Faith and Sunflowers

I planted some sunflower seeds on Boxing Day, which to non Australians and English is the day immediately after Christmas. They are now opening and starting to flower. My eldest daughter has always loved yellow so these photos are for her.





If you look closely at the photo above, you will see a grasshopper hidden in the sepals. Can you see him?
And here he is the day before. These hoppers can locate an organic garden so easily it seems but there is food for all of us.



And sitting at the computer last night, I put together a layout with one of my favourite quotes from Tagore:
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.

Link for credits.

I hope you enjoy the colour.

Beastly weather

 

If you know me at all you know how much I hate humidity and hot weather. When the temperature hits 30 C with humidity hovering in the 90’s, I just wither. The girls wither and even the dogs just lay on the tiles downstairs looking drained and pathetic.

Yesterday started with me hanging clothes outside at 5:15am just before sunrise. By 10am the kitchen temperature was just under 30 C and this is downstairs. Upstairs is an oven and even with aircon in the study it was still hot. Certainly makes it difficult to move outside to take a daily photo. Thankfully the weather has now broken with rain. My fingers are crossed that it stays overcast and raining all day.

 

 

Sunday was Chinese New Year and we celebrated in welcoming in the year of the Tiger with a wonderful meal. And how do you start preparing a Chinese meal? By soaking the mushrooms, lotus blossoms etc. These are Shitake mushrooms nearly ready for cooking.

 

 

These are the books that I’ve read in the 2 weeks since the laser eye surgery. I am in heaven and have so much to catch up on. Yes there are piles of books beside my bed!

 

 

This wonderful grasshopper even turned his head when I raised my camera to take his photos. I wish my 2 daughters were so obliging!

 

Have a great week everyone!

Big Catch up….

I can’t believe that it has been so long since I posted. I am still taking photos every day. There are days where it is a quick shot but anyway… Here are last weeks photos.

I spent Sunday cooking for the week. This is the start of a date/lemon slice that I make.

 

Some welcome rain.

 

 

 

Here are 2 photos of DD1 who turned 17 this week.

 

 

 

And another 2 of beans in our garden:

 

 

 

I went to the fruit market this morning and found beetroot was $3 for as many as you can fit into a bag.

Now this afternoon I have about 3 kg of pickled beetroot in the fridge, beetroot in the oven roasting with our dinner and the leftover we made into a Turkish dip. This is just before stirring the dip as I am walking around the house asking my 2 teens for a photo backdrop. DD2 suggested the lounge carpet and actually this was perfect as it came from Western Turkmen China. And the dip is very tasty. It contains yoghurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and cummin. Yum!

 

 

 

Enjoy the weekend and Valentines. For us though tomorrow is Chinese New Year and welcoming year of the Tiger.