Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Wet and Aggressive Corella challenges Magpie

Sunday 22 May 2016

Sunday Selections #277

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  I have been both snotty and voiceless this week (though both are slowly improving) so I am taking the lazy option.  This weeks Sunday Selections is much like last.


We are (finally) getting some cool weather.  This cockatoo was fluffed up against the morning chill.  I think they look super cute that way.



I have been busy in the garden over the last couple of months.  Weeding, weeding, weeding, mulching, mulching, mulching.  More to do, but a start has been made.






The garden continues its weirdness too.

The last of the roses.




Blooming simultaneously with the first of the jonquils...  


And the weigela in it's autumnal colours.



 And, to be completely consistent, a sunset shot illuminating a jet trail/contrail.



  

132 comments:

  1. I love those sky pics and that beautiful little black "panther" :)

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    1. Optimistic Existentialist: Less of the 'little'. Both of my black panthers believe they are huge.

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  2. no thoughts...but just had to say hi

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    1. Author R. Mac Wheeler: No thoughts? I don't believe you - but greetings back to you.

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  3. Thank you. Appreciate this adventure

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  4. We're still waiting for the cool weather to arrive here. It was quite warm through last night.

    I'm pleased to see you had a helper in the garden.

    Have a great week, EC...and cuddles to Jazz and Jewel. Perhaps a couple of pairs of garden gloves would be good for them. :)

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    1. Lee: The weather is all over the shop here. We are having nights with temperatures in the single digits but the days are still warm. Very warm with winter so close.
      I had TWO garden helpers. And they didn't. Mulch is not kitty litter. Particularly not the bits I am spreading at the time.
      I hope your and your furry overlords have a wonderful week.

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  5. Together we dance, dear! You into winter, i into spring in lovely counterpoint <3

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    1. Cloudia: I am so glad that the blogosphere has shrunk our world.

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  6. oh gorgeous garden, sky and cockies. my jonquils are out and it is May. why do I think Spring is September and they should be doing it then?
    You are never 'snotty' darling, and never 'voiceless' thanks to the WWW. wishing you best health and good times x x x

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    1. Annie ODyne: How right you are. And I can't infect someone across the web either. Perhaps our jonquils have decided to become American?

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  7. That looks like quite a bit of mulch! I'm not sure why, but I really enjoyed seeing "Weeding, weeding, weeding, mulching, mulching, mulching," it tickled me ;o) Liked the picks, the birds are definitely cute that way!

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    1. HBF: It was a big pile of mulch. The second big pile. And, when I have done some more weeding, weeding, weeding, there will be another.

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  8. What unusual jonquils. Mine have yellow centers.

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    1. Joanne Noragon: We have those too. They will be out later. We also have yellow on yellow and some with red centres.

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  9. You grow black cats in your garden - well done!
    We're experiencing the last of our coolness before heading into all out summer.

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    1. Alex J. Cavanaugh: The black cats thrive. Sometimes at the expense of other things in the garden. You are more than welcome to summer.

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  10. I covet your pile of mulch! It's finally getting cooler here, and we have had some rain. At least the lawns have slowed down!

    Hope the snottiness disappears and the voice comes back...

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    1. Alexia: We have now spread 10 cubic metres of mulch. I think when I finish my weeding another three or four will be required. The snottiness is leaving and the voice is slowly returning. At the moment it is no more reliable than that of an adolescent male though...

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  11. Snottiness and voicelessness calls for being a slug. Looks like you are working entirely too hard.
    Everything is gorgeous: flowers, sky and birds.
    Feel better.
    Hugs

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    1. I'm with Alexia. I was eyeing that mulch too.

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    2. Sandra Cox: There has been some slugdom this week. And a little (very little) gardening. Next week I want to get back into it. The mulch is eucalyptus chip and smells lovely. Except when the cats use it.

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  12. It has gotten hot here with increasing mugginess to follow...Best to you and your furry helpers!

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    1. e: Mugginess? Bleah. I really, really don't like humidity. Or heat.
      The furry helpers and I thank you.

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  13. You have been busy in the garden EC. It's a big job to stay on top of a garden, but you don't need me to tell you that. Enjoy the fruits of your hard work🌹🍁🌷🍂

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    1. carol in cairns: On top of the garden? Queue hysterical laughter. Not a happening thing. Love the flower icons you created at the end of your comment. So clever.

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  14. Looks like we have both been working in the garden. Your cat seems to be on the hunt too. The shy photos are beautiful!

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    1. Ginger Dawn Harman: The cats love checking out the garden - and are both woeful hunters. Gardening is like housework in that it is never done.

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  15. Your cats belong in the garden. They look so happy and content.

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    1. Birdie: They go out for a while each morning. Not long, and they trot back inside, demand breakfast, and retire back to sleep again. They do love it outside though. Particularly if there is a person out with them.

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  16. beautiful birds and flowers, what kind of mulch is that ? and I like your solar lights and your cats meandering about.

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    1. Linda Starr: The mulch is eucalyptus chip. The solar lights are coloured, and I am fond of them.

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  17. I love seeing cockies with raised crests. Of course you know those contrails are misting the citizens with a drug to make them compliant to authority.

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    1. Andrew: But which authority? Though that does explain my agreeable nature...

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  18. Love those cheeky birds, and all the work you've been doing. Sending you lots of love! :-)

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    1. DJan: Thank you. We love those cheeky birds too.

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  19. Nice to see Jazz and Jewel in the garden. It looks so neat with mulch spread around :)
    None of my bulbs are flowering yet, quite a few are up, but only one ranunculus and three anemones :(
    I haven't done a single thing in my garden for several weeks now; I want to see what survives without TLC; I'm tired of buying/planting things that just don't make it. Whatever survives will be watched for another season, what thrives will be the ones I buy more of.

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    1. River: A lot of my garden thrives on neglect. Set and forget plants. Which is just as well. I have been busy, but should have been busy months ago. And have a lot more to do.

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  20. Those cockatoos are so super cute.
    It's nice to see photos in your garden, there is a lot of work.
    And the color in your nature is turning to lovely autumn (we got summer green color), love also the pink sunset, it's wonderful.
    Hope you feel better and better in every day.
    Hugs

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    1. orvokki: The cockatoos are noisy and destructive. And I love them. You are right about the work in the garden. Some done, and more needed.
      And thank you - for the hugs and the healthy wishes.

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  21. Love the parrots and the puss cat(s) helping with the gardening.
    Plants do strange thing at this time of the year and more especially since our prolonged hot summers of late.
    Still envy you your autumn colours although I did see a couple of autumn coloured treed when out the other day. Lovely to see.
    As ever, love the pink skies and those trails look quite mysterious.
    Hope your weekend has been a good one and you are feeling somewhat better than previously.

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    1. Mimsie: I can do without cat 'help'. In the garden or the house. They do love to see what is going on though.
      I am glad you saw some autumnal colour - I always think of it as living fireworks.

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  22. Those birds looks like they feels COLD, but, aren't they beautiful. Love 'em.

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    1. Bob Bushell: Cool but not cold yet. Perhaps the cockies are just wimps. (And I love them too.)

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  23. Hi EC - love the wigelia ... very pretty. That jonquil too .. and well done with all the weeding and mulching - with some help I see! Hope your cold disappears this week before too much really bad weather closes in .. cheers Hilary

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    1. Hilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. We are expecting a warm week, so I hope the cold does an Elvis and leaves the building. I am bored with it.

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  24. I loved, loved that first photo, top to bottom. There's a whole personality thing going on there.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. A Cuban in London: Cockatoos are FULL of personality. Though our farmers may call it poisonality.

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  25. I watch so many mystery shows that I had to wonder if there is a body under that pile of mulch:-)

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    1. Granny Annie: How can you think that way? Shuffles feet and sneaks away...

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  26. The cat is so shiny, beautiful are black ones.
    I too adore Cockatoos fluffed up, they looks friendlier. We had a couple as pets some years ago.

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    1. Margaret-whiteangel: I have a huge weakness for black cats and have had at least one for years and years and years. We had a cockatoo when I was growing up as well. Which I am a bit ashamed of.

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  27. Since the start has been made with weeding, weeding, mulching, mulching and mulching, lets hear you harvesting, harvesting.
    Good luck with gardening.

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    1. dumcho wangdi: I hope the harvest goes to a more normal time frame and is some months away. Which will leave me more time for weeding and mulching.

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  28. Nice garden pictures. I had a big garden at my previous house and I loved pottering about in it. But here I only have a very small garden on the North side of the house (remember I'm in the N hemisphere so it won't get much sun and takes a long time to warm up after the winter) so my little garden doesn't thrill me like the previous one, however, I do my best.
    Love you black cat. Black cats are lucky in England but are unlucky in N America.

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    1. Shammickite: Our black cats are a huge part of our life. As is the garden. Lots of work, lots of pleasure. I hope your small garden rewards you.

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  29. Wow, now that's a lot of weeding and mulching and more weeding and mulching and more yet to do! I am the biggest fan of weird, especially in gardens! What a joy it is, and your sweet kitty-cat is really having a joyful time with it all too! I can't forget to mention your first photos too, they are such a beautiful critter! Enjoy what's left of your weekend, and happy trails and weeding and mulching into the new week for you too! Kitty loves it!

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    1. Karen S.: It is early morning here. The cats are out, and the cockatoos are back. And there is more weeding to be done. And more mulch to be ordered. Have a great week.

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  30. You there may be cooling down but we here are still cool and wet when summer should be sputtering in, so its slightly depressing, all the constant rain, that has gone on for months now. I like to see the birds puffed against the cool too, so cute.

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    1. Strayer: We are expecting a warmer week this week. And no rain. Again. I hope you get some sunshine soon.

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  31. I'm glad you're feeling better! It's so nice to see Jazz n Jewel enjoying the garden/looking for prey. ;) Try not to overdo it with the heavy work. (watches her words of warning blow away in the wind as EC hefts another load of mulch onto her back)

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    1. River Fairchild: No mulch left. So this time you are wrong. Plenty of weeds though...

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    2. I knew it would be some kind of work that you'll overdo... ;)

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    3. River Fairchild: Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I am completely predictable? I haven't been in the garden at all today though. Domestic duties have called. Bleah.

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  32. Looks like the sun was radiating out of the cockatoo's head

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    1. Sue in Italia/In the Land of Cancer: I do love the cockies crest. They raise it each time they land, or if they are curious or afraid. And here, curiosity is the predominant crest lifter.

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  33. The kitties are out! The garden looks amazing!!! I love the colored leaves - I've never seen that plant before! Gorgeous photos!

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    1. Nicky HW: The kitties are out again. And loving it. And piddling and pooping in my mulch.

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  34. I don't think I have seen weigela before...this is beautiful. Had to see you face end of your summer!

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    1. Bookie: I am so glad to see the end of summer. Though she is trying hard to muscle back in.

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  35. It must be so cool to look out a window and see a cockatoo! I have to go to a pet store to see them. Also love the jonquil - have never seen one before.

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    1. Dawn@Lighten Up!: We often see eight or nine cockies at a time here. And smile. I suspect you know the yellow jonquils better. We have them too, but the white are always first out. And this time are out about three months too early.

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  36. Oh that Cockatoo! I would to find one outside my window. Such cute - and noisy? - birds. A kookaburra would be very welcome too. Lovely plants and flowers and sky, great selections.

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    1. DeniseinVA: They are noisy. Very noisy. While I hear kookaburras from time to time I have never seen one in the garden. And would love to.

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  37. That one thing on my bucket list to do a compost bin. Quite a bit of rain here in North Idaho.
    Coffee is on

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    1. peppylady (Dora): Welcome. We have four compost bins and love them. And my worm farm. I would like your rain though. Rather a lot.

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  38. Gardens are always changing, one little delight after another.

    have a great week, EC

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    1. kylie: They are, but I would prefer not to see the spring bulbs in such a rush. I hope you and yours have a wonderful week too.

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  39. Beautiful images, all!

    I envy your garden.
    And mulching is so cathartic.
    It is one of the most honest, joyous things one can do - garden.

    Lovely to see a prowling black beauty.
    xx

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    1. Vicki: Blood, sweat and tears go into the garden. And are well spent. And there is something truly cathartic about ripping weeds out too. Which I need to remember more often. Before they take over quite so much of the garden.

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  40. So pretty. Your roses are at their last - and I am waiting for the first of mine to bloom. It fascinates me how our lives can be so upside down opposite, but in many ways the same. So far apart, and yet we can communicate almost instantly. I spent all afternoon weeding today, too.

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    1. Susan F.: Our big world is remarkably small in some ways isn't it? Ordinarily our roses are long gone by this time, but the weather has been odd.
      I spent yesterday planting more bulbs. Which I really don't need. Back to weeding later in the week. And ordering more mulch.

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  41. I love the colors of your garden (as well as your four-legged helper). The sky photo just topped it off. You're looking forward to cooler weather while I'm looking forward to warmer weather. Hope you continue to feel better. :)

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    1. Mason Canyon: Still snotty, still intermittently voiceless, but improving.
      And the garden and the sky are enduring solace.

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  42. Isn't it nice to have a lovely morning chill? And your beautiful assistant seems to like it, too.

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    1. Lynn: The cats are less fond of cool weather than I am. They go out, but don't stay. And as winter bites their outings will become briefer and briefer.

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  43. That cockatoo has quite the spectacular crest. It's almost completely green around here. Almost.

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    1. mshatch: They use those crests too. To show interest, to show alarm, and each time they land.

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  44. Whether beginning or end, the Rose always remains the star of a garden.

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    1. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: So long as they have scent. A rose without is a sad travesty in my eyes.

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  45. Your garden is so pretty. And you don't have those stealthy little weeds that I have in mine.

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    1. Sandra Cox: Believe me I have weeds. Lots and lots of weeds. With roots that go to China.

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    2. I hear ya. I pulled one little weed up and couldn't believe it. The root had to be two feet long.

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  46. And when you are done, you can head to my house to work on the yard. You being an expert and all, I'm sure you will love it.

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  47. Your garden and yard are such a source of beauty. Your cat too. Thank you for taking the time to photograph your surroundings even though you don't even feel well. Hope you feel better soon.

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    1. Myrna R.: Thank you. And both Jazz n Jewel thank you too. They tell me they are the MOST beautiful things around here.

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  48. You have so many inspirations around you: those lovely birds, your garden and the guardian cat. How lucky you are.

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    1. cleemckenzie: Lucky indeed. And aware of my good fortune.

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  49. Our spring = your fall. Have to keep reminding myself. Even when your flowers are fading, your garden is spectacular.

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    1. Susan Kane: Spectaculary untidy and spectacularly overgrown often. I really like being able to experience two seasons simultaneously through the magic of the blogosphere.

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  50. Killer shots of the contrail!! That cockatoo is also quite a close second! I love how close you live to nature.

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    1. Nilanjana Bose: So do I. My city is known as the 'bush capital' and I love that nowhere is more than twenty minutes away from a green space.

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  51. More beautiful photos - gorgeous flowers. Does the cat ever go after the cockatoos? Or is he/she clever enough to realise not to mess with them? :-)

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    1. Angela: Jewel (the smaller of my two black monsters) lusts after cockatoos. And can keep lusting. They are smarter (and better armed) than she is. So she sits inside at the window and chitters in lust and longing.

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  52. Here we're gearing up for summer. I'm mulching and planting hoping to get ahead of the hot weather. I'm exhausted too. 😛

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    1. T.Powell Coltrin: A gardener's work is never done. You can keep summer though. I was very glad when ours finally agreed to leave the building.

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  53. Lovely colours in your sky! And nice to see the cockatoos.

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    1. Lady Fi: The afternoon shift of cockatoos is due anytime now. And are welcome.

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  54. Oh, love the cockatoos! Glad it is cooling down for you. It's heating up here, will be in the mid 30's this week...sigh.

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    1. Karen: Mid 30s? Already? That is unfair. I hope you get some relief.

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  55. I am not surprised ou get very tired with all that weeding and mulching but if pays off as your flowers are gorgeous. Love the shots of the Cocky also.

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    1. Margaret Adamson: Thank you. Some day I will learn the art of moderation. Really I will.

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  56. That's amazing about the jonquils and the roses.
    The sky, as always, is beautiful.

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    1. Sandra Cox: A few hours to dawn here now, and I hope to see another magical sky.

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  57. My word, EC, you are getting some lovely close-ups! The birds, the flowers, those leaves - I feel like I am right there. Beautiful colours and textures.

    And kitty pictures are always welcome. They are hard to get, though, at least I find it hard. They don't care to pose.

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    1. jenny_o: Jewel hates to have her photo taken and usually scampers away as soon as she sees the camera. I can't blame her, I do too. Surprisingly, most of these photos are of her, and the one with both of them in, it is hard to see Jazz. Who is usually a camera hog.

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  58. Love these pictures! The bird shots might be my favorite this week- but the kitty in the garden is lovely too. :) Thanks for sharing!
    ~Jess

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    1. DMS ~ Jess: The cats tell me they are MUCH better looking than the birds.

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  59. I like your cat in your garden (assuming that it is your cat - perhaps even both of them and I haven't realized?). Just this afternoon I chased my neighbor's cat from my garden - I don't like that cat, and that is really rare. Usually I love cats, but this one - no. The leaves of the weigelia are amazing - mine never turn like this (I guess I have a different kind of weigelia).

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    1. Carola Bartz: It is indeed my cats in the garden. They don't tolerate interlopers at all well. Despite happily intruding in our near neighbours yards. I don't recall our weigelia going those colours before either. Either I have been unobservant, or it is putting on a special show this year.

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  60. That looks like a pretty big pile- don't hurt your back! It doesn't take much for me and I am aching and stiff. :( I need to do more outdoor work. Love the kitty in the garden..just checking things out, Mom!

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    1. Terri @ Coloring Outside the Lines: It was a big pile. And in the next week or so I will order more. My back was ok, but I did damage my hip. And yes, curiosity of cats is very real. Very, very real.

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  61. You sure are ambitious when it comes to your garden. I THINK a good game, but usually fall way short when the hot weather sets in. You're getting cooler, but we're flirting with ninety degree temperatures now. No telling how hot it's gonna get when summer gets here. Best way I can handle the garden work this time of year is to convince myself the weeds are actually wildflowers...

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    1. Susan: Moderation and I are pretty much strangers. Which is often a mistake.
      Ninety degrees? Shudder. As I type this before dawn we are hovering around zero C. Which is fine.

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  62. O, My!
    I so much adore those mustard yellow crowns on the birds...

    but my all time favorite are the black panthers!

    xxxxx

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    1. My Inner Chick: Jazz n Jewel applaud your taste. They believe they are much more beautiful than the birds too.

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    2. My Inner Chick: So they tell me. Are my comments to your blog getting through?

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