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.