Residential Self Expression Goes Beserk - one street in Sydney

Meet Susan Street, Annandale.

Its my little brother's street. It backs onto a canal, but doesn't lead to anywhere in particular, and only takes three minutes to traverse. Most front gardens are a narrow strip of concrete, or a basement where the garden should be.

What I want to know is,



How did everything get so beautiful?



This house only has one plant in its garden.




Yet 'garden' is the world, as it is a little universe within itself.



This telephone pole is homeless. No home, but the furnishings are delightful.


And this old luvvy is Still here!


People bother to Customize


They reach for the tiniest scrap of light, of space


They respect their elders


This house said "Just because I came with boring pillars doesn't mean I have to keep them". Look what they did.
Just because the whole house is narrower than the car parked out front doesn't mean it cannot be magnificent.
I even saw someone playing guitar on the doorstep, and SINGING.


Concrete can be celestial.


And Urban Plein Air painting can be a lovely slice of riverside peace, for the harried teenager.


This is the last picture for now, its the fertility god Kokopelli playing in front of the streets most edible garden, where stairs lead down to the canal. The residents here took one look at the parkland out front and said "Mine"!
Love something, and its yours.
The stairs and slope and path are covered in rosemary and eggplants and mosaics, wheelbarrows of herbs have been trundled into the scraps of light that fall though the canopy.

Too Much!
You will get the other amazing Susan Street pictures in another blogpost.

These photos were taken in August, when I last visited Sydney.

Right now I'm quietly tucked away in my hidyhole in Waverton, having a little Japanese winter of my own, so for me its all quite seasonal.
The whole 0f 2010 was a tsunami of captivating things, and you don't blog about a tsunami while your are in it.

Now, here's my question, and I need your answer, because its a mystery I'm grappling with. Which photograph is beautiful, and whats the beauty make of?