A new view of the moon

Recently I contacted Meg from A House in the Hills asking what type of camera she used to take her absolutely stunning photos as the DSLR which I was given is quite heavy and complicated to use (for my brain) so I tend to just use my little Canon point and shoot. Also the DSLR camera is now being used  by my son who is into astrophotography. So I did a search for the camera Meg kindly told me about and found a refurbished one on eBay which had a one year guarantee and was the previous one in the series but practically the same. It has a 60x optical zoom which apparently is pretty amazing for a small camera so I thought I would treat myself for my recent birthday as my little Canon is looking a bit the worse for wear.

The camera has a setting on it for taking photos of the moon and this photo was taken last night...

 as well as this one... 

...and this one was taken at 2.30 in the afternoon the other day. What a fabulous camera! Of course, when my son saw what kind of zoom it had he was over the moon so to speak so I think I will be sharing this one with him as well. 

It also has a setting for taking photos of birds so now I can get up close and personal with the cockatoos while they are eating our macadamia nuts without disturbing them...until after I have taken the photo and then I will shoo them away as they make such a mess of our trees. 

 However, I haven't given up on my little Canon as yet and snapped some photos of our new Patricia Andrea pelagonium as I 'lost' the one we used to have. I guess it will turn up one day when it is flowering. The CEO has a friend who grows geraniums and pelagoniums and he will be showing some of his off I dare say at the upcoming Carnival of Flowers next month. This is an absolutely beautiful plant so I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in pelagoniums.

I just might be able to pick some elderberries this year. This is from a cutting taken from Rhonda's elderberry  plant a couple of years ago. I have it growing in a pot as I believe it can really spread. I was told this morning that the birds love the berries so I will need to put netting on the bush by the sounds of it.

We paid a rare visit to Masters the other day and I bought this little plant which looks like the heartease we have growing but is a different colour. It adds a little brightness to the winter garden. 

This is a photo of the progress of the jaboticaba which I posted a photo of last week. It is now flowering. 

It has been fairly warm the last couple of weeks and the horehound bug is feasting on the horehound. I guess this is just a prelude to what we can expect in the garden once the heat starts once again. 

Sally has been a silly girl and has been preening herself and taking a dust bath right in front of the chook cage as if to say 'Look at me, I can roam around all day!' Ha ha!

Just look at the response she gets from Madame Defarge who is not happy. Sally is just asking for trouble when the chooks are let out later on in the day. If you have never heard of Madame Defarge, she is a lady who enjoyed knitting during the French Revolution and featured in the classic novel, Tale of Two Cities which we studied at school back in the 1960s. 

I took some photos at our Simple Living Toowoomba Cider and Mead Workshop this morning and will feature them in a post next week as I know a couple of our regulars couldn't make it due to being unwell or away today. Although I don't drink alcohol as I prefer to have a cup of coffee, it was very interesting to see how it was made and it didn't seem too complicated at all if you have the right equipment. I might make some apple cider vinegar one of these days as we were given some notes about that as well as the info for making the cider and mead. 

Hi to all the new readers who have been visiting my little blog lately. There have been thousands of pageviews for some reason and it would be lovely if you could leave a comment as it is so nice to 'get to know' who my readers are so don't be shy.

Oops, I hear silly Sally at the back door so I had better go and chase her down the stairs. My hubby must have let the other chooks out and Madame Defarge will be seeking revenge :-)