I bought the jacket on the right at a local op shop/thrift store this year. The surprise was that I had an almost identical one that I’d bought in an op shop/thrift store in Watsonia – over thirty years ago.
I was excited to come across this shop in Aberdeen, Washington in August last year. I would have loved to go inside, although it looked a bit risky, what with the teetering piles of books, but, sadly it was closed on that day. The surprise was that this is the shop that youthful Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic loved to visit in search of records and books in the ’80’s. Some of the layers probably date back to that time!
There’s a big, hollow tree in the Hall’s Gap Gardens. I surprised Lucie as she came back out. There’s a surprise inside the tree, too, but I can’t tell you, in case you have the chance to see for yourself!
We often stop at this picnic ground for lunch, but after a day or two of heavy summer rain –surprise! -it was under water, and we viewed it from the safety of the bridge.
On a crisp winter morning, it’s no great surprise to find beautiful spider webs embellished with dew drops. The real, and very pleasant, surprise, is that I took some good pictures despite my camera’s often uncooperative auto focus! 
A view of Stoney Creek, Hall’s Gap after the nasty surprise of a massive flash flood. The creek bed had been extensively rearranged, many trees torn out by the roots and the banks scoured and undermined. Many roads and tracks in the Grampians were damaged, and almost two years later, most of them are fixed! Mother Nature’s Landscaping Service, always a surprise…
A surprise can mean lots of things, there are lovely surprises, and unpleasant ones, too. I wish everybody only the good kind in the Holiday season and the New Year!
This is a tiny Australian native orchid, Microtis parviflora, or Slender Onion Orchid, identified for me by orchidsbirdsandotherthings. 
sukies original 