Trip to England Nov 2010

Can you believe these flowers are embroidered?
Work of my very clever sister.

This is Gill's favourite place for walking, The Trundle,
the site of an ancient Iron Age hill fort.

Oh! A ride in the car. My favourite!

I saw these berries in a local park and would love to know what this shrub is.

I used to work in a hotel on top of Richmond Hill.
Above is the view of the River Thames from the Terrace Gardens .

Richmond Park and its wildlife.
You can see London in the distance.
And after tea at Pembroke Lodge we walked to King Henry's Mound and from here is a protected view of St Paul's Cathedral.

Home grown blooms

Stocks and bluebells. It must be Spring!

Sojourns

Trek the Trail walk from Parkerville to Swan View.
We had a perfect day to walk the 8.4kms through forest,
beside waterfalls and through an old railway tunnel.

Relaxing at home.
And I have the honour of washing his clothes!

Hidden treasures

A jug orchid growing in the centre of an old burnt out tree stump.

Yellow cowslip orchids Caladenia flava.

September orchids

I found this tiny Pink Fairy Orchid right in the middle of the firebreak (clearings around the property). It is so tiny, smaller than a 5c (sixpence).
Caladenia latifolia

This is a Silky Blue orchid. Not so many of these this year, so far anyway.
We received only half our average rainfall this winter so
maybe it will make a difference.
Cyanicula sericea

And here is the amazing Jug Orchid.
Pterostylis recurva

First orchids of the year!

It is fifteen months since the fire and the native bush has recovered well.
In fact, it is greener than we've ever seen it.

Since the cat arrived on the scene last year Woody has had to get used to him accompanying us on our morning walks. He likes to whizz past us, climb trees, pounce from behind bushes and generally play "scary cats".
The ultra-cool Woody is completely unfazed.

In amongst the bright green new growth of various shrubs and trees we were delighted to discover bunny orchids, lots of them!
Eriochilus Dilatus

These flowers are the size of my smallest fingernail.

A walk on New Year's Day morning

It's wonderfully cool. It is 6am and the sun is shining on the bright green new leaves bursting from the blackened tree trunks. I thought all the flowers and orchids had finished; we have, after all, had 40 degree days recently and no rain for weeks. But lo and behold, two blooms I don't remember seeing before.