Category: autumn
Before April is over….
Before April is over, I wanted to drop by and say hello to my blogging friends.
What a month it has been! Brilliant news, cooling temperatures with the changing season, gardening projects….April has always been one of my favourite months of the year, a time when my muse drops by and sets my fingers to the keyboard, yet this month I have been so busy, (both in mind and body!) and, well, I miss my blogging friends, my quiet time sitting at my desk, catching up with your world.
Today, I am heading out to help with a project at our factory, but there is another project that I have been working on, one very dear to my heart, a gift for my very special daughter, so here is a snippet, with more to be revealed later….
I have been taking a few photos each day, not as many as usual, but some I thought I would quickly share, before April is over, taken over the last few days.
Major happenings are taking place in the garden too, but more on that later, I have to rush now….
….as much as I would love to stay and chat some more…..
Wishing you all peace, love and happiness, and sending hugs from my presently chaotic, but very happy world. 🙂
Watching the Grass Grow.
“Miss the simple pleasures like a friendly hello, an unexpected smile, really looking into someone’s eyes when speaking, random acts of kindness, and days doing nothing but lying on a blanket in the grass watching the clouds roll on by.” ~ Rita Said.
Even though the summer sun inferno burnt brown patches throughout our lawn during the last few months, a whole lot of grass patches have shot up recently, probably on account of the cooler weather, then the rain, followed by more sunshine.
Of course it is all weed, full of seeds to grow even more weeds, and this weekend will become the victim of our lawn mower, but in the meantime, doesn’t it look pretty?
“The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” ~ Henry Miller
April.
“April came along like a blessing, and if it were a fine April it was so beautiful that it was impossible not to feel different, not to feel stirred and touched.” ~ From “The Enchanted April”, by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Without meaning to let it happen, the month of March has passed me by without my adding a single post. I checked back to March of last year ~ it was the same ~ post-less. I seem to have formed a habit.
This summer has been hotter than usual. I know I spend every summer muttering under my breath about my intolerance to hot weather, but this summer, I wasn’t the only one. It wasn’t just hot weather, it was humid. And sticky. And sweaty. And dry. Not pleasant at all.
Now, I think the months of extreme discomfort may finally be behind us for another few months. The rain finally arrived in such abundance that our nearby river was on flood warning one day last week. But that’s okay. We needed the rain. The ground needed the moisture. Even the weeds were dying from the heat, not a bad thing when you think about it, but I lost some of my plants too.
Between showers of rain last week, I started gardening again. We are extending an existing garden, which I call “Tess’s Garden”. It’s where our beautiful dog Tess was laid to rest in January, and I have planted “her” Azalea on her grave. The garden isn’t finished yet, but when it is I will show you the finished area. In my mind’s eye, I see a beautiful and relaxing area and it is beginning to take shape, now we can venture out into the garden again.
Early morning is the most delightful time of day right now! The air is so cool on my bare arms, the mist swirls around the mountains in the valley and often it is thick in my garden too, before the sun rises and melts it away.
Frangipani’s must love this kind of weather. The branches are still covered with leaves, when usually by this time of year they are all but bare. The rain last week knocked many of the last of the flowers to the ground. It looks so pretty though, seeing the dainty flowers on the ground. Whilst many other plants in the garden give up in the extreme heat, the frangipani’s thrive.
Every afternoon for the last week I have had a visit from a pair of Eastern Rosella’s, right near the front door. They love the flowers of the Grevillea tree, an Australian native, but they are so timid and it has been a challenge to sneak outside the front door without disturbing them! After a few attempts I finally managed to make it to the veranda and take a few photos before they took fright and flew away. As you can see, they are incredibly colourful. I have plans to plant more natives in the garden. I love to see the birds they attract.
You know that I always have a helper in the garden too, right? Little Miss Tibbs loves the garden too and really appreciates the watering can being filled to the top!
If I’m not mistaken, this is the time of year when the whole world rejoices at the change in weather. Here, we are loving the cool air, whilst in the northern hemisphere everyone is heaving a collective sigh of relief as they watch the snow melting and the green buds beginning to grow on the trees.
All is well with the world as April begins. 🙂
Cee’s Share Your World, Weeks 19 and 20.
Signs of winter have crept into my part of the world this week and last night really was rather chilly indeed, with the temperature dropping down to around eleven degrees Celsius. Believe me, that’s quite cold for this area!
There are definite advantages to cool sunny days though and last night we were treated to another beautiful autumn sunset, so while I share my world by answering Cee’s questions for both weeks 19 and 20, I will also share last night’s sunset with you all. 🙂
WEEK 19 ~
On a vacation what would you require in any place that you would stay? (This was a suggested question for Cee to ask, from my blogging friend Carol.)
Usually I have an automatic response to Cee’s questions, but I had to give this one some thought. Coffee making facilities came to mind, but I could go out for coffee, I can live without a television, easily, and all places you stay in have a bed….but what I really would dislike sharing is a bathroom. So that is my answer, I would require an adjoining bathroom in any place that I would stay on vacation.
If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels?
I don’t believe that I would have the patience to write a novel, but short stories I can do, and I enjoy writing them. When I think about it, every blog post I write is a short story really. I do enjoy reading, and writing poetry too, but short stories are top of the list.
What’s your favorite song of the moment?
Oh that’s such an easy question to answer, it’s the song that is playing on constant repeat inside my head! The Australian version of The Voice is being shown in Australia right now, and one of my favourite contestants, Luke Kennedy, sang a duet of the song from Les Miserables, “I Dreamed a Dream”. It hasn’t left my head since that night! I’ve loved this song since I first heard it sung by Michael Crawford.
If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top item on your wish list?
If I were to buy a new home, my number one criteria would be that it had to be old. I’ve always wanted to renovate an old home, a one hundred year old home would be ideal, and I would like to restore it to its former glory.
Now onto Cee’s questions for WEEK 20 ~
Do you like winter, or not, and why?
Winter, oh how I love winter! I’m a cold climate girl. I grew up in The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, where it actually snows during winter in some of the higher altitude towns. There are four definite seasons in the mountains, each with its own individual beauty, and during summer it doesn’t even get dreadfully hot. I love it!
Are you a listener or talker?
Definitely a listener, especially when I first meet a new person and don’t know them very well. I think that everyone who knows me well would agree that I’m a very good listener, but I can talk once I get going too!
What is your favorite juice or fruit drink?
Is there such a thing as chocolate juice? 😉 There should be, but seeing as there isn’t, I think I would have to say pineapple juice. It’s a juice that I don’t drink often, but when I do, I love it.
What do you have to be so happy about?
My four children. Sure, there are other things that make me happy (like beautiful sunsets!) a day at a time, but ask me any day, of any year, for the last twenty-eight years (‘coz that’s how long I’ve been a mother) what makes me happy, and I would consistently say my two sons and two daughters. They are the highlights of all of my life’s happiest days, and that’s every day.
In My World 