Oops.

 I do hope this is a (very) temporary glitch, but at the moment I cannot access my reading list so I cannot see any of your posts.  I follow so many blogs that I rely on the reading list to see when/whether posts have been added.

 

Hopefully normal service will be resumed quickly.

Sunday Selections #543

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. Wednesday of the week just gone was chilly.  Bright, clear and chilly.  So filled with anticipation I headed out just after first light to try to freeze bubbles.  And had some success.  Settle back with a beverage of your choice.  In my usual minimalist fashion there are lots of photos to come.

 Dawn brought a soft blush to the sky.

The ground was frosty - though it didn't seem to bother the magpies who were searching through the leaf litter for tasty treats.

When the bubbles first land they are transparent with a beautiful iridescence.

As they freeze they become opaque and the iridescence disappears.

Remember this double bubble.  I will come back to it later.

I adore the edging of frost around the anemone leaves.  I think of them as frost flowers.

You can see that this bubble has started to freeze and the iridescence is limited to the very top.

The bubbles fascinate me when they pop too.  Who knew that a frozen bubble would leave a shell behind it.

Or that a popped bubble could look like stretched chewing gum.

I liked the bubble which landed in the lavender.  Sadly it didn't last.

A close look at this bubble will show you that it has holes in it - but retains its shape.

The series of photos above blows me away.  A soap bubble with a slow leak collapsing in on itself.

Just a few more photos now.  Ok I lied, several more photos.  I am returning to the bubbles I first blew and photographed.  They froze beautifully, and the frost was just starting to settle on those frozen bubbles when I came inside.  The double bubble (remember it) had lost its top bubble but the shell remained and it didn't pop its twin. 

I was outside for a little over an hour and had a wonderful time.  It wasn't 'quite' cold enough.  I didn't succeed in decorating the lawn with a plethora of bubbles but was still smiling when I came in.  In an extra bonus, my ongoing nausea was at low levels and I could reward myself with a cup of tea.

I hope that you (and your inner children) also find fun in the week to come.

 

Sunday Selections #542

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.  Regular readers will know that the garden is one of my passions.  As are the birds which visit it, and us.  However these passions do not play nicely together on a consistent basic.

It is winter here.  A grey and damp winter.  The garden is loving it.  We have a line of camellia bushes/trees along the front of the house.

They are just coming into bloom and as they do each year are delighting me.

 These deep pink and white ones are a glorious display aren't they?  (We also have a pale pink one, with blooms that look like water lilies.  It is nowhere near blooming yet).

Once upon a time this mass of blooms stretched from the ground to well above roof level.  Then the sulphur crested vandals moved in (and yes we do encourage them).

There is now quite a large expanse where the leaves and the blooms are relentlessly plucked whenever they appear.

You can clearly see the difference in the parts of the camellia that they 'grace' with their attention.  They have also started beheading and shredding the early jonquils.  

They aren't the only vandals though.  King parrots are low on the 'pecking order' and have worked out that if they come to our hands they don't have to jostle with the cockatoos for a feed.

They are beautiful birds and we do know how privileged we are.  Just the same I would prefer that they didn't tear off the camellia buds, take two bites and move on to the next.

There are other things coming on in the garden too - which I will show in a later post (or posts).

For the last ten days the street has been infiltrated  by tradies who are ripping up and replacing sewer pipes.  Some houses have had great trenches dug in their lawns and others (fortunately not us) have had their driveways ripped up.  I did like this contractor's truck though and with his permission went out early one morning to take photos.

And just one a few more photos to finish on.  Each winter I wait for/hope for a really cold morning (by our standards) so that I can freeze soap bubbles.  We were nearly at minus 5C when I went out.  Not quite cold enough.  The bubbles froze, but lasted less than a minute before they popped, leaving a shell behind.  I am hoping to get a minus 7 (or lower) soon.

I hope that where ever you are the weather is to your liking.

 

Sunday Selections #541

 

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 returning to MegaFauna this week.  I am also going to be more descriptive than usual.  Laurie reminded me (again) that a photo is not always visible to everyone.  She has significant sight challenges and while a program will read the text to her there are none (yet) that will describe a photo.  I hope you think of that in your comments too - to make the post much more accessible to her.

These first two photos are of Wombat Phascolonus gigus.  It was two to three times the size of a modern womat, with huge curved front teeth.  Like our current wombats it had a sturdy build and strong legs.  I thought it looked like a wombat crossed with a dog, perhaps of the bull dog family.

This is Obdurodon - or Giant platypus.  It grew to four times the size of the platypus that we know and love (and rarely see) today.  It retains the duck bill and fur which made the first English scientists sent a stuffed platypus to believe it was a prank, bringing together two separate animals.  There was no mention about whether the giants also had a poison spur - but I expect they did.

Then to Meiolania or Giant Horned Turtle.  And giant it was.  They could grow up to five metres in size (16.5 feet) and weighed between 150 and 1300kg (330-2800 lbs).  The horns pointed backward and there was no mention about how they were used - or if they were a decorative feature.

While it was definitely on the cool side, it was also bright and clear.  I loved seeing the towering grey green eucalypts set off by blue skies and a few fluffy clouds.

This impressive beast is Megalania or ancient giant roamer.  It was a carnivore and ate large marsupials and other reptiles and birds.  Aboriginal cave paintings show it - and I expect they had to treat it with considerable respect - though one of them would feed a tribe for a long time.

This more more benign looking animal (a bear on all fours without the armament of tooth and claw) was Hulitherium or Mountain Diprotodon.  It was found in Australia and in Papua New Guinea (named after the Huli people in New Guinea).  It was a vegetarian.  A BIG vegetarian coming in at between 75-200 kilos or 165 -400 lbs.  I expect it was a much anticipated treat for the carnivores.

 

The Diprotodon was another herbivore, consuming up to 150kg of vegetation each day.  NOT something you want to find your garden.  It weighed up to 2700kg (more than 1500 pounds).  I struggle to describe what it looks like.  In this sculpture at least it has a cheeky smile, and looks not unlike a hippo - except that its nose and face are much more dog like.

We are in the Botanic Gardens after all, and I really liked seeing these purple berries on the Calytrix tetrago.

These two photos are of the very aptly named Thorny Devil or Moloch Horridus.  Despite its fearsome appearance with lumps/ bumps/horns on almost every vertebrae it apparently ate only ants.  It could weigh as much (or more) than a man today so there must have been a LOT of ants about.  Given that many ants bring me up in spectacular welts if they bite me, I would welcome this critter in my garden.

Some more paper (or everlasting daisies).  They seem to thrive in the Botanical Gardens.  I can grow them, but they don't reappear the next year.

This beauty is the Podocarpus elatus or plum pine.  Its fruit does look plum like but I have never seen a pine with leaves like that.  I bow to the experts.

Finishing up with a Banskia - though I am not sure which one.  They are native to Australia and come in some spectacular colours.

I hope you enjoyed wandering through the MegaFauna exhibition and the gardens with me, and that you have a healthy, happy week.