Sunday Selections #412

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 was complaining/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.

Sunday Selections #256

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.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week?  Not really.  A few random shots.

Our 'over decorated fridge'.

And some pictures of the fruit salad which is currently taking up a LOT of room inside it.  Fruit salad is a Christmas tradition for me  There are over twenty types of fruit in it including pineapple, mango, passion fruit, pawpaw, cherries, lychees, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwifruit, green grapes, red grapes, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, black currants...  Forget the turkey.  Himself has that, but for the next little while I am virtually living on my fruit salad.

And some more from the garden.
I pruned the hibiscus viciously a while ago, and it seems to have forgiven me.

More coloured calla lilies.

And a scented oriental lily.  I love them, but know that they are overpowering to more sensitive noses.  There are scents which give me difficulty, but fortunately they are almost all artificial.

As I type this on Boxing Day we are having some wonderful life giving gentle rain.  Even better, I hear it is raining in Victoria on the areas savaged by bushfires yesterday.  My heart goes out to eveyone (human or animal) who lost their homes.