
Month: February 2024
Happy Valentine’s Day …

The colour of roses conveys a message to the recipient, so today I wish to send my “gratitude and appreciation” to my blogging friends, by sending you all a pink rose for St. Valentine’s Day.
As those who read my post yesterday are aware, I had major issues when commenting on my friends’ posts, but with the help of everyone who replied to my call for help, I am now able to comment again. ❤
I also wanted to share today a meme I saw on Facebook this morning ~~ The Real Luxuries ~~

There is so much to love about every one of these luxuries, minus one for me, that being day naps. I have never been a daytime napper, although I realise that there are some who are appreciative of the luxury of a siesta, cat nap, or nanna nap – call it what you may. Regardless, it is a gentle meme for a loving day, which I wanted to share with you all.
Wishing everyone a wonderful day in which you can indulge in a few luxuries of your own choosing. ❤
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Help! Where are my comments going???
Since installing my new computer last week, some things have changed – and not for the better –
- I no longer receive notifications when blogging friends, who I follow, add a new post.
- When a new comment is left on my blog, I no longer receive notifications.
- Since yesterday, I can write a comment, submit a comment, but it doesn’t appear on the page.
- The only thing WordPress is allowing me to do is to leave a “like” on my friend’s pages.

To make this post less techie, even though I am asking for help, I am adding some photos along the way. The last photo in my In A Vase On Monday post yesterday showed a “through the window” shot of what’s going on in my front garden, just outside the front door. I took a few photos of the area last month, taken outside, so I will add them for interest sake. 🙂
So back to my dilemma – up to this morning, I wasn’t sure whether my issue is email or WordPress related. Today, however, I went directly to WordPress reader, tried leaving a comment, and yet again, it hasn’t published! My “likes” however, seem to be still working.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be happening?

Going back to my garden, the first photo shows the Tibouchina tree. The second photo shows the bird bath, which is often used, and an assortment of mostly potted plants, waiting for the heat to diminish so they can be planted in the ground. Some plants live here permanently, such as a Hydrangea, Dianthus, Gardenia, Daisies, and two potted Spathiphyllum, or Peace Lilies. The Spathiphyllum are happy enough indoors, but I find they flower nearly all year ’round when they live outdoors in the dappled shade under the Tibouchina tree.

The Spanish Moss – Grandfather’s Whiskers – also prefers a shady area. My mother gave me some Grandfather’s Whiskers over thirty years ago when we moved back north after living in Sydney for fifteen years, (she’s been gone now for thirty years,) and this piece is one I separated from the original “bunch” just last year. Already, it looks happy and healthy, strung over a branch of the Tibouchina.

This last photo shows my front veranda, which also shows how close the Tibouchina tree is to the house. Since taking this photo, we have trimmed the top off the tree, which we have to do regularly, to keep leaves out of the gutters – it drops leaves often, but new foliage grows back again just as fast! If you look towards the end of the veranda you will notice my bits and bobs of gardening tools, pots, etc. which I always have on standby. 🙂
So going back to my WordPress issue, does anyone have any suggestions? I am having no problem when leaving comments on Blogspot, so it has to be WordPress acting up for me. I am considering re-following blogs, to see if that helps. However, I noticed that I was able to leave a comment on one blog – Eliza’s – where the comment box looked as it usually does, just a plain box for a comment to be added. On all the other pages, where comments will not publish, the comment box has a bar along the top, as if to edit the comment as I write. It looks the same as when adding a new post on my own site. That isn’t normal – but how do I change it? I have searched Google for answers, without success.
Now I am hoping my people have more WordPress knowledge than I do! Help!
In A Vase On Monday ~ Bird of Paradise

This week for my contribution to Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday meme at Rambling in the Garden, I have limited my arrangement to three flowers, based on the potted Bird of Paradise that has decided to flower! It only flowers during summer, but not every year. I am sure the plant would flourish if planted in the ground, but I have heard that once in the ground, Bird of Paradise grow huge and are difficult to remove. So in the pot it will stay.

In previous weeks I have said that I don’t like mixing purple and orange flowers, yet somehow I manage to do so often. If the colours are light shades, it doesn’t “clash” as much. Yet having said that, I have seen arrangements of orange and purple flowers looking beautiful together. This week, however, I decided to stick with just orange flowers with green foliage.

Strangely enough, if you look closely at the Bird of Paradise, the have a thin strip of purplish colour with the orange. Regardless, orange is such a bold colour, so today, orange can be the star attraction.

It is fortuitous that during the same week my Bird of Paradise flowered, my Ixora ‘Prince of Orange’ is also in full bloom. I found plenty of long stemmed Ixora to cut for the vase today.
I have discovered that orange flowers en masse do not photograph as well as the more subtle colours I usually choose for my Monday vase! Or it could be the dull light in the house that is the issue. Today is the first day in around a week that it isn’t raining, but there are so many clouds that the sun is struggling to peek through.

Ahhhhhh, that’s more like it – a delicate spray of light coloured Lilly Pilly flowers. 🙂

This week I have been out and about more than usual. My area is overtaken by tourists for the summer holidays. I live just south of Queensland’s Gold Coast and just north of Byron Bay, which has become world renowned in recent years. Byron to me will always be a sleepy little beach village, yet since several of the “rich and famous” moved in, suddenly, everyone wants to go there! So during the six week summer school break, I tend to stay close to home.
One day during the week, I went shopping with my daughter. The shops have begun their Easter displays, and although I had no intention of buying anything, this vase jumped out at me and said “take me home!”. And when my daughter said she had found a dish that looked very “Mum-ish” – her word – I had to agree. And considering my choice of orange flowers for today’s vase, the colours blend beautifully with the bunny designs.
I know for certain that I will not limit the use of this vase to Easter alone. 🙂

In this last photo, once again the orange of the flowers doesn’t look as clear as it could – I think I will blame the dull day – but I wanted to add this photo for the background. I often mention the purple flowering Tibouchina tree just outside my front door: in this photo, the tree can be seen through the window. Hanging from a branch is Tillandsia usneoides – Spanish Moss, or as we call it, Grandfather’s Whiskers. To the right is a mozzie zapper, although those blood-thirsty pests haven’t been as active this past week, thank goodness. And just beyond the tree is the garden which featured in my Hill Project post recently.
Thank you for your dedicated weekly hosting of In a Vase on Monday, Cathy. 🙂
