Mount Tomah Gardens

This is a type of fuchsia, though I'm still not certain which type. I love it because of its long bell and beautiful colour. I also love fuchsias in general because of 2 very prominent memories.

First and foremost, my grandmother always had at least one basket of fuchsias on her veranda every summer. Even though my memory of Shenstone is waning, I will always remember the fuchsias.

Second would be the almost unending fuchsia hedges in County Cork through to Bantry in Ireland, where Micah and I honeymooned. That trip was extraordinary, and the fuchsias were lovely.

I hope someday to be able to grow fuchsias myself. I know my grandma would love that.

taken May 2010 - Mount Tomah Gardens, Blue Mountains, NSW

Our Wedding - Gladiolus

I'm not exactly certain why I love gladiolus so much, but I do.

In the deep dark winter of early 2006 I found looking forward to summer even easier than normal. We'd already set a date in August to be married, so it was all down to the process of sorting details. Yup, in the midst of winter all I really had to think about were flowers. *sigh Hard life I know!

After only a very short look around at the local florists, I decided that it would cost way too much for them to provide flowers for the wedding. Oh, my infinite wisdom when into high gear here! With Vessey Seed catalogue in hand, I went though all of the possible flowers that would be in bloom in August. Unfortunately lilac, forget-me-nots and tulips were out. But glads, glads should be in.

Only a couple of months later Micah and I sat on his parents back deck cleaning and potting 200 bulbs. Yup, we were going to be masters of the garden... a feet I had never previously managed. I am still thankful to his parents for giving up over half of their veggie patch to glads.

Somehow, against the ardent warnings from one of the local gardening specialists, our glads bloomed on time. And, my goodness, did they ever bloom! I have never seen anything like it in my life. We had over 100 stems perfectly ready for the wedding, all with at least 8 blossoms fully open... some with as many as 17! Several of the stems were as tall as me, a towering 165cm! (Their normal height is around 50-80 cm for those who want to know.)

All said, gladiolus really do now hold a very very special place in my heart.

Taken by Ellis Roddick August 2006 - Reception, All Saints' Cathedral, Halifax, NS

Christmas Rose

2006 was my first Christmas in a place where the ground wasn't frozen from October to April, so seeing a rose in full bloom while on my way to a Christmas service at church was absolutely stunning!

Happy Christmas everyone - may this year be full of roses and wonder!

Taken December 2006 - roadside, Cambridge, England

Rose at Peppertree wine

I don't take that many photos of flowers from the side, but I think this one worked out quite nicely indeed. Also, my camera sometimes has a fit taking pictures of pink flowers. I don't know why, but there it is.

taken May 2010 - Peppertree Wines, Hunter Valley, NSW

Peppertree Winery - more flowers

It's so nice to see pictures turn out the way I hoped they would. On this beautifully sunny day in winter in the Hunter, it was just so lovely to be able to stroll out on the green grass and admire the flowers in bloom. Yes, they are a rather common, shall I even say a 'garden variety' flower here in Oz, but they really are lovely.

Taken August 2010 - Peppertree Winery, Hunter Valley, NSW

Mount Tomah Gardens - Strawflower

It's funny... when I think about colours, yellow is not on my list of favourites. Even still, I absolutely love these lovely little bright pastel yellow flowers! They just seem so content to be bright even on a cloudy day.

I am also exceptionally happy with the composition of this photo. I didn't think it would turn out this well when I snapped it, in fact I thought I was taking a shot of the flowers in the foreground. Just goes to show you that you should just keep snapping away, and do the editing on the big monitor at home.

taken May 2010 - Mount Tomah Gardens, Blue Mountains, NSW

Botanical Gardens Sydney - Mellenium Cherry

What a beautiful day to be out and about! The sun was perfectly warm matching the coolness in the air so wonderfully. The sky a perfect blue and since there had been rain earlier in the week, the grass was green and growing like the dickens. It really is hard to take bad photos on days like this.

You may remember this tree from this photo. This cherry is a hybrid developed at the University of Western Sydney.

Taken July 2010 - Botanical Gardens, Sydney, NSW

Mount Tomah Gardens - Mediterranean Heather

There is nothing quite like a bank of heather on a drizzly day to make the mind wander to Jane Austin and the Bronte sisters. This flower appears to be a style of Mediterranean heather, though the soft pinky-purple shade really does make me want to find a bonnet and sit in windows looking out across the Heath.

On this particular day, I was wandering around a beautiful botanical garden with my in-laws. We had just spent the weekend enjoying the Blue Mountains and were slowly working our way home to Sydney. Thankfully we had made sure to have our cameras prepared just before we happily lost ourselves amongst the flowers.

We also entertained ourselves by finding random upon finding the following - it seams that the staff had devised a special 'pirate' tour of the grounds that one could follow. I'm not precisely certain how pirates and flowers go together, but there you go. As we wandered from area to area we found little laminated sheets attached to short stakes in the ground, each marked with the classic skull and crossbones stamp and some kind of joke or riddle. These jokes were all completely groan worthy, but hilarious none the less.

Taken May 2010 - Mount Tomah Gardens, Blue Mountains, NSW

Mermaid Cave

Hurrah for mushrooms! I think this one was about as tall as a 50c coin (think twoonie people).

As for Mermaid Cave, it is a wonderful gully with a cascading waterfall about 30-50cm wide and 25m high. It is so very refreshing to be in such a cool moist place here in Oz. Even the ground feels soft in there.

This was one of our stops on Micah's pre-birthday scavenger hunt. The clue to send him here was a picture of Ariel and a mention of Sebastian's grotto. Once here, Micah found a clue which was actually 2 Sudoku which provided the coordinates of his next clue. I cannot tell you how much fun we had on this scavenger hunt!

Taken March 2010 - Mermaid Cave, Blue Mountains, NSW

Easter Flowers

So I've decided that from week to week I will take enough pictures to take care of my 5 picture-a-week quote. This means that the weekend pics will be a selection from my favourite pictures from 2009 and earlier. I might even try to do a 'on this day in history' theme... but I think that might be a little too much, even for me!

This picture is from Easter Saturday, April 2007. Micah and I were getting ready to go to the Cathedral in Ely for our confirmation. I decided to wear my Easter dress I had made for Easter 2006. This was the same dress that I wore at our first wedding in May 06. Let's just say I absolutely adore this dress.

In the mid-afternoon, I decided I wanted flowers for my hair. The above is the result of picking flowers from the bushes along the path leading to our maisonette. Not a bad take eh? Micah's sister helped with pinning in the flowers after I had braided my hair and pinned it up.

This picture was the start of an absolutely fantastic Easter celebration. I am so very blessed.


Taken April 2007 - outside our apartment, Cambridge, England

Golden Wattle

It's the morning. A lovely winter sun is lighting everything with long shadows and a warm glow. There is a crispness in the air, the kind of crispness that one can smell and only comes when it's below 8c. The dew is thick on the grass making me move quickly to the path so to not get my shoes too wet. It's the kind of day that I'm are thankful that I reached for my scarf on the way out the door. Yes, the scarf is probably overkill, but the warmth around my neck give the morning walk a warm comfortable feeling.

As I turn the corner on the last block before I reach work, I inhale deeply. There's a delicious scent somewhere between baby powder and honey suckle lightly hanging on the air. The warmth of the sun makes me turn my head up and close my eyes. The lorikeets are playing in one of the tall gum trees... it must have been in bloom recently as the ground is covered with gum nuts.

Just a head of me is a bush that has tried desperately to grow across the sidewalk. Over the past few years, the offending branches have been broken or bent back but the bush is stubborn enough to continue trying. The result is a lovely canopy just barely above head height. To add to the perfection of this bush, it is in full bloom.

Wattle is a beautiful flower. The blossom looks like little pompoms creating a fuzzy cone of yellow at the end of every twig. Every time I walk by this bush while it is in bloom, I can't help myself - I must stop and enjoy.

The golden wattle is Australia's Floral Emblem. As soon as I can figure out how to insert a link, I will add it.

taken July 2010 - roadside, Macquarie Park, NSW

Botanical Gardens Sydney - Miner

We are now in the middle in of winter here in Australia. This concept of winter still baffles me. As I spent most of the day outside in a sweater with 3/4 length sleeves, without an undershirt or jacket, I think of this weather as more early autumn-ish.

As the day was so very beautiful, we decided to head into the city and visit the botanical gardens. Most of the flora and fauna are in their rest and regeneration phase... it is winter after all. This made it almost impossible to miss the blooming cherry trees at the foot of one of the paths we were walking along. N and I spent several minutes taking pictures of the beautiful pink flowers against the pure blue sky.

Just as I was about to join the boys back on the path to continue on our way, a miner bird flew into the tree on a branch less than 2 meters away from me. My first reaction was bewilderment, my second was to yell at it. (The bird managed to send half of a freshly caught bee at me hitting me in the shoulder, while it ate happily ate the other half.)

Normally I yell at miner birds, basically because I think they are bullies and a nuisance. I have recently come to understand that there are actually 2 notable species of miners in Australia, one is native, the other introduced.

On a personal note, I think this is the best photo of a bird I have ever managed to take. I hope you enjoy!

Taken July 2010 - Botanical Gardens, Sydney, NSW

Mount Tomah Gardens - Mistery flower

Hilarious! I have just spent the past hour searching for the name of this plant. To me, it looks very much like the kangaroo's paw, but the stem is completely wrong. Upon giving up my search I started to think about the botanical garden I was visiting when I snapped this lovely picture. Low and behold - what is the 'plant of the season'? Why it is the South African Rarity, of course!

Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens is a lovely day-trip outside of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. I highly recommend visiting here as the grounds are stunning, the views are impressive and the flowers are amazing.

taken May 2010 - Mount Tomah Gardens, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia

Peppertree Wines

There is nothing quite like a grey day to make every colour pop.

On a drizzly Saturday morning, Micah and I along with a couple of friends piled into a bus filled with mathematicians and physicists and headed out on the road for a day trip. Hunter Valley, here we come! This Hunter trip was the third one that I've joined this group on. It really is great to get a group of people out of the office to enjoy some random activity and build friendships. Each trip I come home with a case of beautiful wines and a couple more people on my list of I-know-you's.

This trip we stopped at this absolutely fantastic winery. If you ever get a chances to try any of their selection it is well worth it. We came away completely content, carrying more than a case of wine and a membership to their wine club. Let's hope we can head up again later this year to check out their next batch of new treats!

As for the winery itself, the site used to be a convent. The grounds are wonderfully maintained, with long driveways to rustic buildings. There's even a chapel still on site which is used for the occasional wedding. The walkways between buildings tend to be brick cobblestone, and there are lovely flower patches accenting the vineyards and buildings.

taken May 2010 - Peppertree Winery, Hunter Valley, NSW

Hydrangeas in the park

I don't really understand why, but I love to take pictures of hydrangeas. They are mounds of colour which call to me.

This particular hydrangea was found in Milan on the first day of my Italian Adventure. Micah and I were walking through a park dedicated to the victor/liberator of Milan in around 1830. I'm not exactly certain why this victor deserved a park, but a park they received anyway! There was oddles of green space and places to lay out a picnic blanket for a quite afternoon under a tree. There were also a couple of little creeks giving the park the ability to have lovely little walkway bridges here and there. Nothing makes for great photos like little bridges over creeks that are both surrounded by mounds of flowers eh?

As for the day itself, the sun was pleasant and bright, the sky clear and the grass was growing. The park was filled with the most luscious smell of cut grass... really a defining smell of the late spring in the northern hemisphere.

Micah and I slowly meandered through this city park until we found our way to the other side. We then randomly chose streets left and right until we finally arrived in the city centre.

taken June 2010 - Parco Sempiona, Milan