Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Back to a Routine

Hopefully!
Before I start on my personal tale of woe I want to thank all of you who keep blogging and write such interesting posts! You are much appreciated even though I have not commented on your posts for quite a while 😊
It has been hot, hot, hot! I have lived up here for more than 13 years but I don't ever remember it being quite this hot before. It was often quite pleasant before sun-rise but soon after that even sitting at the computer would make the sweat start dipping and the clothes unpleasantly damp. I put in a couple of wall mounted air-conditioners when I had the house built but they are noisy and I found I could not live comfortably with them on all day. Added to all that I am still having trouble with my eyes. I am very grateful that my vision has been saved but constant head-aches are not easy to put up with! It has finally cooled down and we missed the extreme weather brought in by cyclone Debbie!
Here are some good things in my yard over the last couple of months. Some of the trees flowered more prolifically than they have for several years. This is an Ivory Curl Tree (Buckinghamia celissima). The flowers have quite a strong perfume.
This the top of my Leopard Tree(Caesalpinea ferrea).This year it had more flowers than it usually has and there must have been a  good amount of nectar because the birds came over in flocks and perched up in the top. Unfortunately the tree is now so tall that the birds up in the top are well hidden and I didn't get any good photos.
The flowers I am most pleased about are the Gymea Lilies. There are more of them flowering than ever before. However, they are very slow to come into flower and I have been waiting for months for some of them to come right out in flowers. This is one of the smaller plants and the flower stem is only a couple of meters tall. That green top will eventually come out in a spectacular red bloom.
The really tall ones are up in the tops of the palms - I am guessing 3-4 meters tall.This year the big flowers are not quite as red.
I wonder if they will get a darker color as they come out more.
There are always birds around somewhere. In the worst of the heat even the birds disappeared a couple of hours after sunrise. Crows can look quite beautiful against a bright sky.
I heard a bit of noise from the local birds one morning and counted 20 of these Common Myna. They are not native birds and are quite aggressive and can eventually displace many of the native species. I knew they had come into this district a couple of years ago and I have seen a couple at a time. But with a group this big they must have been breeding locally. 

For more scenery  from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.



13 comments:

  1. Such beauty in your photos ~ colors, composition ~ despite the heat ~

    Here in New England we have just the opposite ~ cold and wintry weather and it is April ~ today was a gift ~ tomorrow more gray weather ~

    Good to 'see you' again ~ ~ state cool ~ thanks,

    Wishing you delight in your days ~ ^_^

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  2. What lovely shots! I really hope it cools off soon.

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  3. So sorry Mick that you have not been well. Still, it seems you are on the mend, despite the heat. Wish we had just a little of your warmth up here as it is still only 14 degrees today. Of course we heard about your cyclone via news channels and it did sound very extreme. Stay safe and post u7s some more sunny skies soon.

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  4. Hello, I love the pretty blossoms and trees. The lily must look gorgeous. Great shot of the crows and the myna birds. Sending my well wishes, sorry about the heat. It is a chilly spring here. Enjoy your day and the week ahead!

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  5. Sorry to hear you have been unwell! It certainly has been the hottest and longest summer I have experienced since moving up here 28 years ago!
    Your flowering trees look lovely!

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  6. Jolies images printanières ;-)
    Céline & Philippe

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  7. So happy to see your blog pop up on my Feedly. I hope your headaches keep improving as the extreme heat lets up for Autumn.... I know what you're saying about noise --... we try to do without A/C as long as we possibly can, but when we start worrying about shorting out the computer with our 'perspiring' brows, then it's definitely time to turn it on. And that would be about now.

    The minahs are pretty even if they are invasive -- we have a lot of those kind of birds, plants and animals here in Florida too -- similar climates I expect where things take hold easy. Your plants look similar to ones I see here too.

    Stay well! Don't worry about commenting .... you need to preserve your eyes and health. I always appreciate your comments, but I'd rather see you use your energy on an occasional post of your own until you get completely well.

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  8. Such beautiful tropical flowers.Your photos are wonderful! I am sorry to hear about your eye problems. I went through a lot ofproblems and three surgeries a few years ago and thankfully my vision is good and the problems have stabilized.

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  9. Great photos of all the flowers not good to see that many miners though.

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  10. We got the remnants of cyclone debbie here in NZ, it caused alot of flooding in nearby towns but thankfully we were ok.

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  11. so good to see you back at blogging. Have missed your posts. Glad to find you and the weather, both, area getting back to something like "normal"
    Monica at NatureFootstep

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  12. I have to say I am no fan of the heat - Tassie seems a good place to live in my opinion! Glad you did not get Debbied!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  13. When you're not feeling too good, that extraordinary heat of this year would definitely compound it. I hope you're feeling some coolth up your way by now. Beaut to know you didn't get too many effects from C.Debbie!
    Blogging is always nice to get back into isn't it, but there's a time and place for everything. I need to slow down at different times too, we all catch up eventually. Cheers and wishing you better health :D)

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