Category: in my garden
Plenty of Ibis – but no mountain
One day during the week, when I spotted an Ibis in the front garden, I soon discovered it was not alone. There were ten! I kid you not, I counted ten of these massive birds pecking through the overgrown grass, which, when it is dry enough to mow, we like to call our lawn.
Today I saw just four Ibis peck, peck, pecking away. Most people call these birds ‘Bin-Chickens’ – they are scavengers who will eat just about anything edible.
So as I wouldn’t frighten them away, I took my camera, ever so quietly, out the back door, snuck around to the side of the house, and zoomed in on them. It didn’t take long for their keen hearing to pick up on the fact that they were being watched, so they headed up the driveway to the road, undoubtedly searching for longer, greener pastures.
While taking photos of the Ibis, it occurred to me that I rarely take photos of a whole section of my garden. I usually – hmm, perhaps always – zoom in on the beauty of each individual flowering plant. For a change, today I took a photo of the garden beside my driveway. In this photo, I see New South Wales Christmas Bush, Gerberas, white Gaura, (lots of Gaura!) Duranta, Hydrangea, white and purple Buddleia, Port Wine Magnolia, lilac Daisies, and Roses. I do have the (unfair) advantage of knowing my garden though! And it goes against the grain not to show a close up of individual plants, so I won’t show full garden photos often – I promise. 😉
We had hot, dry weather today, and cloud so low that Mount Warning didn’t have a hope of making an appearance. The crazy-cloud patterns continued, hiding the setting sun as well. The weather has been so changable lately.
I wonder what tomorrow’s weather will bring …
Sky Show
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. 🙂
Monday Morning Mist
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. 🙂
Silent Sunday
