TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Dressed all in Red

Tis the season to be jolly and my flowers are joining in.

The garden is a blaze of green and red.

The Christmas cactus has in excess of 40 blooms on it.

The poppies are pulling their weight in spades, come rain

or shine, they glow like freshly polished fire engines

and guess what? The bees love them as much as I do.

Click as usual to enlarge . . .

Today's Flowers offers hundreds of flowers from around the world.

Click on the Logo to join in or just view.

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ 2nd Advent

The day dawned swelteringly hot with curtains drawn against

the burning sun.

The elves had been at work with a beautiful Advent wreath

hanging from the ceiling festooned with hand made golden

stars,

as well as putting their artistry to good use decorating

gingerbread.

Stars and hearts, birds, bunny rabbits and a reindeer and

many other animals as well as a sparkling, snow covered

Christmas tree

What a wonderful thing it is to have competent grandchildren.

Happy Advent to everyone as Christmas comes hurtling

towards us.

Click on the Logo and check out Hey Harriet lurking in many a shadow.

SkyWatch ~ A Milestone Post

A little more than three years ago I put up my first blog post

little dreaming the great fellowship I would enjoy or the

following I would gather. I never thought my blog was anything

special but over 250 people seem to like it anyway. This is my

500th post and what more fitting than SkyWatch where Klaus

had to log me in for I had no idea how to go about it. I have

always photographed the sky so this meme came as a godsend

to me to show some of my work.

Below is a sunrise last week direct from the camera except for

resizing. All photos enlarge with a click.

The still dark sky as the sun makes up her mind to rub the

sleep out of her eyes.

Growing light as she yawns and stretches . . .

ready to top the horizon

and finally giving us a run for our money blazoning across the sky.

Thank you all for accepting me so generously amongst your midst,

for becoming my friends who brighten up each and every day of

my life with your posts of other parts of the world that too are very

dear to me and I can no longer visit for myself.

Thanks to Klaus, Sylvia, Sandy and Wren for hosting this great meme.

World Bird Wednesday ~ New Holland Honeyeater

New Holland Honeyeater, Philydonyris novaehollandiae,

feeding on a Grevillea bush.

Spotted in Port Elliot, South Australia after a lovely lunch at

the local hotel.

He happily foraged, while I just as happily photographed.

So nice of him to strike a pose for me.

Click on the Logo at right and see a wealth of birds.

Nature Notes ~ A Lucky Break

Everyone needs a holiday sometime, we took ours on Tuesday,

a whole 26 hours worth! I craved the ocean so we stayed in

Goolwa, at the end of the Murray river and just a spit from the

sea.

Coming home the next day, the skies darkened and I just got

under cover from opening and shutting the gate to keep the

sheep from our garden, when the light diminished and the

storm broke. Our first day of summer and a most unseasonal

thunderstorm with high humidity although it was coming from

the cold southern ocean that usually sends us blasts from

Antarctica.

All our gutters overflowed along their whole length, splashing

down on the flowerbed and forming muddy puddles on the path

that is supposed to keep our feet dry. 30.7mm in less than an

hour!

Drenched geranium overhanging the Mediterranean sea on

the path.

Greens sprang into life as plants soaked up the bounty and

nourishment descending from heaven above.

An added bonus of a little piece of a double rainbow as the

sun dared to show its face again.

Do click on the Logo at right and tell us of the changes in

your own surroundings.

Thanks to Michelle of Rambling Woods, we can all join in.

MY WORLD ~ Sacred Canyon

Enter the Sacred Canyon at your own risk! Even the youngsters

among the trees stretch out their feet to trip you up.

Thoughtfully, in single file we brave the narrow creek bed.

Each lost in our own 'Dreaming'.

The Aboriginal marking of a permanent waterhole carved in

time immemorial, was it a hundred, a thousand or ten thousand

years ago that a flint tipped tool carved these sacred symbols

for ever present water?

Every crevice was filled with flowers, this one, the European

hop bush a recent newcomer in this ancient landscape.

Newer signs of things to come without this encouragement

one could easily give up as the creek is bone dry until you

actually reach the liquid wonder that flows for less than 100

metres before disappearing under ground.

If you enlarge this picture, you will notice more carvings on

the rocks at far left. They depict the fact that this is permanent

water, and the animals who come to drink here. The footprint

of an emu the squiggle of snake and drag of lizard as well as a

simple representation of a human.

Apart from a tiny trickle of water, total stillness engulfs all

comers as one by one each sinks into the Dreamtime . . .

A place so gentle yet powerful that uplifts and regenerates

the soul and one is loth to leave again.

The keeper of country who watched over me and helped me

negotiate tricky rock climbs to reach the inner sanctum.

The canyon is neither deep nor wide but powerful in a spiritual

way that stays with one through space and time.

Enjoy or enlarge and enjoy more.

Click on the Logo and see the world, thanks to the MY WORLD TEAM

we can be everywhere at once.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Poppies and Roses

Sunlit poppies blowing in the wind,

perfectly painted by crayon, watercolour or . . . just light.

The sunlit splendour of the roses too looked painted my a

master.

From this week in my garden.

To walk in the gardens of the world, just click on the Logo.

Thanks to the TODAY'S FLOWER TEAM for giving us this possibility

to share the beauty.