The blues (I have them)

CFFC: Blue

A blue rocket

A blue plodder

A blue delight

A blue face

One for FOWC: Back

Superb Blue Fairy Wren

I got the blues with the Rolling Stones

A bit of metal and feathers

Sunday Stills Monthly Colour Challenge: #Black and #Metallic at Home and Beyond

Some wheels

More wheels

More but less wheels

The arty section

I like this sculpture

I like this one too

Can’t resist a bit of metallic nature. Both birds are essentially black and
they sparkle in the sun light

A Spangled Drongo

and a Satin Bowerbird.

New, old and small

CFFC: BMW – The ultimate driving machine

I did not think I had any photos of BMW’s but a careful look among the
motorbikes found one when a group of bikes stopped for a break at
Raspberry Lookout. Funnily enough I happened to be there.

A Trike came up from Coffs Harbour and was taking people for a ride around
town for a stupid amount of money. I tried the “let take some action photos,
maybe a video for a free ride. I’ll put them on my blog and you’ll be famous” 😁
He looked at me quizzically. I told him I have over two thousand followers
worldwide. He looked at me quizzically. He let me take a couple of photos for
free. So when you are in Coffs Harbour, look him up whatever his name was
and be taken for a ride.

Holy mechanical marvels, it’s Batman and Robin. I wonder how the freight
company will talk their way out of this one.
“Don’t worry Frank, no one will ever notice.”
“I don’t know Ernie, I am sure someone will!”

What a wonderful looking Kombi. A mate and I used to head away on
weekends and holidays in his Kombi. A self contained house on wheels.
Such a good time.

In its day this would have been a farmers pride. Can take the missus to
town to shop, can get a few things from the produce store, toss it all in the
back and get back home without complaint. The ute was partly designed
for that purpose. The farm women didn’t want to drive home from town in
a car that smelt of fertiliser or other smelly farm chemicals.
This is an Australian built Holden Ute model FX first built in 1951

This is June 2023

June started well. I went to Brisbane to pick up my daughter after her European holiday and take her home to Toowoomba. I was hoping to have lots of time taking photos and travelling about for a couple of days. The weather was miserable, cold and drizzly rain every day. We did go out for eats and coffees and then did a drive around, sometimes popping into a place that looked interesting.

After I arrived home I didn’t feel well and had a bit of man-flu time on the lounge with the fire going, so not many photos this month. I haven’t felt like doing much so I have been pottering around here with a few visits to town. I always take my camera with me everywhere and this after noon on the way home I realised that I hadn’t taken it out of the car except for the car show. It was called Wings and Wheels and is held on the South Grafton Airfield. This is where small planes fly in and there is a flying school and plane hangers. OK let’s get going.

Here’s your June scrolling song. In case it’s unavailable in your country it’s Van Morrison “Evening in June” Actually I would like to know if you can’t view the video so drop me a line in the comments letting me know where you are please

The few hours I had in Brisbane was just late afternoon. It was lovely to go for a walk after a six hour drive. I was hoping for a good sunset and I wasn’t disappointed. This is another Brisbane sunset photo I did for Hammads Weekend Sky
Here is a great photo full of everything so many people love.

  • There’s the bridge people
  • There’s the train spotters
  • There’s the water/reflection crowd
  • There’s the cityscape/modern enjoyers
  • There’s the sunset lovers

Which one were you?
Here’s another bridge I just have to stop and photograph every time I drive past. It was a railway bridge. As it is happening every where, rail tracks stopped being used as trucks take over. Some bridges, like this one, the Sunnyside rail bridge built in 1888, have fallen into disrepair but this bridge is made of strong hardwoods and hasn’t changed much since the last time I went past last year. I was surprised to discover that it isn’t heritage listed so it can fall down and only a small group of locals care to have it preserved at the least and restored at best. There are fences and warning signs like the ones at the entrance to the bridge.

Meanwhile, back in Toowoomba, the city is full of Australian Ravens. I have never seen so many in one place especially a city. These two were being quite friendly on the lamp post. I like the lamp shade.

One of the things we did was have a wander around the cemetery. That will probably be a post later on. I was hoping to get a Raven or Currawong or at least a black coloured bird on a headstone but had to settle for a Crested Pigeon.

Up to the lookout which was so fog bound you couldn’t see anything. A pair or Galahs walked about picking through the seeds of the pine trees

I went out to a wetland to see if the Magpie Geese were still resting there. One of my quests is to get a duck bum up head under water. This one I thought would be easy but he was a paddler as well as a dipper or is that dabbler. Trying to keep up with him was hard.

The big flock of Magpie Geese were still there with most of them sleeping. Every now and then one will fly a few metres to sit in a different spot. Some, like this one, do their morning yoga

Sometimes I hear a sharp ringing tweet and know that a Grey-shrike Thrush is nearby. They sound like this

The garden has lots of small birds at the moment. The Eastern Spinebill has to find sources of nectar where ever it can as some of the bigger birds chase them out of the Grevilleas mostly. The Pentas flowers have a small amount but the Spinebill can take its time dipping into each flower

The Spinebill also found the Bromiliad flower before any one else.

One of the new things that has flowered is the Donkeys Ears, a large leaved succulent. I have never had one flower before. The flower stalk is about 1.5metres tall with flowers most of the way up the stem. There are so many of the beautiful tube shaped flowers are at the top and with all of those buds, there have been flowers for quite a while. It is still flowering.

I have a pot at the front with a small bush called Chamelaucium “Noras Delight”. It has lots of tiny 10mm flowers dotted all over the bush from a lilac to a deep pink which is lovely to have in Winter.

The Yamba Sunrise has lots of flowers at the moment too. These are the Grevilleas that are fiercely defended by the honeyeaters. This is a view looking down the centre of the flower

While I was taking photos, along came a Black-faced Hover Fly (I think). It was late afternoon and the Hover Fly was fast moving especially if I came too close. This is the first photo before he realised I was there. I like the nose.

Speaking of flying…….the part of a day spent at Wings and Wheels was quite good. Lots to look at and there were planes flying in every now and then

A couple of planes were out on show

as were lots of cars

There was only a couple of vintage cars. I liked this one.

There were quite number of flash looking cars too.

Even the Tractors came in orange

Not many motorbikes and a few hot rods

Some of Australian trees shed their bark in Winter. I like the strips hanging down and the variety of colours. Once all the bark has gone the trunk of the three is an off white. You can see the new timber on the left hand side at the top

One afternoon the sky had a complete cloud cover and the sun was just a yellow glow

The Moon has been around during the day for a lot of the month. This was on the 1st June late in the afternoon in Brisbane

Shining brightly in the early afternoon on the 24th June

Well the sun is setting so it’s time to set off and roost

Thanks for stopping by. Of course I have to know if you had a favourite photo.

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently, though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

Create a ping-back to Ju-Lyn at Touring My Backyard or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

Among the machines

The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #199: Mechanical/Industrial

For this lot of photos I have gone back and found a few old ones and have added a couple of new ones. I chose to use monochrome as I think it adds to the vintage feel of my images.

Start off with some oldies

Here are some new photos never been posted before

This had to be a slider don’t you think

The most appropriate song I could think of

Colour says it all

Lens-Artists Challenge #195: Colourful Expressions

Is the colour you like bold or subdued. Should a photo stand out on it’s own or blend the colours? Does it sit at the front or stay in the back for someone to discover? I think I like colour. My house is colourful and my garden is colourful.

I don’t know where to start or what I am doing but lets see where this post takes you and me.

Let’s kick off with selective colour, one of my favourite effects

A fluffy Eastern Yellow Robins yellow just stands out more

Just the red on a Black Jezebel butterfly stands out

A leaf stuck on a window after a storm looked interesting but more so with selective colour I feel

Red always stands out

But can also be subtle

But is never missed

Green can be quite fluorescent

or just be a hint of colour

Some blues are hello

but also quiet

It’s a hello yellow

or try to find me in the grass

or among the trees

A pink to catch the eye

or to gently cascade

and be small and dainty

or pop out among the others

As Anne said the colours in rust are a favourite

Small and white a discovery

or be a showy presence in the garden

and have a subtle blend

with pastels and strong green to stand out

and a mix of colours that attract the eye

or add colour to a dull day

But a riot of colours that make you look more than once is always a favourite

Well that was a bit of a long post but I hope you enjoyed a bit of the colours in my life or actually in bushboys world