I usually run with a theme. I mentioned last week I had been on a small outing on Saturday. Lifeline held a meeting and attendance was compulsory for reaccreditation purposes. Sigh. I really don't like meetings. However, they sweetened the deal by holding it at the Australian National Botanic Gardens and promising us time to take a short (up to an hour) guided walk.
The gardens are extensive and in an hour we saw a tiny fraction of what the gardens have to offer but it was bright, sunny and welcome respite. We walked through a little of the rainforest area and then went to the Banksia Gardens. Despite it being winter there were plenty of flowers and some glorious trees.
As I so often say - come walk with me.
We had a definitely chilly morning later in the week. Just after 7 is was minus 4.5C (30F) and I was hoping it was cold enough to freeze bubbles. Nearly but not quite. The dawn was lovely though, and I have hopes that we will get a chilly (and still) day before winter ends.
Nearly, but not quite.
I hope all your disappointments this week are little ones.
Beautiful colouring of flowers EC.
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Thank you. I liked them too.
DeleteHappy Sunday to you, still Saturday here but it's my weekend off so no excuses for me having any disappointments, right?! Your beginning location for our walk with you is amazing, and if I were there, I know I'd be snapping so many pictures before moving on. Wow, what a view. Thanks for your lovely blooms always a delight and pleasing to see. Your winters are even better than our spring this year. Take good care and have a tremendously joyful week ahead.
ReplyDelete21 Wits: Blogger decided your comment was spam. Which proves how wrong Blogger can be - and often is at the moment. I did take a lot of photos, but I always do. Enjoy your holiday weekend.
DeleteSuch a beautiful place to walk through! sigh... I would love to join you. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to share the bounty with us. :)
ReplyDeleteHugs to you and scritches to my spikey friend.
River Fairchild: It is a very beautiful place. And packed with birds, and often kangaroos as well. I love it there, and we don't get there often enough. We WILL go back in Spring though because the displays are spectacular. Captain Spikey is agreeable this morning and accepts your scritch. As I do (and reciprocate) your hugs.
DeleteHere's to wish you lots of lovely little moments to come.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed "our" walk.
Sean Jeating: Thank you. I am sure that there will be lots of lovely little moments. It is nearly dawn as I type...
DeleteThe corymbia is interesting. It comes in lots of different colors and sizes.
ReplyDeleteMike: It is interesting and that hybrid made a spectacular display. The bees were loving it too.
DeleteI love the colours, the poster looking like a stamp, the banksias for their great colours, the plants for looking like a plant-ey cobweb... in short everything you put here for my eyes to feast upon!
ReplyDeleteThe bubbles look frozen, a t least they look pretty also when not quite frozen, so a beautiful failure ;)
Charlotte (MotherOwl): The Botanic Gardens are a beautiful place. That metal banskia does look like a stamp - which I hadn't noticed until your comment. Thank you. The bubbles very nearly froze but it was not quite cold enough and too windy. Some other day. I hope.
DeleteOn the blogger irritation front, at the moment I cannot send feedback. Which is one way of ignoring the problems I suppose.
Oy - too smart, Blogger! "No, we don't get any complaints - why?"
DeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): Sneaky beasts. There were more unSpam comments this afternoon and again my feedback 'could not be sent'.
DeleteIf this is what winter looks and feels like in your world, I want to move there! My winters have snow drifts, temps far below 0 F (-17.8 C), and lasts for months. If I had ferns and lovely flowers, I would gladly enjoy winter. So glad you took me along on this magical walk, dear. I can see why you wouldn't dislike the meeting so much after that amazing walk you got to take.
ReplyDeleteBleubeard and Elizabeth: Winter is my city is fairly cold by Australian standards but totally wimpy on a world basis. We do always have colour and something in bloom. And yes, the walk definitely improved the meeting. A lot.
DeleteYour photos are beautiful, as always! It was a clever strategy for Lifeline to bribe you with a visit to the botanical gardens. I feel the same as you about meetings; but a garden tour would definitely soften the blow. :-)
ReplyDeleteDiane Henders: Lifeline is clever like that. They have bribed us with a visit to the zoo as well. And I accepted that bribe as well.
DeleteWell, I enjoyed the walk...and am now sitting here enjoying a big mug of hot coffee made on milk...and then I'm off to read the paper, and attack a couple of puzzles, as well.
ReplyDeleteMay the week ahead treat you kindly, too, EC. Take good care...cuddles to Jazz :)
Lee: Thank you. Jazz went out briefly this morning, said sod that for a game of soldiers and is currently curled up on the bed. Enjoy your coffee, the papers and the puzzles.
DeleteThanks for the lovely walk. All the flora look so exotic to me. It just blows my mind at the varieties of vegetation and flora in your world, not to mention the fauna.
ReplyDeleteAre the Botanical Gardens opened to the public every day and is it pricy to visit? I think that I would love, love, love to visit the gardens in all the different seasons. It must be spectacular. It must be very costly to maintain, I can't even imagine.
Thanks for your valiant effort to freeze bubbles for us. I must try it this winter. Our winters are very cold. It makes me shiver just thinking of it. Good luck on your next try.
Have a happy week.
Hugs,
Julia
Julia: The gardens are open every day and are free to enter. The parking isn't free though. They are a wonderful place to visit. My father worked nearby and often used to go there for lunch. I hope you can freeze bubbles this winter - I suspect your weather is better suited to it than ours.
DeleteThat's a very nice modern bridge.
ReplyDeleteWhat a massive grass tree. I've never seen such a large one.
The banksias look very fresh.
Sister and Bone Doctor were in your city last week. Sister described the nights as freezing, below zero, and the days as sunny and crisp. I wondered if there will be frozen bubbles come Sunday.
Andrew: Sister and Bone Doctor were lucky. Our nights are below freezing but we have had some grey days too - like today. The forecast doesn't look good for freezing bubbles this week, but I can hope. That IS a big grass tree isn't it, and appears to be thriving.
DeleteThank you for the beautiful walk, Wishing you a wonderful week!
ReplyDeletee: Thank you. And to you and Lukas.
DeleteSo pleasant! Thanks for the sweet wish. You know I'm always wishing you the same!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: The gardens are very pleasant indeed, and I hope that all my blogging friends are well and happy.
DeleteLovely! It was definitely worth sitting through the meeting to be able to walk through such scenery. The banksias are beautiful, and so is the flowering gum - great colour. I love the photo of the duck(?) sitting on the ground...
ReplyDeleteWe had several fairly hard frosts last month, but so far in July the mornings have been foggy rather than frosty. At least we are getting reasonable days.
I hope you get a chance to freeze some bubbles before spring arrives! Have an enjoyable and interesting week, EC.
Alexia: We have had quite a lot of fog as well - and rather more grey days than usual. That is a pacific wood duck and it appeared totally happy on the ground - though it was on its own. There are often ducks in that part of the gardens. I hope I can freeze bubbles too. Fingers crossed.
DeleteI too hope all our disappointments this week (and always) are little ones. I was so happy to see that you are almost ready to create bubbles, and all the wonderful flowers made me smile at their incredible variety. You are a delightful virtual friend.
ReplyDeleteDJan: The Botanic Gardens are a wonderful place to go to for variety. The bird life there is also often exceptional.
DeleteWell you got one frozen bubble! We're still not in summer type weather here, for some reason. Clouds, overcast, upper 60's to low 70's. Not a normal summer. Where's our sun? But you are getting the usual winter weather so far, right? Sometimes I think if its a cold summer here, someone in the other half, who is supposed to be having winter, must be getting our sun.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: Our winter has been pretty normal so far. A bit greyer than usual which makes it seem colder. It isn't though. I do hope you get your sun.
DeleteThe botanical gardens are worth several visits. Love the premature frozen bubble.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: The gardens are worth lots of visits and each time I/we go we chastise ourselves for leaving it for so long. I hope that bubble is followed by many more.
DeleteWhat a wonderful variety of plants you have there. They are so unusual compared to our native plants. Lifeline is smart to sweeten the accreditation meeting and keep volunteers happy. I hope you get frozen bubbles soon, but in the meantime the photo of the regular kind made me smile. Thank you for another delightful post, dear friend.
ReplyDeletejenny_o: Lifeline was smart to bribe us - and I hope that the hardworking staff also enjoyed it. They put in some incredible hours. There are frequently night and weekend events they have to attend. The gardens are lovely. Fingers and toes crossed on the bubble front. It isn't cold enough for them today (though it isn't precisely pleasant) and it is windy too. Quite windy.
DeleteBanksias are always a delight to see anywhere. My that's a mighty frost there..we also had a beauty this morning.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: We haven't had a frost since that morning - despite my wishes.
DeleteA tree house! Is it made for climbing into to see the views? I love the bridge in the first picture. From many past Tupperware parties where we had to introduce ourselves by naming a flower with our initial, I will never forget everlastings. The bubbles are lovely even without being frozen. Is that a For Sale sign I see? I hope you get nice neighbours there.
ReplyDeleteRiver: You can indeed climb into that treehouse and I was told (but didn't have the time to look) that from a different angle you can also just walk into it, so that wheelchairs/pram users can also see the views. It is a For Sale sign. I haven't seen either of the elderly owners in a while and hope they are ok.
DeleteThere's nothing better than a perfect bribe!! Lovely images.
ReplyDeleteBill: It was the perfect bribe for me. Others were not convinced. Their loss.
DeleteStunning post, lovely flowers and love the photos
ReplyDeleteaussie aNNie: Thank you.
DeleteHI EC - Well it sounds like Lifeline's sweetener was a wonderful time ... that part of the National Botanic Gardens looks to be stunning - I've always loved Banksia, after encountering Rosa Banksia in South Africa, then my aunt and uncle had one growing here ... happy memories. While the 'nut with peepholes' as the Banksia seedpod is described ... gosh what a delightful post to see ... with all the plants etc ...
ReplyDeleteThen the tree house - fun for some ... with great views I expect ... the Dwarf Orange - certainly is a stunning orange! While the 'rusty' banksia etching is delightful to see -
Cheers and have a good week, perhaps with frozen bubbles ... all the best - Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: It was a most excellent bribe/sweetener. I love Banksia too - at any age.
DeleteIf we had more time I would have investigated that tree house further. My climbing days are done, but I would have loved to see the views.
I hope your week is happy and healthy.
What a lovely place to have a meeting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers in your photographs.
That tree house looks amazing ...
Your cooler days are certainly coming.
Have a good week.
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: It was an inspired place to hold a meeting and the facilities were good. Our winter is here. We will just get to double digit temperatures this week.
DeleteA lovely walk, thank you!
ReplyDeleteJ Cosmo Newbery: It was my pleasure.
DeleteOn my first visit to Australia, I stayed at a B&B called Last Stop Ambledown Brook in Hall, NSW, just outside the ACT, but went into Canberra frequently, and my absolute favourite place was the Australian National Botanic Gardens. One of my great memories is of watching a group of White-winged Choughs at close range. They were so accustomed to people that they went about their business without paying attention to me. I still have my notes somewhere, and had it not been before the days of digital photography I would have had a hundred pictures! Kiss the ground for me next time you go, Sue!
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: I had to rescue you (and several other people) from spam this morning. The bird life in the botanic gardens is spectacular. Will I make you envious if I tell you that we get the white-winged choughs in our garden. And delight in them.
DeleteMe ha gustado tu selección de plantas . Es impresionante el verde intenso de la fotografía 23.
ReplyDeleteFeliz domingo.
VENTANA DE FOTO: Thank you. Many of our native plants have grey green foliage but green comes in so many shades. And I love them.
DeleteThat was a lovely walk, thank you. I heard about the frosty morning in Canberra and was wondering whether it was cold enough for your bubbles. Shivers!
ReplyDeleteKim: Not quite cold enough - though I might have had more success if there hadn't been a breeze. The forecast doesn't look good this week for freezing bubbles either.
DeleteThis was a very pleasant walk. : )
ReplyDeleteCaterina: How blogger decided you were spam I know not. I am glad that you enjoyed walking with me.
DeleteThese are so beautiful! I enjoyed that.
ReplyDelete(ツ) from Jenn Jilks , ON, Canada!
Jenn Jilks: The Botanic Gardens are beautiful all year round. There will be more posts from this place later.
DeleteDear EC
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your walk - it was lovely to see all the beautiful colours and forms. Fingers crossed for a frost bubble or two...
Have a good week
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: I am glad that you enjoyed my walk. Definitely fingers crossed on the freezing bubbles front.
DeleteThose gardens are lovely. It is strange to see frost in your photos, EC. I hope you have better bubble success later this winter.
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: By this time of year I expect more and heavier frosts than this one. No frost today - we are hovering around 7C at the moment.
DeleteWalking with you is the best thing anyone can do. You see so many beautiful things. Thank you, Child. <3
ReplyDeleteneena maiya (guyana gyal): The world is packed with beautiful things - for which I am very grateful.
DeleteGracias por compartir tu paseo por este hermoso jardín botánico, donde la mayoría de plantas que nos muestras, son preciosas y desconocidas por mi.
ReplyDeleteHe visto en las noticias de que estáis sufriendo seria inundaciones por un ciclón tropical; espero y deseo de que todo se quede en un susto, que no vaya a más y que no haya víctimas que es lo más importante.
Un abrazo, amiga, y mi solidaridad con los perjudicados.
Manuel: Thank you. The flooding is not here, but in the next state. Already lives and properties have been lost and the floods have not peaked yet. They have been hit hard by floods this year and my heart goes out to them. Thank you for your concerns.
DeleteI wish I had the mobility you have. Excellent walk in the garden! Blessings! Gigi hawaii
ReplyDeletegigi-hawaii: Lots of these gardens are accessible in a wheelchair - which is lovely. I struggle with stairs and the guide took me on an alternative route to the rest of the group - for which I thanked her.
DeleteThirty degrees is cold! Nice gardens. Tree house looks cool.
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: I will climb (or walk depending on my mobility that day) into that treehouse on my next visit. We will (I hope) get colder yet. The rest of this household does not agree with me.
DeleteThanks for taking us on this lovely walk and the unusual plants. I love the everlasting daisies and good go on the ice bubble. I am happy they were so considerate of your mobility issues.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: The guide's consideration meant that I could go on the walk. I was very thankful for that, because I enjoyed it thoroughly. Come spring when we will go back there will be other coloured everlasting daisies out.
DeleteIt's all so beautiful, and exotic to my eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt would be lovely if you got to freeze bubbles soon. We almost never have a morning quite cold enough, i have tried.
My selections are over here.
messymimi: I loved your selections, and am definitely hoping for frozen bubbles. It does need to be both chilly and still.
DeleteAll my troubles are no longer little ones, not even teenagers, they are fully adult (My dad's joke)
ReplyDeleteThe Blog Fodder: That is a better Dad's joke than many of them. Sadly I know that you have some very real and decidedly adult sized problems at the moment. If world wide wishing could change things they would be gone.
DeleteThank you for taking us on such a delightful walk. Aside from all these fabulous photos, it will be lovely to see your frozen bubbles back :)
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you. Sadly frozen bubbles are not guaranteed - but I am hoping.
Deleteif administrative things must be done, it's good that there was an enjoyable outing involved!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks really good and i do like the bridge others commented on.
kylie: The walk through the gardens certainly sweetened the outing for me. That bridge is lovely isn't it - and I love standing on it looking down at the profusion of ferns too.
DeleteThe picture of the bridge looks like it's straight out of some fantasy fiction. These are wonderful! Thank you for sharing this :)
ReplyDeleteDamyanti Biswas: That bridge is a wonderful entry into the gardens isn't it?
DeleteAbsolutely! it looks enchanting :)
DeleteDamyanti Biswas: And the rest of the gardens live up to that promise. Wait until I take you back with me in our Spring.
DeleteI've never tried freezing bubbles - it's certainly cold enough here in winter.
ReplyDelete:o)
Cheers
PM
Plastic Mancunian: It needs at least a minus 5 or six morning with no wind to be successful. Most winters we achieve that, and I have hopes for this one too.
DeleteWhat a beautiful stroll! That treehouse looks very familiar, from a movie I saw once!
ReplyDeleteRain: Thank you. How interesting that the tree house is familiar to you. I wonder whether the designers had seen the same movie?
DeleteWhat a beautiful and delightful place. I'm not a fan of meetings either, but it vertainly was sweetened by this location. I wish I knew only half of those plants. They look so exotic to me. What a display of color in winter.
ReplyDeleteCarola Bartz: Definitely sweetened by the location. The gardens are always packed with colour, texture and for me, fascination.
DeleteYour Sunday Selections always make me wish I could wander around Australia.
ReplyDeleteGranny Annie: Thank you. That is a lovely thing to say.
DeleteWhoaaaaa~ Hold up! The thirteenth picture. Is that a jackfruit?
ReplyDeleteH.R. Bennett: Some parts of Australia can grow jackfruit. Not here. It is too cold for them. It is yet another banksia - yet to open completely.
DeleteWow, there's so much to see there. Loved the pictures.
ReplyDeleteMary Kirkland: Thank you. I only saw a tiny fraction of the gardens this visit.
DeleteThank you for taking me along on your walks. They are filled with treasures!
ReplyDeleteNilanjana Bose: It is my pleasure to share them with you.
DeleteI don't like meetings either, Sue. I had way too many in my life. I thought I'd remain a union leader during retirement. Terry begged me not to, and I'm so glad I listened to him.
ReplyDeleteI do love botanical gardens, so I enjoyed your pictures of your walk through parts of yours. I wish I had known you could freeze bubbles. I would so have done that with my students. Have a great rest of the week!
Fundy Blue: Someone must like meetings - there are so many of them, but I don't know who.
DeleteFrozen bubbles is a complete treat. I hope I can show you some later in our winter. This child loves them.
Lovely photos. I enjoyed the walk, I hope you're having a great new week.
ReplyDeleteRasmaSandra: Thank you - you too.
DeleteLove the tour of the botanical gardens!! I'm not a meeting fan either but having that tour would have helped!
ReplyDeleteJemi Fraser: It did help and I don't know that I would have gone to the gardens at this time of year without the meeting. I am counting it as a win.
DeleteYay! I know you love your frost bubbles!! So fun to see you doing them again this season. It's wonderful that there were so many flowers still blooming. And that's one heck of a tree house!
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: I do love freezing bubbles but it hasn't been cold enough here yet. Nearly but not quite.
DeleteThere were no disappointments at the Botanic Gardens though.
Es hermoso caminar por tus jardines, y esas plantas, sus colores... Bello!
ReplyDeleteSofia Lelekka: Thank you. Our National Botanic Gardens make my heart sing.
Delete