Recently I wrote about having places to belong. I was sharing about the church family that we are a part of. Gateway Baptist – A Place to Belong
Another place of belonging is right here on Love Street in Bulimba. Yes, that is the actual name of the street. How cool is that? Also, although the city that I live in is Brisbane, when asked, I say that I live in Bulimba, which is a suburb of Brisbane. This is the official location for my mailing address and all documents.
This blog post is about where I live and what my life looks like here.
We have a nice apartment with great neighbors and we have a wonderful community here. On Thursday nights a few of the neighbors regularly meet together for drinks. It is a great time of connection. We really couldn’t have asked for a better place to call “home” here in Australia. Since we have arrived, we have already had to say goodbye to several neighbors: Peter and Maxine, David and Anne, and finally, our property managers, Barry and Ros. New managers, Liam and Celia are very welcome.
Because we live in a semi tropical climate – all the hallways are open air with some planters with lovely tropical plants. We also have a pool which I swim in almost every day during the intensely hot summer months.
-
- Bird of Paradise
-
- The Reach
-
- Ed swimming in pool
-
- Hibiscus hedges and palm trees at 70 Love Street
See the green “grass” above? Actually it is turf. In our ground floor unit, we also have year round green “grass” that never needs to be cut. We also have a decent size patio. We look out to a park area across the street. Here there is a dog park and a children’s playground. Just beyond is the river. We really enjoy our location.
Front porch
Across the road from 1/70 Love Street
Our front yard
-
- Homework
I have enjoyed growing some plants that do well in this climate – although I have had to confine them to pots. I have even managed to grow a few lemons on my small potted lemon tree. This year I also have lots of blooms on my lime and orange tree – but we will see if anything comes of those.
Hibiscus, gardenia, Hyacinth
One year we even had some Plumeria (Frangipani) bloom on the small plants in the front garden.
Plumeria at Love Street
I put a Bougainvillea in a pot and then put it in a corner of the yard. Before long the roots grew through the bottom of the pot and the Bougainvillea started shooting out all over the place. This is our favorite color of Bougainvillea.
-
- Corner of our front yard
-
- Bougainvillea takes root
Beautiful Bougainvillea
-
- Lemons from my tree
-
- Lovely Roses
-
- Flowers from Ed
-
- Stunning lilies
A Funny Story
I have had a few orchids here. Once this orchid below stopped blooming I put it outside and completely ignored it for months. As you can see it thrived on the abuse. The leaves show it. But as if to spite me it put on this marvelous display of blooms. “So there!”
My abused orchid thrives
A Look Inside
Finally, if you haven’t seen these yet, here are a few inside shots of our condo.
Thanks for visiting us on this virtual tour. You are always welcome in person.
View of our neighborhood from across the river.
Looking back across the river toward the wool shops from our park.
Two Canadians in Australia 