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. River flagged last week that she may not be joining us for a few weeks. We will miss her.
Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
Like River I usually run with a theme. Since Christmas it has been hot here. Not quite as hot as some parts of the country, but way too hot for comfort. For the next week our temperatures will range from the low to the high 30sC (90 - 100+F). So I have taken very few photos this week, and am trawling through older ones. And of course, my usual obsessions with the sky, the birds and the garden will be on display.
And a view of my fruit salad - which I have been largely living on.
It includes pineapple, mango, passion-fruit, kiwifruit, lychees, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, peach , plum, nectarine, apricot, red and green grapes, and probably more things I cannot think of at the moment. Yum. Fruit salad spells Christmas to me. I made a multitude of Christmas cakes too, but we haven't had any here yet.
From the relative cool of 'inside' we continue to delight in the birds.
There have been LOTS of corellas. Charming, cheeky chaps.
In this photo you can catch a glimpse of the reason for the multitudes of corellas. They are very partial to the flowers of the Japanese Silk Tree. As are the galahs and the cockatoos.
We can now hand feed this Crimson Rosella too. He/she is still wary, but getting braver by the day.
We are (naturally) on water restrictions. I have been weeding early and dragging hoses around in permitted watering times (and fell over yesterday doing so) and the garden and the birds have been loving it.
When I wascomplaining/whinging/bitching and moaning about the vandal cockatoos I mentioned that they haven't yet discovered the back yard. Which means that the sunflowers I planted (for them and others) have flowered.
The lilies are flowering well too. Some of them are on stems over eight feet tall.
This red one has no scent and doesn't assault sensitive noses.
I hope the New Year (which is approaching at a rate of knots) brings you everything you could hope for. Stay cool or warm - whichever is appropriate.
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. River flagged last week that she may not be joining us for a few weeks. We will miss her.
Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
Like River I usually run with a theme. Since Christmas it has been hot here. Not quite as hot as some parts of the country, but way too hot for comfort. For the next week our temperatures will range from the low to the high 30sC (90 - 100+F). So I have taken very few photos this week, and am trawling through older ones. And of course, my usual obsessions with the sky, the birds and the garden will be on display.
And a view of my fruit salad - which I have been largely living on.
It includes pineapple, mango, passion-fruit, kiwifruit, lychees, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, peach , plum, nectarine, apricot, red and green grapes, and probably more things I cannot think of at the moment. Yum. Fruit salad spells Christmas to me. I made a multitude of Christmas cakes too, but we haven't had any here yet.
From the relative cool of 'inside' we continue to delight in the birds.
There have been LOTS of corellas. Charming, cheeky chaps.
We are (naturally) on water restrictions. I have been weeding early and dragging hoses around in permitted watering times (and fell over yesterday doing so) and the garden and the birds have been loving it.
When I was
The lilies are flowering well too. Some of them are on stems over eight feet tall.
This red one has no scent and doesn't assault sensitive noses.
I hope the New Year (which is approaching at a rate of knots) brings you everything you could hope for. Stay cool or warm - whichever is appropriate.
You are my favorite fellow bird lover!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Thank you. There are a lot of us about.
DeleteI have been reading about the scorching temperatures across the country and it makes me glad that I visited in September/October when conditions were a little more reasonable. And we went to Tasmania which was pleasantly temperate. That fruit salad looks wonderful. Let it ferment for a while and add a bottle of rum and you will be transported to realms unknown!
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the weather, I always contend that cold is much easier to deal with than heat. Here in Canada we can always layer up and stay warm and get outside and enjoy ourselves, but the kind of heat you are experiencing is impossible to escape. The whole country will hibernate indoors! How could you live there without air conditioning?
David Gascoigne: I so agree with you that cold is easier to deal with. In addition my MS loves and thrives in the heat, which gives me another reason to dislike it. Quite a lot of people do like the heat though. 'Mad dogs and Englishmen'?
DeleteSuch beautiful shots. Hope it cools off for you soon.
ReplyDeleteLady Fi: Thank you. The next couple of months will be challenging but more moderate temperatures will return (and can't come soon enough).
DeleteI am always in awe when I see pictures of birds... birds visiting your backyard! What an experience!
ReplyDeleteI just finished my lunch. I would have a bowl of that great looking fruit salad... no problem!!!
Caterina: I am loving my fruit salad, and will top it up later today (more mangoes, cherries, lychees and strawberries for starters...).
DeleteThe corellas are gorgeous - but what I really envy is your fruit salad. It's carbohydrate city here in the land of Christmas leftovers.
ReplyDeleteMarty Damon: If Christmas fell in our winter it would be carb city here too.
Deletehot weather and that's all one should eat is salads, meanwhile we are having soup and stews, we are being inundated with rain most of any winter on record here, mother nature is full of feast or famine.
ReplyDeleteLinda Starr: Some world-wide weather moderation would be nice.
DeleteGreat shots of birds and flowers.
ReplyDeleteJamie Ghione: Thank you.
DeleteThat is exactly what I expect fruit salad to be, except...is that a fire under it? Warm fruit salad?
ReplyDeleteHappy new year and cool thoughts to you.
Joanne Noragon: No warm fruit salad (horrid thought). I put it on the cooktop (which was firmly off) to take the photo and the light was reflected. Happy New Year to you too. And a healthy one too.
DeleteI love colorful birds and flowers. So pretty.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: Thank you. We love them too.
DeleteBeautiful salad, full of tastes. And the birds, you shot them well. Have a beautiful new year 2019.
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Thank you - and a very happy New Year to you and yours.
DeleteDear EC
ReplyDeleteLovely colourful photos (including that fruit salad). Your lilies are looking beautiful as are your garden visitors. I hope you didn't hurt yourself when you fell.
With many good wishes for 2019
Ellie
Ellie Foster: Bruises and stained clothing. No more than that fortunately. I hope that your year brings you health and happiness.
DeleteSo much beauty out your windows! I hope Jazz doesn’t get too disgruntled as you try to keep him safe and cool. Or that you don’t bleed too much in the process. ;)
ReplyDeleteRiver Fairchild: A disgruntled Jazz is never a good thing. It is a tad cooler than yesterday so I will probably give in and allow him out for a little while. A very little while.
DeleteEverything is so lush there - even the birds! I guess the heat is the price you pay for that beauty, though. Even the birds who stay in our winter are monotone in colour - white, greys, browns, and blacks. The finches lose their brilliant yellows and turn greyish-brown with just a dab of pale yellow on their undersides. Nature is ever-wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYour fruit salad looks tasty and cool. I wish I could eat lots of fruit. I could at one time, but my innards don't agree now.
Wishing you and the SP a kind-to-you and healthy-as-possible new year, EC.
jenny_o: How sad that your innards deny you fruit (among other things). So very unfair.
DeleteThe garden is lush at the moment, but that is watering. I suspect your birds mute their colours for camoflague. Mind you I am always surprised at how hard some of our quite vivid birds can be to see until they move.
I love your new year wishes - and return them to you. Thank you.
Fruit salad looks yummy and healthy
ReplyDeleteThose corellas are so colorful
Sue in Italia/In the Land of Cancer: My fruit salad is delicious - but doesn't really count as a 'balanced' diet. Tough. Until it cools down I will continue to eat it to the exclusion of almost everything else.
DeleteI've been having very healthy breakfasts over the past few days...since Christmas Day....a large mug of coffee and a thick slice of Christmas cake! I broke the pattern this morning, though...I had a couple of fruit mince tarts with my coffee...just to add variety to my pattern!!
ReplyDeleteOh, well...I care not...my aim is to please myself...and, so far, that is working out just fine!! Among all the fresh fruit and raw nuts I'm ingesting, a bit of wickedness is allowed to add balance....in my little corner of the world, anyway. :)
The hares have been hopping energetically around this property over the past couple of days...at my leisure, trying not to expend too much energy of my own, I've enjoyed watching them.
I wish you and yours all the best for 2019, EC...I hope only good things come your way. Cuddles to Jazz. Stay cool...as best you can, anyway. :)
Lee: Your diet sounds more balanced than mine at the moment. I am a firm believer in the need for treats. It is years since I have seen hares. Lucky you.
DeleteI hope that you, Remy and Shama have a wonderful year ahead.
Fruits make for my favorite healthy desserts.
ReplyDeleteA saner, safer, healthier, happier New Year to you!
Saner, safer, healthier and happier sounds WONDERFUL. For the world.
DeleteThose lilies! I've not had any, not even potted ones, this year.But I do have a lovely rose geranium which, when things cool down, will become many.Its doing so well and still in a pot.And I showed the Banks' rose the photo of yours and it's pulled up its Big Girl Pants and is climbing
ReplyDeletedinahmow: I am glad the rose geranium is thriving. Happy to send more in the fullness of time. The lilies are spectacular this year. And for those who can cope with it, the scent is lovely.
DeleteGorgeous flowers. And the Crimson Rosella is a stunner. I have been reading of 49C heat in your neck of the woods. -not pleasant at all for humans. How does the wildlife get on in such temps, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteBea: Fortunately we won't approach 49C. Shudder. I suspect that the wildlife suffers just as people do. And that some don't survive.
DeleteThat is so hot! I've read that Australia is above normal temps for this time of year. I do hope you'll be all right, dear friend. You should not be falling like that, either. Love your pretty birds and flowers. Thank you for putting a smile on my face. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: I fell because I am a klutz. I was fortunate and got off relatively lightly. Some impressive bruises though. Some of Australia is having some dreadful temperatures. We are hot, but the high 40s is a foretaste of hell.
DeleteMy soon-to-be 70 sister lives in the mid north where temperatures are hovering around 46, she has a small desk fan (I hope it still works) but no other form of cooling. She'll be coping as well as she always does I expect. My brother, who is more mobile than me will probably check on her a couple of times. He drives and has no pets.
DeleteRiver: Your poor sister. I really, really hope her fan works.
DeleteOur summer is only just cranking up to what we think of as 'hot' - 28-30 is usually as hot as it gets. Although there doesn't seem to be much "usually" about the weather any more...
ReplyDeleteI love warm weather but wouldn't like to be living in Melbourne (for example) - it was 37 there yesterday when Mr A was watching cricket! I do try to get out for my walk early in the day at this time of year.
Your birds and flowers are so beautiful, and I would very much like some of that fruit salad! After all of the hullabaloo of the last week I don't feel like cooking at all. Salads and fruit are the order of the day.
A Happy New Year to you, EC, and stay as cool as you can.
Alexia: Even 28 is hotter than I like it (but preferable to the temperatures we have been having). It was 37 here yesterday and the day before. In high summer I pretty much become a troll and only come out at night (or very early).
DeleteThe fruit salad is an annual indulgence. I make it for my Christmas treat - and keep eating it. A very Happy New Year to you and yours.
Cold, wet, windy, miserable here today, but better than too hot! Happy New Year, and hugs across the Dateline.
ReplyDeleteBill: Much better than too hot (in my eyes). We are a tad cooler today. 34C (94F) rather then the 37/38 of the preceding days. A very, very happy New Year to you and yours.
DeleteI've never seen a Japanese Silk Tree and now I want one. I wonder if it would grow here in the dry, mostly useless soil? Probably not. The birds are beautiful. I've recently enjoyed the squawky squabbling of sulphur crested cockatoos fighting over which branch of the gum tree to sit on.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese (or Persian) silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) is a lovely tree but prone to borers. We have lost one to them, and this one has significant damage.
DeleteYou should have some cooler days coming, only 29 here today and tomorrow, that should move across to you.
ReplyDeleteRiver: Ordinarily we do get your weather (a day or two later) but this time the forecast is for the heat to continue. We dip to 31 tomorrow and then it climbs (rapidly) again).
DeleteWow. Beautiful gardens and birds, and i envy you your fruit salad!
ReplyDeletemessymimi: Thank you. I spent an hour or so this afternoon topping the fruit salad up. And is is delicious.
Deleteyou inspired me to make fruit salad for Christmas (well i actually got the girls to do it) but somehow i just couldnt think what to put in it and it ended up as a lot of melon plus a few strawberries. It was nice but not spectacular, a bit of coconut ice cream jazzed it up a whole lot!
ReplyDeletea neighbour of ours gave us mango pudding which i have been eating for breakfasts with a bit of shortbread thrown in for a change sometimes!
my very best wishes to you for the new year!
xo
kylie: Good thinking on getting the girls to do it. Cutting up the fruit is seriously time-consuming - and sticky. I am not really an ice cream fan - but could make an exception for coconut ice cream.
DeleteMango pudding? Drool.
You have such beautiful blooms in your garden and of course wonderful bird visitors. I hope the heat subsided a bit for your comfort and to help your MS. Thanks for all the comments you have left on my posts over the past year and may I wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2019 Sue.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Adamson: Thank you. Today was a little cooler than predicted (yay), and tomorrow shouldn't be toooo bad. After that it will ramp up again - but it is summer after all.
DeleteYour fruit salad looks delicious. Can I have some, with cream? The Japanese silk tree is very pretty. I've never seen one before. All good in your garden, in spite of the heat and water restrictions.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: Of course you can have some - though I suspect it wouldn't travel through the post well. Part of the garden (particularly the weedy bits) are indeed thriving.
DeleteI've just realized you live in the Southern Hemisphere as well. We've had incredibly hot weather for weeks. At last it rained two days ago, and is raining now again cooling things down a bit.
ReplyDeleteJo: Definitely Southern Hemisphere and definitely hot. We had three (or perhaps fours) spits of rain last night.
DeleteGood evening! !
ReplyDeleteIt is 9:30 PM on 30th Japan time now.
It is the custom of Japan's year end.
In the year end, we say “Yoi otoshi wo” to each other wishing for the coming
year to be pleasurable.
The New Year season is the most significant season for the Japanese.
All the Christmas décor is switched to the New Year’s in a blink.
Major New Year icons are the pine tree, bamboo, plums and so on. All of them are symbols of good fortune and longevity.
Ryoma Sakamoto.Japan: Welcome and thank you. It is 6.41 AM on the 31st here.
DeleteI hope your New Year is delightful, and filled with pine trees, bamboo and plums.
There is nothing like a cold fruit salad on a hot day - especially when paired with a chilled pinot gris! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeletedaisyfae: Chilled pinot gris? Or merlot? Now there is a thought. Fruit salad goes well with bubbles too.
DeleteAnd a very Happy New Year to you too.
90 to 100 F is hot! Hope you survive that. MS makes it much harder I would imagine. We have not had water restrictions here while I've lived here. We had them in other areas where I've lived in long hot summers following winters of little rain. I thought by end of last summer there might be some put into place but no. We've had lots of rain this November and December and snow, so am hoping this means a normal water summer. We rely completely on winter mountain snow for summer water.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: After a couple of horrendous droughts this stage of our water restrictions is permanent. And sometimes gets escalated. I hope you do get enough water this summer - we rely on winter rain too - which didn't happen.
DeleteOMG - I'm salivating right now because that fruit salad looks so amazing, and includes everything I adore! Never heard of corellas, but they are so stunning! Happy New Year EC! Hugs...RO
ReplyDeleteRO: It really is a delicious salad. And is filled with my favourite fruits. A very Happy New Year to you too.
DeleteHi EC, I noticed Canberra is really hot. Hope you didn't hurt yourself falling while watering the garden. Crimson rosellas are beautiful to look at, but they are giving me a headache at the moment. Love the closeup of the Corella, so you can see clearly its strange blue and red coloured face. Happy New year to you.
ReplyDeleteSue Catmint: It is hot. We have a small respite today and then the heat ramps up again. Is the headache the crimsons are giving you literal or metaphorical? Like many of our other birds they can be destructive.
DeleteIt's literal. They were screeching day and night for a couple of weeks, but they must have stripped the nectar from the gum flowers because it's quiet again. I know they are aggressive and can be destructive, but they are so wonderful to look at. Unfortunately they rarely come down to ground level in my garden, they are just seasonal visitors that stay up high.
DeleteSue Catmint: We have a small family group who visit often but cause MUCH less damage than the cockies (and the corellas). They do punch considerably above their weight though on the feistiness stakes.
DeleteSuch beautiful photos and the fruit salad looks delicious. Wishing you a safe and wonderful New Year!!
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: Thank you. And to you.
Deletemy biggest vandal is my own butt-head, AKA Taedy Baer, who loves to dig in my irises.
ReplyDeleteAuthor R. Mac Wheeler: You should have buried the body/bodies deeper...
DeleteFruit salad is what we live on this weather too, cooking in my kitchen in summer is like hell on earth lovely in winter thou.
ReplyDeleteMerle........
Merlesworld: Hooray for fruit salad. There has been some cooking for the other inhabitant of the house, but not a lot. And this week is also going to be hot so the pattern continues.
DeleteYour fruit salad is wonderful, we too have been unseasonably warm and had an unusual amount of rain. A happy and abundant New Year to you!
ReplyDeletee: Thank you so much. The warmth continues, and we would welcome some rain. We had three spits last night.
DeleteI do hope that your New Year is happy, healthy and infinitely less challenging than this.
The birds are gorgeous. My cousin in ACT has told me about the very hot weather.... hard to survive when it's so hot every day. I;m wishing you some nice cool breezes for the New Year.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for 2019 to you and the family.... be happy!
Shammickite: Cool breezes would be nice, but aren't (yet) a happening thing. I hope that 2019 brings you everything you could hope for.
DeleteI'm back! Or will be tomorrow:)
ReplyDeleteI always love your beautiful photos of birds and your garden.
Fruit salad is one of my faves too. Yours looks mouthwatering. I toss in coconuts and nuts.
Happy New Year, my friend.
Sandra Cox: Coconut and nuts would be a nice addition. Thank you - though I toss both in my 'other salads'.
DeleteHappy New Year to you, and hugs.
Great series of photos and I agree, the coconut and nuts are a nice addition. Loved the photos as I always do. I envy you your birds, even the naughty ones :) I had a starling at the feeder out back yesterday and today. It is the first time I have seen one in about a year. I've been wondering when his 10,000 relatives will turn up!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteDenise inVA: Thank you. I suffer from world-wide avian envy and would love to see some of 'your' birds too. If the starlings are like our pigeons when word gets out you will be inundated.
DeleteI am surprised that the same starling turned up the next day, minus his thousands of cousins :) I'm still waiting for them.
DeleteDenise inVA: Perhaps you have escaped, and your solitary starling is an outcast.
DeleteI love seeing your flowers during my winter. And your birds are spectacular! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeletemshatch: I have been revelling in cool images from your side of the globe. A very Happy New Year to you - and a big welcome to Bruno.
DeleteLove the birds and those beautiful flowers and that fruit salad looks too good to eat. I can almost taste it from here. A wonderful selection of fruit too. Happy New Year to you both.
ReplyDeleteMimsie: The fruit salad continues to be excellent. Another stinking hot day here, so it will probably be lunch and dinner again.
DeleteA Happy New Year and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you.
Happy New Year Sue! Love you blog photos and I am sorry that I have been absent a lot with commenting. Hopefully 2019 will be better for my use of time.
ReplyDeleteGrannie Annie: Happy New Year. You are welcome whenever you find the time/energy to stop by.
DeleteI should plant a flower for indoors so I could see some color during these drab ugly months; but.......I do not have a green thumb for stuff indoors. I do fine outdoors in the spring and summer, but......Your flower pictures always make me smile and makes me envious.
ReplyDeleteSandy: I am not good with indoor plants either. Any which survive are very, very hardy critters.
DeleteThese are so beautiful! I hope you have a great new year :)
ReplyDeletewww.ficklemillennial.blogspot.com
Gina Gao: Welcome and thank you.
DeleteHappy New Year to you! Your fruit salad looks so delicious and your feathered friends are always a delight. Thanks for sharing that list of words posts, I shall try my best to add to many of them too. It's always fun to jog our thoughts with random words. I am a lover of words. Words are a gift (or sometimes a curse) that cause so much meaning for us.
ReplyDeleteKaren S.: A very Happy New Year to another word nerd. And thank you.
DeleteOh your warm-weather Christmas so fascinates me;
ReplyDeletethe fruit salad looks amazing. All those fresh things.
We're doing root veg and apples still fresh from the trees. And lots of hot soup:) Good to see blooming things. I've been cutting and arranging evergreens into wreathes and making table arrangements out of spruce and pine and cypress and magnolia. And bright red berries. Lots of fun making things in a cold barn for customers:) It's been joy to use my hands to create art with nature again. Your sunflowers feel like a pleasant dream.
Love to you where you are,
Jennifer
Jennifer Richardson: I really like the sound of your wreathes and table arrangements. As well as being beautiful I suspect they smell delightful too. Your food sounds lovely too, I am a big, big fan of seasonal. Hugs.
DeleteLove the photos of the birds and flowers. Your fruit salad looks and sounds so delicious. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteRasma Raisters: Thank you - and a very Happy New Year to you too.
DeleteYour birds take my breath away. And to hand feed...wondrous.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, my friend.
Sandra Cox: We are blown away by the trust that they give us. And know we are incredibly privileged.
DeleteHappy New Year to you and yours.
Happy New Year to you.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of some of our parrots.
Margaret-whiteangel: Thank you. We do love the birds who visit. Including the vandals.
DeleteMy dear friend EC,
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for you kindest words of comfort to me.
Till yesterday I could not had the courage to do a homage post telling you all my friends that my dear husband Carlos passed away.
I am so very sad more than I can say. I can not believe that he never more will stay at my side and embrace me..
I wish my dear friend that you have a Very Happy New Year filled with much joy, happiness, health and peace.
Hugs and Love to you!
sonia a. mascaro: I was so sorry to learn of your loss. Be kind and gentle to yourself. Please.
DeleteOh how absolutely breathtaking!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so, so, much for these wonderful images...oh WOW...😊😊
And wishing you a Happy New Year!
Big Hugs xxx
Ygraine: Huge thanks. I hope you are feeling better by the day and wish you a happy (and healthy) New Year.
DeleteI haven't seen a Japanese Silk Tree before. I can see why the corellas like them:)
ReplyDeleteHave a great one.
Sandra Cox: The corellas love them and the ground beneath the tree is littered with chewed blooms.
DeleteI like seeing other people's garden and pets/creatures, the birds look so at home. the flowers are quite pretty.
ReplyDeletejust as you are experiencing hot weather, we are having a cool winter.
happy new year!
p.s. - I'm on new york time zone so my Words for Wednesday post might be a day late to people outside the U.S., just fyi.
lissa: I have seen your Words for Wednesday post and really enjoyed the takes on your prompts which have landed already.
DeleteThe birds which visit us ARE at home, and their species were here long before us.
Oh my gosh! There it is! The fruit salad you mentioned on my blog. It looks even better than I imagined it to be. Why can't we be neighbors? Then I could ask you to bring some over :)
ReplyDeleteElsie
Elsie Amata: It is wonderful. This is yet another hot, hot, hot day and I will be having fruit salad for dinner. And would happily share it if you were here.
DeleteWhat stunning colors! Love those white birds with the vivid blue eyes. As usual I loved the stroll through the flora and fauna where you live. Today I'm working on staying warm. It's down in the 30s C. and that's cold for California near the coast.
ReplyDeletecleemckenzie: The corellas rock the blue eye make up don't they? Better than any person I have seen. I hope you can stay warm - I would be more than happy to send some of ours your way.
DeleteI love sunflowers. My grandfather planted them every year when I was a kiddo. I remember them being so much taller than I was:)
ReplyDeleteHave a creative day and pleasant evening.
Sandra Cox: My father planted them most years too - and yes, they stood taller than me too. These (because of the heat) are only about five feet tall. The birds will like the seeds though.
DeleteYour garden! Love the Japanese Silk Flowers, they're new to me. How lucky you are to live so close to such beauty! x
ReplyDeleteAll Consuming: Aren't those blooms lovely? And the birds benefit too.
DeleteHi EC! Sorry I'm late! I'm sorry about the heat too! I don't know how you do it! Your fruit salad looks amazing! I could eat that all day, with your Christmas cake! I hope you didn't hurt yourself, from you fall!! You have to take care of you! You are a special lady! Your pictures to me, are always magical and breath taking! Thank you so much for sharing your birds and your gorgeous garden! EC, I am sending you and your loved ones many blessings for a great, healthy, happy and abundant 2019!!! Big Hugs and Much Love! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteMagic Love Crow: You are not late. You are very, very welcome whenever you arrive. And huge thanks. I hope that your year is all of the good things you wished for me - and more.
DeleteI see you are using those wonderful glass saucepans. I have 2 sets of them, various sizes, and use them all the time. But I broke one of the lids so I've been keeping my eye open at thrift stores to see if I can find a replacement.
ReplyDeleteShammickite: We love our glass saucepans. Is it worth contacting the manufacturer about a lid? Most of ours are interchangeable, but the lid for the one I use for fruit salad is huge and fits nothing else.
DeleteI don't think they are still manufactured, or at least I haven't seen them advertised in the stores. Mine are about 25 years old! My best bet to find a lid is the thrift shop, they do appear on the shelf every so often!
DeleteShammickite: Good luck. I can't remember when we got our glass saucepans, but yes it was quite some time ago. And I love them.
DeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow, you're getting to be a real bird whisperer, aren't you? It's cool that so many birds have been eating from your hand. I think it's safe to say they know you'll do them no harm. (They're, um... in good hands!)
ReplyDeleteYour birds and flowers are gorgeous. Our weather's been so wet and warm, way too many plants are already in bud. Poor things don't seem to know it's winter.
Susan: Some wet would be more than welcome but I am over the warm. Well over it. We really are privileged in gaining the trust of so many birds.
DeleteFruit salad. YUM! Happy 2019 with a great big side of boogie boogie.
ReplyDeleteThe Happy Whisk: BIG yum. And a happy year to you and Tim.
DeleteEight foot tall lilies? Wow! Oh, and I'll have a big bowl of that fruit salad please.... Happy New Year EC!
ReplyDeleteMolly Bon: We very, very rarely get lilies that reach for the sky quite so enthusiastically. You will have to get in quickly for the fruit salad, there is not a lot left. And a Happy New Year to you and yours.
DeleteCharming cheeky birds - it's funny how we tend to love them, right? My biggest birds in the garden currently are scrub jays which are super cheeky and very vocal, digging up the soil to bury the peanuts I put out for them. Nevertheless, I love them. I also love the more cheeky crows who sometimes come in to snack on the peanut suet block.
ReplyDeleteHow lucky you are to have those sunflowers. My attempts of growing sunflowers were always finished by either the birds or the squirrels. I saw a squirrel taking off with a huge sunflower bloom in its mouth, dragging it across the "lawn". Cheeky monsters, but still beloved by me.
Carola Bartz: Incontinent, destructive and much loved. I am surprised that the birds haven't found the sunflowers. And may plant more of different varieties next year.
DeleteTime to get out and blog again, so waving hello to you.
ReplyDeleteSandy: Waving back. And Happy New Year.
DeleteI do hope the weather will cool down for you soon.
ReplyDeleteYou've shared some lovely photographs.
Fruit salads (any salad) is perfect for hot days.
My good wishes for 2019.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Thank you. For the next few months there will be a LOT of salads made and consumed here. And all the best to you, Eddie and your family for the year(s) to come.
DeleteI love the red lily. So beautiful and I think it is great that it doesn't have a scent as I have many friends whose allergies get irritated by lilies.
ReplyDeleteSo many lovely photos!
~Jess
DMS ~Jess: I have a lot of friends who have problems with those scents too. I am grateful that I don't but sympathise with those who do. And don't bring the blooms inside when any of those friends are expected.
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