Australia · birds · clouds · colours · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · rain · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

Well, I did wish for rain …

They do say “be careful what you wish for,” don’t they? Whoever “they” are, they could be onto something. After quite a lengthy dry spell, and a couple of days of drizzle, tonight we have torrential rain.

I can hear the TV cutting in and out in another room, as the heavy rainfall messes with transmission. I think I’d better type fast, just in case we lose power.

The rain didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the usual morning breakfast crew, who all arrived bright and early asking for a morsel of food. The kookaburras looked like they were all having a bad-hair day, while the others, baby Magpie, the Pee Wee, and my little Butcher Bird, Hoppy, with the gammy leg, all appeared wet, but quite composed.

The valley looked quite magnificent this morning, with crisp green fields, and patches of white cloud dotted across the brilliant blueness of Mount Warning. It looked so gorgeous that I thought I’d take a walk down to the back boundary to get a photo of the uninterrupted view.

I even got as far as pulling on my gum boots and going outside. A sprinkle of rain won’t hurt me, I thought. I had only walked a few steps past the edge of the veranda though when a heavy downpour sent me scurrying back to shelter. And would you believe the maximum temperature today reached 20°C? I spent the day wearing jeans and a jumper ~ in December!

The white on blue looked so good today, I just had to zoom in on the mountain, even though I had to take the photo standing close to the house.

Maybe tomorrow the rain will ease up a touch, even if its just long enough to take a broad view photo of the valley for Silent Sunday. 🙂

Australia · clouds · colours · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · pets · photography · subtropical weather · summer · sunset · Tweed Valley

Saturday Afternoon in the Garden

After a dull weather morning, the light in the garden this afternoon had a magical quality that I couldn’t resist. Everywhere I looked, the birds, trees, flowers, valley, sky, just everything begged to have its photo taken. In all, I took eighty photos. Here are just a few …

A different view of the mountain, framed by surrounding trees.

 

First red frangipani.

I may have mentioned before that I have rather a lot of potted plants now, brought home from my inlaw’s garden after they both went into aged care last year. Some of the potted frangipani trees are so young that they didn’t flower last summer, so I have been waiting with bated breath to find out what colours I have. When I watered the pots this morning there were no flowers, but by this afternoon, one red flower had appeared!

Pink Allamanda.

 

Mature Farngipani.

My mature frangipani tree, which has been growing near the pool for several years, is now well covered in bunches of gorgeous blooms. Here is just half of the tree –

A well established frangipani tree is a beautiful addition to a subtropical garden, which is why I am looking forward to planting some of the small potted frangipani next winter. Hopefully by then I will know what colour the flowers will be on all of the trees which will help me to decide where to plant them in my garden.

Naughty Forrest!

Forrest took complete advantage of my lack of attention to her, taking the opportunity to chew up one of her toys while Bronte watched … look at that innocent face – butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth – right? 😉

Drama in the sunset sky.