To Plant.....

 

Dancing Clouds - Kristoffer Wallin & Ola W Jansson

Driving Along....

 Driving along, windows down, hair wildly flying about and strange looks and giggles from other motorists. 

And actually being chased by a few wanting another look.

Wondering what all the strange looks were about until I remembered my funny cat cushion in the back. It's been there that long I forget it is there and that it does tend to make people wonder what the heck is sitting on the back seat.

Laughter is the best medicine.......

Waking To A.......

Waking to a cloudy morning, everything glistening after a few heavy showers in the wee small hours. The silent dance of the clouds as they shift overhead begins my day with a quiet walk around the garden, eyes mainly skyward.

I did take a few moments to admire one hakea flower finally unravelling on one of the trees in the back garden, this one a slightly different variety to that of the one in the front garden. As yet one single flower is opening. Hopefully soon the rest will follow.

Birds were flitting about, disappearing into the grevillea bushes which offer protection and a bounty of food. Parrots and galahas squawking as were the chickens demanding to be fed. Mornings here are both peaceful and chaotic at the same time. 

As I stood under the patio gazing out over the back garden I drifted back to images of how baron this place was when I arrived here. Now the back garden is somewhat untamed. Wild and free to grow as she sees fit with little interference from me. Nature should be untamed in my view, which is why my garden is somewhat wild and uncontrolled. I love the way the garden sculpts herself. Little secret nooks appear here and there, shady places to sit somewhere else.

Each of us views our gardens in our own personal way, mine is that of a mini parkland designed to feed and house the wildlife. Perhaps one day I will focus more on food for myself, most attempts in growing food for me ends in feeding the chickens and other birds who help themselves. 

The only food plants that thrive are the native bush tucker plants, so it's these that I will focus on. A bush apricot which has only been in a few months has doubled in size over the summer. The finger lime also growing taller and stronger by the day. 

Will the macadamia tree flower and fruit this year? I do hope so. 

My maroon bushes are beginning to thrive and soon will be harvested for tea, given it is really expensive to purchase maroon bush tea I will certainly be enjoying and sharing my harvest.

Beginning my day as always with a smile on my face and a contented heart....

 

What If......

What if everyone in the world went out into their garden/ forest/ jungle/ bushland armed with a camera, or a paintbrush or perhaps a notebook and pen and created.

Just for one day.

What if everyone began to look around them? To see the natural world as if for the very first time.

What would capture your attention?

Going to one of my favourite gardens of course with my camera I see that it is the same as the last time I was there, but, also vastly different.

Things never remain the same in nature for long. Second by second things are shifting and changing unseen by the humans too busy to stop or to notice the details altering around them.

This garden although as familiar to me as my own mini paradise never fails to present me with something I had not seen before. Or, even something I had seen before but on a different day I see it with different eyes.

I am wondering what would speak to you the most out in nature? And why?

For me it is like walking into a new chapter of a book each time I step out the door. It is a never ending adventure, especially in my own garden.

There could be a new scent drifting on the breeze. Or maybe I hear the call of a bird unfamiliar and unseen. 

Today there were many things that called to me. Flowers and leaves, gumnuts and a bandicoot. A favorite wooden sculpture seen in a new light.

Nature is captivating and so intriguing. Many walk past me when I am out, touching leaves of flowers. Speaking to no one they can see, acting, well I suppose rather peculiar lost in a world of total wonder.

The wonder of life.

Spectacular and astounding.

And what of a flower? 

Some say seen one, seen them all! Pretty sad not to see with your heart, the feel the beauty in each single flower, in each petal.  These australian native flowers really are so wonderful. Some are fluffy and furry even, others like delicate tutus, some look like they belong on another planet altogether,  all so unique. All a tiny part of our sacred Earth Mother who despite what is done to her, she keeps on giving.

Day after day.

Nature calms, she heals and inspires. And going out with the aim in mind to create something from what I see is my heart's joy. Often words will flow when I am walking along, and sometimes the urge to get home and download the photos and write can be so overpowering that I simply have to do as is asked. To heck with whatever the days plans might have been.

The urge to speak for her is becoming my quest. She gives words from a brush of branch, or a falling leaf, and even from an inquisitive bug hunting bandicoot.

She wants to be heard, she wants to seen, especially by those who have forgotten that without Gaia there will be nothing.......

 

The Hakea Tree.....

The hakea tree in the front garden is nearing the end of it's blooming cycle yet the ones in the back garden are still waiting to begin their slow ritual of flowering. 

But nature knows best, when a moment is perfect, it's perfect and the caps will pop off and flowering will begin and then I will go through this process all over again. 

Wonder and fascination over each perfect flower.

One of the things I love about the hakea flowers are how they change colour so many times. Truly amazing, and one of the treasures in my garden for sure. Nearing the end they turn a pinky red, vastly different from the creamy hues they begin with......

 

Seeing Movement.....

Seeing movement in the opening of this leaf that had curled in on itself I of course had to investigate.

Discovering that paper wasps were busy building a nest.

Not wanting to disturb them I kept my distance, I thought it a rather good place to take up temporary residence......