Category: rain

Australia · autumn · clouds · mist · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · pets · rain · Tweed Valley · University

Sun and Rain

Joanne6 Comments

At around sunrise on Thursday morning, Mount Warning looked clearer and the crevices in the ranges more well defined than I have seen in a long time. Mist dancing across the valley floor contributed to the beauty of the view, so I took an early morning photo to capture the moment before the day grew any older.

I feed the birds their breakfast at around 7am each day, but this butcher bird must have thought he was in with a chance of an early breakfast. I told him to come back in half an hour.

Little Mr. Bowie doesn’t always mind his manners! He’s been told – several times – that the kitchen bench is no place for a cat, but when he sees a bird outside the window he simply can’t help himself! He only stayed there long enough for a photo before I shoofed him down. (There’s a tiny glimpse here of one corner of my new kitchen too. 🙂 )

Thurday was a warm and sunny day, but from Thursday morning onwards, I have been chained to my computer, writing and reading, reading and writing some more, until finally, at 10pm last night, I submitted the assignment I’d been working on. It was due by midnight, so I got it in just before the deadline.

I don’t know whether the mountain was visible yesterday or not. I didn’t stop long enough to look, but I have a sneaking suspicious it may have been hidden by clouds.

Today, we definitely have cloud, and mist, and rain. I took this last photo during the afternoon, just before the rain began. Even though the mountain isn’t clear, I rather like the effect of the various shades of white and pale grey, and the ghostly mist obscuring the greenery.

Next week I have another assignment due, plus a few other smaller tasks that need to be completed for uni. After next week, I have a couple of easier weeks before I begin work on my final two assignments for this semester. Hopefully tomorrow will be a fine day, so I can spend a few hours in the garden before I am chained to my computer again.

Australia · autumn · garden flowers · memories · Mount Warning · rain

Once Upon a Time …

Joanne5 Comments

Once upon a time, we had this glowing orb in the sky that we liked to call sunshine. Sadly, it is a distant memory …

Also once upon a time, I could see a magnificent mountain range from the back of my home, complete with a majetic mountain which caught the first rays of sunshine each morning on its peak.

We are assured that one day, sunshine will return. When will that be, we ask? When the rain ends, we are told …

Australia · autumn · basics · cooking · rain · subtropical weather

A Wet Easter Monday

Joanne3 Comments

On a day when I hardly saw my back garden let alone Mount Warning, due to this mist and low cloud, I spent most of the day working on a university assignment, which is due this Wednesday.

During constant reading of any description, I find I need to take regular breaks, usually in the garden. What to do when it’s raining heavily outside? I baked a loaf of bread instead.

It’s been many years since I baked a loaf of bread, although I always bake a batch of hot cross buns every Easter. This year, I baked two batches, and they turned out so well I was inspired to try bread baking again.

I started simple, just a plain white loaf, and the result was a beautifully crispy golden crust and soft white bread inside.

It was a pretty good way to spend the final day of the Easter long weekend, here in the damp subtropics.

Australia · autumn · garden flowers · in my garden · rain

On a Rainy Day

Joanne5 Comments

When the rain returns, as it did today, and Mount Warning is hidden by the clouds again, as it was today, those are the days when I can share a random assortment of photos taken around my garden during finer weather.

Mandevilla

When I took this photo, I didn’t realise a tiny spider was also admiring the flower.

The first three photos are plants in my front garden. The last is the beginning of a flower that will open more fully over the next few days. I think, from memory, the plant is a bromeliad. It’s a shade-loving plant that my son-in-law planted about ten years ago. Back then, he stuck a shabby, dry plant in the ground, and a couple of days later he told me it was probably dead and he’d just take it out. I persuaded him to leave it, assuring him that I’d keep an eye on the plant, and if it didn’t show any signs of life, I’d get rid of it. As you can see, the plant thrived, and every year it produces these rather eye-catching flowers.

During the next week, I will have to take each day as it comes with the photos I can take, which will depend on the weather. Rain is predicted every day, but if I keep an eye on the mountain during the day, I might just catch it peeking out from behind the clouds, if I’m lucky. 🙂

Australia · autumn · in my garden · native Australian birds · rain · subtropical weather

Golden Rain

Joanne6 Comments

The title of today’s post is referring to a large tree at the top of our garden, close to the street. It’s deciduous tree, and just before it loses its leaves it forms pretty yellow flowers, then these pink seed pods, as shown in the photo.

Husband curses this tree every year, as each seed has the potential to grow another tree, and they are rather large trees! We have two in the garden already – both of which we planted several years ago – so every year I go around pulling out the tiny trees as I see them taking root. Some people regard golden rain trees as a weed, but I quite like them, they are sturdy trees, and one of the few trees in our yard that change with each season.

There’s been plenty of the clear variety of rain falling from the sky today as well, which prevented me from taking my camera for a walk to the top of the garden to take a close-up photo of the tree. This photo was taken on full zoom from my front veranda. I spotted two kookaburras under the tree also, foraging for bugs in the wet earth.

For the next two day, fine weather is predicted! I’m sure you will forgive me for not holding my breath in anticipation of a dry day, but wouldn’t that be wonderful? Imagine, maybe I could do a few loads of washing, perhaps have a window or two open around the house, the dogs could spend some time out in the yard instead of indoors.

I might even see Mount Warning! We’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.