Sunshine after the rain

We have a small grove of Casuarina otherwise known as She-oak trees in our paddock. The other day when I was backing out of the driveway I noticed how pretty they looked. We had just had a heavy shower of rain and now the sun was shining brightly on them and all the raindrops looked like diamonds sparkling in the trees.

I drive or walk past these trees all the time, I see them out my kitchen window and yet, I very rarely notice them. I am so glad I stopped the car the other day and got out and took pictures. I only wish my photos were better to truly show just how clean, fresh and gorgeous it looked out there. I know I will be appreciating these trees a lot more from now on.

It's amazing how something so simple as raindrops and a bit of sunshine can stop you in your tracks and make you take a deep breath at the wonder of nature.

Winter Warmer's

The official start of winter is still six days away, but this past weekend was a real taste of what is to come.
We had about 40mm of rain fall, beautiful soaking rain. The big rainwater tank is now just over half full which is good news. The weeds are sprouting like crazy. In between rain showers I rugged up and went outside and started pulling weeds and then retreated back inside when once again the rain fell.

We had candles lit and the fire going all weekend. The ceramic pot on the wood stove has water and a few drops of eucalyptus oil in it to help ward off germs or at least help them to stop spreading as both teens are full of head colds at the moment. I got the idea originally from Julie at Country Living by the Sea.

I made a pot of pumpkin soup from a homegrown pumpkin. It was a little on the spicy side but still really delicious. It was certainly very warming and filling anyway.

The sun made an appearance a couple of times and I just loved the way it highlighted the last of the grape vine leaves and the gum trees against the very dark stormy sky. They had forecast very strong damaging winds, but thankfully we didn't get those. It did get quite blustery for awhile Saturday afternoon and blow a few things around, but nowhere near as bad as what had been predicted.

This morning is a grey overcast day but I think the rain has gone for the time being. It is definitely on the chilly side out there though. Hope everyone's week gets off to a good start and is able to keep warm or cool as the case may be!

A Grey And Drizzly Day

On the drive home from work at lunch time today

It's not very often I make dessert, but last night I did some baked apples.

Awhile back I saw Christine from Slow Living Essentials had cooked

them in her wood fired oven. Unfortunately I don't have a wood fired

oven, so just my regular oven had to do. Although the picture doesn't

look very appetising, they were delicious!

With the start of winter just under two weeks away and the mornings cooler

I decided it was time to start eating porridge again.

This morning's featured chia seeds, stewed apple and pear,

cinnamon and organic honey - yum! It filled me up until lunch time too!

We have had a visitor today, Shorty came to keep BJ company while Mum and Dad

are in the city. Not sure why he is flat out asleep in front of the fire, when I haven't

even lit the fire yet. Maybe he is telling me it is time I did.

I posted a picture of the Gerbera bud the other day

and this is it out in flower!!

The first photo was taken around lunch time when it was fine misty rain, but the sky is much darker out there now and the rain is steady and the temperature has dropped. Think it is time to light the fire and get the house all cosy. Hopefully this rain keeps up we badly need it. I love going to bed and listening to the rain on the tin roof. It's a wonderful sound.

A Few Flowers

A little while back Mum gave me some Gladiolus corms which I planted,

I was surprised to see them flower so quickly.

A friend dug up some tiny Valerian plants from her garden

and kindly gave them to me, I think it is a really pretty flower.

I have had this Gerber in a pot for a long time and it has never really

done any good. A couple of months ago I planted it out in the garden

and it is doing so much better. Can't wait for the flowers to open.

We don't really get the beautiful autumn colours here,

this is about the best we get when the grape vine

leaves change colour and fall to the ground.

A new plant in the garden Osteospermum 'spider white'

I think the buds on the Plumbago are really cool looking!

Today was the first morning we woke up to fog! 

I guess with winter only being a couple of weeks

away we can expect lots more fog to come :)

So there is just a few things that are flowering in my garden in mid May. I only have to go to work for a short time in the morning, so I am very much looking forward to spending some time out in the garden and also some time in the kitchen. A bit of baking and some soup making sounds good to me. Have an enjoyable weekend!

The Vegie Garden In Mid May

Love the seed heads on the chive plants

The brassica bed is planted out

Looking forward to lots of tasty kale to eat

Grow little lettuce grow!

We are still eating capsicums from the garden, some red ones too!

Just waiting for the beetroot seedlings to grow a bit bigger before planting out :)

All of the snow peas are looking very unhealthy, they all have this

black spot/mildew/fungus? thing on them. Does anyone know what

it is and can I get rid of it or should I just pull the plants out and

start again? Have never had this problem before and I don't want

it spreading to any other plants in the garden.

Finally one of our new girls, Laverne says hi :)

Once again I have been absent from here for awhile, I didn't mean to, I suppose I didn't really think I had anything worth posting. The thing is I really miss not being here. Time to get some priorities straight! Took some more photos from around the garden this morning, so will be back in a couple of days to post those. Right now I am off to get myself cleaned up as a friend has invited me around for lunch. Not long until the weekend :)