Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Welcome!
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO MY RED BUBBLE STORE.

Tuesday 23 November 2021

Photography Group of Bunbury end of year awards 2021

 Hi everyone, I am a little late in posting this week, but I hope you don't mind me doing some blatant self-promotion. Last night I was runner-up (for the third year running) for Photographer of the Year 2021 at the Photography Group of Bunbury's awards night. 


Points are awarded for Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards at the club's monthly competitions which have projected and print topics and are either colour or mono-only.  Many of my images were from our travels, a couple were taken at workshops, and a few were taken in our area, my garden or on my kitchen bench! 

My golds -


My silvers - 


My bronzes - 


I was also joint winner of the Most Consistent for the highest number of images entered for the year. 

Congratulations to all the other worthy winners for the Photographer of the Year (Richard Hall), 3rd place (Dennis Bear), Colour Image of the Year (Dennis Bear), Mono Image of the Year (Richard Hall), President's Award (Jodie Deeley & Chris de Blank), Club Member of the Year (Richard Hall), and Consistency Award (Richard Hall & Jill Harrison) And to all club members who entered images during the year, and our very hard working Committee and members who work behind the scenes. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. Just a short post from me today. I hope you and yours are doing well. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 

Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday
The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Tuesday 9 November 2021

The Candlestick Banksia - it must be November


Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are doing well. 
It must be November because here in Western Australia the Candlestick Banksias are coming into flower. They remind me of giant Christmas candles. Can you see why? 


Banksia attenuata, commonly known as the candlestick banksia, slender banksia or biara to the Noongar people, is a species of plant in the family Proteaceae. Commonly a tree, it reaches 10 m high, but it is often a shrub in drier areas 0.4 to 2 m high.  The candlestick banksia is found across much of the southwest of Western Australia, from north of Kalbarri National Park in the mid west down to Cape Leeuwin on the south west corner and across to Fitzgerald River National Park on the south coast.  wikipedia

These ones you see below here are growing in a small bush block near my house. They always tell me that summer and Christmas is on its way. 


Here is a closer look at some of the stages of the flower.  The brilliant yellow inflorescences (flower spikes) occur from spring into summer and are up 5 cm (2.0 in) wide and up to 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) tall.

The last image is the nut stage. The 'eyes' burst open to release the seeds. 


The first 2 images here are new leaves unfurling. The rest show the stages of the flower. 

The candlestick banksia is pollinated by and provides food for a wide array of animals in summer months. Several species of honeyeater visit the flower spikes, as does the honey possum, which has an important role as a pollinator. 


That's it from me today. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at the Candlestick Banksia. I have blogged about Banksias before - please click here to explore other varieties I have photographed -   Celebration of the Western Australian Banksia

There are over 75 species of Banksia, all but one occurring naturally within Australia. The greatest concentration of species is found in Western Australia.

You can find some notes here at the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife - Dpaw.wa- Banksia notes

Thank you so much for stopping by. Do you have a favourite flower this time of year? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Stay safe and have a wonderful week. 


Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Monday 1 November 2021

Nannup wildflower walks - & The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

 I have just finished reading - The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. I have been a bit slow coming to this book, as it was published in 2019. The cover attracted me when I saw it on the shelf in my local library. Can you see why?


This beautifully written book is the story of Alice Hart, who lost both her parents in a fire when she was nine. She goes to live with her grandmother on a flower farm where she is taught the language of Australian native flowers. Spanning 20 years, the story takes you from the coast to inland Australia.  It delves into the stories we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we choose to hide. It is about loss, family secrets, betrayal and what we do to survive. 

I love this quote - Life is lived forward, but only understood backward - Holly Ringland, inspired by the writing of Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. 

You can also find Holly on Instagram @ hollygoeslightly

What I particularly loved was the way that Holly has dipped into the Victorian tradition of giving meaning to flowers. Holly has written meanings to Australian flowers and woven them into her story. For example: Sturt's Desert Pea - Have courage take heart. 

These are Sturt Desert Peas which we saw on our trip through Western Australia's north west a few months ago. They are amazing. 


Each chapter of the book is headed by a flower, it's meaning, and a short description. Accompanying each chapter is a beautiful wildflower line illustrations by Edith Rewa. Also see on Instagram.  Her work is truly stunning. 

I had visions of being a botanical artist when I was in high school and have dabbled with it over the last year or so. I need to work on it more. 

In September I brought you a blog about the exploring the Bridgetown Jarrah Park between Nannup and Bridgetown, a couple of weeks ago we had a few days free so we went back down to Nannup with our caravan to stay for a few days and do some more wildflower walks. 

We arrived in Nannup around lunchtime in the afternoon went out to the Kondil Wildflower walks which are only a short distance from town. There are three loop walks - 700 metre, 2.5 km, and 3.3km. We decided to do the longer walk. Below are some of the wildflowers we saw. 

This bright blue one is the Blue Leschenaultia. Stunning isn't it. 


This mauve one is one of the fringe lilies. And the one below it is a hooded lily - Johnsonia lupulina I had never looked closely at them before. The layers open into little flowers which you can see if you turn them up. So beautiful. 


Of course there were also orchids. Clockwise from top left - cowslip, one of the hammer orchids, forest mantis, Crab lipped spider orchid (a new one for us), white spider orchid, and enamel orchid.  The hammer orchid was an exciting find because they are so hard to see, we have only seen one a couple of times. 

And these are rattlebeak orchids - Lyperanthus serratus -  - I hadn't seen them in such a group before. 


And this is Western Australia's floral emblem - the kangaroo paw - Anigozanthos manglesii


That's it from me today. I will be back another time with more from our few days in Nannup. It really was a lovely short break and I wished we had more time. 

Have you read the Lost Flowers of Alice Hart? What did you think of it? 

Do you have a favourite wildflower walk? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

You might also like: Exploring the Bridgetown Jarrah Park

An excellent orchid identification site is: Western Australian Native orchid study

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.