The House(s) of Fran_mart

 A collection of FAQ photos, mostly taken on the 15th of November.  The beginning was a couple of early balloons overflying Fawkner Park (and possibly hoping The Alfred helicopter doesn't have to leave in a hurry). One of the frequent sights looking South is a parasail ripping along the Middle Park seafront. Sometimes there are two or more. What makes this surprising is that the beach is at least 2km from home but the parasails are easily visible to a naked eye. The sails of yachts can also be seen at times - these were about 1730hrs, so after work hours, on 13 November. (The blue cast is because I didn't want to mess about opening the louvres of the Winter Garden so the photos were taken through tinted glass.)  In the first image a parasail can also be picked up. I then used my longer lens, at full zoom plus digital multiplier.  These are probably at least 3km from the apartment. On the 15th the sunset was attractive in a restrained way.

 Having been very impressed with the Shrine of Remembrance we thought it would be interesting to attend their event on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2024.  Coming in from St Kilda Rd we passed a couple of interesting works of art.  The first is basically a fountain .. ...while the other is a memorial to the battle at Fromelles: one of the worst bad decisions in the fighting on the Western Front. The formal event of Remembrance started at the 11th hour.  However there was a large crowd already on deck when we got there at about 10:40. A guard detachment was marched in. We had missed the formal Welcome to Country but the smoker was still going. There were many dignitaries present including the Premier, Leader of the Opposition, a Senator representing Albo and the Governor who was escorted down to inspect the guards,  The crowd was quite diverse with this guy possibly being at one end of the range.  Here he is persuading his pooch to sit, which it did pretty well for the hour or so they we

 To begin with, many thanks to Wildlife Rescue Victoria and Fire Rescue Victoria whose efforts made this story have a happy ending.  On our morning walk this morning we were on the Punt Rd side of Fawkner Park when my attention was grabbed by a lot of noise from Noisy Miners.  On peering into the afflicted tree I spotted a Tawny Frogmouth tangled in some line. I rang Wildlife Rescue who asked for help from the Fire Brigade, and sent a volunteer.  The volunteer rang me to say he was incoming.  He received a call from the fire people to say they were coming as well and found a bug red truck in his mirrors.  They all arrived pretty promptly from St Kilda. Initially with some basic equipment. Then some more advanced equipment arrived from a specialist unit in Richmond. Lots of expert help! It was very impressive watching how they set about this task. Lots of onlookers! The Frogmouth flapped about a bit at this stage - proving it was still alive.  The climber captured it and calmed it down.

 By way of getting a bit organised on 2 November - and being focussed as the passerine broke wind on 3 November - we pulled out of our drive at 0655.  We got to Orbost by 0730 without seeing a single car going in our direction - and very few going the other way.  Overall there was very little traffic and we got to 505 in just over 6 hours, including a 15 minute stop at the Yarragon spud shop to grab a few interesting sauces as well as 10kg of Sebago. Temperatures along the way had been interesting.  Very warm overnight so it was about 19C as we left home, rising to 21Cas we got to Genoa.  By Bairnsdale (0845ish) it was up to 29C.  However by the time we left the Latrobe Valley it was down to 22C where it stayed.  The apartment was also at 22C. We went shopping in Prahran, making it across Fawner Park despite much of the grass being taken up by flannelled fools.   We sat out in the Winter Garden with the louvres open, letting in a very pleasant breeze. About 1730hrs I was struck by the