Category: autumn

Australia · autumn · cakes · happiness · son · traditions

The Sydney Royal Easter Show

Joanne11 Comments

 

Agricultural displays, painstakingly created to show off the produce of an area.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show Begins Today! And oh, how I wish I were there.

Age doesn’t matter, really it doesn’t. The buzz of the Sydney Easter Show is incomparable to any other show I’ve been to.

The Buzz of the Easter Show is not confined to the bee hives!

It’s the atmosphere, the people, the events, the rides, the show bags, the wood chopping events, the domestic and farm animals, the food, sideshow alley,  the art, the displays….

The Central District's display

Nothing ever grows old at the Sydney Show. Last Easter my youngest son Adam and I took a trip to Sydney to go to the show. For Adam, it was his first time; for me, the umpteenth time.

I fell in love with the very realistic scowl on this baby dolls face!

Rain on the day didn’t dampen my spirits, we just took an umbrella. And the simple fact that we were in Sydney was thrilling enough for Adam. He has spent so little time in this great city, which I intend rectifying over the next few years, before he becomes too mature and too cool to travel with his mum!

Here he is again with some friends.

We had planned on going back to Sydney for this year’s Easter Show, but unfortunately business commitments are keeping me tied to the Tweed area during April.

Look at the detail in the decorations on these cakes!

But I can do the next best thing, and show you some photos taken at last year’s show.

Here's the Western Districts display, featuring the Australian Coat of Arms.

The district agricultural displays are an incredible sight. I don’t think that my photos really do them justice. The amount of creativity that goes into these displays is unbelievable.

The judging of the fruit cakes is over. What a delicious job!

You will notice, however, that wood chopping photos are missing, along with the animals and the rides, all outdoor events, in fact. And my camera isn’t waterproof (remember, it was a rainy day).

The fruitiest of fruit cakes hardly have any cake to hold the fruit together!

The show bag pavilion is also noticeably missing for a different reason. Our hands were too full of show bags, and gifts we had bought to take home to the family, to be able to juggle the camera into photo taking position!

The busy bees have done their bit, and the judges results are in.

I found a very informative Wikipedia site, (link added here)which shows some of the outdoor events at the show. I was also interested to read that the show began in 1823, is the largest event in Australia, which comes as no surprise, and is the sixth largest in the world.

Even south-east Queensland has a produce display.

Adam will only be fifteen next Easter and I’m sure it won’t take too much convincing for him to head off to the Sydney Easter Show with me again. Heck, if he doesn’t want to go, I’ll go alone! 🙂

 

 

autumn · gardening · inspiration

Passing the time; no car, wet weather….

Joanne6 Comments
Memorabilia....

The past week has been yet another seven days of drizzling rain, spurts of dazzling sunlight, taken over a few minutes later by the rain again. What can one do?

A dessert spoon set, now 73 years old, given to my parents for a wedding present in 1939.

After pondering this question for a minuscule moment, I returned to the computer. With a “to do” list to work on, I have taken complete and utter advantage of the rainy weather and continued on my merry way, indoors.

My mum would heat these curling irons on the stove, to curl her hair.

I rarely stay sitting in front of the keyboard for long. I don’t know if others are the same as me, but I need a change of scenery, maybe every half hour, perhaps to get a drink, pat the animals or do some ironing; whatever I do, it just has to be away from the computer for a few minutes.

They opened to wrap around the hair, leave for a few minutes, then voilà! Curls, (so long as they weren't so hot they singed your hair!)

Yesterday afternoon I had the inspiration to take photos. It was wet outside, so I worked on a display using a few old treasures, to photograph a new header for my blog “Memoirs of My Life”. Have a look if you like, I’ve added the link into the blog title, and I’m really pleased with the results!

Sorting photos, another job on my 'to do' list.

The photos were turning out so well for me. The light in the room must have been just right at that time of day, so while I felt inspired, I took a few extra photos, just for fun.

An unfinished doily that my Mum was working on, over 18 years ago. I will finish it, one day...

I even decided to add a post at “Memoirs”, after taking photos of a damaged photo album, which I am repairing. It’s a shame that the original album has been ruined, and I am hopeful that the restored version will be treasured for generations.

This letter, sent from Australia to England in 1946, was brought back to Australia by my Grandmother, who the letter had been sent to.

As much as I would really enjoy spending some time gardening (the weeds are running rampant!) I don’t hold up too much hope in the near future. During the time it has taken me to write this, it has alternated between sun and rain four times! If you hear a huge “hooray” over the next couple of days, it will no doubt be me. The rain will have stopped and I’ll be heading outdoors.

What is a cat to do, other than curl up on the chair on the veranda!

Here’s hoping. My fingers are crossed….

~ ~ ~

Australia · autumn

“Gilding the Morrow”

Joanne4 Comments

 “Ah, Hope! What would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow”. ~ Susanna Moodie.

Whilst many prefer the bright blue skies reminiscent of favourable weather, the photo above shows that there is just as much beauty in grey skies.

This photo, looking north across the ocean at Burleigh Heads beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast also proves that, contrary to popular belief, it does rain in Queensland!

The late autumn weather on the day was indeed very chilly, but I could not resist the opportunity to linger amongst the elements, enjoying the grey cloud formations as they presented themselves.

Just as in life, there were indeed golden beams of sunlight hiding behind the grey clouds, awaiting the exact right moment to shine their way through, reassuring us yet again that they will always be there to “gild the morrow”.

After the photo session, a hasty retreat was made back to the warmth of my awaiting car. A cosy jacket would have come in handy that day!

 

Australia · autumn · gratitude · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Autumn Sunset

Joanne6 Comments
An autumn sunset over Mount Warning

“How fine has the day been, how bright was the sun,

How lovely and joyful the course that he run!

Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun,

And there followed some droppings of rain:

But now the fair traveller’s come to the west,

His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best;

He paints the skies gay as he sinks to his rest,

And foretells a bright rising again.” ~ Isaac Watts.

With summer now behind us, Mother Nature has taken it upon herself to have her last hoorah of hot summer’s days and nights, which we know to expect during the months of the summer season.

During this afternoon, I noticed the temperature had reached 31 degrees Celsius, a hot day for this time of year.

But when you see the brilliant red formations of clouds in the western sky late in the day, it is so worth the unseasonal heat!

Following my previous photos of Mount Warning, The Mesmerising Mountain, I just had to add yet another magical photo to the series. How could I resist?

“Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows In yonder West : the fair, frail palaces, The fading Alps and archipelagoes, And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas.” ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Looking to the west of Mount Warning
Australia · autumn · gardening · herbs · pecan nuts

Autumn In My Garden

Joanne1 Comment

“What was Paradise? But a garden, an orchard of trees and herbs, full of pleasure, and nothing there but delights” ~~ William Lawson.

When autumn arrives, my life takes on a whole new meaning. After the long, hot, humid summer that I must endure every year over the Christmas season, it is such a pleasure to once again venture out into my garden!

How beautiful the garden is looking right now, as if all of my plants have collectively heaved a sigh of relief that the heat is over and they have all burst into flower at their happiness!

Most of the days now are warm and sunny, allowing me to spend all day hard at work outside, without so much as breaking into a sweat! I must admit, though, that when I am in “garden zone” I lose all concept of time and reality, becoming completely ensconced in my outdoor paradise.

It has become a regular occurrence that I will often be temporarily startled by a rustling noise nearby, only to discover a friendly bird has dropped by to say hello. I’m amazed at how tame the birds in my garden are! Or is it just momentary confusion on the bird’s part, believing me to have grown in the garden also, having spent so much time out there??

My most recent additions to the garden beds have been broccoli, cauliflower, marjoram, oregano, lemon grass, pineapple sage and lavender. We have collected bucket loads of pecan nuts and have enough limes to last us for months! I am especially proud of this year’s tomato crop. They are planted companionably next to my basil, perhaps being the reason they have been particularly generous with their crop this year.

When my home grown produce makes it to my kitchen I am constantly searching through my recipes, often feeling rather indecisive as to what I will make next. Decisions, decisions….I want to make them all! 🙂

Helper on a Break