Monday, June 17, 2013

OUR WORLD - Burra Mines on the Way to the Flinders Ranges


Two springs ago, we drove to The Flinders Ranges
fields of canola were flowering gold


trees on the way were coming into leaf


we stopped to walk the old mine site and 
pick up lumps of copper carbonate
at the side of this road


it once was an open cut mine but eventually
the water level rose and 
it had to be abandoned


the colour of the water is amazing but it was hard 
to get photos through a six foot mesh fence

if you enlarge this shot, you can see the bird at the water's edge


and onward to the folded ancient hills of the Flinders Ranges.


With gratitude to Klaus who started this meme as MY WORLD
which, after his passing was renamed to OUR WORLD 
and continues in his memory.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

TODAY'S FLOWERS - Winter Blooms


My crabapple, Malus floribunda, is as confused with the 
seasons as the birds


it is not supposed to flower in early winter when all it's leaves
have fallen


the last autumn leaf still lies on the ground


yet the garden has skipped three months and thinks it's spring!



Thank you Denise for keeping this cheerful meme going for 
more than five years.
I have always found it a delight to share my flowers here.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

SkyWatch - Sunshine and Shadow


Rain bearing clouds looming over my paddocks
Sunlight illuminates the autumnal gold of silver poplars


clouds move and cast shadows
heavy cold rains are limiting to gardening
but oh so wonderful for the trees that have struggled 
over a number of years.


Thank you  friends at SkyWatch for keeping this splendid meme going

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Wild Bird Wednesday - Dogfight in the Sky

Scraping the bottom of the barrel, rain is not conducive 
to good bird shots

with a little morning light, a gang of 
NewHolland Honeyeaters
were making a lot of noise and playing tag


dive-bombing each other and exchanging a lot of
verbal flack


there were about a dozen of them, flying so fast I was 
surprised I caught any of them in my sights


sorry about the very mediocre shots of this spring like behaviour
now that winter has barely arrived.

Linking with Stewart's

OUR WORLD and Nature Notes - Just My World This Time


My little world is a work in progress

it is raining and I did not want to soup up the picture quality.

As many of you know over quite a few years I looked after my 
husband who developed Alzheimer's disease.
During that time, with the help of a severe drought, my once
immaculate garden went to rack and ruin, helped along by well 
meaning but illogical help by himself.


Today, I finally had someone to help. He cut the large areas of 
grass with a ride-on mower and set to with a will with a 
brush-cutter as well.

As if by magic, paths came to light and I  no longer was 
soaked to the knees when reading the rain gauge. 


Mowing is like making your bed, a large area looks tidy
and gives one courage 
but masses of hard work remain.

This may not look like much but this patch of rank weeds
is actually three large flower beds, the width of my house.

It will have to wait for two weeks for the next onslaught.

The front/side garden is also better for the mowing, now
I can at least get to the beds to start weeding!


In anticipation of the help, I had already started weeding this 
enormous bed . . mainly to get my broad beans and snow peas
into the lovely moist ground.


A seemingly little patch that I have cleared in a hurry as the 
tulips are already coming up although winter has barely arrived!

It is a monstrously large bed to weed. You may wonder at the 
black plastic garbage bag, with good reason.

Seeds and perennial weeds would go rampant in a compost heap
but in a garbag, left in the sun for 3 months, they turn into 
beautiful, weed free, compost.


Bleeding profusely, I managed to weed under the two roses above,
and with the courage I had gained from having some help,
even planted the Buddleia below and mulched it with 
sheep crutchings.


Maybe next time I will present a more interesting post,
for today, I am too bushed from all the gardening
but
I have had an absolutely lovely time!

Linking with OUR WORLD
and
Nature Notes

Saturday, June 8, 2013

TODAY'S FLOWERS & I Heart Macro - Vallota Lily


This year I only had one stem of my Vallota Lilies
with two blooms on it


it got a little bruised with the recent rains
but was joy to see nonetheless



Enjoy your flowers today
who knows what they will be like tomorrow!

Linking to TODAY'S FLOWERS

and

I Heart Macro

Thursday, June 6, 2013

SkyWatch - Surprise!


There I was, weeding for much longer than my body could take
I even kept on when the rain started
until I got dizzy being bent over

I stretched and carefully turned so as not to fall or step on 
my tulips peeping above the ground

and there it was!

a full rainbow right across the sky


naturally even when weeding, my camera was at hand


so I just about snapped over


and there you have it . . .

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