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.

What a week - and now for the diet!

Every yea the Sugarcane Technologists hold a conference which we attend, and this year the conference was in Mackay.  Not having to travel is a very mixed blessing - the usual home chores somehow need to get done in between partying!

The  president's wife has to form a committee and organise entertainment for the partners of the delegates - which can be quite a shock, especially if the wife has never previously attended a conference as happened this year.  The comprised of four rookies and they could not have possible done a better job.

 When we registered we were g iven a superb beach bag filled with all  these goodies!

 Next we were treated to a luscious morning tea at this charming cottage in the Pioneer Valley, run by a family with the only advertising a Facebook page and word of mouth - and you need to book to find a spare table!  That says it all.

 We were not done with eating - we had an hour's bus ride - and lots of chatter - to Airlie Beach where we had a wonderful sunch - I forgot to take any photos of the food!

 The day was not sunny so the sea was not blue, but this was the magnificent view from the restaurant.  Before we returned in the bus we were given an hour to shop in Airlie - several of us chatted over a coffe instead, but two hardy souls went on a 10 km run!!!

They undid all the healthy bit coming home in the bus.  The committee produced a large esky out of which came chilled champagne and canapes to be passed around - all highly illegal, they should have been strapped in their seats, but delicious just the same.

We went to a dinner that night, but I did not take any photos.

 Thursday was another day of eating and talking!  A very pleasant morning tea beside the beach, which this cheeky young butcherbird wanted to share.  There were three more, but I was not quick enough with the camera.

 On to the next venue with more food after a fantastic fashion parade of garments designed by a local designer using the colours of the fish on the Great Barrier Reef.  The young girl on the right is carrying one of the beach bags we were all given.  The colours are just forgeous.

We did not need dinner that night, but it was t he Gala event of the week so of course we were there!  Part of the entertainment was these three gorgeous girls - a group called The Diamonds - legs up to their armpits and the most incredible and energetic choreography while they were singing.  One of the ladies at our table was watching the men (about 300) in the room - she said there was a collective dropping of jaws as the singers bounced onto the stage - and they all noticed the legs!

On Friday we visited The Sapphire House, no photos, but very interesting - pursed definitely in pockets however as the prices for the beautiful jewellery on display were definitely not for impulse buying! We learned a lot about the different colours of sapphires and how they are formed though.

 Next door to the Sapphire House was a Craft shop where we had morning tea which include some of the best scones I have ever tasted.
Juliette (above) is not holding a real baby, it is a doll, but feels just like picking up and cuddling the real thing!  Amazingly it only cost $200 and the maker takes workshops there.  Our committee were in stitches the day they were checking everything out - the blackboard outside advertised a class 'for making babies' They all had to have their photos taken beside that!

 Our last port of call was the Old Railway Station Teahouse for woodfired pizzas for lunch.  The owners bought the Marian Railway Station when the line was closed about ten years ago, including the signage on the wall below.

 They added some verandahs and have planted a lush tropical garden for a really beautiful setting.  They host quite a few weddings there as well.

 Sadly all good things come to an end and now we are almost back to normal, I have done all the washing and most of the ironing and am really watching what I eat!

Promises, promises!

Yes, I know I said I would be back soon with some photos, but life got in the way! I am so glad I was able to go out to Goondiwindi for my cousin's funeral.  We saw friends we had not seen for over 50 years, which is what happens at events like that.  While it was wonderful to catch up with so many, it was a bit disconcerting to find that suddenly (?) all the fellows we went ot dances and parties with were in their eighties!!!  I had not grown a day older of course.

 Barb and I had breakfast in what used to be our father's and Grandfather's solicitors' office - now turned into a very popular coffee shop.

 The owner was asking us all sorts of questions about the building, and I started wondering myself about all the questions I should have asked before my father died - we have no idea when the building was erected, some time in the 1920s we think, but that would have been pretty amazing for a brick building.  The soil is heavy, gluepot black soil which moves a lot in wet or dry weather.

This lovely church where the funeral was held was built in the late 1930s and was considered a remarkable building back then as it was constructed on a 'floating' concrete base to prevent cracks from developing!  I am not really very knowledgable about the process, I am only quoting what I was always told.

Since then, I have been to Buderim to look after my sister after her knee replacement.  That was a lovely break, she is recovering well, though not nearly as fast as she would like.  We had a wonderful time reminiscing - and realising how much we have forgotten - and now there is no one left to ask.

I was pleased to prove to myself that I can still travel independently with not much difficulty.  I flew down and back from Brisbane twice with different airlines, and caught the bus to Buderim.  Airports are horrible places at the best of times, but  the staff were all very helpful when I needed it.
In my previous post I was talking about the soggy, soggy weather, but that was almost the last of the rain.  The pattern this year has been most peculiar.  We have had a lot of rain in total, but in about three events - and hot, dry, windy days in between.  We could really do with some more decent rain again, the grass is browning off and becoming crackly again.

We have an interesting excursion next weekend with the Gardens Friends, but I am not making any promises this time to show photos as knowing what I am like, it may be a while.

Soggy, soggy weather

I know I have been very slack about blogging, but I did not mean to let February go past completely!

About two weeks ago Fiji was absolutely devastated by Cyclone Winston, a very severe category 5 system with wind gusts over 300 kph.  That system has certainly packed a punch.
It continued on its way towards the east coast of Queensland, fortunately becoming a tropical low.

The system ripped up huge seas and closed all the beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts last weekend.  Then it travelled  north along the coast, still about 50 km out to sea, but causing lots of storms and heavy showers.  By the time it was sitting off Cairns (over 1500km north of Brisbane) it had embedded in the monsoonal trough.
We were still getting heavy rain and now the low has drifted south again!

 We have had our grandson staying for the weekend while most of his amily has been in Brisbane.  They are due to fly home tonight so we have our fingers crossed that the airport will be open.  We took Hamish home about an hour ago when we thought the rain was slackening off.  This is the view through the windscreen when we were coming home.  I took about 12 photos (I won't bore you with them all) and the windscreen wipers were going flat out all the time.  I can't believe that not one photo was dissected by wipers!  My phone is smarter than I thought.

 All the table drains are full and the low lying fields are lakes.

This was meant to be the first photo and does not look nearly as impressive - our backyard yesterday morning.  Jock hates going out in the rain and only goes when it is essential, picking his feet up and looking quite comical.
We have had over 400 ml rain in the last week, just over 600 since the beginning of the year.  Our total rainfall for last year was only 820 ml.  Hopefully this should mean that El Nino is nearly over.  The sad part is that only the coast is getting this rain.  Most of Queensland is still gripped by drought - the inland areas get their rain events coming across from Western Australia and that has not happened for over three years in some parts.
I planned to write this post a couple of days ago, but seem to have spent most of the weekend on the phone.  A cousin died in my home town of Goondiwindi and I really want to go back for the funeral.  That involves a 1,00 km flight to Brisbane, then I will be collected by my sister and we will drive the 220km west to Goondiwindi.  Just getting flights was the hardest part, but we will be so glad to go out to see so many friends and relatives, possibly for the last time for me.  I should have some interesting pics next week to show you.

Mangoes

This is mango season - yum!

Our son has a very old, very large tree of beautiful Bowen mangoes in his garden.  It is absolutely loaded with luscious fruit, but unfortunately it is about 40 feet tall, so nobody can reach the fruit near the top of the tree - the bats and possums and even the lorikeets are getting their fill!
Queenslanders have always known this variety as Bowen mangoes, they were developed in that township about 100 km north of Mackay  sometime in the late 1800s.  Now the official name for marketing is Kensington Pride/  There are lots of other varieties in the shops, but nothing to match the flavour of Bowens!

A few days ago I went to our local library with Dougal and the two grandchildren for a 'mini Maker Spacers' workshop, a school holiday activity.  There were about twenty children there, all really getting very involved. There were three separate activities, each designed to stimulate creativity and problem solving.  Apologies for the slightly out of focus photos - taken on my phone which I am not very good at focusing.

 Here the boys were reading the instruction cards with Dougal to work out what floated and what sank, not always as simple as it looked!

This was the activity they really wanted to be there for - making code for a robot to move along.  They had to draw thick black lines, with patches of red, blue and green added in at intervals to make the robot do an about turn or swivel or go back according to the colour instruction.  The young girl beside Hamish had her robot moving up and down her pattern really well.  We will go back next holidays for another go, perhaps  moving on to some more complicated coding.  The Friends of the Library purchased this equipment late last year, and the librarian has to learn how to program and operate the robots before she can show the children!  There are more advanced sessions for the teenagers.
These are excellent free activities provided in the library every school holidays and are always booked out very quickly.

I had ideas of achieving all sorts of tidying and cleaning around the house during January, but the weather has utterly defeated me - we are having seemingly endless very hot, very muggy days with not much rain.  I don't have any energy for anything m ore than the bare essentials until we can get some cooler weather.  The monsoon trough which brings the wet weather seems to be well stuck well north of Australia.  I came down into Queensland briefly a few weeks ago, but has retreated out of sight now....oh well, one day....

Windows 10 and Rain!!!

Bill has just upgraded my computer to Windows 10 and I am thrilled.  The fonts are so much easier for me to read in my Magic software.  Previously  I was looking at broken, very fine lined fonts, much harder to distinguish.

This is a slightly out of focus photo of a lovely ginger which has just come into flower.  I have shown it while I am experimenting with how everything works in Windows 10 - so far all good.

The really big news is that we have RAIN - 70 ml so far today and still going.  Our total rainfall for 2015 was only 48%  of our annual average so we have plenty to make up.  The rain has also cooled the temperature down to being very pleasant, after some very hot, very muggy days.
I was hoping to go out into the garden this afternoon, but I am very happy to find some indoor tasks and listen to the rain....or perhaps I may just listen to a book.

Happy New Year

Well, Christmas is done and dusted and today is the start of a new year.  I must admit we were tucked up in bed and fast asleep when the clock chimed twelve. We have not seen the new Year in for many a long year now, but we are happy for all those who do go off to parties.

 This lovely allamanda is a volunteer which jumped the fence from next door several years ago, and thank heavens it did.  The house changed hands and the new owners took a backhoe to the entire yard, levelling everything - and removing the top couple of inches of topsoil!    Then they paid 'landscapers' to lay turf and plant some cordylines around the fenceline - all very boring.

 We have had an exceptionally dry start to spring/summer and that was just what my Euodia tree wanted.  It is smothered in flowers, which the birds are loving.

This photo is deceptively large.  It is a lovely little ground orchid from far north Queensland which I have just been given - a spathoglottis.  I hope I don't manage to kill it as I think it is very pretty, and is not one of those orchids which look quite ugly when not blooming!

 

We  have had  about 40 ml rain which has made the  days much pleasanter and has filled our tank again.  Thank goodness the rain has been falling also in western Queensland in places which have not seen rain for over twelve months - not drought breaking yet, but a good start.

 

I certainly hope the new Year brings you all the weather you want as well as good health and happiness.