G"day,
This weeks Sunday Scribblings Prompt is lost.
Pete and I went to the Canberra show today. We spent 4 1/2 hours sticky beaking around at everything. It was wonderful to spend time together, we can't do enough of that by ourselves. We dawdled around, got sun and wind burnt and covered in dust and enjoyed that too. We were laughing about the shark slide in the picture above. Pete's caption to it was "The fish John West reject". Another dumb thing we laughed at was, a sign that said "Breastfeeding Mother's Association", I wonder if they do free samples? Yeah I know we are warped.
But I also think it fits today's prompt, especially the Mum looking for her child to emerge from the sharks mouth. I bet that kid has nightmares about sharks tonight. He he. It looks like the lady with the stripey shirt is holding the sharks mouth open with a stick. There was a big inflatable crocodile slide too.


This little guy is called Casper. I think he is a Murray Grey, but he might be a Limousin, dunno, either one. He is 6 days old. He wanted to get back to his Mum, she is just behind him. Aren't baby animals of all sorts cute?
There was the usual array of all sorts of animals, Cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, cats, dogs, goats, alpaca, you name it, it was there.The show was well worth the look and much bigger than the local country shows I have been used to going to in the past. Side show alley was huge. I never was one for being tipped upside down and spun around at speed on those rides though.
These next few pics are of flowers and home grown produce on display at the show. I reckon they must have waxed and polished them. But I can put them in here with the prompt because they made me think. All that work and TLC to go into growing and nurturing them and then we cut them down. Then they are lost, but are nourishment for the body and soul in so many ways.
Pretty dahlias. They were the predominant bloom at the show at this time of year. Hundreds of them.
You can just see some of the cookery display behind the flowers. I had a look along at them. I don't know who the judges were but the winning exhibits were certainly not the best cooked items on display. E.G. one banana cake that had won a champion ribbon was terrible, it was sunken in the middle, stogy looking and heavy, with some of the texture looking decidedly doughy on the bottom. I wonder if the name of the exhibitor made a difference to the judge's decision. Hmmm. The carrot cakes were the same with one shoved up the back and looking perfect to my mind, unawarded.
I used to win awards for my flowers when I bothered to enter them in the Junee show.
This fruit and vege picture was sponsored by Woolworths. Who advertise themselves here as" the Fresh Food People". But I know they keep their produce in cold storage for months to stretch its shelf life. Ha! Fresh! Yeah right!

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Some other thoughts on this weekend's prompt were inspired by Granny Smith's post.
Her post bought back memories of my son David when he was a little tacker. He is 24 now and would be most embarrassed by this story.

He was probably 3 years old at the time when we all went up to Coff's Harbour for a holiday. Pete, myself, the two little boys, Michael and David and my Dad and Mum all squished into the one car and off we went.
David had a favourite Teddy bear he used to cart everywhere with him called Huggie, and he would not let it out of his sight so Huggie went along for the ride too. Huggie was a little brown bear with a superman cape, which suited David wonderfully because you couldn't get him out of his super man shirt and cape, he used to go crook if he had to take it off to be washed. He even waited underneath the clothes line for it to dry so he could put it straight back on again. Huggie was actually a little Super Ted bear, if you can remember that cartoon, but Dave named him Huggie bear.
On the way home from Coff's Harbour we went through the Hunter valley, to look around because that is where my Dad was born and grew up. We stopped at a small town called Scone for lunch and Dad went into the bank there to get some more money with David tagging along. He was a funny little kid and would have followed my Dad anywhere but didn't like a lot of people and would not have anything to do with them. Anyway some how Huggie got left behind. We did not discover the loss until that night when it was bed time and we were hundreds of miles away by then. Dave was inconsolable. He couldn't be settled and fretted for his Huggie bear. Dad was upset too that he had not noticed when Huggie was left behind.
Unbeknown to us Dad worked out just where Huggie had been seen last and wrote a letter to the bank in Scone. About a month later a parcel turned up addressed to Master David Lander.When David opened it he grabbed his beloved Huggie bear and burst into tears.
I still have Huggie bear, he is in a box of toys that I could not bear to throw away in the shed. He is pretty scruffy looking now days, maybe one day I will get to introduce him to David's child. If I am lucky.
Reminds me of the children's story "The Velveteen Rabbit". Huggie is real. His cape is long since lost and he is shabby and I think one eye is gone. The Velveteen Rabit story says that toys have to be loved before they become real.

Sunday Scribblings "Trust"

G'Day,
My weekly favourite Sunday Scribblings prompt for this week is 'Trust".
Well thunk me, that sounds really serious.
Seriously!
I don't want to be serious.
I went to the National Zoo and Aquarium today. I have not been there for probably 7 years it has developed further in that time.
To tie it in with this weeks prompt.
Well here goes. That first fella or sheila in the picture above is a beautiful big reticulated python. These guys get real big and are second in size to the anaconda.
Would you trust him with your pets?
Here is a little salty, or salt water crocodile. There were a few of these in the exhibit, probably siblings, all about 20 inches long.
Would you trust him with your fingers?
The lovely big smooth, graceful, fluid snake on the branch above is an olive python. He lives in north Queensland and the Northern Territory.
I would trust him in my shed to catch the rodents. Doesn't mean I would enjoy going into the shed though.
This bloke/sheila is a painted crayfish.
I do not think I could trust him in my tropical fish tank.
What about this lovely soft cuddly snow leopard?
I think it better to trust her on the other side of the fence.
This is a nice sized groper. One of the cod family.
Could you trust swimming with her? I think you could. Just watch the fingers, or the arms, or the head, just a mouthful for her. Looks like a good idea they had for that kids birthday party anyhow.
How about this guy?
Trust him with your garden? Before someone tells me...yes I do know he is a fussy eater.
Would you trust these maps in the bush?
Could you trust this red kangaroo?
He has lost his right back paw. He could not scratch you too badly with that. He must be O.K. or they would not have had him in the open pen for the public to pat.
Would you pick up this sexy legged hitch hiker.?
Or give these two emus a ride on your ark?
Some one must have.
Gloomphf Gloomphf! ( is the noise they make, like a weird drum beat that comes from deep inside their throats.)

Could you trust these little penguins not to poop in your swimming pool? They used to be called fairy penguins but they recently had a name change to little penguins. They are so cute and when they are swimming they look like they are flying under water.
If you enlarge this picture you can see that this black sun bear is trying to lick the inside of this drink bottle with his long tongue.It was not rubbish that had been thrown into it's pen. The zookeepers put things inside the drink bottles and give them to the animals to play with to entertain them. The otters had some with squid pieces inside.
Would you trust him with your lolly stash?
What about this white lioness, languishing in the afternoon warmth. Isn't she a beauty?
But...would you trust her on your side of the fence?
This little otter was hunting for tid bits that a group of children (friends of the zoo) had hidden in their enclosure. Now why didn't they have things like that to get into when I was a kid.
I would not trust him let loose in the Aquarium.
Cotton top Tamarin. I absolutely loved these little guys. I could have spent most of the afternoon just watching them and not looking at anything else.They are native to the northern part of South America.
Would you trust your hair dresser with them?
It might be funny seeing her trying to hold one still to do the haircut.

There were three or four of these blokes at the zoo.
How about a hug from them?
Would you trust them?
You can go on tours at the zoo where you can have one of these bears lick honey off your hand , or go into the cheetah enclosure and pat them.
Last but not least is this beautiful Lion fish. Those lovely decorative fins hold nasty, painful, poisonous spikes.
Would you trust patting him?
That is my flippant take on the prompt "Trust".
That's it for this week.
Bye
Love Linda.

G'Day,
It is late Tuesday night, in fact in just 2 minutes it will be Wednesday. I got back from work tonight and have not wound down yet so here I am at the computer.
I was told tonight that the death toll from the Victorian fires has now topped the 200 mark. I heard on the news earlier while traveling between jobs that there were still 6 fires burning out of control. So that is bad but still a big improvement on what it was a week ago.
Ah now it is Wednesday morning.
I should go to bed, I am tired but not sleepy yet.
For Valentines day Pete, Mum and I had lunch at the restaurant in the park that overlooks Lake Burley Griffin. we stayed outside on the deck, because we had Rufus our little doggie with us. It was quite funny. I thought I would have a glass of wine with my lunch so I ordered a nice glass of Riesling and took one sip. Sat back in the chair and looked out across the lake thinking "Yep, I can take this anytime" and when I put the glass down missed the edge of the table completely and it tipped all over me. Well, 2/3rds of it anyway. When I had a look on the menu I had just paid $8.50 to wear a nice glass of wine. It was a bit uncomfortable too as the wind had quite a chill to it. Not good with a wet crotch and belly, we won't mention how I must have smelt. He he.
That evening Pete and I snuck away by ourselves into the city to spend some time together alone. There was a festival on in town called the Fringe festival. A multicultural type thingy with music, dancing, ethnic food etc. We stayed for a while and watched Latin music and dancing in Garema place and had some Fijian food that was ordinary at best, fried and kept in the bain -marie until it had turned to leather. There was another marquee that had a band going and we stayed and listened in there for a while too. Also watched some of those Brazilian martial arts/dance /exercise people, can't remember the name of that. Pretty good they were too. There was a Cuban bloke there singing, he was good also. The minister for cultural affairs got on stage and did a bit of a political blurb while trying to act cool and show us all how he could dance, which he couldn't, but it was funny anyway.
It is still cool here, a refreshing reprieve from a few weeks ago when we had that heat wave that spurred the fires. It is supposed to warm back up into the high 20's early 30's later this week. We are supposed to get some rain tomorrow. We have not had any for a couple of weeks, it has been trying to rain, but the clouds have not managed to give up any more than a fine misty sprinkling.
We are still going through the adjustment period with the new schools we are cleaning in Queanbeyan. They will get to know us soon and learn that we are good at what we do and are doing the right thing by them. It is taking a little longer for them to trust us because we don't actually see anybody there at the schools as it is well after school hours. But we, and they, will get used to each other.

Better try to get some sleep now as the icons for the bold and italics writing has mysteriously come on and won't disappear. Bugger! Ah there it goes! How did that happen?
Good Night.
Love Linda.

Sunday Scribblings "Sport"

G'day,
The Sunday scribblings prompt for this weekend is "Sport".
Well sport an' me don't mix too well. Unfortunately it shows in my body too.
If I had the confidence to go backwards, which is one of the things I swear I will never do...I would like to change that.
Sure, I like to challenge myself physically, but I tend to do that via physical work rather than in sport.
There are some things that I am proud of doing that I class as physically challenging, like chopping up fallen trees and not giving in until it is all finished or grubbing out stumps or other gardening tasks that others would give up on but that is not sport as most people would think of it.
I was one of those kids who never played sport successfully because I would cringe when someone yelled at me. I thought that I had done something wrong so I would drop the ball or throw it to the nearest person, regardless of whether they were on m my team or not. So I was the one who was always picked last. He he.
I am still like that if some one yells at me or is angry at me. I cringe and internalize it.
I remember once, playing softball with my school in the park behind Bronte beach when I was in 5th grade. I am sure the kids used to hit the ball near me because they thought I would not catch it. Well this day I did, it literally dropped into my hands. They probably did not like that either. Well the kids on the other team anyway. He he.
Funny though, since working cleaning at the schools where I do, I have listened and watched the kids playing and all the kids yell at each other when playing and now I see that I probably misunderstood their intentions.
The other reason I refused to play sport as a youngster was because my parents and my sister were all good sports persons and I was not so well coordinated therefore would not compete and be compared to my wonderful sister. Likewise for not going and doing my nurses training as I got older , because I refused to be compared to her. Even though I was told that I have an aptitude for nursing and would have done well at that sort of work. So now she runs the hospital and I clean toilets. Ah well back to my old excuse... you can't go back.
People who enjoy sport and are good at it would probably say Phooff to that, but there you go that is me.
When I was in high school I used to enjoy athletics. I never did anything great there but I did enjoy the running and hurdles and shot put type stuff.
I used to try to lose weight and run around the oval until I was exhausted. The only way to lose weight is to increase output until it exceeds input. It works if you can keep it up, and sport is one of the ways to tackle it. I lost 18 kg a few years ago challenging myself, but with walking and trips to the gym, and being tough on myself food wise, not with sport. There were nice steep hills to challenge myself on around Junee where I was living at the time.
Football, Cricket, Tennis, Golf etc on the television. I hate it and couldn't think of anything more boring and annoying that to sit in front of the idiot box all day watching it. I would find it more entertaining watching paint dry. Granted the computer I am sitting in front of now is not using up many calories either but it is much more entertaining than sport on T.V or most things on T.V. for that matter. My Mum loves to watch sport on T.V. and still tries to shove it down my neck how wonderful it is, and I hate that. I give her the lounge room and the T.V. and come in here to the computer instead.
If I could go back... one of the things I would choose to do was encourage my children to take part in sport more than they did. I think that playing team sport boosts confidence and encourages fitness, which is important, both when they are growing up and as adults. At the time I did not push them into it as they were not really interested and I thought that if I hated sport then why would I enforce it on them. But with hindsight it may have done them some good. My second son played soccer for a few years, just for fun, nothing serious. He challenges himself and his fitness with weights and a punching bag strung up in the car port and does a lot of walking, he is quite fit.
But sport and me... nah!
I have had a tough week, mostly due to my own stupidity and mistakes and I have been very hard on myself over it. I will survive. Some days the whole world feels like it hates you. My puter pals make me smile. Thanks everyone.
love Linda.

Fires

G'Day,
It is Tuesday night, and nice and cool here in Canberra compared to the shocking heat we had last week.
The fires in Victoria are still burning tonight. The official death toll has been announced tonight as 181 and still climbing. More bodies are expected to be found amongst the rubble of homes and cars that are yet to be searched. It has been predicted that the death toll may rise as high as 300.
There are 450 defense personnel involved with the search and fire fighting, as well as many hundreds of fire fighters. Fire fighters are coming from New Zealand and the U.S. to help plus other places as well, I have not heard all of the news today so I am not up on all the details.
The winds picked up today across Victoria and pushed the fires along to cause more damage and threaten more towns.
The radio station here in Canberra that was running an appeal for food, clothes etc, as mentioned yesterday, for the fire victims, was putting calls out on the radio for people to stop bringing them stuff because they had too much. They now have 12 shipping containers full of goods to take to the fire effected region which they will start transporting by road tonight. The appeal that I spoke about yesterday, run from Red Hill school where I work, will have to forward their donations else where.When I went there this afternoon the foyer was covered in things donated to go to Victoria. I took 9 gift bags in have which I had put a face washer, toothpaste, soap, tooth brushes, razors, note pad and pencil. I hope they get sent. I went shopping early this morning to collect things I thought may be useful.
There has been 10 million dollars donated through another appeal and the prime minister has said that they will not put a cap on relief funding for the disaster.
They also said on the radio that the blood bank is fully booked out for the week so I will wait to donate blood until later. They will still need it.
I am tired.
Going to bed.
Good night.
Love Linda.

Fires.

G'Day,
It is now Monday morning.
The death toll from the horrific fires in Victoria has risen to 108, and there is more to come.
There have been 750 plus homes destroyed, as listed so far. Whole towns have disappeared off the map.
There are still 20 plus fires burning out of control around the state, plus some other fires that have been contained.
The worst of them now is around the Beechworth area. An area I often visited for a day out when I lived in Junee, Wagga and Urana over many years. It is a very bushy area at the foothills of the Victorian Alp, with lots of nice little shops to sticky beak through, with wineries and farmlands. Like most of the areas burned around Victoria I guess. Of all the areas burned it is the one I am most familiar with. Pete and I went there for a few days for a short honeymoon. Yackandanda is also under threat from fires at the moment.
Today is cooler and the firies are hoping to make progress with the fires today because the temperatures are predicted to rise again after tomorrow.
It is absolutely unbelievable that a few thousand miles directly to the north of the Victorian fires, in the north of Queensland. they are having record flooding and peoples homes and livelihoods are being destroyed by water.
This weekend has been a terrible time that is going to go down in our history books. It has been dubbed "Black Saturday" and has become Australia's biggest natural disaster. Previous to this the worst fires were also in Victoria in 1983 when 75 lives were lost, that one was known as "Ash Wednesday".
This morning on the news they have been talking about some of the fires being deliberately lit and the whole fire area has been declared a crime scene as investigations into the worst hit areas are began.
A 31 year old male has been arrested and charged with lighting fires in Peat's Ridge in N.S.W. That fire is now under control.
There are so many stories on the media of people loosing absolutely everything, their homes, their farms, their pets, and their livelihoods. Worst of all their family members, friends and neighbors.
When the Junee fires were on a few years ago, I remember the way all the towns people pulled together and supported each other, and how the surrounding communities were there to help too. I was so proud, after the initial shock wore off, of my little towns community spirit and it's inhabitants. I am getting that sense again from some of the stories I have heard and seen on the news.We are Aussies, and the old spirit of mate ship that was so evident in our armed forces during it's history is still here.
After the Junee fires one of the soccer club families had lost their house. The soccer club people got together and made hundreds of paper flowers for the lady of the house after the clean up. When she came home one afternoon to her rented home, they had decorated her whole front yard with them. She was upset at loosing her garden and that cheered her up and got her laughing again. My workmate Leonie was one of the main instigators for that prank.
I so hope that the weather change we have today will be enough to get the fires under control before it warms up again.
Bye
Love Linda.

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It is Monday night.
There are new fires tonight and the death toll has risen to 130. it has been predicted that the death toll may rise to over 200.
The little school where I work is having an appeal of their own to go to the fire stricken people. I will go and buy some tinned food tomorrow and put it in a box to go with their stuff. Doug, the principal at the school said that they were going to take it to a local radio station who is appealing for food, linen, clothing etc for the victims. They said on that radio station today that they had already filled up one shipping container to be sent, and are working on their second. Others are helping in kind with manpower.
There are appeals elsewhere.....everywhere. Everybody is trying to help the best they can, if not with money then with goods. I should go to the blood bank and donate as they are asking for blood too for burns victims. I am a registered donor but have not given since moving here to Canberra. The cricketers and footballers are giving their payments and takings just to name a few others and the govt has help in place too. It will be a long road back for the affected communities.
I heard they caught another man today who had lit a fire in one of the badly affected areas in Victoria. What a moron. Why?
A new fire threat has been reported in the Healsville area north of Melbourne. Another area of great natural beauty at risk of being destroyed. It is also another area that is often badly hit fires because of the thick bush and hilly terrain around there.
I have not heard anything much about what is happening to the wildlife. I can imagine. I guess with all the damage done it is the last thing on peoples minds at the moment.
Work was a breeze tonight with the cooler temperatures and we handled it easily after the heat of last week.
Kudos to our Prime Minister who is spending a lot of time down there in the fire area and helping and supporting its victims. He stayed there today even though it was a parliamentary sitting day.
Thank you everyone who commented on my fire posts, I appreciate your concern. The fire danger is not over yet. Say a prayer for them all.
Goodnight.
Love Linda.

Fire.

G'Day,
Today and last night I have been watching in horror as the fires in the southern state of Victoria have been burning and their story is unfolding.
Just a few minutes ago they updated the death toll to 35 deaths. There are no doubt more to come. Reporters have said that 40 plus have been predicted. Many more people have been burned, I heard a report that there are three in hospital in Melbourne with very serious injuries, plus 18 others having treatment there as well. That is just the report from one hospital.
When my eldest son was a baby in 1983, Victoria had it's worse fires recorded to date, known as Ash Wednesday. This one is bigger and has a higher death toll already. It is still raging out of control at 10 different sites across the state to the north east and north west of Melbourne. The conditions today have eased somewhat compared to yesterday and last night but the fires are still out of control.
The towns of Kings lake have lost 6 people which is the highest number of deaths for one town so far. At this stage none of the victims are able to be recognized.
Last night on the news they said that the town of Eagle hawk just outside of Bendigo was badly damaged. A few years ago I met a lovely man (John Eagle) who had a pottery and art school there with his wife. He caught my attention because he did wonderful copper red glazes, my favourite glaze, and I bought a pot off him and was talking with him for quite a while. He was outside town in the bush, I guess his place is gone now.
Another town called Marysville is reported as being 90% destroyed. Oh my god can you imagine? 90%.
I am pretty well at the stage where I don't want to know anymore. It is too horrible.
Our little town of Junee had terrible fires about 4 years ago. That was pretty bad, at one stage they were going to evacuate the whole town but the town was surrounded on three sides and no one could get out because of the smoke on the other side anyway. We survived with the loss of 5 houses and just one boy badly burnt but he survived with disabilities that will stay with him for the rest of his life. That is nothing compared to what is happening in Victoria as I write this. Last night there was a cool change with a minor amount of rain, not enough to help, but the wind change was not in the fire fighters favour and resulted in more damage being done as the winds turned the fire around.
Here in Canberra there were huge fires the year before the Junee ones, with lots and lots of houses lost too, I can't remember numbers but I think there were 500 homes lost that time. Reports so far on the Victorian fires have said that there are well over a hundred homes lost.
They have called in the army to help.The state has been declared a disaster zone. Of course.
There is also a large fire burning near Sydney at Peat's Ridge. It is in an area where much of the terrain is hilly or mountainous and very hard to get into the thick bush to fight.
No fires near here thank god!
More later.
Bye Love Linda.


It is now 5.30m in the afternoon here and the death toll has risen to 65, and still going up.
it is now 8.30 on Sunday evening and they have just announced that there have been 78 official deaths from the fires in Victoria. And many many more burn injuries.
How much worse will this get?
It is not over yet.

Sunday Scribblings "Art"

G'Day,
The Sunday Scribblings prompt this weekend is art. It didn't take me long to start writing what I think on this subject.
I could write lots.
My first though was that word is a bit abused. I can not really understand a lot of modern art and i do not try to analyze such works, I either like or don't like it. That is where I feel the abuse comes in, by people trying to sell a sub standard product by talking B***S**T.
I also do not enjoy the art that is around now days created to shock our conscience, but that type of art I can often see the point behind. I do sometimes get a laugh out of it.
I do believe how ever that Art, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Art is so many things to so many different people. Art is in nature (number 1 on my list), 3 dimensional, flat on a canvas, in architecture, on a face, in our senses, music, where ever and what ever we see in our minds eye, heart, feel, hear, smell, if and when we choose to do so.
Art can make you immortal. It is often sad to think that artists have to die to become famous, but that is what often what happens.
If you are a reader of my blog journey you know that I am a hobby potter and have been since my eldest son was a baby. He is 26 yrs old now. I went to my first pottery lesson when he was 10 months old because I needed an outlet and was probably suffering from post natal depression and not coping very well at the time. I never went to a Dr, I was scared to. I had previously made one pot at high school and the feel of the clay was always in my mind from that day on. Some one actually stole my first pot, but that is another story, I never got it back. I thought it was pretty good, some one else must have thought the same.
Anyway, going off on a tangent there. When I was in my early years of potting I heard a few stories that stay with me today.
The first of these being that when archaeologists find ancient pottery it still holds within it the finger prints of the maker, thousands of years later. Amazing ..... I loved that .... each person ever born has their own set of finger prints. Maybe some one will be digging in the garbage tip a few thousand years from now and find a piece of pottery that I made, and scratching their head wonder what , why and who made it, my finger prints will still be here, like my genes through my children in future generations, (for better or worse), likewise as my genes come from my ancestors.
The second story was set during the industrial revolution when potters were trying to find ways of duplicating the beauty of the fine porcelains and bone china pots that were coming out of china. The story goes that a potter became so frustrated with his attempts that he threw himself into his clay pit and died . Therefore becoming a part of his own pots. And guess what... that was what the clay needed, bone. he he. I do not know if that is true or not ...but I like the idea.
The picture above is the last thing I made. As you can see it has not been fired yet. I sat out at the back table outside and made it after my blogging friend "Sorrow" told me I needed to have my hands back in the clay as I had told her I was missing it after looking at what she had been making. She is on my side bar if you want to have a look. She was right. It felt so good to have clay back in my hands again after not touching any for a few months. I have made a few chooks from clay. It seems to be my latest craze of things to make. I go through that until I am sick of making that thing and change to something else. The craze before that was tiles, and before that, thing for candles to go in. I wonder what will be next.
Art is what you see, and what you want it to be.
There comes the art versus craft debate... I should stop there :).
That's all folks.
Love Linda.

Summer Garden, sizzlin' in the heat.

G'Day,
I was thinking that I did not have a lot around the yard that was in flower and living up to the viscous heat wave we have been enduring the last few weeks. So....I went outside with my camera and found there was quite a bit out there to look at after all. Mostly what is in flower is bits and pieces not big bunches, but here they are to show off to you.
First picture is of an ivy geranium, tough little plant it is too. But not in the cold and frosty time of the year when I will have to protect it or lose it.
This is a mini rose out the back.
This is sold as Million bells , what is it's proper names, who cares it is pretty. Starts with a C.
Mum's little marigolds.Another tough little plant.
There are some more little mini roses and a Portulaca or two.
And a little fairy light getting her solar boost so she can glow tonight.
The Hebe out the front garden is just about finished flowering. I almost cut this out when we moved here because it was half dead and scraggy but it has come back not too badly with just a bit of trimming instead. The flowers come out a very dark purple then fade to mauve.
A crepe Myrtle a bit heat stressed but surviving. I don't think it is supposed to be flowering just now. They usually do that at the end of summer.
This is a hibiscus shrub at the front of the house. They are not the big showy flowering plants that you find in the tropics, those ones don't grow this far south.
Another hibiscus flower, a single one this time that is growing at the side of the house as a big shrub. It is quite lovely and about 15 ft tall. It must be happy. I like the way the light is shining through and illuminating it's petals.

Something else that is on my mind at the moment.
Why oh why, I will never understand. Why blokes can have it all, the lifestyle, the beautiful wife , house, flash cars, cute kids the works and still perv at other women and make comments about them. About their looks or what they would like to do to them.
Yeah guys have a laugh at me, but really, why do you do that?
Don't you know how demeaning, demoralizing, how big a put down and zap of confidence and self image that acting this way is to the woman that you are supposed to love and have chosen to live your life with.
C'Mon. It is not just a matter of "What she does not know won't hurt her".
How would you feel about women doing that to you at the level you do it to them.
Women give up so much when they choose to make a family with you and you basically shit on them whenever a half attractive woman goes past.
I fell really terrible for the wives of men whom I see doing this. And I feel terrible for me.
My husband has even done it when I was with him, he walked into a parking sign one day looking at someone, hah serves him right! He he.
I know he has had his flirtations and I have had my attractions before, but we don't act on them. Why would we risk losing what we have for a bit on the side when what we have is good.
It has been shown over millenia that open marriages don't work, not for very long anyway. Why would you risk that.
No, I don't understand.
Sure, as women we look and admire men too. We like to look at both women and men and admire their beauty. But on the whole not many women that I have known carry on like lunatics in that regard. Though I do see men doing that.
No, I guess I don't understand.
Sometimes I wonder if in doing so they are just reinforcing their masculinity to the people around them who might be watching or maybe trying to reinforce that they are hetrosexuals. Well mate! keep it to yourself.
That is just my rant for the day. I got that off my chest. Comments appreciated on the subject, be they positive or negative. What do you think?