SAME, BUT SO DIFFERENT AT BLACKHEATH

SAME, BUT SO DIFFERENT AT BLACKHEATH

A BRIEF BREAK FROM SELF-IMPOSED ISOLATION Yesterday I ventured past my driveway for the first time in ages to walk to the chemist in Blackheath village. My little camera is always in my pocket, so here are a few pics taken along the way. April is such

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WEEDS, BUT A HAVEN FOR BIRDS

WEEDS,  BUT A HAVEN FOR BIRDS

About 30 metres below the Park Avenue gates in Memorial Park at Blackheath is a huge thicket of invasive weeds; blackberries, ivy, scarlet montbretia, red hot pokers etc. A lone Japanese maple struggles to survive in the centre. The irony is that satin bowerbirds, wattle birds and

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DAVE DOWNEY, DOING HIS BIT IN BLACKHEATH

DAVE DOWNEY, DOING HIS BIT IN BLACKHEATH

Just before Christmas, as the bush fires crept ever closer to Blackheath and we all suffered in the heatwave, I photographed a little tractor and water tank in Wentworth Street. I assumed it must be someone’s home fire protection unit. Mind you, I did wonder about the

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THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AND LITHGOW – OPEN FOR BUSINESS

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS  AND LITHGOW -  OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Hello, Editor Des here. Well we had nasty fires up here in the Blue Mountains at Christmas time. It was very scary for my guardian Pauline Conolly. However, Mr Bob Conolly and myself protected everything and were extremely brave…especially me if I may say so. But the

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ABSINTHE ‘THE GREEN FAIRY’ AT BLACKHEATH BAR AND BISTRO

ABSINTHE 'THE GREEN FAIRY' AT BLACKHEATH BAR AND BISTRO

Absinthe is a distilled, highly alcoholic drink. It is anise flavoured, derived from the plants wormwood, green anise and sweet fennel. It was popular in early 20thC Paris, especially among bohemian artists and writers such as Picasso, Proust, Vincent van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Allan Poe and Oscar

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HYDRANGEAS – LIKE A HUG FROM YOUR MUM

HYDRANGEAS - LIKE A HUG FROM YOUR MUM

Who would imagine that dear old hydrangeas would hold up so well during the 2019/20 fires and heatwave conditions in the NSW Blue Mountains? The origin of the name seems to contradict the very notion that they would! ‘First discovered in Japan, the name hydrangea comes from

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