NO ABJECT APOLOGIES. NO EXCUSES.

I’ll not be like one of those politician chaps who manages to get himself elected, make a right porridge of things and then offer some apologetic Blarney.

No, I shall simply tell the truth. I’m a shiftless slacker.Lazy to my core. (And a bit busy on other fronts.)

So…what’s on the docket that keeps me busy? Well, we are still de-cluttering and trying to get used to the fact that a bed or chair is no longer where my backside remembered.Ouch!

And we’ve had a huge clear-out-the-overgrowth in the garden.Well, that, I must admit, was all down to The Man. Still feeling somewhat shingled, I wasn’t up to much heavy work. * And then we had some unseasonal rain. When you live in an area of seasonal shut-down unexpected rain surprises you. And it surprised some plants, too! Poor things thought they’d take it easy for a while, maybe pop out the odd flower here and there…

Moon cactus Gymnocalycium mihanovichii is a species of cactus from South America. The most popular cultivars are varied mutants which completely lack chlorophyll, exposing the red, orange, or yellow pigmentation. These mutant strains are often grafted onto the hylocereus cactus, and the combined plant is called a “Moon Cactus”. Wikipedia

Even things like the Tithonia, which flowers madly from about May to July has gone totally triffid.

A few months ago our back fence neighbour did his once-in-a-blue-moon weeding and pruning and ripped out yards/metres of my Tecomanthe hillii (Fraser Island Creeper). I’d have preferred it cut with sharp secateurs, but the fellow is not a gardener…

Yesterday, my Man said : “Look at the Fraser Island Creeper! It’s over Rick’s fence again!” And charging up a palm like Phar Lap on steroids…

A Grevillea (not named), apparently in a wager against the Tithonia. Somewhere beyond that jungle is a house…

 

 

Nephila pillipes.….looking much plumper now so I think her boyfriend got what he came for. (And with no sign of him, she probably did, too!)

*And I milked it shamelessly!

 

 

 

STILL EXPERIMENTING.

Dashing in to the office before I have to dash off to The Big City. But I shall need a fortifying breakfast first…my car goes in for service (and, actually, that sort-of bothers me as it’s a new car. What can possibly need “servicing”?) and I’ll have an entire morning fill.

While I was tinkering over at the Dark Side, Jon remarked that it was a bit like watching “Tomorrow’s World” with all sorts of experiments taking place.Live.Before the very eyes. Hmm…

Back after lunch m’dears.

Well, that was a harrowing morning! Competing radios, blasting from, it seemed, every shop doorway. I sat in the library, reading for a while until a very noisy dispute broke out in the creche area.Little kids could shatter glass.

But my car was ready to go by the time I walked back down the street and the harrowing morning is behind me.

One of the (many)  jasmines, a Trachelospermum jasminoides, scrambling up a tamarind tree. And if you look closely you can see a thick stem just behind the flower. That’s a vanilla orchid, also racing up the tamarind’s trunk.

One of many flower buds on a Syzygium wilsonii. I stopped counting after twenty-something!

And some cheerful sunflowers I bought when I collected Sporran from the vet where she’d been for some dental work.

That’s enough for now…domestic duties beckon.

So…a little more tinkering and tweaking and I think we can call it done.

But I should back-track a little…I have also tinkered with some photos .

My friends’ Eden garden.

Dendrobium speciosum
Here’s a link, should you live in a suitable climate https://www.australianorchids.com.au/pages/dendrobium-speciosum-the-sydney-rock-orchid

A pretty little grouping of soft pinks on the front terrace.Perfect for that early morning cuppa.

Castanespermum australe.  This is down near our beach and is what my “bean trees” would grow to if I let them!

Acacia holocericea spent seed pods. Known as Velvet Wattle for its very soft leaves.

And we had a visitor! A niece was over from NZ for a conference in Sydney and she spent a few days with us. We took her out and about, walked along the beach, paddled in the sparkling water. And decided a swim would be just the ticket! So good, we did it again the next day!

That pesky cyclone that was hanging around finally went out to sea after making a bit of a mess up north. No serious damage here and most of us were very happy with the rain!

My sweet little Pigeon* orchid, Dendrobium crumenatum,  was, perhaps, the happiest- it produced 7 sprays of flowers! True, they do not last long, but they are so delicate.

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*And I’ve been calling it a “dove” which is the common name of a different one, a Peristeria. Mine is the “pigeon.”

Well, folks, in my world breakfast beckons. And I have a busy day ahead…