Spring in Glebe

Have I mentioned before how I love to walk around Glebe? While there are obvious fitness benefits to walking, I like the mind benefits as well. I find walking to be meditative and mind clearing. When I’m working it’s a great way to wind down, get the day’s worries out and calm the chattering mind, before going to sleep. While I have been on leave its great to have an hour to myself without the small boys, out in the fresh air. I never wear earphones and listen to music as I want to give my mind a break. Its also not a good idea for personal safety. I like being aware of what’s happening around me.

Throughout winter this year I walked a lot at night when it was very dark and very cold. It seemed like this year’s winter in Sydney was the coldest in the 10 years I have lived here. I bought a parka for camping and got more use out of it for walking. Most nights it was so cold that even though I got warm enough to unzip it, it was never warm enough to actually take it off!

Since day-light-saving started, walking around Glebe has become much more pleasant. To start with most walks at least commence during daylight, which seems better for the soul somehow. Also as the weather is improving the flora around Glebe is looking amazing and the homes are becoming less secret.

This year I have really noticed the Jacaranda trees and the Hydrangeas. Jacaranda trees are heavily dotted around Glebe. Their purple ‘show’ each year are a great contrast to the green foliage of the old established trees throughout the suburb. They are just about finished now but I managed to get this photo on an evening walk recently.

The Hydrangeas have been amazing this year. They might be an old-fashioned ‘nanna’ kind of flower but I like them, even if Madonna doesn’t! They seem to be making a comeback both as a shrub for the garden and as a vase filler for your home. I went to a lovely high tea baby shower yesterday and there were pale green and creamy white bunches of hydrangeas arranged in dusty green vases. They were a perfect complement to the pastel macaroons and crazy teacups that were carefully arranged on the tables.

There are big well-established Hydrangea bushes in many of Glebe’s gardens. I have been admiring the massive pink, blue, purple and white flowers on my walks over the past weeks. I’m not big on wanting flowers in my small garden and will be pulling out the straggly lavender bushes and cottagey roses out of the garden I can view from the kitchen. But I do love admiring the flowers on my walks. 

The other thing that’s nice about walking in Glebe at this time of year is that people start to open up their homes. As the weather becomes warmer, curtains are pulled back and doors and windows are opened. As I walk around the quiet streets in the early evening I am able to get a peak into hallways, lounge rooms and get a sense of how Glebe residents live in their old homes. People start to sit out on their tiny but very pretty balconies and verandahs. There is only room for a couple of people but perfect for contemplating at the end of the day with a cool drink as the sun goes down.