TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Birthday Tree

For forty years My double flowered ornamental cherry trees
have flowered for my birthday, except this year.
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Some years it would be the first blossom, sometimes the last

and sometimes all else inbetween but not this year, this year

they are eight days late. Are we really in a global warming cycle

or is this the first sign of another ice age?

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These pictures were taken this afternoon, after a few sunny

days the first two blossoms opened.

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The first bloom on my roses, 'Ophelia', my mother's favourite.

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The Logo opens gardens full of flowers.

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Thanks to the TODAY'S FLOWERS' Team we can visit them all around the globe.

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Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Somewhat Agricultural

Ducks following the leader.....


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and a rooster feeling very important.
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Mosey over to HEY HARRIET for splendid shadows, where the

Logo unlocks a whole world full.

Starry, Starry Night

It is midnight

sleep refuses to come knocking at my door

the lights are out

my eyes are tightly shut

my prayers said

yet fickle sleep hides in the shadows

Defeated

I open my eyes

and lo

bright stars wink down at me

and beckon me

to come outside and play

The night is totally still

just a few frogs

still raise their voices

in the distant dam

and all around me

dance the stars

The sky so clear

thick strewn with stars

beyond stars beyond stars

like grains of sand

upon a beach

the more you look

the more you see

Some large engulfed in halos

some like tiny pinpricks

bravely glowing

in the depths of space

thick like feathers in a quilt

forever there

in deep infinity.

SkyWatch ~ A So-So Sunset

The only opportunity this week to capture a little hint of
colour in the sky, driving back along the Murray Valley,
looking back at the foothills of the Mt.Lofty Ranges.


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The sky showed some promise so I pulled over and hoped...
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plenty of clouds with the sun peeping through
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no trumpets blaring, no bells and whistles, no heart stopping
rush of awe at the sheer magnificence, just a gentle fizzing out,
leaving the vastness of the sky just a vastness without
adornments.
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Hope you have better luck elsewhere, just click the Logo to
find out for yourself.
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Thanks to all those people who have kept this meme going for
such a long time.
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MY WORLD ~ A Walk in the Park

Last week was rainy to overcast but no matter, I felt the call
of the wild so on with my Wellingtons . . . for those of you
unacquainted with these handy devices, a brief explanation:
The Iron Duke (Wellington) seemed always to fight his major
battles in wet, very wet, weather which. needless to say with
so many soldiers, cavalry, cannon drays and the like, created a deal
of mud. When the trusty rubber boots were invented they
naturally were named in honour of his Lordship, the hero of
Waterloo.


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My feet now safe in my Wellies, My camera tucked under my
jacket, I ventitured forth across the paddock to the park. For
many reasons I had not been there all winter and now was
already mid-spring.
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Above the bearded flowers of maples, below, the sunny gold
of my favourite Wattle, Acacia saligna, bright even on a grey
day.
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Resilient nature way paying tribute to the first really soaking
rains since 1997, everything looked bright eyed and bushy tailed.
I have seldom seen such a prolific flowering on the Banksia,
really quite a sight with its candles all alight.
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You may not think it but this cascade of gold hides a path . . .
Either wade in the dam or play Tarzan and break through
the jungle. Fearing to drown my camera in the former mode
of progress, I opted for the latter
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and safely made it through to the other side. Looking back,
my passage was once more blocked as though I had never been.
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As you see below, the dam/swimming hole is fuller than full.
The overflow is running nicely thank you and it will again be
possible to dive in and cool off in the summertime, snakes
and all!
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The Logo is a peep-hole into other people's lives and surroundings.
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Thanks to our ever industrious MY WORLD Team we can once
again link hand across the oceans.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Pink and Pretty

It is spring time and bink blossoms abound of Prunus,


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and Nectarine,
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the first carnation to open
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and another Prunus that completely covers its branches.
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Last but not least, this gloriously perfumed Oriental lily.
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There is a great deal more in the garden in flower, so much indeed
that I could fill a book . . . but maybe not today.
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Click on the Logo to enjoy different colours, different flowers and
different parts of the world or just to join this lovely meme.

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Defining Light

I hide in the shadows my beauty concealing and yet, the

light still finds me . . .

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Sunrise light, illuminating and casting shadows in equal

degree changing the look of the landscape..

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Photos clickonable for enlargement . . .

To enter this shadowy world, click on the logo, join in at

HEY HARRIET and come out to play!