Life Images by Jill: 2021

Sunday, 26 December 2021

Christmas in Australia

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a happy and safe Christmas.

It was so hot on Christmas Day that our grandson fried an egg in a pan on the driveway. On Boxing Day we measured the temperature under our patio - 43C (109F) and over 50C (122F) in the direct sun! - thought we had better bring the thermometer in before it exploded!

A lot of people here go to the beach, but we elected to stay home and relax most of the weekend. Far to hot outside for us.

It got me to thinking about Christmas past when I was a child and we lived in a weather-board house with no insulation and no air-conditioning. And my Mum cooking a Christmas roast dinner on a wood stove in over 100F heat!

Here are a few lines taken from a poem of memories I wrote recently...

Do you remember sister.......

Laying reading on the cool passageway lino on hot summer afternoons.

The Secret Seven for me and the Famous Five for you.

The delights of push-up ice-creams,

with luscious strawberry syrup at the bottom.

Fruit Loops eaten straight from the packet.

Cordial iceblocks in a plastic cup.

And Dad buying bucket icecreams with little spoons at the drive-in.

(this one below says chocolate, ours were strawberry)

Summer holiday cottages at Palm Beach and Safety Bay.

Doublegee prickles in the yard,

the enclosed verandas looking out to Penguin Island.

Swimming lessons at Palm Beach,

I was too scared to lift my feet off the bottom.

Burning hot sand and rocks at the beach.

Jelly fish as big as dinner plates at Como beach swimming lessons.

(some old pics of my sister & me from the 1950s-60s)

Evening walks on the jetty

watching the crab nets being pulled.

Dad stringing Christmas lights in our pine trees,

the Salvation Army singing carols under our corner street light.

Laying on a tarp on the back lawn on hot summer nights

gazing at the stars and playing I spy.

Grape vines on the trellis,

and making grape jam on the wood stove in the heat of summer,

squishing the grapes in my hands for their juice.

Running under the sprinkler

and playing in the bath on hot summer days,

sliding down the sloped end,

flooding the floor with water.

Simple pleasures

I remember them well.

Do you have simple pleasure from your childhood? Perhaps you would like to share them in your comments. These days summer holidays seem to demand more zip and going places and doing things and whiz-bang. Perhaps I am getting old, perhaps I just yearn for the simpler days when we kids were content with less.

But whatever the decade or age - there must be icecream and a cold drink and somewhere to relax in the shade with a good book.

Wishing you and yours a very safe and happy Christmas spent with those you love.

Here is a little summer Christmas video for my friends in the northern hemisphere:

(ps - it starts with Maori New Zealand counting)

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. Stay safe and 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, 21 December 2021

Christmas weaves a magic wand over this world

It is only a few days till Christmas and life seems to be getting crazier and crazier with shopping, baking, present wrapping, get-togethers and going out to see the Christmas lights.

Christmas is mid summer in Australia and I have heard today that our temperatures, at least in Western Australia's capital city, Perth, for Christmas Day will be around 41 Celsius - that is around 106 Fahrenheit!

Even though it is hot you will see a lot of bright colour around here this time of year. Below you can see some of our flowering trees which we see on our daily walk - clockwise from top left - one of the red flowering gums, jacaranda (though from South Africa you will see lots here in Western Australia), the Western Australian Christmas Tree, and lastly a creamy eucalypt which I need to identify.

In case you missed it, I shared more summer colour in our Australian bush last week: Down in the West Australian bush this week in summer

Also colourful varieties of kangaroo paw -

In the cappuccino strip of our city a yellow flowering tree with a pea type flower makes a shady canopy over the area - I need to also find out what this tree is.

My front garden has a lot of gorgeous colour this time of year.

Crazy as it may seem in 40 degree heat, many people still have a hot roast Christmas dinner. But there are also cold drinks and salads. Top left are little Christmas puddings I make - delicious and no baking!

Perhaps my handmade Christmas cards I have made over the last few years reflect the colours of the Australian Christmas

But I also have more subtle botanical eco-dyed cards too

And some little twiggy decorations and one made with wooden pegs!

As I look at what is happening around us in this Covid world, natural disasters, a tragic incident with school children in Tasmania, and some health issues people close to me are currently going through, I struggle to be ''merry and bright'' but I hope that these words from Norman Vincent Peale will ring true this Christmas:

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world

and behold everything is softer and more beautiful.

Monday, 13 December 2021

Manea Reserve - Down in the Western Australian bush this week

We have been sweltering here the last couple of weeks in Western Australia as we are hit by the summer sun. I have been waiting for a cooler cloudy day to go out to Manea Reserve to see if the summer flowering slipper orchids have opened. Saturday morning was my first opportunity - and I wasn't disappointed. I have always said there is always something flowering in the Australian bush. And this is true for summer.

We were greeted at the gate with a heavily laden Jarrah tree - Eucalyptus marginata - much prized for it's wood for fine furniture making.

My goodness there is a lot of yellow in this collage.

Clockwise below from top left you can see the last of the Orange stars - Hibbertia stellaris. The Holly-leaved banksia - Banksia ilicifolia. Spearwood - Kunzea glabrescens. And bottom left Yellow starflower - Calytrix-angulata

Below here - top row the Western Australian Christmas Tree - Nuytsia floribunda and below that the Candlestick banksia - Banksia-attenuata - both of which I have blogged about before. Please click on the orange links to read more. They are so glorious this time of year. Interesting the Christmas trees were only just starting to flower in Manea, whereas I have seen them in full flower in other areas nearby.

One little bottle brush was trying to put on a good red Christmas show, there were a few purple Fringe Lily T. multiflorus, and the last of the bushy boronia -Boronia fastigiata - were pretty in pink (though I don't have a definite identification of this one)

Below here is on the top row - Spider smokebush - Conospermum teretifolium and below that Drumsticks, also known as pineapple bush - Dasypogon bromeliifolius. You can probably see why they are called drumsticks.

Look at the height of these grass trees spikes! - Xanthorrhoea brunonis. My husband kindly posed so you can get an idea of the height. There are around 28 species of grass tree endemic to Australia. The one you see below does not have a trunk like the Xanthorrhoea preissii, also known by the Noongar name balga.

Here is some information I found on the net: Bush Heritage Australia - Grass Trees and on ABC - Gardening Australia

But wait - there is more yellow! This is the native broom - also known as swishbush - Viminaria juncea. A large drooping bush 3-5 metres high that likes slightly swampy ground.

And finally I come to the Slipper orchid - Cryptostylis ovata - the only Western Australian wild orchid that has leaves all year round. I've blogged about them before here - Summer colour in the south west Western Australia

All the spring orchids have finished in Manea Reserve, and I was so happy not to have missed the summer flowering slipper orchid.