OUR WORLD & SkyWatch - Life at Hew Haven

I get out seldom these days but a friend asked me to visit her

at New Haven a two hour drive away.

A view across the Marina

It was a grey day with a little more light looking down the 

Marina from her mooring

A late breakfast with a view

On the other side, cross the road and a few dunes and the 

beach beckons for a lovely evening walk with the dogs

A simple and delicious dinner on the terrace

Nice to cool off in a jacuzzi after a very hot day if you 

have a view like this.

A splendid 24 hr. holiday!

Linking with OUR WORLD

and SkyWatch

SkyWatch - Sunrise Light

As the sun rises, it lights up the garden and hill behind my house

making the West even more spectacular than the East

Happy SkyWatch everyone!

linking with

Skywatch

Wild Bird Wednesday & Nature Notes - Starlings Antics

Just uploaded these from a while ago and they were a pest 

to get onto the blog, a gremlin in the programme . . .

a starling family dropped in to feed their youngsters

"hey mom, I'm hungry!"

"you look big enough to fend for yourself kid"

"aw c'mon mom"

"see, you can do it!"

"don't walk away!!"

note the little yellow-dumped hornbill in the corner

"no mom, come back!"

"please mom don't walk away, dad can take care of the other four "

Did you see the wealth of green apples scattered under the tree 

in the first few shots?

That's what happens when the parrots come to call, they strip the 

trees before they or anyone else can reap any benefit.

Linking with 

Wild Bird Wednesday

and 

Nature Notes

TODAY'S FLOWERS & I Heart Macro A Touch of Last Spring

Hooray!! We have been blessed with 6" of rain over two days,

more than we got in winter in one event!

My heart sings and the garden got it just in the nick of time to

revive the trees and shrubs that were giving up and had lost most 

of their leaves.

Now, with hope in my heart, I look back at some wonders in my

garden last spring and forward to those to come next spring.

masses of tulips with primulas and wallflowers at back

clumps of crazy fringed tulips

looking like carnivorous plants

masses of bright nasturtiums

and just because I can and because my camera shared my bed that 

night, an early morning shot at waking, yep, a real pillow shot,

luckily the kangaroo was OUTside my garden fence.

Hope you all have a great day wherever you are!

linking with

TODAY'S FLOWERS

and

I Heart Macro

SkyWatch - A Different Slant . . .

Yesterday I had the pleasure of staying with a friend at

North Haven with an unimpeded view of the sea as well as a 

mooring, at the other side of the house, on the Marina.

Another 43 C day but we managed to walk the dogs on the 

beach after sundown when a change started coming in with

very promising clouds.

At 4 a m  very light rain started, by breakfast time it was raining 

steadily and when I left for home just after morning tea,

it was coming down in buckets making driving a real hazard.

By the time I made it back home late in the afternoon, it looked a 

little disappointing as rainfall drops by an inch a mile as you travel 

East. I was pleasantly surprised though to see 14.5mm in the rain 

gauge and the cicadas singing an ode to joy.

The rain stopped by dinner-time but we are enjoying a thick, 

beautifully moist, fog.

I do hope everyone is getting their preferred weather and 

commiserate with the people in the South of England being

flooded for so long and even worse floods expected.

Linking with SkyWatch

where you can find wonderful skies from all around the world.

TODAY'S FLOWERS, I Heart Macro & OUR WORLD - Wishful Thinking

While sweltering, hunched over the air-conditioner

with a top of 43 or 109.3, whichever you are familiar with,

occasionally dashing out to douse down my orchids

to keep them alive

the garden itself is crispy leafed, the lawn a dustbowl

while a deadly North Wind does it's best to 

kill what is barely holding on

so all I can do is some wishful thinking and dream of

blooms of a kinder season

I'd be very grateful to have the above thistles thriving at this time 

as they make good eating as well as looking cheerful

a Eucalyptus covered in blossom

autumn flowering on a confused wild plum

and best of all, some moisture on a stray crabapple 

blossom that braved the early winter.

Linking with

TODAY'S FLOWERS

 I Heart Macro

and OUR WORLD

Be brave and join in with these beautiful memes!

SkyWatch - Total Disappointment

Thick and wonderful, they came charging over the hill

even the East was awash with them 

They billowed into glorious Nimbus

and were sucked up into the upper atmosphere by the burning sun

without shedding a single drop!

The only moisture around was in my eyes as all hope departed.

Linking with SkyWatch

TODAY'S FLOWERS & I Heart Macro - A Bear of Very Little Brain

This bear of very little brain has been scraping it up 

and pouring it back in it's ear holes. 

Today as the heat soars again, I am wearing ear plugs in the hope

of keeping what is left, where it should be.

The last pot of Oriental lilies did not fare well, all but one

flower were baked before I could get them inside

where it is not much better although my block out curtains 

were securely close before the sun thought of 

raising her sleepy head.

So today I am posting all white flowers in the hope of

enticing some of the snow besetting N.America to cross the 

Equator and head our way..

Above, a 6' high bush of bell flowers

below, a tiny European wildflower dancing on it's

delicate stem.

Another joy of springtime, pristine white Primulas

and the only unblemished bloom on my Oriental Lilies.

Please forgive me if I do not manage to visit much,

I will be spending most of the day flat on my back to stop my legs 

ballooning. Heat waves are not much fun when your 

fluid intake is restricted to a maximum of a litre and a half.

Joining 

TODAY'S FLOWERS

and 

I Heart Macro