Red dragons

Debbies One Word Sunday: Red

A variety of red dragons, some that are in the garden, some to eat, some that fly. but all are dragons

A song from a Aotearoa/New Zealand band, Split Enz, a precursor to Crowded House with Neil Finn singing and now he has a gig with Fleetwood Mac

This is April 2023

It was a mixed bag for April. The start of the month was rather wet and then it became hot and dry again and the last few days have been drizzly. All this made for good time to be in the garden. I planted some cuttings and re-potted other cuttings for Spring. The wet Autumn has meant not much mowing was done but when I had the chance off I went for almost three hour rides around the place.

I had Taiwanese guests for one night this month and they were so nice. He spoke English and she, only a small amount so we did a bit of sign language chat. I also have a sore heel which is fine in the mornings but aches when I stop doing stuff so other than sitting around in the afternoons.

I have posted a bit of what I found in other posts this month so they aren’t replicated here. These are all new.

Here is your scrolling April song. A Aotearoa New Zealand band with some Aussies into the mix

Now that has woken you, here’s a sunrise trying to break through the clouds and fog

Sometimes if I am having breakfast in the sunroom I can feel someone watching me. I guess Tiny wouldn’t mind a bit of seed for breakfast as well

A few mornings ago a Crimson Rosella and his mate dropped into the garden for a few minutes

I went to do a bit of tidying up in this garden. When I crawled in under the Grevillea I found a Satin Bowerbirds bower, the courtship area where the male dances and sings. If the female reckons he’s good enough, they’ll head off and make a nest in a tree nearby.

This bird was sitting on the branch in silhouette and hard to identify so I was trying to get a photo. I did get a couple which are dark like this one.

I was down at the Clarence River in town getting some random photos like this jetty when I get photo-bombed by an Australian Raven.

He thought it was so funny

At least I was able to get a few photos eventually.

Standing on the jetty I noticed some bubbles coming to the surface and suddenly there was lots. I have no idea what was under the water. The river is a murky brown unfortunately.

Not like the water in my dam at times when the Cape Water Lilies flourish

Often in my photo of butterflies and bees, occasionally birds, who feed on the Pentas flowers you just get to see a flower. Here is as much of the bush as I can get into a photo. To the left is a Bi-colour Dietes which has just finished flowering. On the left is a Lomandra, a Fan Palm trunk in the shadows and below Walking Iris

I didn’t notice until too late that the Camilla sasanqua had flowered. This is the last flower

The rain early in the month had some fungi appearing

These were almost side by side. The above was bigger than in the photo. I couldn’t get it all in whereas the one below was a easy macro

The toadstool as it was in the morning. By the next day the cap had fully opened

I posted an Orange Lions Tail Hibiscus on Friday. This is another look at the flower so you can see why it’s called Lions Tail.

A different tail, an Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly

This is called find the Grasshopper. The green leaves are a Native Violet that just appeared in the garden

On afternoon’s sunset tinged the clouds in tangerine

When it was a bit wet outside, Perons Tree Frogs liked to hang out on the verandah, competing with the Geckos for the insects attracted to the house lights. This is from inside look at their feet and pads hanging only the glass.

From the outside. A rough skin with small green spots. Those feet are big.

There were a few nice moon events over the month. A lot of nights there was cloud cover. When Our Moon shone it was quite bright.

I enjoy mixing Eucalypt leaves and branches against a full moon.

One night the halo around the moon was very bright throwing rainbow colours through the clouds for a moment until the clouds swallowed the moons light

I hope you enjoyed a roam through my April. As always did you have a favourite?
Also for Cees FOTD

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.

Windows and flowers

Ludwigs Monday Windows

This window box isn’t really a box so this one is a window basket. The plants are struggling a bit but given a few more months all could change. I wish I could remember where in town I found it.

I found this photo and by the looks of it I don’t think it’s from around here. I am guessing it is on a house in Luss, Scotland

Here is one with a shade as well found in Kyogle, a town a couple of hundred kilometres from here

Window planters with little green fences on the sill of fancy windows a few centuries old on the island of Burano, Italy

This trailing ivy was found in Bologna with wonderful shutters too

These windows from Split, Croatia with the little pot of red flowers are so lovely

Cee’s FOTD

The birds and the bees

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge March Alphabet: Two EE’s

Birds of Prey in order of size

NankEEn KEstral

Black-ShouldErEd KitE

SquarE-tailEd KitE

WhitE-bElliEd SEa EaglE

WEdgEd-tailEd EaglE

A few bEEs in no particular order

HonEy BEE

CarpEntEr BEE

TEddy BEar BEE

BluE-bandEd BEE

StinglEss NativE BEEs

A bit of an oldie some may remember from JEwEl AkEns

Shades of Grafton #23 – The Leftovers

Ludwig’s Monday Windows

Here are the last window shades in the folder. It has been fun roaming around town looking for window shades, some have been amazing, some have been part of house renovations and some have been rather tired, sad and looking for a bit of love.

These last four are a bit random which I could have added to other posts but but those posts probably had too many photos so they were cut from the list. Anyway it’s their time to shine, so’s to speak

I think these hooded shades were not used perhaps I felt were not distinct enough

I did use the left hand side of this Art Deco house as the other photo showed the front and side shades better

A mix of shade types on this house. Hooded shades on the western side while the one on the front has a corrugated iron top

This is the only modern industrial type shade I found which shades the eastern side of the building in one long shade or to use the real name, an awning.

That is the end of the shades of Grafton for Monday Windows. If I find others, they may appear in future window posts as there are windows under those shades. Thank you for hanging in there with my shade obsession.

I thought I would end this series with a song. I hope you like it