Often I see things I take a photo of, just because I liked it. So I'd love to show you a few of those things now.
The best, unfiltered sunset I've seen recently. I'm not sure if these were natural clouds or the results of aeroplanes, but it looks very pretty, don't you think?
We have quite a few of these bulbs around, and I don't have a clue what they are called. They flower often, and with great gusto! We are forever pulling random shoots from far away, they must travel underground very well! The landscaper planted them when we had our back garden done, and they give us no trouble at all.
These poor darlings are struggling in the heat, though. Our summer days are well over 40 deg c, and they seem to fall over and wilt with the heat, though I make sure they have plenty of water. They came good the next cooler day, but I do feel sorry for them.
No doubt you've heard of the drought in Australia, and the bushfires. Australia seems to be collectively holding her breath at the moment, hoping we can all survive through to the next rain. But it's only half way through summer and it's just not looking like we are going to get that rain any time soon.
A side effect of the drought, plus years of non efficient tilling in wheat paddocks, means that every time there is a spring/summer wind (which is *all* the time at present), we have massive dust storms. These aren't my photos, they are ones that are being posted all over facebook and instagram every time there is a storm. Not sure who has time to take photos while you're in the middle of that dust but there you go.
The thing is, the wind whips up on what began as a lovely day, so if you're unlucky enough to be in the middle of it, you can't stop driving because someone may well run up your backside. And you can't drive too slow, because most of these storms are out on the highways where we are speed limited to 100 kilometres, and if you're driving 40 kilometres and someone behind you is driving 100 kilometres - well, you know what happens then. Visibility is very low, and some people still drive recklessly.
The drought is exhausting. And I'm not a farmer, or a grower - not one who depends on rain to feed my family. It must be awful for them.
We all chip in, there are all sorts of benefits and fundraising attempts happening but they are a bandaid measure. We just need rain. Rain rain rain.
But there are always things to make you smile. My favourite rose always cheers me up. This particular one is growing where I pick up eldest (teenage) daughter, and when I get out and photograph it in front of all her (teenage) companions - can you imagine the reaction I get when she gets into the car?
The photos are worth her ire though.
And look! What we found in our front garden! It's not a clear photo, but it's a friendly koala visitor who visited us for a few days and then moved on. There are loads of koalas around, but they live a quiet life and we rarely see them, so when they do show themselves it's quite the novelty. Unlike the kangaroo, who we see all the time, and sometimes (often) run into with our cars. Obviously not on purpose, but kangaroos are reckless and can be quite happily eating on the side of the road when your car spooks them, and rather than bounce one way into the distance and safety, they bounce the other way and BOOM. You've hit a kangaroo. Yes, it's as traumatic as you would imagine.
Our koala friend is right in middle of that gum tree, if you look very closely.
And just to show you that mother nature is really a finicky woman, in the midst of summer dust storms, we have hail. Again, not my photos but this all happened in about the first week of summer. When all the fruit is starting to grow and as a consequence, they are talking millions of dollars of losses.
Mother Nature is indeed a fickle beast.
So that's my photo dump for the week. Hope you enjoyed it!
Happy quilting!
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