the Liquidambar tree in the backyard.  Unfortunately, they are considered a weed, but still pretty in gardens.  They must be deadheaded before they go to seed!

My native Hibiscus (Alyogyne huegelii) is starting to flower.   I love these beautiful purple blooms. 

A graptopetalum succulent
called Tacitus bellus, growing in a pot on my back deck. There are now seven little pink flowers in bloom.  Such a little sweetie!

My beautiful Jacaranda tree.  It has been magnificent this year.  The blooms are nearly spent now and it is getting its summer coat of green feathery leaves.  It is such a wonderful shade tree in our backyard.

Some borrowed scenery from next door.  Here is a magnificent Australian Christmas bush blooming its' head off.  I have some sprigs from this tree in a vase in my house.  Such a sure sign that it is Christmas.

Parramatta

Riverside Theatre - Western Sydney Opera

Yesterday we went down to Parramatta to see our friends Lorenzo Rositano and Aimee O'Neill singing some well-known Italian operatic arias and other Christmas songs in Ciao Compare - an Italian Christmas.  Parramatta was very busy on a Friday evening, after work, with many Christmas parties being held in the numerous restaurants dotted along eat street.  Ken and I shared a pizza in Bondi Pizza as that was about the only place we could find to have a meal, not having previously booked a table.  Our pizza was delicious, even if we were sitting outside along the footpath open to all the fumes from passing cars, buses and fire engines!  There was a real buzz and vibe along Church Street as office workers joined the milling throng and we marvelled at the number of people traipsing up and down the footpath, many in party mood!

Ciao Compare - an Italian Christmas.  Some familiar songs were O Sole Mio, That's Amore, Volare, Arrivederci Roma, Panis Angelicus, The Holy City and Nessun Dorma from Turandot.  

We saw this Christmas tree, on our way down to the Theatre, outside the Town Hall and opposite St. John's Cathedral.  There is so much building going on in Parramatta and here you can see another high rise on the way up.

Beautiful Aimee O'Neill, after the show, in the foyer of  Riverside Theatre chatting to us.  She sang one of my favourite arias, Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Our friends Trish and Rhonda were also at the concert and we caught up with them in the interval and after the show. Trish and I posed for this photo with Aimee, after the show, in the foyer.

Here is Lorenzo Rositano chatting with Trish and Rhonda in the foyer after the show.  You can just see Glenn Amer in the background.  Glenn accompanied Lorenzo and Aimee on the piano and also sang many songs, accompanying himself and also sang duets with Lorenzo and Aimee.  He is multi-talented!

Richmond

Pugh's Lagoon

Today we drove down to Richmond and into Smith Park at Pugh's Lagoon.  We were down here earlier this year and it is a place we love.  It is a paradise for water birds and we were happy to wander around and take photos of the many birds we saw.  I also packed a picnic lunch which we had in one of the shelters overlooking the water.  It was quite cool when we left home, but by the time we arrived in Smith Park it was warming up and, of course, being summer it soon got very hot.

It is such a pretty place.  This is looking across the Lagoon towards Richmond.  I think it almost looks like a Constable painting!

A little copse of trees on the bank of the Lagoon.

 A Purple Swamphen strutting around in the grass on the banks of the Lagoon.

This is a Pelican preening himself and surrounded by Little Black Cormorants.  We saw the Pelican cruising up and down the Lagoon.  He looked rather lonely on his own.  Hope he had a mate nearby.

One of the many ducks.  Last time we were at the Lagoon we saw lots of black swans, but today we didn't see any!

Penrith

Messiah at the Joan

This afternoon we attended the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre at Penrith to hear Handel's Messiah performed by the combined choirs of the Academy, Warrimoo Chorale and Penrith City Choir accompanied by the Penrith Symphony Orchestra.  I have sung with this combined choir a few times, so it was a bitter-sweet event for me as I would have loved to have been up there with the choir singing, with them, this wonderful oratorio.  As soon as the orchestra started up on the familiar music of the introduction, I was overcome with emotion.  This caught me by surprise as I was not expecting it to have such an effect on me.

However, after choking back tears, I was content to sit back and listen to the wonderful choruses that I know so well.  I was singing them in my head!

The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, affectionately known as "the Joan". It is the heart of creative Western Sydney - a place where the community can experience art and culture, fine music, drama, dance and song.  We are so lucky to have this wonderful venue here in Penrith.








After the performance, I caught up with some of my friends from the choir.  It was so nice to have a chat with them and, once again, feel the excitement and satisfaction  of that "after show" feeling of a job well done.