Sun Orchid

I was just hanging out the washing when I looked down and saw the sun orchid near the washing line that has been in bud for weeks has finally opened. Glorious! It must have known the temperature is going to climb to 35degC today!!

WA Orchid Society

We were privileged to have people from the WA Orchid Society visit our block recently in search of interesting orchids. Each year they scour areas of bushland that have had a fire go through during the summer months as it creates the right conditions for rare orchids to bloom.

Above is a rabbit orchid - we have not seen on our block before. It is tiny and may have been there but we were unaware of their presence.

This a Blue China Orchid.

Russell

Tiptoe through the bluebells. How long will he be "cute" for, I wonder.

Already he has walked across my laptop keyboard and altered something that took me some time to un-alter!

Joining us in bed came to an abrupt end when we realised we were losing sleep!

A few thwacks and he got the message.

However, he appears to have got 'control' in the lounge room!

New Addition

Glenn found this little furry thing on the doorstep yesterday morning.

He or she is not a feral cat. He or she doesn't mind being picked up, uses a dirt box and has made his or her presence known to all inhabitants of the house in no uncertain terms.

We googled "cat sexing" and looked closely at the diagrams.

Then we put on our glasses, shone a very bright light to the area in question...

and not finding this terribly interesting, enlightening or pleasant,

thought we'd leave it until later.

Hence, he or she is still unnamed.

Who's sleeping in MY bed?

And who's playing with MY tail?

We all slept well last night. Yep, all four of us slept well, together!

Good thing we have a king size bed.

Give me more orchids!

This little 'garden' is in a tree stump.

There is a Jug Orchid and two mysterious buds. What will they be?

Woody is certainly fascinated!

(click on image to enlarge)

There are dozens of Silky Blues.

These snail orchids are so tiny.
These are the Yellow China orchids that only appear after a fire.
They are actually a pale yellow - like primroses - but I seem to have lost their colour
with my photo.


Below is a Fringed Mantis.

A Rare'un

This little yellow orchid is rarely found unless there's been a burn.

Thanks to an arsonist, we had a burn back in Feburary.

Every cloud...

It's a Yellow China orchid.

(complicated people call it ixiodes, tut!)

These are silky blues.

The Woodster thought orchids grew underground so dug huge holes, ripping out roots with his bare teeth! Bless...

Orchids after the Burn

Here is living proof that bushfire encourages growth. We have all sorts of orchids blooming now and in amazing numbers!

These are all quite small.

We have to tread carefully as we walk.

August 2009

Our morning walk after the rain was a delight.

The scent of the eucalypts rises from the earth where the sap has dripped.

Months of dust has been washed off the foliage. Everything is bright.

Orchids appear amongst their burnt surroundings.

Shoots appear from the base of charred trees.

The Grass Trees (Xanthorrea) are well on the way to recovery.

Although, let's face it, fire doesn't destroy them, only gives

them more reason to live.

And the Zamia Palm in the foreground is better than ever.

And we have an addition to the family...

if he lives!

As you can see Woody is extremely interested in this little being.

Glenn and his girls brought "Billy" (no, not very original but never mind) back from the bush.

He had a brother but he died.

When Billy walks around the house Woody 'escorts' him, everywhere, drooling.

He has even been seen to place his jaws around Billy's neck! But he didn't clamp them (not like he did with a certain hamster!) So we are keeping an eye on things.