We love you too....

Come the light of day...

When in the fresh mornings I go into

my garden before anyone is awake,

I go for the time being into perfect happiness.

~ Cecilia Thaxter

You can only come to the morning through the shadows

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time

~ Emily Dickinson

Through the blackest night,

morning gently tiptoes,

feeling its way to dawn

~ Robert Brault

The sun is but a morning star

~ Henry David Thoreau

Whether I retire to bed early or late,

I rise with the sun

~ Thomas Jefferson

The day shall not be up so soon as I,

to try the fair adventure of tomorrow

~ William Shakespeare

Lose an hour in the morning

and you will be all day hunting for it

~ Richard Whately

Next to temperance, a quiet conscience, a cheerful mind and active habits,

I place early rising as a means of health and happiness

~ Flint

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege

it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love

~ Marcus Aurelius

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you -

Don't go back to sleep...

~ Rumi

Old gold and facades....

'Gold Diggings' Ararat - Edward Roper 1858

When on holiday in April we visited the old gold rush city of Ararat in south-western Victoria. I loved the feel of the place and took several photos of the old buildings. Our friends with us that day also loved it and are presently negotiating to buy an old mansion built in 1903.

Gold was discovered at Ararat in 1857, turning it into a gold rush boomtown. It was officially declared a city in 1950 but the population has steadily declined. Ararat got its name after Mount Ararat, 10km south-west, which was named by Horatio Wills in 1841. Wills, a pastoralist and politician, was one of Ararat's first settlers.

Barkly Street looking towards The Grampians

Image: John O'Neill

Upper Barkly Street in 1894

The Fire Brigade tower, since demolished, is the tall building in the distance,

The E.S.&A. (English, Scottish and Australian) Bank

and the drapery store are on the right.

Former Town Hall, now the Regional Ararat Art Gallery

and Ararat Performing Arts Centre

Deliverance...

"When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books.  They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind."

Michel de Montaigne (Les Essais)

One White Tree....

One White Tree

Tall ships and tall kings

Three times three.

What brought they from the foundered land

Over the flowing sea?

Seven stars and seven stones

And one white tree.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Image: Me