The clock’s on steroids again!
But I’ve managed to find a ” little bit of spare ” and I have another quiz for you. No cryptic clues this time. What is this?
I’ll give you…a week? Yes, answer next Saturday. MONDAY UPDATE. Well, silly Dinah didn’t clear the label, did she! And clever Miss Scarlet and Christopher and Celia knew how to sort-of cheat. Only a little bit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Kingfisher the link has a little more information. The bird in my photo(yes, Celia, in my hand) had flown into the house and was sitting on a window ledge. Since we have louvres and screen there was no way it could get out, but I managed to drop a napkin over it and pick it up. No harm done and it flew away none the worse for wear.Just as well the Little Black Devils were not around!
Don’t s’pose anyone’d like to take a guess at the Emmeline reference? A sort of two-for-one quiz. Go on, waste a few minutes!
It’s raining! And most welcome it is, too. Still chilly, but soon we‘ll go straight from winter, whammo! into summer. I miss the “proper” Springs of the Old World.
The rain is doing wonders for the terribly neglected garden. There are several many things that need to be lifted, pruned, repotted, dumped…my excuse is that they must wait until I’ve finished my current art projects, as my hands, like Emmeline’s, must be ” purfickly clean.”
But I was happy to see buds on one of the orchids
I think this is a yellow one.
And...drum roll …I have two “back from the dead” darlings! My rose “Apricot Nectar” was all but gone…sniff,sniff and I decided I’d try lifting it this winter and putting it into a big pot. Even bought some “proper” rose potting mix. Just didn’t get around to it, did I? And then I noticed the tiniest green shoot, low down on the stem. Very low. Oh dear! Had it reverted to root stock? Only one way to be sure – let it grow and see if it flowers. And it did!
I’m so happy. And yes, it will still be lifted and grown in a shrub tub. It may be a valiant little thing, but I’m not taking any more chances!
And my other Great Revival Story is a yellow justicia.
It doesn’t look very spectacular here, but it’s been in a frightful sulk and I was about to consign it to the compost. I think it would be happier and certainly a better performer in really good soil. Perhaps this, too, will “go to pot.”
And, for once, I remembered to take a photo before they were added to the salad…
Heartsease, Johnny-Jump-Ups, call them by any name, they look beautiful, scattered on fresh greens!
Now I’m hungry!
Moreidlethoughts Weblog 
ahhhh don’t johnny jump-ups/ hearts ease make you feel all sunny and happy? (wishing we could steal some of your rain….. sigh)
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Good grief, Ronnie! You’ve just had a flood down there. What did you do with all that water??????
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Ha ha! I know what the blue pic is because I cheated. I can’t tell you how I cheated because that will give the game away. But I believe it’s a bird.
Do you label your pics, Miss Dinah?
Sx
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Ooh, Miss Scarlet! Yes, it’s a bird and yes, I (sometimes) label photos.But I changed the label when I uploaded it, just so people couldn’t do the hover-mouse-and-read.
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I put a blindfold on and switched the light off before looking at the puzzle pic. and its accompanying legend, so I have to leave identification to other birds like Miss S. who flash on riverside beaches.
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Very sporting of you, Christopher. 😉
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my guess: “lucky rabbit’s foot – dyed blue”…which of course, would not be all that lucky for the rabbit…
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Daisyfae, I love your answer! But it’s wrong. If you do what Scarlet did and just hold your mouse over the blue picture you’ll see it’s original label at the foot of the screen.
Blue rabbit’s foot..hehe 🙂
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Let’s see. You don’t have blue jays there in Australia since they are only native to North America. So, using The Google, I see that you have something called the Superb Fairywren and the male has blue feathers (since I didn’t think you would do something really easy like parrots and parrakeets).
I doubt I’m even in swinging distance of that particular ballpark, but it is fun to try.
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You’re right about the jays(although I do have a very fine drawing of a jay!) and the wrens and not-quite-right about our parrots.None of the local parrots have quite that much blue.
I’m glad you have fun trying! 😉
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I’m delving into my memory but still not getting this damned bird right. The beak is a bit like a prion or something like that but the veil of blue feathers? All I can think of is something like a Blue Bird of Paradise that does an inverted display over the back of its head. What local bird do you have that looks as gorgeous as this one? Is it local or are you being extra tricky? For some reason my first thought was a penguin (the beak) but the feathers? I’m giving up now.
And yes, I do love Johnny-Jump-Ups, especially as they are so generous in spreading their seeds in the garden. One of the harbingers of spring. Bring it on, I say!
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Beak? Prion?Penguin? Oh, Carol![sorry]
I can see I’ll have to post the answer before Saturday, even though it is there, isn’t it, Miss Scarlet!!!
And it’s cold again! That wind comes off the Drakensbergs, picks up antarctic chill on the way and gets up speed as it crosses our deserts.Just cold enough to make the soil too cold to sow seed.
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I’m keeping schtum!
Sx
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I think we’re having a quiet chuckle together, Miss Scarlet! 😉
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As Karen similarly noted, I would swear if it had been taken here it was a blue jay. . . don’t know my Australian birds, alas.
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Yes, the colour is a dead ringer for the jay.(Note to self: ask Andrea what colour pencil she used for my jay drawing.)
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It’s a little blue bird sitting in your hand.
And then I clicked on it to get a closer look. Could it be a ‘little-kingfisher’ perhaps?
Celia (I only cheated a little bit)
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Ding!Ding!
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“Emmeline,
I didn’t mean —
I only said that your hands weren’t clean.”
from ‘Before Tea’ by A.A. Milne
Do I get a gold star 😉
C
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Now…where did I put my gold star icons… 🙂
Yes, Celia, it’s from “Before Tea” ( My books have the E.H.Shepherd drawings )
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It’s a bird and…haha…guess what…you didn’t ask us to say what kind of…… it is 🙂
One day, people are going to make big pipes to collect flood water to sell to dry countries. Mark my words! We need the rain again, it’s hot now.
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And Down Under great argument rages about coal and iron and yellowcake et cetera Some folk don’t seem to realise that without water they could not get any of these minerals.
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Johnny jump up – what a great name and I love flowers in salads too. I’m just back in my garden and loving it … even having to share most of the things I want to eat with other creatures
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You’re back? But,but,but…I’m still hungering for more notes from the field. (Hold the whale poo, though!)
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All this talk of food is seriously tempting me to race into the fridge and grab a midnight – or past midnight- snack! Lucky there are no flowers from my garden in there or anything that remotely tas’es like chickeeeen or I’d’ve been in there chowing down hours ago! xxx
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I was thirsty last night and came out for a glass of water…then saw the strawberries…mmm
2am is just an early breakfast, right? 😉
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