Category: in my garden

Australia · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · photography · spring · Tweed Valley

Mist in the valley and birds in the palms

Joanne6 Comments

This morning I awoke to find the valley floor had disappeared beneath a beautiful layer of misty-ocean. This alternate view looked spectacular and even more so now the weather is warming. I know our misty valley mornings are limited this year.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun shone across the mountain, revealing nooks and crannies which could be seen from afar.

The greenery in my garden stood stark against the blueness of the sky and whiteness of the mist, like two different worlds melded into one.

Way across the other side of the valley, the only evidence of the sugar cane mill was the steam escaping from the mill chimney.

A few birds dropped by to admire the misty ocean too. This little guy in the palm tree is an adult honeyeater. Juvenile honeyeaters have yellow around their eyes which progressively turns bright blue by the time they are around eighteen-months old.

Just as the honeyeater flitted away, a kookaburra landed in the same place on the palm. Both rummaged around inside the cup-base of a partly fallen palm leaf, so I suspect they found water from our recent rain caught inside the leaf.

Shortly after the sun had burned away the mist, I looked out just in time to see two female figbirds munching on juicy red berries on a different palm tree. I couldn’t go too close to take the photo because figbirds are pretty shy little birds.

When I took a break from my assignment writing at around midday, I took a walk in my front garden, taking photos of new flowers as I walked around. When I downloaded the photos I was pretty surprised to find I’d taken over one-hundred photos! Hopefully I will have finished my assignment by late tomorrow, so I’ll choose my favourites from today and add them tomorrow.

My garden is looking really lovely just now. I need to finish my assignment so I can spend the weekend out doors! 🙂

Australia · blessings · colours · dad · family · father · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · remembering · spring · Tweed Valley

Finding Colour on a Grey Spring Day

Joanne9 Comments

Well, the beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies on Saturday was short-lived. Yesterday we had rain, and the mountain went into hiding behind mist and clouds for the day. Today the weather wasn’t much better – grey and more grey. When I took the photo of the mountain at least I captured the image of a bird flying by, but the day was so dull I didn’t have enough bright light to even identify the bird.

So that was the view of the mountain today. No colour. No pizzazz. Nothing. But luckily I have a couple of plants blooming that I haven’t added photos of here recently.

I have had a tiny potted succulent sitting on the table on my back patio for a few years now, and last year it burst into flower for the first time. The flowers lasted for quite a few weeks and looked just lovely. Now they are flowering again. I have no idea what the name of the plant is, but the flowers definitely add interest to the plant, and colour to the garden on a grey day.

These pretty purple flowers belong to another pot plant and since buying the plant in January this year it hasn’t stopped flowering. The flowers did wane slightly during winter, but during the last couple of weeks it has had a new lease on life. This is a Scaevola “Seaside” – I know the name because I wrote it in a gardening journal which is a very handy thing to have. Being a drought-tolerant ground cover, I’m thinking I should buy some more Scaevolas to plant in my front garden.

My last spot of colour is a climbing Allamanda. I must have had this plant for well over ten years now and it always seems to be in flower. It really flourishes during the warmer weather though.

Yesterday was Father’s Day in Australia and as it turned out, with no visible mountain to take a photo of I was able to devote Silent Sunday to my dear old Dad. He’s been gone now for twenty-two years but I can still close my eyes and conjure an image of him in my minds eye as clear as if he were still here with me today. Knowing him as I do/did, I know how he would have enjoyed the internet, and would have loved browsing through my ever-expanding book collection. He would have enjoyed all of the babies – his great-grandchildren – being born into my family now, and he would have got such a kick out of me working on my degree. Oh the things I have read and learned about that I would have loved to have discussed with him! Missing him still hurts at times, especially on days when I know he would have spent the day with me, such as Father’s Day. There’s an old saying though, it’s better to have loved and lost … I’m sure you know the rest. ❤

Me and my father in 1993, just after we lost my mum.
Australia · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · photography · spring · Tweed Valley

Saturday Morning Photo-shoot

Joanne8 Comments

Being Saturday, I was able to have a bit of a sleep-in this morning. Not for long though. An hour after the usual time I get up, I heard kookaburras cackling outside my bedroom.

It was a beautiful sound to wake up to. And when I looked outside I saw two kookaburras looking at me expectantly. I wasn’t thinking about feeding them though, I made a bee-line for my camera!

The light of the morning was perfect for a photo session. The sky was blue, and the morning light crystal clear.

And I had not two, but three supermodels, posing, ready to begin their photo-shoot. Will you look at those synchronized poses!

As I clicked away, I noticed the view behind my clothesline. Okay, so the clothesline is arguably not the most glamorous prop for three such stunning models, but look at the view behind them! Unfortunately, I am just a tad short to get a decent shot of the mountain without the lines across it, but that was easily fixed.

I dragged an outdoor chair across to the right position, climbed up, and there you have it – supermodel kookaburra in front of an amazing backdrop! Mount Warning, palm trees, clear blue sky, who could ask for more?

After waiting so long for the photographer to finish getting just the right shots, the supermodels were all famished! Some of their friends had arrived by that time too, so they all went off to the feeding table for breakfast. Oh, and I almost forgot! Here’s the mountain, looking gloriously spring-like, early on a fine Saturday morning. 🙂