Just a bunch of pics

After feeding the boys and collecting the eggs late this afternoon, I wandered around the place pointing and shooting at whatever took my fancy. Here's just some images. I hope you like....hydrangea
play of late afternoon light on yellow torch ginger...
one of my favourite spots...
sublime frangipani
bronzey new growth on the mango tree against an endless cobalt sky

Late afternoon on a summery, February Sunday

I love the drama that paints itself on the Billen Cliffs throughout the day as well as throughout the year. Much more dramatic than this photograph suggests, but I love the contrast of light and shade...OK so I like nature-stuff.
Looking up to the front deck of the house late this afternoon across a perfectly mown lawn thanks to the combined efforts of Roger our zero-turn ride-on and Stevie. You can see the hot tub sitting on the lower deck and the vege gardens, which will soon be given over to autumn plantings.
I never get tired of looking down McGuinness Road and up to the Homeleigh Range.
Or this one, our resident magpies foraging for grubs in the foreground, the protective Billen Cliffs in the background.

Green...

Isn't this the craziest plant. It's some kind of elephant ear but each leaf crinkles up and creates these amazing, well...crinklings of a lighter creamy, colour.
Tarro...
Rough tree fern...
water lily
Thalea...

A very nice carpet

This sloughed skin is from one of our semi-resident carpet pythons, which we found recently in our shed (the skin, not the python). I'm 178cm tall so it's probably another 20cm or so longer than I am tall. Can't wait to see the real McCoy sometime. One for you, Louise.

Steve went up to Loganlee near Brisvegas today to buy some more lamps (I shall photograph his various lamp purchases and post them shortly and yes he is going through a lamp-fetish stage at the moment, but they look great, of course, Steve selected them, goes without saying) while I spent what was a beautiful summer's day at work. (Please, put those violins away). It was all good. I had a very productive morning working on some interview transcripts and then, once the gym opened at 2.00pm, I high tailed it down there to do a workout with my trainer, Dale. She put me through my paces and she enjoyed watching, and I endured doing, a few super sets until fatigued. I then crawled back to my office and drank my 35 grams of protein powder (vanilla flavoured, actually quite refreshing and tasty). Yes, I've gone back to the gym with a vengeance. As some of you know, I am sliding quickly towards my 50th (yes there will be a party) so I need to renovate my body. Dale says she saw some striations today. I think that is a good thing...

Weather creates disappointment

Our friends, Ros and Kev, were planning to come up and stay with us this weekend, but because of the dreary, and often, wet weather we have been having, and probably will be having again, they reluctantly decided to pull the pin.

Ros (who is one of my regular blog-readers) and Kev own the beautiful Yeranda at Barrington Tops Cottages near Dungog, in the Hunter Valley, near Newcastle, and we have been friends for hmmm close on ten years I reckon. Many a delightful weekend has been spent in either Pindari Cottage or Kalimna Cottage, with other friends. We have lovely memories of our stays there.

Ros is a fanatical naturalist as well as being a brilliant wildlife photographer, and she was so looking forward, as Kev was, to coming up and checking out Larnook and surrounds.

Here's hoping that you guys can come up sometime later this year.

And a blatant plug: If you would like a perfectly relaxing and rejuvenating few days, go stay there! Their website is www.yeranda.com.au and all the details of the cottages and costs are there (it is an extremely affordable place). For those of you who might like a tree-change, Ros and Kev are downsizing and have offered Yeranda for sale. I often fantasised about owning Yeranda when I would stay up there, thinking about the various tasks that would need to be done, all the time surrounded by the beautiful forests of the Barrington Tops. Anyway, if you'd like to consider purchasing the property, just talk to Ros and Kev.

A beautiful moment. Then destroyed.

I often stroll down McGuinness Road, over the bridge and then up to where Martin's Road comes off Cawongla Road when I want to think, reflect, get really deep into myself or just take a relaxing walk. I did just that this afternoon about 5.30 or so, and it was just perfect. The afternoon was warm, but with a slight breeze and the sky was grey, but not depressingly so.

As I reached the garbage dumpster we share with our neighbours, Pete and Cheryl, I noticed a young galah standing on the grass in front of it. I slowed my walking right down and crouched down and was able to get to within a couple of feet of it. I admired the greys and pinks that make up its feathers while it looked at me with a quizzical eye. Because I was literally right next to it, I decided that it must have been injured, and, if it had been, it would have ended up dying. So I slowly and gently brought my hand down to hold it around its wings, when it gave a defiant screech and flew away. Elegantly and powerfully.

If I hadn't tried to catch it, I could have sat with it for a while, enjoying the close proximity between bird and beast. But I didn't. And in the action that followed that decision, I destroyed a precious, beautiful, moment.

A lesson, I think.

Simple but tasty salad

This is a tasty salad that goes well with fish: chop up onion, tomato, lebanese cucumber, and if you like some crunch, some radish, and then drizzle some olive oil over it. Very quick and easy, very tasty.