The secret garden

Today Paladian and I visited an open garden in my old home town of Mt. Barker in the Adelaide Hills. As it happened it was in the street where I grew up - and prior to today, I had no idea it existed. The home was originally a massive old water tank which had been converted into the most gorgeous comfortable home for its artist owner.

She opened up her home and her garden for a small fee (most of which goes to charity). She is an incredibly talented woman, (stained glass, mosaics and of course gardening), and every single place you looked, inside and out, there was a photo op. Out of the many hundreds of images I took today, I chose this one while sticking to my plan to blip as wide a variety of photos as possible.

This one displays the owner's rare gift of decoration. She made the intricate mosaic window frame, the blown glass bulb lower left, and the window itself frames part of the garden where you can just make out the female form of one of her sculptures. It is a place of pure magic.
See it in LARGE for greater detail.

On leaving the Tickletank garden, I walked 50 yards down the street and photographed the house built by my parents in the early 40s - the place where I grew up, and where I spent the first 19 years of my life. What a wonderful, nostalgic day.