Ethereal

June 17, 2013 Joanne13 Comments

“To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning.” ~ Dejan Stojanovic.

The first day that a flock of Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos invaded my Pecan Nut Tree was indeed a happy day for this bird-loving, photo taking blogger. For weeks I had listened to their raucous screeching sounds as they flew through the ether, bypassing my garden and heading off to parts unknown.

These are large native Australian birds, and whilst some may regard them as pests, there are many more, including myself, who love the personality, character and appearance of cockatoos.

During one of my early morning photo session I could hear my next door neighbour calling out “shoo, shoo” and when I looked towards her garden, there she was, running around her yard, waving a stick and obviously attempting to remove these angelic beauties from her garden. Not that she had many in her yard, and they were my pecan nuts they were munching on.

I chuckled to myself and continued clicking away with my camera. The cockatoos ignored the stick-waving human. The stick-waver gave up.

We planted our pecan nut tree about eighteen years ago, so you can imagine how large it is now, and we have enjoyed many seasons of munching away on the pecans ourselves. In fact, I’m sure I have a post, somewhere in the archives, of my delicious Pecan Pie…..

…..Here it is! And look at that, I added the recipe on June, 18th, 2010, almost three years ago to the day! And I’m more than happy to share my pie recipe with everyone, unlike my cockatoo friends, who are very possessive with what they regard as their own, as you can see here!

During the silence of the early morning, with around two dozen cockatoos breaking open the hard shells of the pecans, the collective cracking of shells being broken open resembles the sound of a fire burning. You know the crackling sound a fire makes when logs are burning in the fireplace? That’s the noise that the cockatoos make with the shells.

Their white feathers are so pristine in appearance and with the birds being so large, between fifteen to twenty inches in length, when their wings are spread they seem to look as I imagine an angel in flight would look.

Oh okay, yes, you’re right, I don’t imagine an angel with a rounded beak and black beads for eyes, but you do get the picture, don’t you? Their white wings look like gossamer, cascading through the air. I suspect in reality those wings hold power, though my heart wishes to believe they are gossamer.

A white flurry of gossamer wings.... — A white flurry of gossamer wings….

Cockatoos can be tamed and kept as pets, even taught how to talk. Apparently they are very demanding pets. I’ve also read that they are very affectionate birds, which doesn’t surprise me, after having been privileged to watch them interact with one another in the wild.

The long yellow feathers on their head, the crest, has its own set of muscles, allowing the bird to lift their sulphur crest when happy, excited or playful. As I have watched them, I’ve noticed that when something catches their eye somewhere in the distance, they will raise their crest before flying away.

My neighbour, who also feeds the wild birds, (not the stick waving woman!) has a huge pine tree in her garden and the cockatoos love chewing on the pine cones too. In captivity, they can destroy furniture, as they love to chew on wood. Perhaps the stick waver thought they were plotting to destroy her trees…..?

They seem to be quite partial to the exotic orange blooms of my African Tulip tree too. I’m guessing there must be seeds inside the flowers that they enjoy eating. I’ve also watched and wondered, as they shake their heads back when they have a mouthful of delicious orange-ness, just as this next cocky is doing.

I must admit, I wondered whether the cockatoos had left me any pecans on the tree at all! Not that I needed any, as I already have two buckets full on the veranda, waiting to be shelled, so I took another bucket down to the tree last weekend only to find that there were heaps of pecan nuts left for me! These gorgeous white-winged angels are not greedy at all. 🙂

autumn · blessings · enchanting · gardening · lemon · Mount Warning · photography

Blissful, Enchanting April ~ Part 2.

April 30, 2013 Joanne16 Comments

“Suddenly to be transported to that place where the air was so still that it held its breath, where the light was so golden that the most ordinary things were transfigured – to be transported into that delicate warmth, that caressing fragrance…..” ~ The Enchanted April, Elizabeth Von Arnim (1922).

The month of April really has been the most enchanting month, with the sun’s rays losing the harshness of summer, yet the cooler winter air has not yet arrived. More and more flowers are breaking out in bloom as each new day arrives, the breeze is the gentlest I have felt it in a long time and the birds flittering around the garden are just happy to be alive.

I’m happy to be alive; I wouldn’t want to miss out on a single day spent in the garden at this most beautiful time of year.

“Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.” ~ Lindley Karstens.

A favorite in the garden, my Tibouchina tree.

The bees are buzzing, the butterflies are fluttering, and oh how I love to get my hands in the soil. I can feel a trip to my local garden centre is imminent, and I’ll probably arrive home with way more plants than I intended, but that okay, there’s always room for just one more beauty in the garden.

During the last couple of weeks I have made two Lemon Meringue Pies, which is Ben’s favourite, as my lemon tree branches are overloaded, almost to breaking point, with huge, juicy lemons.

If there’s one thing I enjoy as much as gardening, it would have to be picking freshly grown fruit and vegetables straight from the garden and bringing them indoors to devour with my family.

“In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.” ~ Abram L. Urban.

Tomorrow, when the month of May is here, I expect the weather will begin to cool down somewhat and by June we will all be wearing warm jumpers again for perhaps two or three months. These photos belong to April though, and needed to be shared before we bid April goodbye again for another eleven months.

This has been the most Enchanting April I can remember, ever. Did I say that about last April? Perhaps. But that’s okay. I will probably go into raptures over my garden and the wonders of nature all over again next April as well.

“….April came along softly 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.” ~ The Enchanted April.

I’ve spent so much time in the garden lately that I have hardly found any time to read at all. I have come across more books written by Elizabeth Von Arnim though, including “Elizabeth and her German Garden” and “The Solitary Summer”. Being the keen gardener that she was, it is little wonder that Elizabeth was able to describe the beauty of the gardens at San Salvatore in “The Enchanted April” so poetically.

Mind your manners now.... — Mind your manners now….

“It pleases me to take amateur photographs of my garden, and it pleases my garden to make my photographs look professional.” ~ Robert Brault.

All of my regular feathered friends continue to visit me for their breakfast and dinner each day. Their little in-built timers tell them all to arrive at around 7 am each morning, then again at around 4:30 pm. The Kookaburras dominate, the Magpies seem to rank second in the chain and my sweet little Butcher Birds are left to clean up the dregsy remains. (We don’t let the Kookaburras and Magpies know it, but I usually take out a little something extra for the Butcher Birds after the others have left.)

My hours spent in my garden will always be blissful. It doesn’t matter at all whether I am watering the garden, feeding the birds, digging out weeds or planting new flowers, my garden transports me to another world, a blissful world, an enchanting world…..

…..an Enchanted April.

If you missed Part 1 of my April gardening photos, you will find them at “Three Hours of Gardening Bliss ~ Part 1”.

challenges · daughter · enchanting · inspiration · photography · spiritual

The Psychology of Colours ~ The Colour Purple

April 16, 2013 Joanne20 Comments

“Listen, God love everything you love – and a mess of stuff you don’t. But more than anything else, God love admiration.

You saying God vain? I ast.

Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”

~ Conversation between Shug and Celie, as told by Celie to her sister Nettie in a letter. From the book The Colour Purple written by Alice Walker.

If I were asked to pick one colour as my most favourite of all colours, I know that I would not choose the colour purple, yet I can totally relate to the quote above from the book “The Colour Purple”. I’m sure my heart skips a beat when I see a purple flower, or anything in nature showing the colour. I even love to see purple in the sky, although it is usually a sign of imminent, or earlier, bad weather.

After wild weather, as the colour purple shares the sky with some orange. — After wild weather, the colour purple shares the sky with an orange sunset.

As a child, one of my girls absolutely loved purple, everything she owned had to be purple, there were no if’s or but’s about it, so I did a bit of research on purple to find out, if anything, what a love for the colour signified. The one thing that struck me the most all those years ago was how purple was regarded as a spiritual colour. My daughter, who was crazy for the colour, could look deep inside a person’s soul. Even today, at age twenty, she “feels” her way through life, like no other young person I have ever met.

In the Catholic Church, the colour purple is worn by cardinals and bishops and during lent is regarded as the colour of pain and suffering. Up until the mid twentieth century, purple was regarded as the colour for mourning in England.

Thought of at one time as a regal colour, purple fabric was so expensive that only the rich in society could afford clothing made from purple, therefore purple became a status colour, worn only by the wealthy or privileged.

Buddleia's are also known as the Butterfly Bush. If I were a butterfly I'm sure I'd love to sit in the sunshine on this flower, enjoying the colour. — Buddleia’s are also known as the Butterfly Bush. If I were a butterfly I’m sure I’d love to sit in the sunshine on this flower, enjoying the colour.

So having established that purple has enjoyed quite a colourful history throughout the centuries, what effect does the colour have on our personalities?

Besides being a spiritual colour, purple, and the lighter shade of violet, are both connected to the imagination and intuition. Lovers of purple will want to run their own race as individuals, are often surrounded by mystery, can be psychic and can live in a world of fantasy, needing to escape the realities of the world. Purple lovers are often the daydreamers among us and being around the colour has a calming effect on the person.

The negative aspects of the colour purple, especially a liking for the darker shades, can be that the person is possibly immature, can be cynical and arrogant and can at times be seen as a social climber. It can also represent loneliness and mourning.

I love the plum coloured beading on this lamp.

But lets not dwell too long on the negative aspects of this most distinguished of all colours. Something that you may not know about the colour purple, being a combination of the colours red and blue, it possesses the strength of the colour red, combined with the integrity of the colour blue.

And here’s another thing you may not know about what I have written here, and the photos I have added showing The Colour Purple in my life ~ this is my contribution to Karma’s “Colours of Your World” photo assignment. And it gets even better, after Karma ~~red~~ read my last post here, “The Psychology of Colours ~ Featuring the Colour Red”, it gave her the inspiration for her latest photo challenge!

It's lilac, and it features nature, so this picture gives me great enjoyment. — It’s lilac, and it features nature, so this picture gives me great enjoyment.

Karma has set the deadline to get the assignment in by April 28th (but she’s pretty cruisy about deadlines!) so if you too feel inspired, why not join in the challenge and add a post with photos of some of your favourite, or not so favourite, colours.

I’m enjoying learning about the psychology of colours so much, and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in my findings on the colour red, so I’ve decided to feature a new colour each week, (until I run out of colours!)

How do you feel about the colour purple, do you love it, or loath it? It could be fascinating to look at the reasons why you feel the way you do. 🙂

These tiny violets are a beautiful ground cover in my garden.

The Violet ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Written 1773)

A violet blossom’d on the lea,
Half hidden from the eye,
As fair a flower as you might see;
When there came tripping by
A shepherd maiden fair and young,
Lightly, lightly o’er the lea;
Care she knew not, and she sung Merrily!

dark purple in excess can be strict, foreboding, lonely, mournful or even pompous. – See more at: http://www.feng-shui-and-beyond.com/meaning-of-purple.html#sthash.AgYDczVY.dpuf

autumn · enchanting · happiness · photography · rain

Diamonds and Pearls.

April 9, 2013 Joanne16 Comments

A tangled web, the morning sun,
Gossamer on high,
Dewdrops beading, fragile whispers,
Magic in the sky.

Spiders are not everyone’s cup of tea and if I am to be totally honest, they aren’t mine either. What I do find fascinating about spiders though is their webs.

How do these tiny creepy bug things build such beauty? What instinct has taught them how? How do they build these homes of theirs so quickly? What is contained in those gossamer strands that will hold an unsuspecting fly in place for the spider to feast on later?

You know something, I don’t really want to know the answers to these questions! I love the mystery surrounding spider’s webs! And I don’t really need to see the spider either, although I don’t mind occasionally bumping into one (figuratively speaking!) just so that I can admire his agility as he builds his home.

If there is one thing prettier than a spider’s web in the sunlight, it is a spider’s web in the sunlight with drops of rain, or dewdrops, hanging like delicate pearls from each silky strand, and this is just what I have seen outside of my window over the last couple of mornings.

What an incredibly beautiful way to start the day! It is a sight to make my heart sing!

Diamond edged spider's trampoline. — Diamond edged spider’s trampoline.

These clever spiders have chosen the ideal area in my garden, between some evergreen trees and shrubs, where they won’t be disturbed at all, and best of all, I can see them from my window.

Strands of diamonds sparkling in the sun.

This family of spiders is welcome to live in my garden as long as their collective little hearts, and multiple hairy legs, desire!

The whole family has moved in, and they're welcome. :) — The whole family has moved in, and they’re welcome. 🙂

Australia · blessings · ducks · enchanting · gratitude

In January ~ An absurdly beautiful sight.

January 31, 2013 Joanne12 Comments

“There was no sign of anybody, no sound of voices or feet. Tubs of arum lilies stood about on the stone floor, and on a table flamed a huge bunch of fierce nasturtiums. Spacious, flowery, silent, with the wide window at the end opening into the garden, and the Judas tree absurdly beautiful in the sunshine, it seemed….too good to be true.” ~ The Enchanted April.

On the last day of January I wanted, no, needed, to remember the joys of this month, as this, the middle month of the most harsh season of the year draws to a close.

I had spent the day alone, at home, with not a soul in sight; no sound of voices or feet. I don’t know why I looked outside when I did. I am so glad I did though, for there, just outside the door of my home, were my two old friends the Australian Wood Ducks, regular visitors to my garden who I haven’t seen since early September.

In that moment, all of the heat, rain, floods and cyclones of January didn’t seem to matter any more. Seeing these two creatures, so absurdly beautiful, having returned to my garden at long last, was truly enchanting. I had almost forgotten how beautiful they are, but only almost.

January is the month the ducks returned; January will remain in my memory as being an enchanting month.

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