Tag: grey clouds

Australia · clouds · kitchen renovation · Mount Warning · renovations · subtropical weather · summer · Tweed Valley

Is it still summer?

Joanne2 Comments

After a run of cooler days, I really have to question the sanity of the weather. This is the month of February, renowned for being the hottest month of summer in the subtropics. And here I was today, considering grabbing a cardigan!

I checked out a few fun facts about the history of the weather on this day in previous years. In the last thirty years, it has rained on twenty days. The record low temperature for this day was back in 2000 at 18 degrees Celsius, while the maximum on record is thirty-two degrees Celsius in 2010. Considering today’s temperature reached twenty-seven degrees Celsius, perhaps it wasn’t overly unseasonal weather after all.

This morning, the kitchen cabinet installers arrived and took over my house, while I hid away in my office. By the middle of the day, my kitchen had transformed from this —

… to this.

After the tradesmen left, I was more concerned about the thin layer of dust covering every surface of my house, so taking photos of the finished product was forgotten today. The men did a wonderful job, and I can hardly wait until my kitchen is completely finished, and they did attempt to clean up before they left …

Needless to say, I gave every surface around the house a thorough clean, vacuumed and mopped the floors, and by 9pm, we finally sat down to another quick-and-easy dinner.

It’s getting there, slowly but surely. And I think the messiest day is finally behind me. 🙂

 

 

Australia · birds · clouds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · summer · Tweed Valley

Will he stay – or will he go?

Joanne10 Comments

Again today, the rain in the valley hid Mount Warning and kept the humidity in the air. At least this weather isn’t overly hot, so it is actually making summer more bearable than usual. 🙂

Ever since the little Pee Wee – or Magpie Lark – arrived in my garden. I have suspected he was a male, calling for a mate. Today, my suspicions were confinrmed. I saw three more Pee Wees arrive. There may have been more, but I only saw three, and immediately I noticed that one of them had different markings on its face, it had more white than my little friend. A trusty Google search has confirmed that my little friend is a male and one of his visitors – the one in the photo on the right – is a female. My little friend is on the left.

The others, including the female, didn’t stay long, so now I will have to wait and see if they return. Alternately, my little friend may leave, and if he does, I will miss hearing his happy little song each day. I’m hoping he will stay, but the choice is his. ❤

Australia · clouds · Mount Warning · palm trees · spring · subtropical weather · Tweed Valley

Changing Weather

Joanne11 Comments

Even the setting sun couldn’t break through the clouds today.

The day started as another early-onset hot weather day, the valley covered in heat haze and no sign of Mount Warning. By mid-afternoon, a southerly wind blew the heat away, and for the first time in days the temperature was positively brisk! But still no sign of the mountain.

It looked like rain in the valley, heading north towards us, yet the rain never arrived. Thankfully though, the morning temperate of the low thirties plummeted to an afternoon temperature in the low twenties – bliss!

Australia · clouds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · pecan nuts · spring · Tweed Valley

Blue-grey clouds at sunset

Joanne2 Comments

The day started off rather cool this morning, but by midday it was in the mid-twenties and rather warm. Around sunset, when this photo was taken, it looked like it could rain – it didn’t – and I made sure I fit as many interesting blue-grey clouds into the camera lens as I possibly could.

During the week I have taken a few photos of birds when they have visited the garden. I thought this kookaburra had quite an inquisitive tilt to its head.

And this butcher bird actually stayed still long enough for me to get a half-decent photo. They flit around very fast usually, so I often end up with a blurred patch of wings in flight on the screen when I upload photos.

All of my figbird photos are taken from a distance. They are very shy birds who don’t get too close to people. This photo is as much about the tree as the bird, it’s my pecan nut tree, and the branches are showing signs of new growth. That means I won’t see the birds on the branches for too much longer, at least until the tree loses its leaves again next winter.

I couldn’t resist adding this last photo of the two little larrikins! Kookaburras have a talent for saying so much, without speaking.

This week is the last week of semester two at uni. I submitted one assignment today, and still have two to go, so it’s going to be a busy week. I’m already dreaming about spending more time in the garden every day after my assignments are done. 🙂

Australia · clouds · colours · Mount Warning · photography · rivers · sugar cane · Tweed Valley · winter

Grey on Grey

Joanne11 Comments

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.