Category: clouds

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · In My World · Mount Warning · summer · sunset · Tweed Valley

Sky Show

Joanne7 Comments

When the sun tries to overpower the drizzly rain, the combat between the elements can certainly leave a beautiful sky show. The overwhelming expanse of layered clouds dwarfed the magnificent mountain with a maze of powerful white swirls and grey cotton balls.

The contrast in cloud layers provided no clues in predicting tomorrow’s weather. The low, yellowish clouds suggest rain, but the higher, ribbed clouds tell me it must have been blowing a gale in the upper atmosphere. It looks like there’s a high-flying ‘plane in the upper, righthand corner of the photo too.

A few minutes later, the setting sun added another dimension of interest to the clouds, with a yellow glow attempting to pierce the thick cottonwool layers.

After getting through my end-of-week work related chores on the computer this morning, I spent most of the afternoon beginning an update on my blog. I now have a new domain name, provided by WordPress – homelifeonlineblog.com. I also updated my “About” page. Does anyone else ever think to update the details on their blog? I find that over the years, things change – my thoughts mainly – so I need to rewrite the synopsis of my blog. If anyone cares to read the new page, it can be found here.

When I took the dogs out for a walk in the garden at around sunset, besides the magical sky show, I discovered that the plants I recued from a pile of rubble outside our yard last weekend all seem to have taken well to their new homes. I didn’t hold out much hope for the petunia, so planted it straight into the ground in a sheltered area under a frangipani tree, and even it looks happy.

I think Eliza identified this plant as a type of periwinkle. I hope it continues to thrive in its new location. 🙂

Australia · clouds · family · Mount Warning · summer · Tweed Valley

Cloudy Thursday

Joanne8 Comments

Last night, the clouds rolled back in and the rain started pouring down from the heavens again.

For the past few days, while I’ve been catching up on a thousand things (offline) I have been contemplating changes I’d like to make to my blog (online). I must have ‘written’ a thousand posts in my mind during recent days as well, whose words have never quite made it to the page.

Maybe tomorrow I can devote some time to sitting down at my computer for a change, and writing.

Both of my daughters visited today with their children, so I had a lovely ‘family’ day, but now it’s late, I’m tired, and I’m heading off to bed.

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · rain · seasons · summer · sunrise · Tweed Valley

Monday Morning Mist

Joanne6 Comments

This morning I awoke to the most beautiful sight in the valley.

After another warm day yesterday, we had an unexpected downpour of rain late last night, nothing major, but it seems the moisture combined with the heat was enough to give the valley an “other worldly” appearance this morning.

While I was outside admiring the valley mist in the early morning light, a female Pee Wee came by. I have four regular Pee Wee visitors these days – two males and two females.

Even though drizzly rain continued all morning, there was something special about the light today. I played around taking photos for a while from my front patio, and one of my favourites was of my white miniature rose. A couple of weeks ago, the plant looked a tad frazzled, but since the days have been cooler, it seems to have had a new surge in growth.

Like the miniature rose bush, the cooler and calmer summer’s days we’ve had recently have given my Tibouchina tree a new lease on life too.

This summer, I am basking in the glory of cooler-than-usual days and nights, which have allowed me to spend more time in the garden than usual this summer. If every summer could be this agreeable, I’d be a very happy all-year-round gardener. 🙂

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · native Australian plants · rain · summer · Tweed Valley

More rain …

Joanne4 Comments

When the rain bucketed down at 7am this morning, there was no sign of Mount Warning. Ignoring the inclement weather, two little Magpie Larks, or Pee Wees as they are affectionately called in Australia, arrived first for breakfast at my back door.

The first photo is a little lady pee wee, with verticle lines of black feathers through both eyes, and white around her beak.

Nearby, another pee wee waited, a male, with a horizontal black “mask” across his eyes, and more black feathers around his beak than his little lady friend. My photos would have been clearer if it wasn’t for the dreary weather, but with such shy flitting birds, I take what I can get.

Later in the afternoon, the mountain appeared from behind the veil of clouds which had hidden it all day.

For days now, I have been trying to take a photo of the new Lilly pilly flowers appearing on some of my potted plants. They will eventually form a hedge in the garden, but for now, I am keeping them near to the house where they can be watered every day – manually, with a hose, (was the plan) although I have rarely used the hose this summer due to our excessive rainfall! Lilly pillys are usually very hotogenic flowers, except on dull days, apparently. I will persevere though. They are very pretty Australian natives and I would like to document their growth more extensively, besides showing off their beauty. 🙂