The Great American Snowman Contest

A little while ago Spectra of Spectrum Woman proposed a Great American Snowman Contest to be run over the next 100 days.

I felt the need to whinge  point out that she was being both geographically and climatically prejudiced.  She was very reasonable and extended the contest to anyone who wanted to play, using whatever materials were available which left me with nothing to complain about.

It appears that cheating is welcome and indeed almost mandatory, so without further ado I give you:

The Great Australian Snow Slut Woman.

This snow goddess was constructed while I was at school which is surely within the last 100 days years.

Corellas Grooming

Yesterday was the smaller portion's birthday.  It was quiet, low key and much enjoyed by the man of the moment.  Towards dusk, with a glass of wine in hand we looked out the window and were rewarded with this.

Isn't it lovely?  We stood watching and both of us were wearing big smiles.  It was really lucky that the smaller portion remembered the camera.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have been featuring the birds who visit us for a while now.  This week I have chosen Sulphur Crested Cockatoos to star.  And stars they are.  People will tell you that they are noisy and destructive.  Both of these things are true but I think they also have a lot of charm.  They visit us each day, sometimes in flocks of up to fifty birds, and they never fail to make me smile.  Seeing their charm is by no means universal though.  One of our neighbours once ran across our front lawn bashing on a metal garbage bin.  He scared them away for about ten minutes.  If that.

Garden Glory

A little while ago I said that this year we looked like having a bumper crop of liliums.  I was right.

Many of them are out now, and I think they are amazing.  Some of the roses are lovely too.

It was stinking hot here yesterday so I lurked inside until I took these last shots just on and just after sunset last night.  They almost glow in the dark. 

These last two shots I took early this morning.  And they still almost glow.

T

And the liliums in the bed by the drive are now over seven feet tall and are still tightly in bud.  Watch this space.

Spider bite

As I was washing my hair this morning I noticed something extraneous in my hair.  Assuming it was something in the twiggy line I picked up in the garden yesterday I reached up to pull it out.  And it bit me!! When I removed my hand attached to my thumb was a nasty vicious black spider.  Attached so well it took some vigorous shaking to dislodge it.

I assume that since I am still standing and no wobblier than usual it was not one of our 'do you want extra venom with that' beasties.  Not a good start to the day though.

And Jazz just tried to jump up on the computer table and missed.  Now my knee is bleeding.  The way this day looks is starting to worry me.

Sunday Selections

Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files. 

Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.

I have been featuring the birds who visit us for a while now.  This week the birds I am putting up are galahs.  They are another bird with heaps of character and have a 'tough boy swagger' that always makes me smile.  In a comment on my last post Kath asked 'Is there such a thing as a whingeing wildlife bird?'.  Well yes, fledgling galahs are whinging masters.

A miserable bird on a miserable day.

The lighter coloured bird on the right is a fledgling - caught with its whinging mouth shut - which is a miracle.

This White Galah is an abberration, which shouldn't exist.  We saw it quite often a few years ago, but have not seen it in a while now.

 I have never seen a wetter bird.  Perhaps it was birds like this one, too silly to shelter from the rain, which gave rise to the phrase 'you stupid galah'.

Not a bird post this time

Lately I seem to have been posting pictures of birds or whinging.  So I decided a change was in order.

This spring and early summer have been wetter than usual.  It is also warming up.  Both my garden and my MS thrive in warm and humid conditions.  I do not.  I do however love my garden and the beauty in it.  So a trade-off.

We have planted many, many liliums - mostly the heavily scented ones which cause River and others a lot of grief.  There are more coming into bloom each day.  And some of their stems are over six feet tall, with up to fifteen blooms to a stem.  I have never seen them grow to that size before.

So is the increased pain and fatigue and decreased mobility/flexibility worth it?  Hell yes.