Another month of not much but doing a fair bit. Lots of flowers at the moment. I am still debating whether to split some off and into a separate post.. Oh well I make up my mind as I go on. My six months of not driving is up on the 4th January but have to wait until I see the neurologist in early February. I might pester my GP.

I do recommend getting a snack and perhaps a drink, I have one while I am writing . At the moment a wonderful long black espresso and a lovely chocolate my daughter gave me for Christmas.

It has been raining in December, only three days it didn’t rain!!! Over 390mls for the month. Dams, tanks are full, gullies rushing and the sounds of frogs at night is so wonderful. Much better than the sounds of the Cicadas during the day. Some days I have to come inside as they are so loud.

Early morning – barbed wire and a spiders web

I thought I would kick with things off with being surprised. A Goanna was walking through my garden, with a small Cicada snack, took off when he saw me walking towards him. Didn’t drop his lunch.

I was walking about the place when suddenly this fellow popped up from his nest in the grass. I thought he would stay there but hopped off.

The most surprising was seeing a Fox appear on the mulch pile at my besties late one afternoon. He didn’t stay for long

I was surprised to find the commencement of a Jumping Ants nest in front of my potting shed. In case you ever wondered about Durranbah, a word I use a bit as it is the name of my property, these are Durranbah, aboriginal for small jumping ant. They bite and you know you have been bitten I can tell you. When I first moved here, there were quite a number of nests of durranbah. I discourage the nest by just pushing soil in and pushing down on the entrance hole. After around a week they had moved on.

While walking in the bush, this insect was affronted that I would walk so close to his tree and take photos of bark. The tree is a Red Ironbark tree. The bark is very rough. The black is from the fire but the bark is black as well. You can see the new bark pushing out. The new bark will be reddish and darken with age.

There are so many dragonflies. This one followed me over the paddock. They love sitting on grass stalks.

One of the noise makers heading up the tree after busting out of it’s shell

Sometimes trees just stand out from the crowd. I have never seen a Spotted Gum look that colour of green.

Other trees resort to a distinctive orange under the bark layer. I think it is a box tree judging by the strips of bark that is left hanging.

I posted a tangle of Flame Tree flower buds and stalks on last Wordless Wednesday. This is a Flame Tree that is just getting all the flowers.

The Frangipanni are loving the rain and hot waether

Strawberries are growing quite well in my besties wheelbarrow garden. Lovely tiny flowers.

There were a few pink flowers as well.

With the rain the Crocus made their appearance around the garden. I spent time taking photos of their location as I could never remember where they are. Looks like I have been photobombed by a Stingless Native Bee

I was thinking of putting the Hibiscus flowers in another post but here are some anyway. I don’t know their names sorry. Pink Frilly sounds good

This is a miniature Red Hibiscus. Yes I took it at this angle for the “face”

I love the colours of this Day Lily. Another plant from the bloke who used to live down the road.

A Bauhinia flower up close with rain drops. You may wonder that I didn’t go crazy with water drop photos with all the rain I have had.

I love this sad looking Hippeastrum seed head and decaying flowers (especially for Sue)

More Frangipanni and rain drops

My Jacarandas flowered well after all the others in town. I like the purple flowers against a grey sky

or do you like a blue sky?

One of the best things that happened in December was finding a Purple Fringe Lily on my place. I have only ever seen them on the coast in and around sand dunes. Other “firsts” at my place in December have been Whipbirds – I have an audio but no photos of this secretive bird. A Dainty Swallowtail Butterfly flitted around the garden for a few days. No good clear photos as it never settled. A Neon Cuckoo Bee flew around me for a short while. I didn’t have my camera.

I love seeing a pop of colour among the Dianella leaves of the tiny berries

The Tuckaroo trees have so much fruit this year. I have never seen so much fruit on the trees. They are quite small but must be tasty as lots of birds like them

A young male Figbird picking just the right fruit

Peaceful Doves have made the garden their home

The Wonga Pigeon has come back for a short while. Being a bit skittish, he takes off before I see him usually. I’ll have to look carefully tomorrow. I love having a Wonga around.

Even hops up into the verandah just in case there may be a snack up here.

The first sighting of a Dollar Bird at my besties for the season.

The Sacred Kingfishers have a nest near the dam. I love seeing the flashes of blue as they zoom through the garden or dip into the dam’s water

The Square-tailed Kites returned to their nest in the tree across the road.

Lots of water for the year ahead

It’s wonderful to see the dam over flow.

At the bottom dam that is a failure, but gives me a road to the rest of my property, looks like a monster lurks within

Sunset from my house. It is so rare I get to see sunsets in the sky above. Mostly the sunset is through the trees.

and then it changed to this!!!

OK, Sun’s down and Moon is up. One night there was a rainbow around Our Moon

When the Moon is like this, it is getting ready to spill. The Full Moon was a few nights ago, so now it will be emptying. Predictions of rain by scientists too

Also for Su’s The Changing Seasons
and Cee’s FOTD