Sunday Selections #443

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.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.  
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle. 
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme.  This week I am starting with the issue which has been our focus for most of the week.  Jazz had a spectacular vomiting episode.  After it (most unusually for a food oriented cat) he stopped eating.  And drinking.  So we went to the vet.  She gave him an anti-nausea shot and we brought him home.  He ate a little - then stopped again.  Naturally after the vet closed for the weekend.

So we went back on Monday.  He didn't have a temperature, but flatly refused food or water, and was obviously miserable.  Some of the possible reasons were incredibly nasty.  Many, many tests followed.  All inconclusive.  He was dehydrated and spent the night on a drip.  He was given an appetite stimulant and started to eat again - so we were able to bring the punk pussy home.

This was taken before his vet odyssey.

And these after.  He is now eating, purring and much more his usual self, but the follow-up visit to the vet yesterday indicates he probably has feline pancreatitus.  A further visit next week.  Poor Jazz.

Now to (mostly) less stressful images.  Spring is nearly here.

I am pleased to see the crocus in bloom. 

I

 I really liked this anemone.  I was lucky to photograph it because less than half an hour later the vandal birds had beheaded (and shredded) it.  As they have done to dozens of other anemones, daffodils, the iris in the photo above, jonquils, violets, geraniums, lavender, ixia, the camellia bushes...

 The bees and less destructive birds are enjoying the grevillea.

And the wattle (the emblem of our land) is starting to come out, and blazing in the sun.

Finishing with some of our less destructive avian visitors.

 Eastern Rosella.

Male King Parrot.

 We can now hand feed at least one of the crimson rosellas.

 

 A female King Parrot.

And a corella for Susan Kane, who often asks for them.

I hope your week(s) are blooming lovely.

WEP/ISWG August Challenge - The Red Wheelbarrow

The challenge is back.  Huge thanks to the organisers and participants.  A visit HERE will give you access to a range of talented and very different takes on the theme.  I do hope you will visit others and applaud them.

I struggled with this prompt.  As a committedobsessional gardener I value and need my wheelbarrow.  However I don't give a rat's fundament what colour it is.  And then I started to wonder how the wheelbarrow feels...  

*** 

The trees blaze with arboreal fireworks.

I carry away the faded glory.

Winter has a hard-edged beauty of its own.

Largely ignored and neglected I wait the season out.

The much admired daffodils dance effortlessly in the breeze.

This is my busy season.  I work.  Hard.  Rolling to the compost pile laden with weeds, lumbering back to the garden filled with mulch.  Back and forth, back and forth.

 

Most of the heavy work is done and I dream of being included in the celebration of summer.  Included and seen as beautiful.

A fresh coat of blue would be fine I suppose,

but I really, really see myself as a big, beautiful, RED workhorse.

 

 

*** 

Word Count: 

If every picture tells a thousand words we are way over the limit.

In actual words?  The wheelbarrow is a quiet achiever and taciturn.  114 words.

Full critique acceptable.  

Sunday Selections #442

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.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.  
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle. 
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme. This week it is murals.  Again.  My city seems to have adopted them with a vengeance.  All of these were outside a building which is being renovated.  I much prefer the splashes of colour and whimsy to the bare boards which are often associated with shopfront renovations.  I assume these are temporary, but thoroughly enjoyed them.

The dark lines on the panda and the next shots were shadows from a nearby tree.

I like that the colour overflows onto the pavement too.

 And a nearby monolithic sculpture.

I hope your week(s) are bright and colourful.

Sunday Selections #441

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.

Huge thanks to Cie who gave me this wonderful Sunday Selections image.  
  
The meme was then continued by River at Drifting through life.  Sadly she has now stepped aside (though she will join us some weeks), and I have accepted the mantle. 
 
The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to me. Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen. 
 
I usually run with a theme. I am going to be a bit more random (but only a bit) this week.

But first, a follow-up from last week's Sunday Selections.  Joanne Noragon asked why the water company had commissioned murals.  So I rang them.  'We did it to encourage local artists, and to discourage graffiti I was told'.
I suspect there is a little spin in the response.  When asked who the artists were I was told that they would ring me back - and I am still waiting for that call.  It does seem to discourage graffiti though.

Onto this week's pictures.
Some of you will remember this statue, recently installed at a nearby shopping centre.

You KNOW a statue has been welcomed into the community when the locals rug it up for winter.

I wonder whether she will get a hat and sunnies for the warmer months?

Then to some very different (relatively) early morning shots.

And finishing with an awww moment featuring our sulphur-crested vandals.

I hope your weeks are vandal free (and packed with awww moments).