Category: Australia

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · quotes · spring · Tweed Valley

Listening to Nature

Joanne4 Comments

The sun made a brief return today. If I hadn’t dashed outside to take a photo at just the right moment I would have missed capturing Mount Warning today. Before nightfall it was engulfed by a misty, cloudy mass of white.

A spot of colour on a cloudy day.

I have spent another day working on assignments, so with my mind taken over by academic writing and genre analysis, I thought today I would share someone else’s words. I read this on Facebook this morning –

“Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps. Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit. Plant the tree where the mole digs. Build your house where the snake coils to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.

Nature is talking to you, are you listening?” ~~ Angus Williams

I don’t think I would be inclined to share my house with a snake, but I like the concept of Williams’s words. Engage closely with nature – follow its lead – live a quiet life to find peace. ❤

Friday morning visitor.
Australia · clouds · Mount Warning · rain · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

Back to Winter Weather

Joanne5 Comments

I’ll keep it brief today. All day I have been shivering at my desk, working on assignments – there’s two due this weekend – and tonight we have the fireplace on again. This morning Mount Warning was hidden by mist and clouds, and by lunchtime the valley had gone into hiding too. The rain has continued all afternoon and into the night.

On the plus side, my garden is getting watered! 🙂

Australia · blessings · colours · dad · family · father · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · remembering · spring · Tweed Valley

Finding Colour on a Grey Spring Day

Joanne9 Comments

Well, the beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies on Saturday was short-lived. Yesterday we had rain, and the mountain went into hiding behind mist and clouds for the day. Today the weather wasn’t much better – grey and more grey. When I took the photo of the mountain at least I captured the image of a bird flying by, but the day was so dull I didn’t have enough bright light to even identify the bird.

So that was the view of the mountain today. No colour. No pizzazz. Nothing. But luckily I have a couple of plants blooming that I haven’t added photos of here recently.

I have had a tiny potted succulent sitting on the table on my back patio for a few years now, and last year it burst into flower for the first time. The flowers lasted for quite a few weeks and looked just lovely. Now they are flowering again. I have no idea what the name of the plant is, but the flowers definitely add interest to the plant, and colour to the garden on a grey day.

These pretty purple flowers belong to another pot plant and since buying the plant in January this year it hasn’t stopped flowering. The flowers did wane slightly during winter, but during the last couple of weeks it has had a new lease on life. This is a Scaevola “Seaside” – I know the name because I wrote it in a gardening journal which is a very handy thing to have. Being a drought-tolerant ground cover, I’m thinking I should buy some more Scaevolas to plant in my front garden.

My last spot of colour is a climbing Allamanda. I must have had this plant for well over ten years now and it always seems to be in flower. It really flourishes during the warmer weather though.

Yesterday was Father’s Day in Australia and as it turned out, with no visible mountain to take a photo of I was able to devote Silent Sunday to my dear old Dad. He’s been gone now for twenty-two years but I can still close my eyes and conjure an image of him in my minds eye as clear as if he were still here with me today. Knowing him as I do/did, I know how he would have enjoyed the internet, and would have loved browsing through my ever-expanding book collection. He would have enjoyed all of the babies – his great-grandchildren – being born into my family now, and he would have got such a kick out of me working on my degree. Oh the things I have read and learned about that I would have loved to have discussed with him! Missing him still hurts at times, especially on days when I know he would have spent the day with me, such as Father’s Day. There’s an old saying though, it’s better to have loved and lost … I’m sure you know the rest. ❤

Me and my father in 1993, just after we lost my mum.
Australia · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · photography · spring · Tweed Valley

Saturday Morning Photo-shoot

Joanne8 Comments

Being Saturday, I was able to have a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Not for long though. An hour after the usual time I get up, I heard kookaburras cackling outside my bedroom.

It was a beautiful sound to wake up to. And when I looked outside I saw two kookaburras looking at me expectantly. I wasn’t thinking about feeding them though, I made a bee-line for my camera!

The light of the morning was perfect for a photo session. The sky was blue, and the morning light crystal clear.

And I had not two, but three supermodels, posing, ready to begin their photo-shoot. Will you look at those synchronized poses!

As I clicked away, I noticed the view behind my clothesline. Okay, so the clothesline is arguably not the most glamorous prop for three such stunning models, but look at the view behind them! Unfortunately, I am just a tad short to get a decent shot of the mountain without the lines across it, but that was easily fixed.

I dragged an outdoor chair across to the right position, climbed up, and there you have it – supermodel kookaburra in front of an amazing backdrop! Mount Warning, palm trees, clear blue sky, who could ask for more?

After waiting so long for the photographer to finish getting just the right shots, the supermodels were all famished! Some of their friends had arrived by that time too, so they all went off to the feeding table for breakfast. Oh, and I almost forgot! Here’s the mountain, looking gloriously spring-like, early on a fine Saturday morning. 🙂