Sunday, January 30, 2011

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Wilted!


Fresh flowers in my en suite, happy and vibrant, exuding their
sweet scent one day


and tired and wilted the next. My little bathroom is the coolest
room in the house but with temperatures in the 40'sC, nothing
lasts . . .


The same for the freshly picked lilies in my bedroom. Full of
life and most wonderfully perfumed,


twenty four hours later, drooping with desiccated leaves . . .


even the bud is drooping. I have never seen lilies so badly affected
by heat. Normally they give one pleasure for up to two weeks.



Everything, including me is wilting in this heat wave.
My roses are like crisps, maybe I could bag and market them as a new snack!

If you are not too languid from the swelter, you could lift a finger and enlarge.

TODAY'S FLOWERS is sponsored by Luiz Santilli Jr., do click on the Logo and join in.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ A Little bit Askew


Life rolls on with a few shadows here and there when


suddenly it all shifts and hangs askew . . .



Tracy at HEY HARRIET has shadows galore, just click on the Logo and
open a Pandora's box and add some of your own.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

SkyWatch ~ Ploughing the Sky


Driving towards home I watched these great furrows appear
and hoped I could still catch them as I only had my mobile
(low resolution camera) with me.


I dashed out of the car, did a diving tackle for my camera and
was out there shooting and only just got some snaps off before
the Great Ploughman called it quits and went for lunch.


I think He was thinking of lunch anyway as the furrows became
more crooked and thickened into a move uniform cloud cover.


One last look at the blue and white summer sky and the show
was over.



Dear friends, I must once again ask you to show forbearance
as the home front situation curtails my visiting and even more
so my commenting. Please do leave comments it you can for they
invariably brighten my, at the moment, rather stressful days.

Thanks to the perseverance of the SkyWatch Team this meme runs
like clockwork. Do click the Logo to join in or just visit.

Monday, January 24, 2011

MY WORLD ~ Time Out at the Seaside


On Sunday I played hooky for half an hour or so and drove down
to the beach after dropping off my sister at the airport.


It had been a hot day but there were not many people there.
An occasional boat sailed by, a lone head bobbed in the water
and I tucked my long dress up my knickers and my camera
under my shirt. and braved the warm waters up to my knees.

The water was as warm as a bath inside the sand bar and sheer
bliss swirling around my tootsies, my soul sang and troubles
miraculously faded away.


A group of people were flying ginormous kites like birds of prey,


while I just stood and admired the view to Glenelg and basked
in the wonder of the sea.



All photos enlarge of course . . .

Thanks to the MY WORLD Team we can all wonder the world at will
so click on the Logo and join in or just admire.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday & TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Eucalyptus macrocarpa


Like a sea anemone, the petals of Australia's largest flowered
Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus macrocarpa, seem to wave and feel
around for something to capture.


Here is the whole flower, some 3-4" wide and a very spectacular
bloom. It is a native of Western Australia and, although we have
two small trees in our park, they do struggle in our very dry climate.



Thanks to HEY HARRIET for the Shadow Shot meme, and
Luiz Santilly Jr. For TODAY'S FLOWERS.

Both memes can be accessed through the relevant Logos at the side.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

SkyWatch ~ The night before the fog


I suppose I should have shared these last week but somehow
the poem grew out of the fog so I gave you that instead.

Something drove me out of the house just at the right moment
and this is what greeted my eyes . . .


so, for the next three minutes I did some serious snapping.


This one I did pop in last week but thought you would forgive
the repeat since here it is in its right context. That crazy colour
was over everything . . .


it took a while to get my mouth shut again, just look at those
colours!


From rich to richer, this one does not look like much but enlarge
it and you will see the fluidity of the colours in the sky


and then the sun scaled the horizon and the world became a
different place again.



Where would we be without SkyWatch Friday???
Just click the Logo and join up or just see what the skies in the
rest of the world are up to.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

World Birds, Watery Wednesday & Nature Notes - Little Grebe


The Little or Australasian Grebes, Tachybaptus novaehollandiae,
returned this year to nest in our farm dam again. They remembered
after two years when there was not enough water or the dam was
a cracked and barren dry dust bowl. This year they luckily nested
before the dam had filled to the top and overflowed thus having
still the cover of the dry reeds as a hide. Luckily the water level
rose after they were hatched and the parents carried their two
chicks on their back for quite some time to keep them dry and warm.


Although it was a very rainy winter and spring and the nest was
swamped, both chicks survived. Like Princess Mary's, they were
a mixed pair, a cheeky little boy above, and a shy little girl below.


Sorry, she stayed way out in the middle of the dam and I had
no tripod, while he came towards me quite inshore to check me
out.


Here is the family photo of both of them. Apparently young
Charley was too close to me and dad came rushing over to
shoo him to deeper water.

A month ago the stepping stones were a good foot under water
and although the weather has not been very hot or windy, the
evaporation rate has been high.


Here they are again yesterday, high and dry.



NB Although the water level is well above the height of the old
reedbed, the nest the grebes built, has become a raft to which the
young grebes retreat to preen and sleep safe from marauding
foxes and cats.

All photos conveniently enlarge for the interested.

Thanks to all those who organise the three memes I am posting
this on. Please click the relevant Logos on the side to join any or all
of them or just see what is happening elsewhere.


Sunday, January 16, 2011

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Petunias


In the heat of summer, when you can't cope with taking care of
a large garden any more, one can still have some bright colour
with a few petunias in a pot.


Not only are the colours cheerful but the detail of veining is
quite spectacular.


Pretty colour and a few drops of dew even make for a pretty
picture.



Enlarge if you wish . . .

Thanks to TODAY'S FLOWERS we can all share what gives us pleasure,
click on the Logo to join the fun.


Saturday, January 15, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Just Shadows


The path along the front of the house is an infinite source of
morning shadows . . .


a constitutional walk in the morning along the tracks between
our paddocks opens another world of colour and animals


seeking shade from the hot summer sun.


Our paddocks are dried off unlike Queensland, New South
Wales and Victoria who are all in the grip of floods while
Western Australia has been fighting deliberately lit bushfires.

Massive floods have also beset Sri Lanka and Brazil. In Sri
Lanka the loss of life has been horrendous. Brazil
has had major landslides as well as floods.

In Queensland the population has rallied as a whole and are
helping complete strangers to clean the mud and debris from
their houses, tradesmen are offering their services free of
charge as are veterinarians. There have been traffic jams with
long queues of cars of people volunteering aid.

Hats off to the Queenslanders showing true community spirit!

Tracy, one of those brave Queenslanders, at HEY HARRIET, hosts
this meme. I for one hope her house stayed dry.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

SkyWatch & Nature Notes ~ Fog


Fog, like a creeping thief
came silently at night
stealing away the hills
and houses that we knew


trees close at hand
loom up like ghosts,


the jewelled pond at sunset
is tucked within the bag upon his back
and is no more.


Only the nearest garden fence
has some existence,
all else has gone into
a whiteness dense as rock,


no sky, no landmark
and no sound or call
an eerie stillness
blankets over all
and still he creeps . . .

dim headlights loom
and tremble as they
inch upon their way
where all that yesterday
was bright and gay
on waking ,
has been spirited away.

* * * * * * * *

All photos grow on you if you bother to click them.

Thanks to SkyWatch, we can all share what goes on around us.
Click on the Logo to join in or just look around.

Thanks to Rambling Woods and Nature Notes we get an insight
into changes around us. Click on the Logo to join in the fun.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ The Rose Gate


I have posted photos of this gate before but from inside the
garden. This time I am showing it to you from the paddock.
Since there were no cows there, the roses bloomed in great
profusion. They have stretched themselves a long way along
the fence.


The black hole is all that is left of the gate and archway. Now
I have to almost go on all fours to exit the garden that way.
Looks like I will have to mount a serious attack with the
pruning shears next autumn.


Moving in a little closer, does anyone volunteer to count the
number of blooms on the whole rose?


Moving closer still, one little bract of blooms is a whole bouquet.



Enlarged they give you a better idea of what they look like and
the last picture will let you see the roses in almost actual size.

Click on the Logo to join the meme or just to enjoy the flowers.

My thanks to Luiz Santilly Jr. who hosts this meme as well as his helpers
in its smooth running.

And thank you Luiz for having me as guest friend.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Outback


What we call the Outback in Australia, far away in the hot inland
in the North Flinders Ranges, a place I dearly love, shadows frame
the shearer's quarters at Wirrealpa Station,


lend mystery to a rockface


and magnify the wrought iron struts of an extinct camel saddle.



My photos like to be enlarged.

Pop over to HEY HARRIET and join, just click on the Logo.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

SkyWatch ~ . . . But a Moment in Time


Summer skies, shot within seconds of each other in less than
a minute, with no adjustments whatever.



Quite a lot happening all in the blinking of an eye . . .


This one was taken looking straight up to see the clouds darting
in all directions.



They all enlarge for closer inspection.

With many thanks to the Skywatch team for keeping this great meme afloat.


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

World Bird Wednesday & Nature Notes - White-Plumed Honeyeater


Nothing spectacular today, just a White-Plumed Honeyeater,
Lichenostomus penicillatus, that spends its summers on our
farm darting around at high speed.


photographed in our wild wood across the creek with shadows
everywhere.



For a better view it can be enlarged.

Thanks to World Birds Wednesday for providing this venue to show our birds,
and to Rambling Woods for Nature notes. Both can be accesses by clicking on
the respective Logos.