Author: Joanne

Australia · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · spring · Tweed Valley

Spring-like weather returns

Joanne17 Comments

Today the weather, and the appearance of the valley, is completely different to yesterday.

This morning started out fine and sunny, with the ranges and mountain looking crystal clear, as if washed clean by yesterday’s sudden heavy shower of rain. I would have taken photos early, after the sun had risen and cleared the night-haze from the valley if I had time, but I had plans to meet my daughter at the shops. We had to have an early start as she needed to take baby Eli home by midday in time for his nap.

By the time I arrived home, the haze had set in again, although we didn’t reach the same high temperatures as yesterday. Later, I watched out for another beautiful sunset, but unfortunately Mother Nature must have been resting tonight. So today’s view over the valley is more subdued than yesterday.

The baby magpie visited again this morning with his/her parents for breakfast. It’s such a skinny, long-legged bird, and the sweetest little thing. ❤

A kookaburra made itself comfortable on the fence this morning and stayed there for quite a while. It seemed to have its feathers fluffed up, and looked so content that after a while I took some meat out to it, even though I had already fed the usual crowd. Usually when a kookaburra is looking for food, they wait in the palm trees and not on the fence so close to the house as this one was. It flew away as soon as I went outside, which was out of character as well. I know that kookaburras are territorial, so I wondered if perhaps this is a bird from another territory. If only birds could talk, it perhaps could have told me!

 

Australia · clouds · colours · Mount Warning · rain · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

A Surprisingly Beautiful Sunset

Joanne13 Comments

It was another dreary weather day today. Every time I looked out at the valley it looked like the whole area was veiled behind a white, transparent curtain. It was a humid day too, feeling for all the world like the middle of summer. I think the forecast temperature was 32 degrees Celsius, but I didn’t check the temperature during the day in case I passed out from shock!

At around 5pm, I went outside and took a photo of the valley, which in all honesty was not the greatest of views I have ever shared. The thick haze hid the mountain, making it barely visible. As soon as I walked back indoors, even though the sun was shining brightly, a massive shower of rain appeared out of nowhere! Well, I suppose there must have been a rain cloud somewhere, but it wasn’t one that I noticed.

An hour later, when I looked outside again, the rain had cleared away enough haze for the mountain to appear amid a beautiful orange sunset sky. Looking further west, the sky looked even more brilliant.

I never know what to expect to see from one minute to the next in the valley, let alone one day to the next. ❤

Australia · kitchen renovation · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · spring · Tweed Valley

Hazy, blustery, and a beautiful sunset

Joanne8 Comments

The weather has been pretty ordinary today. Although the sun has been shining, the wind hasn’t let up for a minute, and the crystal clear valley is hazy again after being washed clean by Saturday’s storm.

I didn’t know what I would end up with today photo-wise, but tonight we had a very pretty sunset. Mind you, I didn’t stay outside long to take the photo, the wind was quite cold!

This afternoon I had a sweet little visitor again. Daddy magpie turned up with baby mags, and they both got stuck into the bird seed I had left out for the honeyeaters. They seemed to enjoy it too.

This baby is still very young, but it seems to be a confident flyer. I see it often flying around up high with its parents.

On Saturday afternoon – during the power outage we had, as it turned out – we had a kitchen designer here who made us an offer to replace the whole kitchen which we simply couldn’t refuse! They are booked up with new kitchen installations until February, but it seems from what we have been told that we will have a kitchen filled with tradesmen for a few days, and everything will be finished when they leave. That includes removing the old kitchen, replacing all the cupboards, installing the new rangehood and range cooker – everything! So I’m pretty excited about that. 🙂

Australia · books · clouds · farewell · fiction · memories · Mount Warning · spring · Tweed Valley

Sean Connery

Joanne11 Comments
Windy Monday

It isn’t often that I’m dreadfully moved to hear of the loss of a famous person. Sure, it’s always sad to hear of someone passing, I think of their family and friends, and how the loss will affect those who are left behind.

And then yesterday the news came through of the passing of Sean Connery.

During my last uni semester, one of the books we were asked to read was Dr No. I have never been a huge James Bond fan, but besides reading the book, I watched the movie for one reason only – it was in Dr No that Sean Connery first stared as James Bond.

But it was when I watched another movie, several years ago, that I became a huge Sean Connery fan. So today, I will add a short YouTube video of one of my favourite scenes from the 1986 movie Highlander.

R.I.P.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery

1930 ~ 2020