Today I took my cavoodle, Barney, for a run at Holland Park in Kensington, and saw that one of the small flame trees planted there had started come into bloom – just a single spray of flowers so far.

Flame trees (Brachychiton acerifolius), with their vivid scarlet, bell shaped flowers, were rare in Melbourne (Naarm) a couple of decades ago, in fact I can only ever remember seeing one flame tree in the whole of Melbourne when I was growing up. They are much more frequently planted in Melbourne suburbs these days – I wonder if this has anything to do with the warming climate?

In terms of kigo, for haiku written in South Eastern Australia, flame tree could be taken to represent the very start of summer.

Note: For those who are not immersed in the culture and traditions of haiku, a kigo is “key word” used in a haiku, that usually represents a particular season of the year.

Yesterday, 1st December 2024, was both the first day of summer here in the southern hemisphere, and the start of the liturgical season of Advent, the period of waiting and expectancy leading up to Christmas.

I am not a religious person, but my grandfather was a Methodist minister, and I spent the first 16 – 18 years of my life going to church at Holy Trinity in McCracken Street Kensington every Sunday, and because of this I have a fair knowledge of the traditions of Christianity.

When I was growing up every pew was full on Sundays at Holy Trinity. Now the congregation has dwindled away to nothing, and yesterday, on Advent Sunday, my 80 year old father was at a meeting at Wesley Church in Melbourne, to discuss whether the church should sell the Holy Trinity building.

      flame trees
 and an empty church –
      silent bells