AND THE ANSWER IS….

Plumeria  (aka Frangipani ) 

The picture I posted last week was of the buds. And while these things are ridiculously easy to grow, (heck! I had one in a pot in London!) I have been frustrated at every turn in this garden.Mainly damage from stonking great palms dropping fronds onto the flower stems, but also hungry bugs (not sure what as I never saw the beasties) and general malaise when we don’t get good rain.

Ah, but this year I have flowers coming through on this pink one and two more which I believe will be a lovely apricot shade.And one might even be cream. I shan’t break into the happy dance just yet…

Here is something else that makes me smile…Cassia fistula The tree needs serious pruning (again!), but we’ll wait til the flowers have finished.

 

 

 

And a yellow Heliconia.This is next door and I much prefer it to the harsh orange ones that keep reappearing in my yard!

 

 

And, because I can, an old picture of long-ago cats.The ginger one and the tabby were sworn enemies…except on a cold night when they agreed to suspend hostilities and share the fireside sofa! The Siamese Fighting Fish  Cat didn’t give a damn, one way or the other!

And here’s something else that pleases me.Very much! Geiger, despite training, deterrants,cussing has always been a shredder.Of shoes and furniture, mostly.When they were itty bitty kitties I got them a scratching post.Nope, Geiger still went for shoes and sofas.But last week I bought a fancy-dancy scratcher made of compressed corrugated cardboard (yeah, the makers know a sucker when they see one!).It came with a small sachet of cat nip, to encourage  the cats to use it. Well, guess what? Geiger LOVES it.I am almost allowing myself to dream of  new furniture. :-)

 

I’M BACK!

Oops! I inadvertantly typed an L in there. I am not black. I am varying shades of pink, with a light spotting of paint-chart-mocha.

Waddyamean, you didn’t even miss me?

Oh well, let’s not quibble.Here’s little mystery pic for you.

You know how it works – leave your answer in the comments. Sorry, no prizes.It’s been a taxing time Chez Dinahmow!

I have been and, indeed, am still a trifle busy.Busy lugging hoses around gardens. Up here, we are still waiting for the wet season.Yesterday, Brisbane was hit with the worst storm in (“they” say) a decade.Rather a lot of zeros and commas in the damages bill.

And I’m , a-hem, helping my friend’s class to make a puppet for their carols night. A rather large carried-on-sticks puppet.Of a brolga. Oh dear! I seem to have done my usual thing and jumped in without actually considering the depth. So if I dash off leaving you with a short post you will understand that I need to get another layer on the armature…

The grocer had some marked-down Phalaenopsis on a stand.Couldn’t resist, could I!  They’re indoors for the moment, as a welcome-home for The Man, due back tonight.Tomorrow, the orchids will be moved to the ferny corner, with their kin.

That’s not the picture I intended, but the sharper focused one shows too much clutter and I wouldn’t want you to think I was an untidy slob!

On a sad note…most of you know that I have been to New York twice to be a cat sitter to a most remarkable cat, Don Estorbo de la Bodega Dominicana. A cat of great charm and huge personality, he left all of us who loved him with some wonderful memories. And a vastly enriched vocabulary of bastard Spanish. Bless you, Storbie.

 

SERVES ME RIGHT FOR BEING ABSENT SO LONG!

Sometimes, life throws curve balls.Sometimes laziness overtakes me. Ain’t sayin’ which…

But I was jogged by my friend, the Banished One so I opened the neglected blog and found the WordPressians had staged a coup.I suppose I’ll figure things out  in my usual stumbling way…

Here’s something to look at while I have a stumble…

It’s a Blue Tiger Tirumala hamata. Not so many of them in the cooler weather, but they are here in their thousands throughout summer.

I was sorting through a box of what cannot be labelled more kindly than “stuff” and came across something that made me think of a summer day, years ago.

I could hear children laughing and shouting as they played in the garden. Glancing through the window I could see one of the boys running around, one hand flapping at his trouser seat. The others were collapsed in giggling fits. Then the Resident Boy burst in, looking for a cold drink. I said they seemed to be having fun. “Yeah.Jason’s doing hippo farts.It’s brilliant!” And he raced out , taking the water bottles.

Hippo farts? I blame David Attenborough.

Geiger had a trip to Dr.Vet last week. A minor blip. A quick jab sorted it.Not that she thinks a needle in the nether end is minor! But the good thing is that the test that confirmed this infection also returned a negative glucose result. “Told you I wasn’t diabolic!”

And the new banner? That one, up there /\…it’s a native small tree, related to macadamia.Want to see more?

Buckinghamia celissima  Commonly called Ivory Curl. It’s growing down near the beach; no room in this garden for it! Mind you, I’ve been wielding the big loppers to great effect…hmm, I wonder.

Not much of a post, but perhaps my mojo will return now that I’ve made some effort.