Tag: sunset orange
Unseasonal Heat
For the third day in a row we have had a high temperature of around thirty degrees Celsius – or 86°F. It could be worse though. The highest temperature recorded for this day was back in 1996 at 34°C, and chances are there have been hotter November days before temperature recordings were kept. Tomorrow is predicted to be around the same temperature, but after tomorrow it should drop back down to the mid-twenties.
Thank goodness! It’s difficult to get motivated to go out into the garden when it’s that hot, but with only six weekend between now and Christmas, during the weekend, outside we went. I think I mentioned before that this time last year we hardly spent any time at home, due to helping my inlaws to transition into aged care. So the catching up around our own house and garden continues. With plans for the family to all spend Christmas at our place, we are trying to get everything organised, both indoors and outside, and what a job it’s turning out to be!
The heat certainly isn’t helping any. The northerly winds are really messing with the mountain view, which has been hidden behind heat haze for most of the past three days. The only time it is slightly visible is at sunset, and the amazing sunset skies have well and truly made up for the dismal days.
Tonight when I went outside to take some sunset photos, Mrs. Magpie landed nearby. She posed beautifully for me too, turning her head this way and that, as if posing for the photos. 🙂
Silent Sunday
Thursday Sunset
I tried out the camera on my iPhone again tonight, this time taking a photo of a pretty orange sunset sky. The phone will never replace my actual cameras – I have two Canons – but it’s good to get some practice in with the iPhone for those times when a camera isn’t handy.
Yesterday my granddaughter spent the day with me, and my daughter suggested that for something different, she might like to play with my mother’s old jewellery. Aurora loves beaded jewellery, as did her great-grandmother. I have had the jewellery hoarded away for the past 27 years in a box, collecting dust in the top of my wardrobe, so it made sense to get the jewellery out for Aurora.
She had the best time with the jewellery! Not content with just one string of beads, Aurora wanted to wear all of it, so of course I had to take a photo. 🙂
On Palms and Kookaburras
Today I made a point of taking a broader view photo of the mountain, showing the nearby palm trees. In yesterday’s post, I explained that we had lost a few lower leaves on our palms during the recent gusty storms. One significant leaf, which usually appears in my Mount Warning photos, is gone. Now when I take phtos of the mountain from this particular position in the garden, it feels like the photo isn’t complete – now I have to get used to a new normal!
The broad view photo adds context to the height of the palms, and why one very large drooping leaf always appeared in my camera lens. There is a bunch of seeds below the leaves on one palm, and the leaf that always appeared as an “extra” prop in my photos was growing between the leaves and the seed bunch.
This next photo shows a different cluster of palm trees. Most of these trees – except for the one on the far left of the photo – are growing near the pool. As the lower leaves drop, new leaves are forming above, and adding height to the tree. Along the trunk of the tree, as each leaf drops it leaves a ridge in the trunk of the palm where the leaf once grew.
Surprisingly, palm leaves are incredibly heavy! When they crash to the ground they make a very loud sound, almost like thunder. The palm on the far left in the photo above has two leaves which could fall at any time. As the trees grow taller and the dying leaves are higher, we simply can’t reach them to cut the leaves down, so until they drop they look a tad messy dangling from the tree.
Every morning around sunrise, the kookaburras wait in the palm trees, keeping a watchful eye on the back door, waiting for me to go out and feed them. They rarely wait around the garden at night, probably because they know I won’t feed them. Tonight, however, I spotted one kookaburra sitting on my clothesline, watching the back door. What really struck me was the position of the bird in front of a gorgeous orange sunset.
I rushed outside with my camera and took a few photos, and seeing as the kookie had been such a willing model, I made an exception and took a tiny treat out to him. I couldn’t decide which photo I liked best – the black silhouette, or the one that shows a glimpse of his features. So here are both photos. 🙂











