Bridge Walks and Beading

So this week I did some experimentation with my route to Aurah's house. Normally due to the bus schedule I end up having 30 mins to kill in the middle of my morning trip to babysit Saxon. On Thursday I switched things up by leaving later and walking halfway there. Which meant I would walk over two of the three bridges I cross to get to the house. Yes that's 3 bridges. I'm still amazed at how much water surrounds me. I took my camera because lately I keep leaving it at home and then spotting lots of things I want to take a photo of.

It seems like ages ago that I first spotted this strange machine. Its purpose is to move the concrete barriers over so that there is an extra lane for people traveling into the city for work. Thursday morning I found it at the bottom of the Gladesville bridge waiting for the end of rush hour. When I saw it in action I was not the only sidewalk witness to come to a full stop and watch open mouthed as it slowly drove through the intersection. It makes a really strange sound and is so big and oddly shaped that my instinctual response was that it should be in Star Wars.

Looking at it now I do see a resemblance to the big vehicle the Jaw-was from the first original Star Wars (Episode IV) drove. Perhaps it also is full of old robots.

The Gladesville bridge is the first bridge I cross and it is also huge. I'm going to have to take a picture of it from the park so you can get a better idea. This is from about 1/4 of the way up it. I do find it odd that the curve makes it just look really long from this point of view.

It's a great big arch that gives an amazing view of one of my favourite aspects of Sydney. Lots of big hills and bays which means that on a regular basis you can  see your destination even if it takes 30 to 60- minutes on various public transits to get there. It makes this big city feel much smaller and more personal.

Here you can see the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance. Quite a nice view to start my day off with.  After taking this photo I suddenly remembered how high up I was. My fear of heights kicked in and I fought my locking knees as I backed away from the edge. I really shouldn't have looked down.

To get off the Gladesville and not walk on a highway I had to loop back under it to a neat little passage. 

 To preface these photos I'd first like to mention I did not use the zoom for any of them.  I find it so neat how the underside of the bridge looks so close and big (particularly in the middle photo), until you see it with out the framing of the tunnel. Also the entrance of the tunnel looks like what I imagine the entrance of an Egyptian tomb to be.

While Saxon and I played on the back porch I noticed a butterfly land on a tree right near us. It was very patient as I crept closer and closer hoping to get this photo. 

Saxon and I were watching some city workers do some clean up with a digger in the park behind the house. I was sitting on the red chair.

 

However the picture taking did not last long on the chair when Saxon spotted a possible new toy.

He even pulled an expert puppy eyes. Amazingly effective, he still didn't get my camera though. Particularly since he has a penchant for dropping things off the balcony that was just behind him. 

Friday morning I took a new route with a more frequent bus that required me to walk around another sub-bridge loop to get to my second usual bridge crossing. This is a bus stop.

I love it and I find it slightly flawed. Back when Tom and I first played tennis and walked part of the way back home, this was the stop that we caught the bus for the rest of the trip.  The only problem is that it doesn't give the best view of the road and you have to walk out of it some what quickly to be able to flag a bus in time for it to stop. It still looks pretty cool though... an iStop.

This car does not move from this parking spot. I've passed it so many times thinking that I should have brought my camera. Today I finally had the forethought to keep it handy when I walked by. 

I've also been watching the kookaburras. There are quite a few of them in the park. I got some pictures on Thursday that were ok, but then today this happened on the way back from a pram walk.

With Saxon asleep I carefully walked as close as I could... then did some major zooming. They are so big and unmistakable. I love their laugh and how they like to sit around eying people and other birds. I have no idea if they are considered aggressive (I've been warned about magpies but not these guys), however I couldn't make myself walk too close because it looked just so darn tough.*Update: Tom assures me kookaburras are not aggressive, just really smart.

 Here's an update on my beading. Wednesday I completed the second half of my seahorse. I decided to attach the two together with the new half was still on the loom partly because I really wanted to see what it looked like and partly because I thought it would be easier. As you can see I hadn't even finished the second half when I started. I was that excited.

I made sure that all the lines were attached in the right spot. It was a little tricky because the old one had loosed a bit and sometimes needed a bit of tugging to get it in the right spot. 

Getting closer now. The second half is actually done. 

Here's the seam from behind. 

The final product. This one will basically serve as my test swatch since the beads I used in the first half were not what I had wanted. I played a bit more with shading on the top of the second half and I also found out that the silver lining on beads oxidizes over time as the light blue water on the older left half is slight darker than the newer right half.  This shouldn't affect my future work since its the look of the silver lined beads that I don't like and I don't plan on using them anymore. It's also interesting looking at this piece when it's smaller in the photo. The shading and detail really comes together, just as it would with a pixelated photo. When I'm working with it up close it seems much less realistic.