Winter is on the way

 There is a definite nip in the air to remind us that winter is just around the corner. I am sure many people who suffered through a really humid summer don't mind the cooler weather. April has  presented many challenges for our family and we have been the recipients of many flowers etc. including this beautiful arrangement of proteas. I have never grown proteas here to be honest but they seem to be very hardy.

A new find

 I meet with some friends most weeks for coffee and we try to support small businesses in our town. Recently we found 95 Mary Street which is just exquisite with its chandeliers and beautiful decor. If you are ever visiting our city, do call in there and I am sure you won't be disappointed. 

A busy month for our city

It is September which means the flowers in our city are blooming and  the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers  has begun. The Carnival runs for the whole month so there is plenty of time for visitors to make the trip up the Toowoomba Range. 

 

What flutters by?

 'What flutters by?' is the theme this year at the beautiful Laurel Bank Park during our famous Carnival of Flowers.  I love this park as the displays are always quirky and unlike the classical beauty of Queens Park which is one of our other premier parks. 

My friends and I visited the park last week before most of the tour buses arrived and it was already busy. Unfortunately some of the plants weren't flowering then.....

 

...like many of the Foxgloves and all of the Hollyhocks as we have had a cold winter this year but I imagine more flowers are putting on a show this week as we have had several warm days. 

There are always masses of tulips to look at complete with windmills along the way.

There is a viewing platform in the park from which you can get a better view of each of the gardens in the themed gardens and I also found that looking through the lens on my camera helped to make it clearer but, of course, the photo that is usually taken from a cherry picker is the best one of the lot but I think that is only published in the daily newspaper which we don't buy. 

If you live in the region and would like a pleasant day out then there is still plenty of time to see the gardens as the Carnival doesn't finish until the end of September. 

We held our very last Simple Living Toowoomba workshop this month. It was only fitting that our 'founder' Margy was the presenter and so we shared morning tea while we had a chat about what we had learned over the last 10 years since the group began and then some of the ladies made a gratitude book. Margy had been inspired by Ann Voskamp's book 'One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are' which she brought along to show us. 

There was a lot of fabric, etc. to choose from but I am terrible at keeping up with diaries and the like so I didn't make one as I knew I would start off being enthusiastic and then forget to add to the book regularly. 

Margy brought along a couple of books she had made which were already filled up. Some of the ladies still want to meet up to keep in touch so we will get together every six weeks or so at a friend's house. We have learned a lot over the last ten years and have covered so many topics that it was hard to think of something new for each month. So it was time to finish. 

I watched some of the pomp and ceremony of the Queen's funeral and don't the British do that so very well. The bagpipes always make me tear up as my grandfather was a piper in Scotland who used to wake up the Laird of an estate each morning apparently. Must have been the days before alarm clocks I guess. LOL!

Another wet spring and summer forecast has been announced and residents have been asked to prepare once again for flooding which must be devastating for those in flood zones as they have already been flooded at least twice. A couple of years ago we were having bushfires. Stay safe everyone!

 

Last month's hail storm damage

On the 18th October we had hail like we haven't had for many, many years. Fortunately it was only small hail and none of our windows were smashed which was just as well as it was hitting the windows on the western side really hard. The outside walls were covered in pecan nut tree leaves which my hubby hosed off after the storm and we didn't notice until the next day the damage that had been done in the garden. 

You can never have too many plants!

 During winter we had one really heavy frost which damaged a lot of our bromeliads growing under the pecan nut tree. Unfortunately they had no protection as the leaves had all fallen off but normally we don't have any issues at all with frost. Seeing as the Bromeliad and Succulent Show was on at the weekend we headed there to buy some new broms to replace those we had lost although most of them will eventually recover by the looks of them. As I always seem to lose the labels on plants I will write the names down now for future reference when that happens. 

Lorena Lector

More Carnival Flowers

We have been having some very warm days here so last Friday a friend and I took a look at Laurel Bank Park before the weekend crowds arrived in town. The 2021 Carnival of Flowers theme in the park is 'I See a Dinosaur'.  

A Hive of Activity

 As anyone who has been reading my blog for a while would know, September is the month when our city becomes a hive of activity as thousands of tourists descend on the area to view the spectacular parks and gardens that come into bloom at the beginning of Spring. 

At long last

It took a long time but at last the pineapple which started growing last December was finally ripe and we were able to pick it. It wasn't as flavoursome as I had expected it to be but it wasn't sour thankfully. It was much more yellow than the pineapples that are on sale at the fruit shops which are still green and some of them are quite sour.  

A Walk in the Park

 When I was visiting our local Farmers' Market a week or so ago I crossed the road to Queens Park to see what the gardens were looking like. This park is one of Toowoomba's most popular as it is an easy walk from the CBD and attracts visitors year round. 

A Crafty Weekend

 This weekend Craft Alive 2021 is being held in Toowoomba. I imagine the fact that this show was able to go ahead this year is the envy of a lot of my overseas readers some of whom are still in lockdown. I must admit I was a bit surprised myself that it was going to be on but seeing as many sporting events have been going strong for several months and there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Queensland the organisers were able to go ahead with their plans. 

Shelley's Land

Christmas Markets

 Normally at this time of the year we have quite a few Christmas markets and this year is no exception. All of them seem to be going ahead during the pandemic apart from the Cobb and Co Museum's Handmade under the Stars which has been cancelled for 2020. I am not sure why one event goes ahead and another is cancelled but there seem to be a number of inconsistencies where restrictions are concerned. At the moment the annual Bush Christmas  is in full swing. This is an exhibition where artisans from remote areas can showcase and sell their arts and crafts and, believe me, they are a very creative lot. 

Here comes the heat

 We have been fortunate to have had lovely coolish weather for a couple of weeks but this weekend the heat will be back again with 35C days and it is already frightfully hot in the Outback where my daughter lives. I don't know how they cope with that heat. Unfortunately I planted my hollyhocks too late and they won't like the coming heat one little bit. 

Counting down the days

 Well, who would have thought that the Carnival of Flowers would go ahead in 2020 but, short of an outbreak of COVID-19 in our city in the next few days, it will start on Friday. Visitors to our parks have already started arriving and the weather has been fine and pleasant so far.

A new month

Aren't the months just flying by? We are already in August and have only one month left of our coolish weather before the heat starts up again. Our fire season here in Queensland goes from late July to February so we are already being reminded of that fact on the TV stations. I must say that even though I have been whinging a bit about the recent cold days I really enjoy the winter months as normally the mornings are cool and then we have a lovely sunny and warm day. Perfect gardening weather!

Winter flowers

Our 'Bubble' has burst!

As most Aussies would know our Queensland border opened to interstate visitors last Friday and since then at least 17,000 have travelled into Queensland. People who have been in Victoria in the past two weeks are not allowed to cross the border and some cars have been refused entry but I am sure there have been some who have slipped in according to media reports. So our little bubble we have been living in since the beginning of April has well and truly burst and a lot of Queenslanders are now holding their breath waiting to see if we have a spike in COVID-19 infections like there is currently in the highly populated cities of Melbourne and Sydney. 

Support our country cousins

We are always encouraged to support our businesses in regional areas so a friend and I took a half an hour's drive from Toowoomba to Crows Nest yesterday as it was a really beautiful 21C day. I had never been there before apart from once when my sister and I were on our way to the Sunshine Coast and she missed the turnoff to Hampton and kept going up the highway to the lovely little town just a few kilometres up the road.

Another great Bush Christmas Exhibition

Each year artisans from the bush have the opportunity to feature their creative work at the Bush Christmas Exhibition which commenced this week and will finish on Friday 6th December. As usual, taking a walk through the exhibition is inspiring and if you live in the Toowoomba region and plan to attend I would advise you to get there early as it was packed not long after the doors opened today.

September musings

Well, it is the almost the end of  September and already we are having summer temperatures. Apparently our city was 'drenched' during a storm at the weekend according to the news. However  we didn't see much rain here on the northern side but I do hope some of our farmers got some good falls and had no hail damage. The Carnival of Flowers has finished for another year and I have just found out how to get some photos of the gardens off my camera onto the PC. It never used to be such a problem with Windows 7. LOL!

The Carnival has begun.

The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers started yesterday and today our city was fairly buzzing. I thought I would head down to the Farmers' Market early to beat the crowds but at 7.30am or so it was already quite busy. As the market is just across the road from one of our premier parks, Queens Park,  I took the opportunity to zip over there and take some photos before the thousands of visitors arrived.