Wednesday, May 27, 2009

SkyWatch ~ 35 Seasons Come, Seasons Go

Our dam in the park in a reasonably good year



not quite full but still fun for the g-children to dive
and swim in



for the last two years of our persistent drought, this is
what we have had to contend with. All our 5 dams were
reduced to cracked earth and the rest of the farm, gardens
and orchard suffered severely because of it, as this was their,
as well as the animals' water supply.



At last we have had enough rain to green up the paddocks
and make the weeds grow faster in the garden than I can
possibly pull them up, but there is a tiny puddle in at least
the dam in the park. When full, it covers the rung on the
diving platform.



Ever the optimist, I look to the skies and hope for more.

As indeed I hope that Mr.Linky is up and running!
To Klaus and the SkyWatch team, good luck with running
this, to now, so enjoyable meme.

83 comments:

  1. The cloudy sky picture is awesome.
    Good luck with rain. Have a good winter.

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  2. Just been checking out your blog. I came from Denise's. Love your photos of nature. Glad to see you are getting some water in the dams. Our drought has been declared over. yippee. Still have water restrictions until end of year.

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  3. Did you get a soaking from last week's heavy rain? My brother's friend's farm in the Gold coast got a good rain. they danced with joy.

    We have been complaining with too much rain.

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  4. We're ahving plnty of rain, if I could I'd send some your way. Love that last photo with the dramatic cloud.

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  5. Arija,
    you did it once again,
    you observant eye captured once again the sky and the earth below in a beauty few of us manage to see as well as you do!
    Visiting you makes me feel vertigo of the joyful variety (and the word vertige takes me to W.G. Sebald who would have found prose much worthier than mine to describe the beauty you are bestowing us with - one of his books carries the "Vertigo" title).

    May you enjoy many beautiful skies on the way through the week to next week's skywatch! :-)

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  6. I hope your drought is soon over. I live in an arid area and miss the rain so much. As always your photos are lovely!

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  7. Good to see the sky reflected in your pool of water. Hope more clouds like that spectacular last shot brings you rain.

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  8. Wow, what a stunning shot the last one is. I pray that your drought is soon broken.

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  9. Incredible cloud shot, Arija, but they are all lovely. Love the reflections in the water! Do hope your drought is over!

    Yes, I hope Mr. Linky has been cured of his latest problem, too!

    Happy SWF! and have a lovely weekend!

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  10. I'm glad you are not bone dry. Hope you get some more rain.

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  11. Hope you'll get plenty of rain this year - the empty basin looks quite sad. Stunning sky in the last photo :)

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  12. That drought has been really serious hasn't it - I read somewhere that some parts of Australia had twelve inches of rain in 48 hours to break the drought. Did this happen anywhere near you?

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  13. I'm glad to hear you've had enough rain for the weeds to sprout, even if it does mean work for you. Hope you soon get lots more rain.

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  14. the beautiful blue sky and huge cloud shot...fab
    the drought has indeed taken a toll on your part of the world...

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  15. Beautiful clouds, hope they bring you some rain! Happy weekend, Arija!

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  16. The climate it is a-changing, to paraphrase a well known song.

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  17. this is so funny for me, that you have winter now... I hope all it's going to go well for you!

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  18. Great shots all of them! Love the first reflections - and the last one is fabulous! What an enormous cloud threatening! That is a good shot!

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  19. Glad your drought is being busted. It'll make for a nice swimming hole. Love that last shot. Awesome cloud show you had.

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  20. Excellent photos, that last one is simply incredible.

    Have a great weekend.
    Guy
    Regina In Pictures

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  21. Oh goodluck with rain. California is having its third year of little rain so they call it drought too.

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  22. Great photos. We have some of the same receding shoreline here in Minnesota.
    Keep looking up!

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  23. Yes we can certainly hope for more water here in South Australia.

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  24. In Bermuda, two months without water (like now) is a drought. Obviously we don't know the meaning of the word. Nice shots.

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  25. Your last shot is great, Arija.
    It's sad to read about the drought in your region. I think it's kind of unfair split in your country. Not enough water here, and too much water elsewhere ...
    I hope that wonderful clouds will bring you some more rain.
    Have a great weekend!

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  26. The first and the last shots blew me away. So beautiful. It was also interesting seeing the difference between the water levels before and after the drought. I'm sorry you have been dealing with that. We had a long drought for us (about 18 months) but this past year we've had plenty of rain and the reservoir is full again. I hope you get some rain soon.

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  27. It would be a great to see your dams filling up with water again. The drought sure has gone on for a long time.

    Sunshine is lovely but sometimes a bit of rain is welcome too. Great photos for Sky Watch Friday.

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  28. I like them all but my heart loves the stormy sky. I enjoy seeing a storm brewing in the sky.

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  29. Very inviting indeed and so calm waters.

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  30. Wow! What a sky, Arija! I can't believe how parched your dam is. When I enlarged the pic, it looked like elephant skin! Keep weeding...

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  31. Reflections of sky are one of the big rewards that come from the relationship between air and water. Good to see both in the increasing drought everywhere. Thanks once again for great pictures.

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  32. "I look to the skies and hope for more" what a quote. Your photographs are wonderful too.
    Joyce

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  33. I do hope you receive more rain. Great sky watch shots as always.

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  34. I wish the first photo could just roll down its water to the second photo that looks so dry.
    P.S. I have sent you the pattern by email this morning our time. Hope it does not go to your spam mail. I have been experiencing this lately. Cheers!

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  35. I wish I could send you some of our water... since blogging I have started to respect water and not take it for granted so much... I have of course always known it was needed else where but I have found it to be more of a personal issue now.

    Tom
    Pictures & Words & Wiggers World

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  36. That last photo is so dramatic. Great captures.

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  37. Congratulations on getting some rain! That last image is stunning.

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  38. Lovely photos I like all of them.

    Greetings

    Gunilla in Sweden

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  39. You should try the opposite Woodstock wish ""Rain, Rain, Rain..."
    Thanks for your beautiful comment about my vortex pic.

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  40. These photos are great especially the first and the last ones, the two middle ones show what a sad thing drought is. In South Queensland there's too much water. Strange isn't it?!
    Well anyway, I wish you a great weekend.

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  41. All are nice photos but love that last shot. So dramatic.

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  42. Arija: You have certainly been hit hard with the drought. The cloudy sky did bring hope. That was a neat photo.

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  43. Great series of shots. The reflection in the water of the sky is breathtaking. Have a great weekend. Smiles Barbara

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  44. Very nice pictures i see here, nice work!!!

    Have a nice Skywatch Friday

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  45. Beautiful shots. Great report.
    Luiz Ramos

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  46. It is raining here for the third day straight,... I'm working hard at sending it in your direction. Keep hope!

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  47. Great pics! I really love the last one.

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  48. Here is fingers crossed for heaps of rain, so that those dams and lakes fill up!!

    We are officially in a drought here and the lakes, rivers and reservoirs are showing the effects. Water levels are the lowest they have been for a long time..

    I really like those shots... they tell the story very clearly..

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  49. Oh dear, your before/after dam shots are shocking ! I hope more water comes your way! We know that Australia is regularly drought-stricken but your photos just drive it in a vividly acute way.

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  50. Wonderful photo series! Here in Southern California we're experiencing drought as well ... hoping for rain as YOU are!
    Hugs and blessings,

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  51. i like the reflection on the dam for the first photo. but the last photo blew me away!

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  52. That first shot is awesome. It's too bad about the drought and rain. That's sucky. :-(

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  53. Glad you've had some rain to help things out. BTW thanks for visiting my blog.

    Have a great weekend.

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  54. Hi Arija, this pond is a pretty place for the kids (and you?) to swim when it has water.
    I am sorry about your drought, I think ours has ended here in Texas for a bit with all our recent rains. Maybe not.

    I tease my Aussie blogging friends, Merle, Jeanette, Gemma, and Warren, that you need a modern miracle. That would be to turn all your wine into water. Then it could be used for irrigation instead of exporting to the U.S.
    Don't get me wrong, Australia has some of the better wines. Yellow Tail is fine at our house.
    Cheers, :-),
    ..
    ..

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  55. Wow I wish you well with the rain XXX Don

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  56. Great SkyWatch photos, especially that last one and I oh so wish I could send you some of our rain. I know we are a temperate rainforest but there has been far too much emphasis on the rain these days! Thank you for sharing.
    Smiles and blessings

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  57. I love the first reflections
    en the clouds on the last,
    but all your pictures are lovely ! ! !
    GREAT.
    Gr.
    P-TER

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  58. Thumbs up for water ! And that's a tremendous big cloud making an impressive photograph.

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  59. The last photo is so beautiful

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  60. Yeah, you're right, they look very similar. I love the pond reflection. Quite different without water in it :( Drought is not a pretty thing at all - in more that one respect

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  61. Awesome shots, Arija.
    Happy weekend.

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  62. This is a beautiful sky pic!! I know what you mean about the weeds too! I get outside to work..though it's enjoyable, there is so much you see that needs to be done. Happy skywatching-

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  63. I hope your drought ends soon and your dam fills up to the rim!! :)

    That is an immense cloud and very beautiful... it looks like it should have rain?

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  64. I love that last shot - it's spectacular. Was there any rain? Sometimes I feel so sad when I see the effects of the drought. I'm travelling to the country where I grew up in a few weeks and I know it's going to make my heart hurt and sing all at once.

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  65. Sorry to hear about the drought. A lovely set of photos, and what a grand sky shot!

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  66. nice photos. My cousins said they have flood in Brissy...Hope the rain will reach Adelaide too.

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  67. What great photos. The cloud scene is amazing! I do so enjoy traveling the worrld with Skay Watchers. Thanks so much for your nice comment. Visit anytime.

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  68. I cross my finger for you and hope you will get a lot of water this year to come.

    Love Maria Berg, Sweden

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  69. Photographs Are Amazing !! I Loved Your Blog..

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  70. Such a severe drought, I can't imagine the devastation it is wreaking on the farmers.

    Israel has been suffering a drought the past few years as well, but nothing like yours.

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  71. Wonderful series of shots. I coud take similar shots here in Florida. We are desperate for rain, everything is drying up and dying off! Hope we'll both get lots of rain soon!

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  72. Lovely photos! The clouds and their reflection on the water are so peaceful.

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  73. These are very good photos showing us what happens when not enough rain. Here we have an abundance so much so that there's minor flooding of local creeks.My world of nature is beginning to wake and yours is getting ready for a long winter sleep.

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  74. lovely set of shots! hope you get some rain soon

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  75. Last image is great! I hope those clouds brought some rain for you!

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  76. Gosh I am late! And I hope that the promisingly nimbi has already drenched the arid land.

    It is no wonder that the word "Petrichor" was first coined by an Australian. The sweet aroma that the earth give's off during rain after a long drought must be very pronounced indeed in Australia.

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  77. I really like the last photo of the sky...amazing!!!

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  78. Hi,
    Nice & beautiful place to visit:)
    PS:Great photos ,all of them.

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  79. Absolutley beautiful photography, inspiring pictures.
    Sarah

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