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Showing posts with label seasons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seasons. Show all posts

Monday, February 29, 2016

The first day of Autumn...

In Australia the seasons change on the first day of the first month in each season, so March 1 is the start of Autumn or Fall. In most parts of the country, we've had some very hot summer days.
This is one way that Eduardo copes with the heat...

Lying on his back, catching the afternoon breezes!

And here in Brisbane there are not a lot of trees that start to lose their leaves as Summer turns into Autumn...but those crepe myrtles sure do! These trees at the side of our property have been shedding leaves for a few weeks now...
It's a daily job to sweep up the leaves from the veranda. 
But just because Autumn has arrived, the hot temps won't ease...the weather won't start to cool for a few months yet. But that's life in the sub tropics. 
Regular readers would know of my 'battles' with the bush turkeys, to grow veggies and herbs...these birds dig up anything I plant in Spring and early to mid summer. So Autumn is the time I plant up a crop, hoping to grow and harvest before the turkeys come back on their 'seek and destroy' missions.

The quarry tile in the foreground isn't for throwing at any errant turkeys, it helps hold down the big umbrella that I sometimes put over the young plants in the middle of the day to stop them 'frying' in the hot sun. These plants are well established now and are fine with the sun. So I'm hopeful of being able to pick some homegrown tomatoes, eggplants and herbs, just like I used to before the bush turkeys took a liking to our backyard. :-)


 

Saturday, July 18, 2015

It's been a long Summer and Autumn...

The cold weather has only just arrived here in SE Queensland in the last week or so. Until then, the weather was quite warm and the area received a few showers of rain which is not really usual for here at this time of year. Consequently the plants in our garden were confused into thinking it was Spring already...that Winter just didn't happen...
The crepe myrtles finally lost their leaves months after Autumn came...


Lots of flowering shrubs at the moment in the garden...

The bromeliads were not to be outdone either...
Or the succulents...this one grew an extremely tall flower spike which reached through and above the hedge!
 And splashes of colour in the front yard...



The unexpected rain has meant that the self sown passionfruit has had a bumper crop with yet more fruit still to ripen...,
Some of the plants that we 'minded' for our friends have self sown too, like this strappy one...
But rain and warm weather are excellent for the weeds of the plant world too. This is just one wheelbarrow load of weeds that I pulled out of the forlorn, neglected vegie gardens...
Lots more weeding still to do; those pesky weeds have been coming up everywhere! 

Monday, May 25, 2015

It's getting cooler...at last!

Officially Autumn began on March 1, but the hot weather has stubbornly stayed with us here in SE Queensland. We've had a few cold nights and mornings giving us hope that the cooler weather was on its way...but then that hot weather would be back. But the last week or so, we've had milder weather so maybe Winter isn't too far off? (Officially the season changes on June 1)
So is it time to get out my battered, heavy based pot? It's French and I bought it in the 1970s at a David Jones' sale. This pot gets quite a workout in the cooler months...casseroles and soups are the go then. 

Is it time for lunches that consist of a big cup filled with homemade soup served with some crusty bread?
My soup cup is the purple one on the left...of course!

I decided yesterday that it's time to change the mini quilt on the stand, to the Winter quilt made for me by Anthea of Hibiscus Stitches...( featuring Michelle's lovely snowman design)

 
And in the last week, I've started snuggling under a very special gift I got last Christmas...
Yes, a quilt that was made especially for me by DsD1, who started quilting just over 4 years when she went to live and work in Wandoan. When I was unwrapping my gift last Christmas, at first I thought that DsD1 had bought me some fabric, but then as I continued to unwrap the parcel, I saw that it was a quilt...it was the most wonderful surprise!!!

The winters here are very mild, so my big coat and other really warm clothes usually only get worn if we go away on holidays to places that have a 'proper' winter! Lol.