Thursday 26 May 2016

When will summer end?

The summer season should be well and truly over by now, but i still have every door and window in the house wide open.  As well as that I am still in shorts and short sleeved Tee!
We had two quite cool nights, which inspired me to get out the winter pyjamas and my warm clothes (because they were in the same bag).  Of course the weather warmed up again immediately.  The weather bureau is now saying we may not get a winter, just some wet weeks as the pattern goes from el nino to la nina.

Wandering round the shopping centre is an interesting experience  - all the clothing stores are full of heavy winter jackets, some even having fake fur collars, and thick padded jackets - the sort I would wear in the south island of New Zealand (or Tasmania).  I can't imagine much of that stock will be sold here.  Of course these days the shops are all national franchises and the purchasing is determined in Melbourne (nearly 3,000 km south of us).  They do not seem to have any idea that we have  minimum temperatures higher than the maximum temperatures in the southern states most of the time.  I suppose this happens all round the world with corporate buying - not what I call progress!

 My Nodding Violets are still flowering magnificently  - much later than usual, they are such a cheerful sight to see out my kitchen window.

The Xanthostemon tree is also in full flower and is full of birds.  While I can't see any of them very clearly I always know which ones are in the tree - the rainbow lorikeets adore it and pick over every blossom.  If there is only one or two, the little brown honeyeaters will come into the tree as well, but any more lorikeets frightens them off.  We have also had spangled drongos performing acrobatics in and around the tree, so there is always plenty of activity to keep us amused.  The flying foxes come in at night, but the tree is far enough away from our bedroom so we do not hear the squabbling.  We love having flowering plants for the birds in the area. Since we lost our large rain tree many years ago we have not put feeders out, just water dishes and flowering plants.

There has not been very much to say, but I need to keep in touch occasionally just to let you know I am still here.  Now I shall take advantage of the weather to go out into the garden to do some potting whil it is still warm enough.


3 comments:

  1. Sounds lovely, getting cooler here, love reading your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am about to go out to do some gardening - mostly evicting weeds. Our shops are the same as yours, but we walk round in winter clothes in spring while the shop windows are full of skimpy summer clothes no one wants to think about. It's a funny old world.
    It has gone quite cool again here and I am longing to get the garden furniture out of the shed but scared I shall put the mockers on the weather! Lovely blooms in your photos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I, too, will be heading out to the gardens to water, weed, feed, and transplant. Your violets and flowering tree look wonderful.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog. I do enjoy reading your comments and will reply if you leave your email address.