Today I am getting in early with my post. There’s a storm warning in my area, with strong winds, hail, and possible power outages. The valley, as the picture shows, is cloudy and hazy. There’s also a strong, warm, notherly wind blowing, so we have the front of the house closed to the heat.

Meanwhile, it’s Hallowe’en! I’m not sure if Covid will have any affect on the number or trick-or-treaters about, but I have bags of individually wrapped chocolate treats prepared.

In years gone by when my children were living at home, they used to get into the spirit of the day. I wrote a post in 2014, showing Emma having her makeup done by Hayley. Here’s one photo, and more photos can be found in the post, Lady of the Dead.

Happy Hallowe’en!

Australia · birds · daughter · family · grandchildren · kitchen renovation · Mount Warning · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

An Out-and-About Day

October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 Joanne8 Comments

For a while now, husband has been trying to convince me to go to a local kitchen installation showroom to find some inspirational ideas for our kitchen renovation. What with uni, I have constantly resisted, but now we are actually getting into the reno, I made an appointment for 11am today.

As soon as my daughters heard I planned to go out, they organised me to have morning tea with them first! So we met at a lovely little coffee shop beside the Tweed River in Tweed Heads.

Little Aurora just loves her special “coffee” – a babycino – so seeing her so excited when her cup arrived, I just had to take a few photos.

For a two-year-old, she manages a “big girl’s cup” very well. (I think she’s had a lot of practice!)

And she didn’t plan on leaving one tiny bit in her cup! Her face looked very chocolatey by the time she had finished. 🙂

I had limited time though, so had to have a quick cuddle with both Aurora and Eli before I left. Aurora wanted to play her new favourite song for me, which is from a movie I haven’t seen yet.

And I had a big cuddle with handsome little Eli before I had to leave too. 🙂

When I arrived back at my car, I could see three pelicans in the distance, so had to take a quick photo of them before I left.

It was really worth the trip to the kitchen showroom. Everything I have on my wish-list was there – the doors and door-knobs I like, tiles, taps, cupboard fittings … we were so impressed that we have a rep coming to our house tomorrow to quote on a complete new kitchen. That will save a lot of time and effort for husband who has a million-and-one other projects to work on anyway.

The down side is that they are booked up until February next year, but we can still install the new range so we can use it over Christmas. It’s a free-standing cooker, so the new kitchen can be fitted around it.

In Mount Warning news, the valley is a tad hazy this afternoon, but we haven’t had a storm today for a change. It’s awfully humid though, so there’s probably rain about.

Australia · clouds · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · rain · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

The storms continue

October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 Joanne6 Comments

The sky, valley, ranges and Mount Warning were all clear this morning for the first time in days. Just a small river of mist ran along the base of the ranges, and a couple of patches of mist danced across the sugar cane fields.

The sun shone brightly for such an early hour too. These photos were taken at 6:30 am daylight savings time.

I could also see the sugar mill steaming away at full speed in the valley, while on the roof, Father Magpie awaited breakfast.

So much for the bright and sunny start to the day though. By early afternoon the valley had turned black and distant thunder had a couple of the animals inside the house seeking comfort. Within minutes though, most of the black clouds had moved away, leaving a trail of strange, low white clouds behind.