Signs of Spring

Luckily, we restocked the woodshed just before our ‘postponed’ trip, as the last couple of weeks have been cold and/or drizzly, or just plain rainy.

Some of the trees though, knowing that the winter solstice is long past, have started the blossom.

Difficult to see in this picture, due in no small part to the glare of sun through clouds, is the almond tree that grows in our neighbour’s backyard, two doors down. I love this tree; it is always the first to colour and loose its leaves in autumn, and the first to herald winter's march towards spring with its flowers.

The apricot tree in our yard is also just coming into flower. There are swollen buds along all the branches, and every so often, the occasional flower.

Tiny delicate blossoms that don’t last long in the rain.

Winter flowers

The Flame trees that grow along the perimeter of the park opposite the train station, are ablaze with the red flowers that give these trees their name. A flock of rainbow lorikeets screeching their enjoyment, were almost out voiced by a family of wattle birds, also making the most of the nectar on offer. It was a noisy wait for the train.

In our garden things are little quieter. The Hardenbergia or native wisteria that scrambles over our back fence is flowering.

 We actually planted this with the blue banded bees in mind, but they have never shown any interest in the blossoms, honey bees on the other hand love it. 

The snow drops that were in the garden when we arrived more than ten years ago, are also putting on their own quiet show. This winter, they are popping up in the most unexpected places, due I suspect to being tossed and tumbled around when the backyard was excavated last year. I dug out any many as I could find prior to the landscaper starting, but probably needn’t have bothered as there are easily three times the number I replanted. They surely are the hardiest of bulbs.

A messy week...

The idea behind starting this blog was to make me write. I’d have to say, so far, so not good. In my defense however, the past few weeks have been a tad messy.

We should be just back from a week in Qld but, ‘due to circumstances beyond our control’, the trip had to be postponed. As disappointing as this was for us and my Mum, whom we were to be visiting, there was something about this trip that just didn’t feel right. 

In the days prior to our scheduled departure things went wrong; the immersion blender died mid breakfast smoothie, followed the next day by the fridge. A replacement part had to be ordered which meant we were without a fridge for three days (at least it wasn't mid-summer). That same week both Bertie and Fez (he’s our stray cat), came down with colds.  It truly felt as though the universe, or at least our tiny part of it, was out of kilter, so when the news came that lead to the trip to be postponed, we secretly breathed a small sigh of relief. 

This week though, things are back on track. The fridge is fixed, we have a new blender, so smoothies and soup are back on the menu, and Bertie and Fez are both on the mend.

Bertie had a trip to the vet and a course of antibiotics, but because we can’t catch Fez, he had to rely on a wish and a prayer from me, his own immune system and warm wheat bags tucked into his basket.