Skywatch Friday

I often feature this tree in my skywatch sots. Love the blue in this sky. Have a great weekend everyone.



























Liz Needle - linking with  "Skywatch Friday".

The Weekend in Black and White

Inspiration this week from a restaurant.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "The Weekend in Black and White".

Sepia Saturday 497

 The theme photo this week shows  a portrait of a beautiful woman, so I thought I would share some of the beautiful women in my family.

A cousin of my mothers  - Magdalene (Lene)

                       My grandmother 'Minnie"

My Aunt Ida


















                   Another of my mother's cousins  - Ida

One of my cousins - Kathy

                                               Kathy's sister Mary

 My cousin Dorothy and me


Another cousin - Janet

My Great Grand-mother   - Anna

 And last, but not least  -  my mother, Laura


Liz Needle  -  linking with Sepia Saturday

Friday Skywatch

I didn't take this shot for the sky, rather for the rare sight of a Wedge-tailed Eagle's nest. This was taken in the far north of South Australia off the road to William Creek.  This is the real Australian outback.

The Wedge-tailed Eagle is Australia's largest raptor with a wing span of up to 2.5 metres.



























The photo below was of a rescue eagle at a raptor facility.

Liz Needle  -  linking with  "Skywatch Friday"

Aussie Sheds

Continuing with my love affair of old AUSTRALIAN SHEDS (as opposed to BARNS), here is one that is situated just out of Nairne in the Adelaide Hills. This photo was taken several years ago before they upgraded the road and made it impossible to stop on the side of the road to take photos.

Sadly this enormous old shed is falling into even more disrepair and will probably be demolished before I get a chance to snap it again.

I love the way it has been added to and extended over the years by generations of farmers.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "The Barn Collective" and "Our World Tuesday".

Weekend in Black and White

I never thought about bicycles in black and white, but they came out quite well I think.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Weekend in Black and White

Sepia Saturday 496

The theme photo this week shows a large group of people gathered together on a Hop House.

I live very close to an old village called Lobethal which was settled in 1842 by 18 German migrant families who had left Germany because of religious persecution.  They settled in Lobethal where they established a number of small industries including a brewery, a brandy distillery, a cricket bat factory and a tweed factory - which later became well known as the Onkaparinga Woollen Mills.

In 1851 F W Kleinschmidt opened his brewery and a  couple of years later (exact date not known) August Mueller started growing hops at Neudorf - about a kilometre out of Lobethal.

The photos I have are very old and grainy, but Mueller's Oast house still stands. It was rebuilt in the early 1900s after it burnt down It is one of two or three remaining oast houses in South Australia.

 The photo above shows the hop farm at Neudorf. You can see the oast house (hop kiln) in the background to the right of the middle.  Below is the rebuilt oast house which still stands on the original farm

Below is the village of Lobethal meaning "Valley of Praise". During the First World War the name was changed to "Tweedvale" due to the antipathy towards anything German. It was one of many towns in South Australia to have a name change. Fortunately sanity prevailed and the name was later changed back.

Below is the Tweed Factory. This started life as Kleinschmidt's Brewery in 1851, but it was sold in 1869 and the building was demolished in 1870 and the Tweed Factory was built. This factory had a few changes of name and ownership, but eventually became the Onkaparinga Woollen Mills, making blankets and woollen fabric. Some of my Australian readers probably slept under one of these blankets as a child. The chimney on the right still stands today.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Sepia Saturday

Skywatch Friday

No startling sunsets on this evening, but I loved the look of the blue evening sky over water.

But then the next time I took note, there, over the same water was this beauty.

Liz Needle  -  linking with  - Skywatch Friday    and   Weekend Reflections

Sepia Saturday 495

While not actually a photo of a band or an orchestra, this one is a photo of a band of "gypsies". I have posted this one before - some years ago - but it is one of my favourite photos of my mother.

She was a young teacher, working far from home in a remote country area of South Australia in the twenties. Not sure whether this photo was while she was teaching at Minlaton on the Yorke Peninsula or Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. She had come from a pretty sheltered life in a small country village, and when she escaped home and a large family of younger brothers and sisters, she had a wonderful social life in the larger country towns. 

Her family were German Lutherans and while not strict in their beliefs, there were a lot of restrictions on the young ones, especially as they became teenagers. In the country away from home, she was one a a lively group of young teachers, bankers, stock agents, doctors etc and they loved to socialise - dances, balls, parties, sports events, picnics, country shows, race meetings, concerts and all the other pleasures of life in a country town.

This is a photo of her group of friends all dressed up for a fancy dress ball. The girls do have tambourines, though I doubt if any of them could play them. My mother is seated on the right.

I have very few photos of my mum, so this one is greatly treasured.

Liz Needle -  linking with Sepia Saturday.

The Weekend in Black and White

I love old wooden jetties and I rather liked the effect of this one in black and white.

 
Liz Needle - linking with - "The Weekend in Black and White".

The Barn Collective

We don't usually call these buildings 'barns' where I come from. They are 'sheds' to most Australians. This one is very old,but still in use. It is built of wood and iron and probably dates back to the 19th century when this area was settled by German immigrants.

The wooden slab walls have been covered by sheets of iron to protect them, but as you can see, the iron  is falling off.

Liz Needle - linking to "The Barn Collective".

Friday Skywatch

The old wire fences around the farm always add something to the sunset, I think.

Liz Needle - linking with Sky Watch Friday.

Belated Sepia Saturday

 It's a long time since I posted on this meme and I know I am running late, but I came across this rather naughty photo and figured that it fit the theme. I just couldn't resist!

On a more sensible note, this old photo is of my grandfather and his trusty old van. My great grandfather had one of the first registered nurseries in Adelaide, way back in around 1870 and then opened the first garden shop in South Australia, selling seeds and plants.  A botanist, horticulturalist and viticulturalist, he also published the first book in South Australia on horticulture, titled "The Amateur Gardener for South Australia" by E B Heyne.

His son - my grandfather - followed in his footsteps,establishing a nursery in Norwood, not far out of Adelaide. The van was used for deliveries around the Adelaide suburbs. This photo dates back to the thirties.

And talking of ladies standing around old vehicles. I always get a chuckle out of this photo I took with my very first Box Brownie in around 1951. We were on a bus tour on Kangaroos Island and the old bus broke down. The "experts" offer advice while the ladies  look on.

Liz Needle - linking with Sepia Saturday 494

From the Past

I have come across this deserted old farm a number of times and photographed it several times, but it wasn't until I tried it in black and white that the loneliness and isolation really hit me.

Liz Needle - linking with The Weekend in Black and White. and The Barn Collective

Sky Watch Friday

A long time since I posted to this wonderful meme.  We haven't had a lot of beautiful skies lately - well not that I have caught, anyhow. Here are a few of my favourites.

This old Eucalypt features in a lot of my skyscapes - very photogenic.

Liz Needle

Linking with Skywatch Friday.