Category: blessings

Australia · blessings · gardening · gratitude · spring

September

Joanne15 Comments

“Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.” ~ Try to Remember lyrics by Tom Jones.

I believe that September may very well be my favourite month of the year, a month when the cooler days of winter are almost over, the nights are pleasantly cooler and comfortable for sleeping and the garden is springing back to life after a few dormant months.

Having said how much I enjoy the month of September, I may contradict myself by proclaiming another month to be my favourite at a later date! It all depends on how I have spent that month in question, and I have to say, I have found something delightful in every day of this month, especially in the garden.

The new plants in my garden are growing beautifully, most looking as if they have been well established in their positions for months, even though they are very young.

I’m not much of a shopper, but let me loose in a garden centre and that’s a whole other story! Over the years I have had to teach myself some discipline, only buying plants that I know I have the room for in the garden.

On my most recent shopping trip for plants, I actually took a shopping list with me, just as I would if I were going to the supermarket. I’m very pleased that I had a place prepared for every plant I came home with.

Tomatoes are one of my favourite edible plants. Shop bought tomatoes lose their flavour after being stored in the refrigerator; not so with home-grown tomatoes, which can easily be picked when needed and enjoyed at room temperature.

Poinsettias are at their best, with equal amounts of light and dark throughout a twenty-four hour period, and last Saturday, the day of the Spring Equinox, my potted poinsettia looked stunning!

One thing I’m not looking forward to as the weather warms is flies! I’ve spotted the odd one or two, but not too many just yet. I did find one though, unexpectedly, perched on the petals of one of my newly planted flowers!

During the late mornings and early afternoons, the birds have taken to singing the most joyful spring songs, high up on the branches, among the thick foliage of the tallest of the trees! I’ve zoomed my camera in on a few birds that I didn’t recognise, and have discovered that we have had a few unusual visitors lately.

One of the birds, a Spangled Drongo, has tail feathers which look like a fishes tail! He seemed to be alone when I spotted him, dangling from an unopened palm leaf.

Other new visitors, known as a Figbirds, arrived in their multitudes! I only managed a decent photo of the female Figbird, although their were males here also. The main difference between the two was the red ring around the male’s eyes.

My faithful regulars, the Magpies, have a nest nearby and when the adults collect food and fly to the nest, I have often heard the tiny cheap-cheap sounds of the baby birds! I’m looking forward to meeting the new babies, when mama and papa bring them to visit, as I’m sure they will do eventually.

As I feed the adult birds, I wonder if they are he same baby birds I have become familiar with in previous years, who have grown up, losing their mottled black and white feathers, and now having the developed their predominant shiny black feathers.

The little Noisy Miners have already brought a baby or two to visit. I love the soft, downie feathers of the baby birds. Imagine how soft those spring baby feathers must be.

This month has also seen the arrival of some bright green frogs! I really, really enjoy the sound of the croaking frogs when it rains! They live in the rock walls around our house and I love catching a glimpse of them every once in a while. They are rather shy creatures though. I think this one that I found, sitting among my new plants, must have been a grandfather frog! He was one big froggy!!

Another sign of the changing season has been the sugar cane fires and the harvesting of the sugar cane. I managed to zoom in successfully on a cane truck the other day, way down in the valley, where the fields of cane had been harvested and the trucks were being loaded with the cane, ready to head off to the sugar cane mill in nearby Condong.

Another bonus of the warmer weather is being able to sleep with the windows open! The warmer nights of September have allowed us to leave some windows open, and the fresh and gentle scents of the outdoors are wonderful, wafting in on the nighttime breeze. Miss Tibbs, however, prefers to sleep outdoors, under the foliage, when the weather permits.

The swimming pool is ready for us to jump into when the hot summers days reach us. None of us have been brave enough to try the water this early in the season, although my two boys did go to the beach last weekend. They didn’t stay too long though, and came home with stories of the surprisingly warm water for this time of the year.

I think that the last word for September should go to the Kookaburras, those happy little chappies who laugh all year ’round, no matter what conditions the weather brings!

“Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
That love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember, and if you remember,
Then follow.”

blessings · gardening · happiness · mangoes · Mount Warning · spring

The Sacred Garden

Joanne20 Comments
A Place of Happiness and Contentment.

If I could describe the perfect weather, the weather we are having now would be it.

Every day, for weeks on end, we have seen blue sunny skies, pleasantly warm temperatures during the day, and cooling down overnight for a cosy night’s sleep, snuggled up under the blankets.

Tiny Violas, just outside the back door.

It hasn’t rained at all, which is an advantage in one way as there is no humidity, but a disadvantage as the garden is crying out for a nice long refreshing drink of water.

The poppies are going well, but need watering every day.

Every afternoon I give some of the garden a watering, keeping it to just the plants that I know will suffer from the lack of water, such as my potted poppies and orchids, and the vegetable garden.

Garden tools are never far away.

This week I have devoted each day to giving my garden a “spring clean”. It’s more than just pulling out the weeds and pruning a few plants, and my mission is to have all the tidying up completed before the heat arrives.

New flowers are beginning to open on the Alamanda.

Yesterday’s chore of pressure cleaning the pavers at the back of my house had to be aborted, due to our four-month old pressure cleaner blowing a gasket! It has gone to the pressure cleaner hospital for a few days, and will be home again next week, so I can finish the job then.

Mount Warning, the Overseer of All Things Sacred.

Meanwhile, plenty of plants and trees have been pruned, old tatty plants have been removed, today I have added some new topsoil in the gardens where necessary, and before breakfast this morning I had a huge truck load of mulch delivered!

We all know how I will be spending the day tomorrow!!

Little Miss Tibbs, my helper, who is never far from my side.

I haven’t been alone in the garden either. Little Miss Tibbs has been right by my side, “helping”. No day in the garden is complete, without having your hands grabbed as you pull out weeds, legs jumped on as you move along the garden bed, and of course, everyone knows that a freshly weeded patch of dirt simply has to be rolled in!

Gardening can be exhausting!

She really is such wonderful company. If I don’t pay her enough attention I hear her little meow, and next thing she is rubbing up against my legs (or arms, or whatever body part is handy at the time!)

My sore muscles and aching “gardener’s back” are really of no consequence, when I think of the pure and absolute pleasure I feel when I’m out in the garden. If there is a place in the world that I could call my “Sacred Place”, that would have to be my garden.

The Mango Tree is covered in new growth.

New buds are forming, showing signs of the promise of beauty yet to come and my mango tree is positively covered in little blossoms! If we don’t have too many windy days (the wind can blow the tiny mango seeds away, leaving us with a bare tree) then we are in for a bumper crop of mangoes this year!

Tiny blossoms everywhere!

This afternoon, when I went right down the back garden to take photos of the mango tree, I spotted a Bush Turkey, just outside the back gate. He seemed tame enough, so I went closer to take his photo. Unfortunately he didn’t smile for the camera though, as he was more interested in finding his lunch.

“No, I can’t look up, I’m eating!!”

Some regular visitors to the garden, the magpies, who have dropped in for a chat and a meal for a few years now, were here for their usual afternoon scrounge around, and when they left the garden they headed for the very top of one of the tallest trees around, a Norfolk Pine.

The magpies balancing act!

I zoomed in on them to get a photo of the pair, looking quite ruffled, as the two of them tried to keep their balance and the tree swayed in the breeze!

The lemon tree is fruiting and flowering beautifully.

Everyone should have a “Sacred Place”, somewhere that you can go to, where all the cares of the world are guaranteed to be washed away in an instant.

Do you have a “Sacred Place”, or even a person who pacifies your mind and soothes your soul?

Tess plays her role of watch-dog, while Miss Tibbs and I are gardening.
Australia · autumn · blessings · happiness · Tweed Valley

Towns of the Tweed ~ Hastings Point, (on the rocks)

Joanne8 Comments
The seagulls have to be cheeky, to get fed!

My photographic story of my visit to Hastings Point, a beautiful, sleepy, seaside town on the Tweed Coast began here yesterday, as I sat on the grassy hill overlooking the ocean and shared lunch with some very cheeky but rather cute seagulls!

Tiny pools of the ocean water, trapped by the jagged rock formations.

We decided to return to Hastings Point the next morning, when the tide would be low and we could climb around the rocks below. I had also charged my camera battery, so could take more photos.

Black birds were flying around the rocks below, although didn’t seem to want to venture up the hill in search of food, unlike their seagull friends.

The roar of the waves, even at low tide, is at times almost deafening when you are right next to the ocean. The rocks which were hidden by the ocean the previous afternoon were now exposed, showing strange creatures attached to the rocks, and tiny shells in the rock pools.

Tiny creatures, exposed by the low tide, and attached to the rocks. I needed to have a closer look at these…

I have no idea what kind of sea creatures (or rock inhabitants) these are, but they are rather interesting when you take a closer look…

Looking down on the unidentified creatures….

Little seashells, dotted here and there among the attached creatures, look for all the world as if they are covered in honey, when you take a look at them side on.

Honey coated crustaceans?

The crevices between the rocks, filled with ocean the day before, had dried out in the morning sun, making our climb across the rocks both dry and enjoyable.

Wide expanses of rock, letting in streams of the ocean.

Although some of the rock surfaces were smooth and easy to get a footing on, other were jagged pillars of rock, like the volcanic rock formations at Fingal Head, just north of Hastings Point.

I suspect these may be the same breed of volcanic rocks, which can be seen at Fingal Beach.

Being the beautiful morning that it was, I was quite happy to just sit in the sunlight, mind clear, ears filled with the roar of the ocean….

The noise of the ocean didn’t detract from the peace I felt…

….looking out at the ocean, watching the waves crash against the rocks and weave their way like little rivers through the rocky crevices.

The tranquil but fierce ocean.

It felt as if I was existing in a world all of my own, with nature; the birds, the waves, the thundering and splashing, the peace and tranquility.

Natural beauty. No amount of money can buy this, it is free for all to enjoy.

The beauty….

After a while…I have no idea how long I sat on the rocks, contemplating the sea…I noticed the water levels getting higher, the wave splashes rising higher, and thought I might head around to the other side of the rocks, where another beach lies, looking south of Hastings Point.

A deserted beach, looking south from the Hastings Point Headland.

A lone fisherman stood on the rocks, amid the noise and the spray of the waves…

A lone fisherman….

I couldn’t help but wonder if he too felt the magic of the ocean, heard the peace in the crashing waves and lost all track of time as he stood on the rocks amid the salty sea.

The Old Man and the Sea.

Hastings Point is a place that brings back some old childhood memories, of my younger days spent camping with my mum and dad in our little tent by the sea, but now I have made new memories.

And my new memories fill my heart and make my soul sing!

I’ll be back to visit Hastings Point, many more times….

Beauty and colour in the sand.

 

Australia · blessings · ducks · freedom · friends

It’s All a Matter of Trust

Joanne18 Comments
An adult “Honey Eater”

It was only fairly recently that I noticed a new breed of visitors to my garden. At first I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, or the varying light of day changed the colour of the birds, as some seemed to have a brilliant blue colouring around their eyes, whilst others didn’t!

With the help of a few Google searches, the mystery was solved. “Honey Eaters” develop the beautiful blue “eyeshadow” when they reach maturity, around the age of sixteen months, whilst the younger birds must stay content with a rather dull beige eyeshadow in their youth.

Whatever did we do before the days of Google for research? (Oh, now I remember, we used books for research! I must invest in a good Australian bird identifier book.)

A young Honey Eater. The day will soon come when he can wear the “adult” eyeshadow!

At the end of June, The “Australian Wood Ducks”, who have chosen my swimming pool as their own personal duck pond, were still rather timid, and all the photos I took of this charming pair having breakfast near to the back of my house were taken through the window, so as not to frighten them away.

Well, the good news is, we are now old friends, and they seem quite content to walk around my paved area, pecking away at the bread scraps that I leave out for them, even when I’m out in the garden with them!

Sir Drake

These two photos were taken as I sat quietly on the pavers, with the pair of them only about three metres away, taking photo after photo! They occasionally looked my way (especially Sir Drake, who is rather protective of his lady friend!) and continued with their pecking.

Mother Duck. Well, she will be a mother one day later this year, when the breeding season begins.

The ducks have become rather possessive of the garden, and seem to think they have first dibs on the bread too. When a pair of “Rainbow Lorikeets” visited last week, the ducks wasted no time in making sure the lorikeets knew who was there first!

Setting the ground rules!

The lorikeets rarely visit my garden, and when this pair dropped by for breakfast I had hoped they would return. Unfortunately, they haven’t, so I wonder what the ducks said to them? Perhaps the ducks offended the lorikeets!

Rainbow Lorikeets

Mother and father magpie have visited me for a long time now. This pair are my “old faithfuls” and swoop down to me when they see me walking out of the back door. They are so tame, have their own individual personalities, and bring me so much pleasure with their regular visits.

Mother Maggie

The magpies brought their three baby magpies to us when they were old enough to leave their nest. I always knew when the babies were in the garden, they made so much noise! My maternal instincts delighted at the sight of the baby birds squawking at their parents, as the pieces of bread were passed from parent beak to baby beak.

The three siblings, who have visited my garden since baby-bird-hood.

If you compare the black of the adult magpies to the black areas of the babies feathers, you will see that the babies feathers are mottled black. The mottling will eventually become full glossy black, but even then, I will recognise “my” babies. They are the birds who know me, trust me, and walk straight up to me when I’m in the garden.

As much as I enjoy using words as a means of communication, and writing words in my blog posts, birds and animals bring something extremely meaningful to my life. It’s a form of communication where no words are needed, yet friendship and trust are developed over time.

All that is needed is a feeling, and a heart. 🙂

One of the young magpies, coming just a little bit closer to the house.
Australia · blessings · spiritual

Over the Border ~ Queensland. “Ye Olde Houses of God”

Joanne12 Comments
Ye Grande Entrance

Whilst taking photos of the other day from Kirra Point Lookout, my camera happened upon an old church building, sitting atop a hill in Coolangatta.

Camera poised, I took a closer look.

Beautiful carved statues adorn the church.

Well, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Coolangatta may not compare to St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, but by the standards of this area, it really is a magnificent church building.

The foundation stone was laid on Easter Monday of 1925, with the first mass in the completed church held on January 2nd, 1927, making the church eighty-five years old.

“HIC EST DOMUS DEI”

Being married to a Catholic for many years has taught me that any indecipherable words, relating to anything Catholic, will no doubt be Latin. “HIC EST DOMUS DEI” (which you will see above the doorway here), I have discovered, translates to “This is the House of God”.

In need of repairs.

Apparently the church is in need of funds for repairs to the building. Excuse me for possibly sounding cynical, but I’m quite sure that if the local parishioners cannot come up with the required funds, head office may be able to chip in a dollar or two.

And so they should. A building as grand as this deserves to be cared for. If I hear of any upcoming fundraising events, I will make a point of attending, to help this worthy cause. Perhaps I should encourage my husband to attend a few masses at this church, just to help their fund-raising along. Every little bit helps.

Taking photos of the church high up on the hill, from the position of standing down on street level, really gives the illusion of the church scraping the sky, and just look at the colour of the sky!

An abundance of detailed features.

Have you ever seen any more brilliant a sky-blue than in these photos? It was blinding in beauty! A gift from God, you might say.

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Coolangatta.

Just down the hill and around the corner is another beautiful Olde House of God, this time St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

Ye Olde Church Bell.

Being a Protestant myself, I felt more of a personal connection to this church. It has a wonderful welcoming “feel” to it, and is kept in the most immaculate condition.

The plaque on the side wall of the church tells us that the foundation stone was laid on October 31st, 1937, making the church seventy-five years of age this year. We can all only hope that we are in such a good state of repair when we reach the age of seventy-five!

A building with a history.

I really liked the arched windows around the building. Some of the windows were stained in pastel colours, but the sunlight would not allow me to take a successful photo of those. Perhaps that would be a photo for a day with less brilliant sunshine.

The arched windows add to the character of the church.

Although the old buildings in my area of Australia are few and far between, I have really enjoyed taking photos of, and learning something about, the history of the old buildings around me.

There's that sky again!

I do hope you have enjoyed visiting these churches with me.  🙂