Tag: gazania

from my garden · garden flowers · seasons · subtropical weather

Gazania, in all its glory.

Joanne11 Comments

It’s time for Wordless Wednesday; however, my photo today requires a few words.

You may recall my Tiny Treasures post on Monday. I added a few Gazanias to a small vase, along with a few other flowers picked from my garden. The Gazania petals looked rather bedraggled, having just been brought indoors after a shower of summer rain. I wasn’t sure how the flowers would cope indoors.

As you can see, the Gazanias are very happy! Now the petals have dried, they have a new lease on life. ❤

In other news, my desktop computer is having a hissy-fit! My son-in-law will be here tomorrow to pull apart the computer and give it a good clean. Meanwhile, I have spent the morning saving all my photos and files to my external hard drive. But I may disappear briefly. If the clean-out doesn’t rectify the problems, I will need a new computer. Fun. :/

Australia · autumn · enchanting · garden flowers · in my garden · mist · Mount Warning · sunrise · Tweed Valley

A Touch of Magic

Joanne4 Comments

The mist returned this morning, adding a touch of magic to the early hours of the day.

We moved into our newly built home here in March 1994, so twenty-seven years ago this month, and awakening to a misty valley scene never grows old, even after all these years.

This afternoon, I found more magic in my garden, a tiny toadstool, and suddenly a children’s story began forming in my mind. Imagine the possibilities of a whole village of tiny fairies living in the garden, with the golden toadstool being the focal point of their village!

This bright orange gerbera – complete with a tiny ladybird (can you see it there close to the top of the flower?) – would have to be the sun that lit up the fairies’ world every day!

Even my flowering gazania looked magical and other-worldly today. On the eighteen petals are eighteen burgundy comets, zooming towards the orange life-force at the centre of the flower.

We’ve had some pretty dismal weather recently which has prevented me from visiting my garden as often as I usually would, even during the hotter months of the year. It’s encouraging to find a touch of inspirational magic emerging as the seasons change. 🙂

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 · flowers · Mount Warning · spring · Tweed Valley

Not enough time in the days!

Joanne3 Comments

It’s getting to the pointy end of the semester and I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed with all I have to do over the next three weeks. On the positive side, it’s getting close to the end of semester!

I always feel excited when each new semester begins, and I love the work, and the whole learning experience. It’s just these last few weeks that get a bit hairy, what with deadlines to meet yet not enough hours in the day to get through it all.

So today I have spent all day at my computer again, shivering, would you believe? The cooler weather returned last night and I’m snuggled up in winter clothes again today. I’m glad I ventured outside fairly early in the day to take a photo of Mount Warning, because this afternoon it was hidden behind mist and clouds.

I didn’t spend much time out of doors, but I did stay out long enough for a quick photo of these very sunny gazanias. And now I’m going back to listen to more lectures. 🙂

 

Australia · clouds · garden flowers · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · quotes · spring · Tweed Valley

Listening to Nature

Joanne4 Comments

The sun made a brief return today. If I hadn’t dashed outside to take a photo at just the right moment I would have missed capturing Mount Warning today. Before nightfall it was engulfed by a misty, cloudy mass of white.

A spot of colour on a cloudy day.

I have spent another day working on assignments, so with my mind taken over by academic writing and genre analysis, I thought today I would share someone else’s words. I read this on Facebook this morning –

“Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps. Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit. Plant the tree where the mole digs. Build your house where the snake coils to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.

Nature is talking to you, are you listening?” ~~ Angus Williams

I don’t think I would be inclined to share my house with a snake, but I like the concept of Williams’s words. Engage closely with nature – follow its lead – live a quiet life to find peace. ❤

Friday morning visitor.