Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Botanicals

Instant decor on a blank wall

and bouquets of carnations on a curtain . . .

Check out lots more shadows on HEY HARRIET, just click on the Logo

on my sidebar.

Weekend Reflections - Look down to look up

Just a couple of shots from our trip in May seeking fall colour.

On Golden Pond?

This meme is hosted by James, click on the Logo in my side bar

to join or visit others.

SkyWatch ~ I thought I had nothing to show . . .

and then I uploaded what was on my camera and voila!

a sunrise I got up for rather bleary-eyed . . .

shot off a few frames ( I am ashamed to say, a couple were

as bleary-ayed as I was and had to be discarded)

and just as I was ready to crawl back into my nice warm bed,

I looked up to the south of the main event and nailed these

lovely wooly clouds. I felt like plucking them from the heaves

and throwing them over my bed, they looked so like a soft pink

fleece.

Click on the Logo and see many more skies around the world

and add some of your own!

Nature Notes ~ A week to Mid-winter

Rain, high winds, grey skies and more rain, much more rain.

Just the time for some comfort food that you can enjoy the

aroma of for a while before it comes out of the oven.

Blogger flatly refused to upload my first picture so here is the

second step.

Peel and cut some potatoes into reasonable pieces, stir through

a large or more leek, some chopped up ham, salt and pepper and

pour over some good quality cream (picture below).

Cover with some bacon strips and shove it into a 350 F oven,

You can give it a covering of cheese as well, I just didn't have

any to hand

and, Bingo! about an hour or so you have this delicious thing

come out of the oven! Serve with a nice fresh salad and a glass

of wine and you have a nourishing meal just right for a cold

winter evening.

Looks like I was a bit generous with the cream!!! If you are on a

diet you can use just milk but be careful since it will boil over

more readily than the cream.

The anomaly of the week: a self seeded Borage plant (normally

a summer staple) delighting me with it's blue flowers that turn

pink when they have been fertilised and yes, there was someone

there to do the deed even in this weather!

Borage flowers can be used to provide a touch of blue in a salad

and, since they smell and taste of cucumber, to dress up summer

drinks as well.

Now go to Rambling Woods and join this fun meme for yourself!

World Bird Wednesday - Satin Bowerbird

In the Victorian alpine rainforest I saw a pair of Satin

Bowerbirds, Chlamydera violaceus, while the female was

gorging herself on Persimmons,

the male was very hard to nail down. In the Persimmon tree

he fed well in the depths of the tree and in the tree below, I only

got a glimpse of him with his back turned. I saw two more

while we were there but always high up and far away or hidden

inside the leafy protection of a tree. The male is black with a

purple sheen, he collects blue and yellow objects in his bower

where he displays for his lady.

Enlarge if you wish,but whatever you do, do join in with this

great bird meme. Just click on the Logo on my sidebar.

MY WORLD ~ A Long Walk

1,000 miles from home, near Porepunkah, Victoria, we enjoyed

a quiet holiday with daily walks. This was one of the long ones.

Down a disused, leaf-hidden path in an Elm thicket we went . . .

with bright fungi lit by a stray sunbeam,

down to the Overs River where it flowed tranquil and wide.

Our shady untrodden path was like something out of a half

remembered fairy tale and, as things happen in fairy tales and

dreams, from this cool moist thicket,

we were shot out into the stark sunlight with hard baked

earth to plod upon . . . and a late and rather moth-eaten

butterfly.

Once again, Stewart M has risen to the challenge and identified

this little pretty as a Meadow Angel, a very apt name too.

down to a river-bend that was anything but tame. The flood

had ripped up trees along the bank and built up a whole gravel

pit of broken stones on the inside curve while tearing down

everything on the other bank.

The smooth flow of the river, was here a raging torrent.

The built up gravel and debris on the inner curve.

Walking along the dense scrub along the bank we heard the

twitter of small birds and even managed to see some in the

gloom. Here a Grey Fantail sat momentarily still

and a hen Wren too.

Another bright butterfly bumbled along on a sunny patch:

Stewart M's identification, a Yellow Admiral.

Thanks again Stewart for coming to my rescue!

as emerald green mosses glowed among the pine needles

in the old forest.

The Prof, having safely negotiated this small swimming pool,

is dwarfed by the forest.

I scrambled through the bushes and was rewarded by a little

bit of lost history as I came upon these old posts, and there

were many more, driven into the river-bed. It looked like a

long forgotten mooring and landing place for river traffic.

Onward, ever onward. By this time we were far from our

starting point, getting tired and just a teensy bit crabby and

were cheered by this live bird-bridge across our path.

Some pine mushrooms, that someone had obviously enjoyed,

growing on an old stump

and a luminous patch of cow-parsley finely iced with dew,

a magnificent view of Mt.Buffalo

and the tiniest Oxalis I had ever seen, the flowers a bare 1/4",

taking me back again to fairyland.

A bare half mile and we were back at our home away from home.

They all enlarge it you have the time and patience. Sorry this was

such a long post, you have no idea how many pictures I DIDN'T

show you.

Do join in this great meme that lets us all see what is happening

elsewhere in the world. Just click on the MY WORLD logo in my

side bar and bingo! you can wander at will across the globe.

Shadow Shot Sunday & Sunday Bridges ~ Footbridge

Where the walking trail along the Ovens River in Bright, Victoria

crosses the river to return to town via the other side, there is this

great little footbridge swaying over the gorge.

It wobbles with every step you take and in a wind, it also sways.

On this frosty morning, it was slippery as well. When you splay

your feet, you can make it sway even more which I enjoyed very

much until I saw the young lady on the other side who was

waiting to cross and dared not set foot on it while I was having fun.

Do join in to these two fun memes, just click on either or both Logos

on my side bar and have some weekend fun!