Wednesday 28 February 2018

Goodbye summer!

Well...aren't all of us in Australia happy to say goodbye to summer! We have had such a mixed bag of weather this month in Queensland with a dreadful prolonged heatwave, followed by a sudden drop of about 20 degrees in the temperature, then there was the fog and the recent downpour of nearly four inches of rain here which caused some flooding around the area. Currently Townsville, which is normally called 'Brownsville' by the locals due to the lack of rain, is coping with some seriously high rain totals causing flooding in low lying areas and there is more to come.



On the recent foggy day I heard some kookaburras in the tall pine tree next door so grabbed the camera and put the zoom on and pointed it in the direction of the noise and hoped that it would capture an image.



Well it did but the lens was fogging up quickly so I had to dash inside as our resident photographer was starting to panic that the damp would get into the camera and I needed to dry it out :-) When I uploaded the photos to the computer I was quite pleased to see the kookaburras appearing.





 Since then we have had some sunny weather which made the bees happy and, as there are pumpkin vines growing everywhere in the compost heap, this bee was checking out one of the flowers....



...before deciding to hop in and run around in the pollen. Aren't bees fascinating?



I checked out my roses after the rain and was pleased that a couple of them have buds on them so they must be surviving alright but I am worried about this one and need some advice from our rose experts. This rose has something brown growing on it...




...and there is hardly any green left except at the bottom as is shown in the the photo so I think it must by dying which is quite disappointing as this one seemed to be one of the hardy ones that we had been given. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong and how I can treat it? It is too large a pot to take to a nursery to get advice unfortunately. 




I have put a few more photos through the Deep Dream Generator including one of my raggedy quilts shown in the above photo....




 ...here is the first result....



...and the second result! Quite different aren't they? I do try not to spend too much time on that website as I wouldn't want anyone to think I am becoming obsessed. LOL!


Used with permission: Textile Beat

 

I am really looking forward to our Simple Living Toowoomba workshop on Saturday as Jane Milburn, author of Slow Clothing: Finding meaning in what we wear,  will be speaking. There is still time to book in if you live in the region and would like to come. Jane will be bringing some of her books with her and the cost is $28 and cash would be good. I enjoyed reading Jane's book as it is so very interesting. 

Enjoy the rest of the week and stay safe if you happen to be in the Queensland tropics at the moment as it looks like there will be heavy rain for a few days to come. 





















15 comments:

  1. crazy weather is right! my chook shed is full of feathers! i mean what are they to do? when it's cold they put on down then the next thing it's hot & muggy again so they drop all those lovely new feathers again, poor things don't know whether they're Arthur or Martha atm! it affects the egg laying too...
    enjoy the work shop, sounds interesting
    thanx for sharing

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    1. Selina, we don't have chooks any more so we haven't had that experience. Poor chookies....they must certainly be confused.

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  2. I hope you find a way to save the roses, Chel.
    Here spring is arriving. The oak tree in the back yard is full of light green tender leaves. It's so beautiful. I love spring.

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    1. On the Northern Hemisphere blogs everyone seems to be so looking forward to spring, Nil. Of course our winters aren't as extreme over here....well not usually but who knows when that will change :-)

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  3. Your kookaburra photos are brilliant Chel, that first one is having a bad hair da though :). I'm staying away from that Deep Dream Generator, it looks like too much fun. See you Saturday!

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    1. Barb, I did have a bit of a chuckle when I saw that photo appear on the computer. LOL! Looking forward to the workshop on Saturday.

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  4. Love the kookaburra photos! I'm always happy to see the end of summer, give me cold miserable days all year & I'd be happy!

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    1. Karen, it is quite warm again today so I hope it cools down very soon. In winter I can rug up whereas I can't seem to cool down in summer.

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  5. Not quite sure we've seen the end of the heat just yet, Chel. 34C here today but I looked ahead and next week strings together days under 30C. Happy! Love your kookaburra photos, I saw one out having a wild laugh of a time this morning on my walk with Sir Steve dog. They are one of my favourite birds! Meg:)

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    1. No days over 29C for us next week, Meg. That suits me just fine.

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  6. Chel I couldn't be happier to see this summer off. I think there is still potential for the heat and humidity to shy rocket once more, so I wont be holding my breath. It's 30 degrees C today but feels so cool. The humidity is quite low and I, for one, hope it stays that way.
    I love that darn Deep Dream program. I have quite a collection of photos saved from it. I felt I was starting to become a bit obsessed with it. When I reached for the puta, with brekkie toast in my mouth, I knew I needed to have a break. The withdrawals havent been too bad.
    My rose is not looking like it has survived the heat and humidity. It looks very sad and has leaves falling off. The poor thing is a bit like a raggedy stick now. I will leave it be in the hope that it can come back.
    All the seeds I planted out before the rain are up and showing signs of good vigor. I hope that we dont get seriously hot weather again as this might kill them all off. If we get a bit of followup rain next week then I have high hopes for a good harvest.

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    1. Jane, I hope your rose will be okay. We were given six and so far only one has died so I guess that is not too bad considering I know absolutely nothing about growing roses. I have some cornflowers to plant out as I want to use dry the flowers for soap but should have planted them before the rain.

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  7. Is it a grafted variety of rose, Chel? I've had the rose grafted onto the rootstock, die, and the rootstock reshoot, with a much thicker branch. It took several seasons with no roses appearing, to realise it was the rootstock, and not the grafted roses, which survived. I'd wait a season,to see if it reblooms next spring, before discarding though. Unless it already has blooms on it, as you mentioned.

    Our Kumquat tree has gone berserk with blooms, and therefore, bees! I love to hear them dancing around, as I walk up to the chicken coop. The rain was most welcome. Although, truth be told, it's much less rain than in previous years. We have missed out on all the big storms. I suppose, in terms of flooding though, it may be a good thing.

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    1. Chris I will have to ask my hubby about whether they are grafted. I really don't want to lose this particular rose as it has a nice flower. If I see any gardeners at the Queensland Rose Garden I might ask them where I can go to get some advice as I am sure they would know. I could show them a photo I guess.

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  8. I am looking forwards to the cooler weather, although the children won't be happy having to take the pool down. Time to start growing food again this time in pots as our summers are to harsh my way. Our lease is being renewed so time to get the garden going. Our summer was all over the place and just feel the heat knocks us and we can't do as much.

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