Category: native Australian birds

Australia · colours · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · summer · sunset · Tweed Valley

Another (Different) Sunset

Joanne13 Comments

During our recent hot, humid, hazy weather, I have noticed that the best time of day to take photos of the valley is either first thing in the morning – before the valley begins to look hazy – or later in the day – after the haze has been burnt off and replaced by a sunset. Caught up as I am in the mornings though, feeding both my domestic menagerie and the local birds, (oh, and myself!) I tend to forget to take photos of the mountain in the morning. When the camera is out, it’s to take photos of my feathered visitors, such as this friendly kookaburra, sitting right beside my window.

Hmm, I wonder if that stare is a method of emotional blackmail for more food? 😉

Tonight, although it is yet another sunset photo, at least it’s a differently coloured sunset than last night. And I will try to remember to take a morning photo tomorrow. 🙂

Australia · Christmas · colours · daughter · garden flowers · grandchildren · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · rain · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

December Storms

Joanne16 Comments

Before 7:00am this morning I had a kookaburra waiting outside my kitchen window for breakfast. Husband left for work early, so my day began about an hour earlier. I had already given the pot plants a watering and finished a few chores around the house when kookie arrived, and when I went out with his meat, the magpie family arrived too.

Moments after I went outside, there was a huge thunderclap in the valley, and a few spits of rain suggested an approaching storm. A quick downfall, accompanied by several more loud crack of nearby thunder though, and it was all over.

Petunias waiting to be planted.

By 9:00am, I was heading out to spend a few hours Christmas shopping with my daughter. We had a lovely morning, and met up with my other daughter and her two-year-old, Aurora, for morning tea. Aurora’s other Nana joined us for coffee as well, and met my baby grandson, Eli, for the first time.

Last years Gazanias, still looking happy, regardless of our excessive early summer heat.

I may have finished my Christmas shopping now. Hopefully I have, as the only reason I want to go to the shops now is to buy food.

Later this afternoon, the threatened morning storm arrived in earnest, with thunder, and heavy rain. After the storm passed, husband checked the rain guage, and found that we’d had 20ml. of rain in about half an hour.

I hadn’t expected any amazing sunset colour-show in the valley after seeing the amount of white mist that had rolled in with the storm. Half way through cooking dinner though, this is what I saw –

The sky lit up in orange-red hues, the mist had disappeared, and the valley made her magical early evening offering yet again. ❤

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

Joanne15 Comments

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.

 

Australia · clouds · daughter · grandson · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · rain · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

It was a dark and stormy night …

Joanne16 Comments

Well, it is dark and stormy now, a complete contrast to the brightness of the valley this morning. Even though there were a few showers of rain about, the rain did not deminish the brilliance of the valley, mountain and sky colours.

The little Pee Wee bird who recently found my bird bath at the side of the house ventured around to the back of the house in time for breakfast this morning for the first time. Most of the regular gang had eaten and gone, leaving just a few scraps on the feeding table, which seemed to keep this little guy happy.

Today has been dreadfully humid. I spent most of the day with my daughter and her baby boy, Eli. Eli is the most kissable little man, and I would have loved to have held him all day if cuddling him hadn’t made us both feel even hotter.

Quite loud thunder has been rolling and rumbling around us for the last couple of hours, but so far we haven’t had any rain. The severe storm warning issued this afternoon may be relevent to other areas around us, but we haven’t seen a spot of rain. It did go dark earlier than usual though, hence the cliché title of tonight’s post. 😉

And once again, the daylight hours ended with a touch of drama in the sunset sky over Mount Warning. ❤

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · palm trees · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

Rain!

Joanne12 Comments

After quite a while – three weeks? four maybe? I awoke this morning to signs of rain.

Exhibit A – One drenched kookaburra atop a wet glass balustrade –

Exhibit B – Little Hoppy, my butcher bird with one gammy leg, waiting in the dryness of my back veranda for breakfast –

Exhibit C – My yellow and white frangipani, growing close enough to the house to allow me to take a photo without going out into the rain, with tiny beads of moisture captured on the leaves –

Later, baby magpie visited. The rain was light but consistent, and by the looks of the baby’s dry feathers, I think he may have hidden himself away amid tree foliage to escape the unfamiliar (to him) sight of rain –

And finally, Mount Warning. Just kidding. 😉 Actually, there was no sight of the mountain today, it was hidden behind the rainclouds. 🙂