MY DAY AT THE ZOO.

And I’ll own up right now…this is copied from my friend’s blog as I am a busy beaver as we have company coming to stay for a few days.

Besides, Sue had many, many more photos than I managed that day!

Here are a couple of pictures from my garden…the Dove orchid (Dendrobium crumenatum)does nothing for months on end, then it rains and overnight we have this…

 

Black Bean* (Castanospermum australe) seeds I brought back from Canberra.

One day, they will be 8m (25 feet) tall like this…

*Please note, these are NOT the black beans of your kitchen.They are poisonous. Indigenous peoples  did use them as a kind of flour, but only after extensive and elaborate treatment.

 

Now, for some zooperlative  shots from our zoo trip, please go here: https://myjustsostory.blogspot.com/2018/11/sunday-selections-405.html

 

I’ll be back when the dust settles…

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KAMBERA…

…or Canberra.  Kambera is a word meaning “meeting place” in one of the native languages and may have led to Australia’s capital being named Canberra. But there is no hard and fast evidence for this, which I find rather sad. I can understand names being muddled in the early days of colonisation [in any country], when even English spellings were barely standardised. But Canberra only became the official name in 1913! A tip of the hat would have been nice…

But I don’t really want to tread that path, fraught as it always is.

I want to tell you a little about my recent visit to the Capital.

Now, some of you know that I met and was royally hosted by someone whose blog I’ve followed for several years. Yes! Another blog-meet. And from the airport pick-up we both felt like old friends.

We share so many interests I wonder sometimes if we are not,somehow, kin.

So, my first time in ACT and my head was swinging from window to window as we drove out. Most of the wattle (Acacia sp) was past its bloom, but I still saw enough for “wattle fix.” I can imagine what it must be like late winter/early spring. Here’s a link to just one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_baileyana.

Jazz, the resident cat, must have known a stranger was coming – he hid in a closet! Eventually, he decided I was not a Major Threat and even allowed me to play with his ribbon …

There were birds! Oh yes! Regulars at the feeders kept us highly entertained. Currawongs, magpies, pigeons, king parrots and even bearded ravens. Most of my photos still need editing so you might have to wait a while.Here’s one of the male Kings (Alisterus) being hand-fed.

And then there were  gardens. My kind of gardens. I’m not going to overwhelm you with photos, promise! But just look at this wisteria! And that’s only SOME of it! 

 

Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) is an old favourite of mine.It loves cold winters or I’d probably go a bit  mad with it here!

 

A pure white Aquilegia in Sue’s garden

 

Flowering quince  Chaenomoles japonica  Another one that likes a colder climate.

 

I will share more another day, but here’s another wattle/Acacia. Just because. No, I don’t know which one!

And something I loved…just around the corner someone has set up a street library, with a notice inviting people to help themselves to a book and to add books to the shelf if they wish to. Thoughtfully draped in plastic sheeting to keep books dry and topped with this splendid fellow…

Next time, I’ll take you to the zoo!

TEN OF MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS

For those not decrepit enough to know…I mean vinyl records.

Not sure who started this;Scarlet, perhaps? Whatever…here we go.e

I don’t have release dates for all, but you can probably find them on Youtube.

Back in the 50s I was keen on rock n roll  and short on pocket money…many of my favourites were 78 rpm singles. Like Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lot o’ Shakin’ ”

And we had a cabinet stuffed with my parents’ show tunes and classics. Yes, I played them, too, but here, for your delectation, are MY TEN. In no special order.

Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out” was released in 1959, I think, and I might have got that as a present.I wanted it because “Take Five” was on it.

Frank Sinatra put out  “This is Sinatra” in the mid 50s and I bought it about 1960.

Scott Engel, still known as Walker in the mid 60s, released “Scott Walker” his classic(I think) solo album, featuring Jaq Brel  songs, among others. Over the years he has   changed his style, but still has the voice.

The soundtrack of “Pal Joey” was something I taped (Frank Sinatra, see!) on reel-to-reel and then, one day about 30 years ago, I was mooching in a junk shop and saw the record. For about the price of  2 cups of coffee it came home with me.

Like Sinatra, Cole Porter was a big part of my younger years and Porter albums and those of Noel Coward shuffled back and forth between my parents’ collection and mine.

I’ll move closer to “modern” music now. Anyone else like The Eagles? Today, we have CDs, but I did have one vinyl disc – the “Witchy Woman” LP.

Bob Dylan. Oh yeah. The Man still has “Blood on the Tracks”  and I think we doubled-up on the 1967 “Greatest Hits.”

I’ll leave you with one more…”American Flyer.” Only around for a couple of years, but I have a nostalgic attachment to it.

So…you might be wondering why there is no Presley in my list? I couldn’t stand him! If he’d stayed Down South and stuck to blues  I might have.

I had a few Buddy Holly singles; good dance tunes in the days when shoulder throws were “a thing.” Never bought an album though.

I should have mentioned “Carmen” as it was my favourite opera. No idea whose recording we had at home!

OK, kiddies, you can wake up now. The rest of you,totter off to your armchairs for a nap…I’m going to!

 

WOULD I CHEAT?

No, but I am teasing you. Just a little.

I did set out to write a post, but am having  some problems with my computer. So, instead of regaling you with the next episode of my recent trip, which included a visit to Canberra’s beautifully laid out zoo, I will leave you with a link to the story  of Solo and Zama. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/his-name-is-solo-but-canberras-new-cheetah-cub-has-an-unusual-playmate-20180328-h0y2qp.html

I hope to be back on-line again in a couple of days…

Oh, alright, here’s  photo of my friend feeding a male King parrot

BACK HOME AGAIN

Yes, I have been travelling again. And I’ll tell you about some of my travels, beginning with the new header. This is a view, looking west along Asling’s Beach in Eden, NSW.

But before I got to Eden (oh, go and look at a map…) I spent a couple of days in Brisbane with an old friend …

We were neighbours when The Man and I rented  the house next door to her. She was a keen gardener and our many trips to garden centres, garden parties and gardening discussions probably saved my sanity. There were other things…ginger beer, bread-making various kitchen experiments come to mind

Brisbane seems hell-bent on becoming like Los Angeles…traffic is appalling, it’s often smoggy and buildings are getting taller.

But there is a good bus service operating from  (relatively) close to where my friend now lives. So we parked the car, hopped on a bus and went to Brisbane City Centre. First stop was a concert, put on by the Council for old folk. I think they banked on the fact that most old people are deaf! The sound levels were waaay off the scale and the featured singer screeched. We left after a couple of “songs” and wandered off in the direction of Southbank.

And half way down a main street, H. showed me a Thunbergia mysorensis – alongside some delphiniums, which I thought surprising! It’s  native to the tropical parts of India and ought to do well here, but I’ve never seen one  locally. Maybe I should address that …

I cannot seem to get a link to work, but try Google Images

On to Southbank, site of Expo, 1988. Today, a lovely place to wander or cycle or even run, if you’re that way inclined. Huge trees along the river and garden areas with some seating. And it’s the permanent home now of the giant Ferris wheel. Why the numeral 7  in the hub? I’m guessing that Channel 7 tv is a major sponsor.

We passed an elderly man (Chinese, I think) squatting  beside the river with a fishing pole. No reel, just a fixed line and old, practised hands gently manipulating it. 

I’ll leave you with one of the popular areas of the old Roma Street  rail yards. A display, beside a pond, of Brugmansias.

I’ll be back, maybe tomorrow, maybe later, with more “eye candy.” What’s that you say? I haven’t posted anything funny? Oh, alright. Just as a special treat for loyal readers…

SHE NO LONGER STOOPS TO CONQUER…

…and she has to sit down to put her pants on. Why? Oh, overdoing things, just a bit, when weeding. Think I’m coming out on the other side now.* And I channel the wonderful Anne Bancroft…Though I think me dragging on a pair of jeans is somewhat less sexy than her in that scene from “The Graduate.”

I note that it’s been a while since I blogged. What is the punishment for such dereliction? Are we de-blogged? Sent to Coventry? Probably just removed from reading lists…

But, since I’m here…I have a few pictures to share.

We had several trees in our not-very-big yard which needed to be quite severely “trimmed.” Not with any blades we possess. Oh, no, these gargantuans had gone ‘waaay beyond secateurs. 

The left side of the house had been hidden by a huge Cassia fistula; in this picture it’s already been cut and fed through the grinder. And behind the blue wall on the right is the next target, a whopping Scheflera actinophylla. Sadly, this one had to be permanently removed is its roots threatened to take out that wall, plus a fair chunk of the fence. There are others, but they are not yet flowering. And once they do flower the birds will feast like kings.And excrete seed-laden waste.

The aftermath…

There was more, much more, too painful to relate…

But gardeners have an innate optimism and we are already making plans to replace some of what is gone.

And yesterday, as a pick-me-up after a week of creeping about like a wizened gnome, I went with a friend to the local Orchid Show.

Lots of lovely things! I think we did two circuits of the stalls outside (the dangerous area where things had price tags!) and then went into the orchid house, a more permanent display of orchids, ferns, bromeliads and sundry other lovelies. Yes, of course I had a camera…

A lovely Swamp Orchid, Phaius. No name tag.

Another tagless beauty. Isn’t that colour beautiful!

 

Paphiopedilum  “Wossner Black Wings.” What a cracker! One day…

Bulbopyllum graveolens No varietal name that I could see.

No, not a hand of bananas- flower buds and back-bulbs of the one above!

 

I get a bit rattled when there are no visible labels. This is a Phalaenopsis, but that’s all I know. (Ditto the yellow one behind this.)

A Dendrobium but I couldn’t read the label!

A collection of Phaius. One day…

And now, moving on to my purchases. Yes, you knew I’d be tempted, didn’t you? I love the Vanda tribe, but have always been told they are finicky and I’ve only ever seen them growing beyond any height I could provide. But I am now a delighted owner of Vanda sp. “Pat’s Delight” and assurances that it will grow happily “just about anywhere here.” And if those aerial roots become a trip hazard, they can be cut back. 

Also, this sweet little Phalaenopsis “Allura Crimson Glory.”

 

It’s lunch time. At least, it is according to Sporran and who am I to dispute that. Pasta, I think. I have some carbonara in the freezer…

 

 

*I could probably have phrased that a little more delicately. No offense to my gentleman friends!

IDEAS ON HOW TO PASS A SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

Sundays, for many people, are a time to cheer on the local team. A day when the family all gather for a big lunch. A chance to put up the feet and read the weekend newspaper.

Or, perhaps, head down to the Council car park, all roped-off with bunting and glow-in-the-dark road cones. And a crew of women in hi-viz vests, inking HUGE pieces of linoleum, ready to be printed…by a chap (also in a hi-viz vest) on a road roller.

 

Yes, just another Sunday here… with members of Printbank Mackay.

The weather while not conducive to racing down to the beach has been relatively warm this month.Note that word”relatively.”  On the night of the Blood Moon I was out at 5am to gaze skyward, dressed in jeans and a sweater.

And the sky was filled with stars! I don’t remember ever seeing such a clear night sky here! And, yes, I did see the Blood Moon. And Mars. No photos though, as I am thwarted by street lights around here  and those orange-y sodium lights at the intersection down the road. But the weather was, that night, favourable.

So…no astronomical wonders to show. How about some orchids? Not mine. I do have some in bud, but they’ll be in bud for a while yet.

However, a friend across town has a collection  and quite a few were flowering so I popped in while The Man was in the dentist’s chair. Not all had name tags and Vic, the orchid man, was not there so …I’ll do my best, but I’m flying blind with some. 🙂

 

A brassocattleya

This looks like a Cattleya…

And this…

This I do know...Phalaenopsis though not its varietal name

Vanda 

Epidendrum radicans  Common as…I have several.But guess what? Not one of mine has flowered! Known as Crucifix orchids, they do come in other colours, but this is the most often seen.

Let’s have another Phalenopsis …

Vic also has pawpaws! (note to self: see if any nurseries are selling plants yet)

Yes, mid-winter, folks! My last tree was flattened by a cyclone and I haven’t bothered to replace it.But I do so love fresh pawpaw…not those poor, sad things the supermarket staff treat like footballs!

Off to don my chef’s hat!