After the vivid blue-ness of the sky, clouds and Mount Warning yesterday, today’s contrast of grey on grey had to be noted.
I took this photo at sunset, when the sun’s rays illuminated the clouds ever so slightly, adding a touch of yellow for a bit of “oomph” to the grey tones.
The second photo was taken with my camera on full zoom. The water is a section of the Tweed River, and growing beside the river – and beyond – is acre upon acre of sugar cane fields.
Somewhere beneath that mass of greyish-white clouds sits the sleeping giant, Mount Warning. I haven’t seen her today at all, but every wondrous landmark needs a break from the limelight once in a while, right? So with the lack of a stunning mountain photo, I’d like to share a few photos I took in my garden yesterday, when the sun shone brightly in the sky and the clouds didn’t get a look in.
This red rose is significant – it’s the first rose to bloom in my garden since last summer. What makes it even more special is that I transplanted three roses about a month ago from where they sat dormant in the garden. I had planted them several years ago under a large deciduous tree, thinking roses would grow well there, but they didn’t. I think they may have had too much competition with the roots of the tree. Also, they were quite a long way from the house, so not as easily accessible for me to tend each day, therefore they were neglected. But look at this beauty now! A blooming rose already, plus there are two more buds preparing to break out. I’m very happy with the success I seem to be having with my roses, and it’s still winter here in Australia.
My mother-in-law poked a couple of cuttings of her white geranium in my garden about five years ago, and they have thrived. Here they are already in bloom too …
… and this dainty gerbera, another plant my mother-in-law gave me years ago is flowering beautifully as well. In my area, gerberas are a flower that seem to be in bloom for most of the year.
I planted a border of alyssum along the full length of one of my garden beds several years ago and most of the plants disappear during the heat of the summer months. Some of the plants resurrected a couple of months ago though after a deluge of rain, and here are the results of my self-sown alyssum.
If only I could tell you the name of this next plant! I remember that it’s an Australian native, and I know it’s been in my garden for a number of years and when the flowers appear they stay in bloom for some time, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. I have an app on my phone to identify plants, so hopefully the rain will have passed by tomorrow and I can give the app a go. I’ll add the name here later if I have any success.
This is another gerbera, and as you can see it’s quite different to the dainty pink gerbera in the photo above. Both of my in-laws have gone into aged care within the past year, and with my husband being an only child we have had the massive task of sorting through their material lives, disposing of things that are no longer needed through either sale, donation or tip runs. My mother-in-law was quite the hoarder and her hoarding habits were not limited to the house either. We have given away massive amounts of pot plants, and what we thought we could use ourselves we brought home. I planted this gerbera not knowing what colour it would be, and although orange is not a colour I usually choose for my garden, it’s an unusual flower and I will always think of it as Irene’s gerbera.
This grevillea is on a small native Australian tree. The flowers disappear during winter, but now I have some young buds reappearing it won’t be long before I have an array of honeyeaters flitting around the branches outside my window.
Last summer I found a small solar powered fountain to put in my bird bath. A few petals blew off my tibbouchina tree the other day when it was windy and landed in the bird bath, so cleaning it out will be a job for tomorrow, weather permitting.
My last photo is the full moon, setting in the western sky the other morning. I have seen photos taken by some lucky photographers who have captured the full moon setting right behind Mount Warning. I’ll have to keep an eye open for the next time that occurs as it would be a beautiful sight to see, and to photograph. 🙂
Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul. ~~ Alice Walker.
When I read this quote from Alice Walker it resonated with me. I love having beautiful things around me, and when I see Mount Warning rising above a valley filled with fluffy white mist before sunrise, it makes my heart sing. Even though I didn’t “create” this beauty, I can take photos to virtually make the beauty last longer than nature intends it to.
When the sun shone on the mountain it glowed and glistened in the sunlight. The photo doesn’t do it justice. I’ve seen this glowing effect before when there’s mist in the valley, so I suspect it has something to do with the sun’s rays reflecting – or deflecting? – on both the mountain and the mist. Or maybe the clouds play a part in creating the glow. I’m not sure.
While the mountain and mist created their magic this morning, a pair of Figbirds feasted on the red palm berries. The early morning light of the day made it possible for me to take a cute silhouette photo of a Figbird with one of the berries.
This last photo of four kookaburras is from yesterday morning. I know there are about one dozen Kookaburras in my area, but only four are visiting regularly just now. I’m hoping that means the mama birds are busily tending their nests. If that’s the case, I may have some fluffy young Kookaburras visiting my garden by summer. I hope so.
So that was my “soul restoring” activity for this morning, taking photos of the beautiful view from my garden to share with my bloggy friends. No wonder I enjoy blogging so much and miss it when I’m away from it for too long. 🙂
Just the tiniest, flimsiest wafts of mist danced around the valley this morning.
Before sunrise Mount Warning looked a tad grey, even the sky was grey. Then the sun peeked over the hill and lit up the morning sky.
What a difference a few minutes makes early in the morning!
I’m sure kookaburras enjoy the attention, because it seems that every time I venture outside with my camera lately, I find a little poser nearby. This little guy struck a pose on the top of my clothesline.
“Would you like a closeup of my profile? I think this is my best side …”
I can’t resist taking photos of the kookaburras I see perched on a tree down towards the valley. There were two on the branch this morning.
There are so many flowers blooming in my garden right now, even though we are in the middle of winter here in Australia.
The daisies look gorgeous right now, dancing in the sunshine.
There are only a few gazanias, but the yellow always looks so bright and summery, even in the depths of winter.
Did I say depths of winter? Our weather just now is probably similar to what some countries experience during summer! It’s a beautiful time of year.
My pink dianthus bloom nearly all year round.
When I saw this butterfly, which I believe is a male Common Eggfly, flitting around the daisies, I suspected it would fly away before I had a chance to get a decent shot – but it didn’t! I’m pretty excited to get my first decent photo of a butterfly in my garden. There’s another photo of him on yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday post too, with his wings open.
In My World 