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.

Welcome!

Welcome!
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO MY RED BUBBLE STORE.
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Sunday, 8 February 2026

What happened to January in Western Australia?

 Hi everyone, I fully intended to bring to you the final post from our trip down Western Australia's  Coral Coast last year..., but I am nearing the end of my first draft of my memoir that I am determined to finish this summer, so I must keep on.....I promise I will be back with that blog post soon.... 

So just a short post today - my gosh it is February already! what happened to January? It has been much too hot to do much outside except for first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon or early evening. As is every summer, there have been bush fires across Australia, and I feel for those who have been impacted directly. 

Below are some photos from my January..... Clockwise from below left - unfledged nearly ready to fly black swan cygnets on the Leschenault Estuary (more about them later), Australia Day fireworks, white corellas (a cockatoo - a pest in our city), building going on at our local shopping centre, dragon boat training on the Leschenault Inlet, marri flowers- Corymbia calophylla - looking gorgeous right now, the one night only flowering Moon Flower in my garden, a slow drawing sketching exercise with Amy from the Mindful Art Studio (thank you Amy), and in the centre we went to a Cricket game in Perth - our team, the Perth Scorchers won this game, and the series! 

It is full on summer here, and our topic for photography group in January was Feel the Chill, for the Wagin Woolarama interclub photography competition in March. We were warned last winter about the topic coming up, but I managed to put off doing anything till January. So I was stoked to receive golds for both these images. 

I really should have taken this photo of the icy-poles in winter or find someone with a walk in chiller room! January has been hot hot and so I had the air-conditioning on, the fan on, I had to keep adding fresh ice to the bowl, and a couple of times I put the ice-creams back in the freezer as they were melting too fast. However I managed it in the end. 

It really does pay you to have everything set up before you bring out the ice confections, which I did... but I kept rearranging them till I had something I was happy with, and so the melt began. And oh yes - the lights I had on the set didn't help my cause. 

Anyway - here is the final shot. Gold! 


My second image was taken a few years ago when we visited Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. We had never been in snow before, and so we went walking while it was snowing - so cool! We took the hop-on-hop-off bus to Dove Lake - and got off to walk along the boardwalk. This is my husband. 

As I have said I am writing my memoir, and I randomly found this image when I was looking for something else on my computer...it looks like we are camping... our Grandson helping his Uncle with his word sleuth page. I don't normally post photos of family, but you can't see their faces and it is just too cute I had to share. 


Have a great week everyone. I hope you and yours are doing well. Thank you so much for stopping by. You might also like - 


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!

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side. 
   

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.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy, be kind, and be with people who make you smile. 

Sunday, 7 December 2025

It's starting to look a bit like Christmas

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are well. 

It is starting to look at bit like Christmas over in our part of the world. Though there is no snow - it's summer! If you want to learn more you can click on the blue underline links to read previous posts. 

In the bush the Candlestick Banksias (Banksia attenuata) are looking like giant Christmas candles, the purple/blue Jacaranda trees are flowering (they came to Australia from South Africa), the Western Australian Christmas trees (Nuytsia floribunda) are bursting into yellow, and the red flowering gums are popping Christmas red. 




Down in Manea Reserve the summer flowers are putting on their summer show - clockwise from top left - orange stars. red bottlebrush, Western Australian Christmas tree, busy boronia, native broom, purple fringe lily, yellow starflower, holly leaved banksia, and in the centre the candlestick banksia.  

and the unique slipper orchid (Cryptostylis ovata) 

In my garden the mauve-blue agapanthus and yellow coreopsis are looking brilliant, the honey-eating birds are being attracted to my green kangaroo paws, and my hoya which grows in a low hanging basket and is climbing up the hook, is looking amazing - so many flowers this year! 




In my back garden the grape vines are starting to make grapes and the apricot tree is covered in white bags to keep off the parrots and the fruit fly. The quince tree is covered in fruit - picking time April - we've netted it to keep off the parrots. And the lavender is pushing up their flower heads. 


It is nearly time for me to make the delicious little Christmas puddings that everyone loves and other Christmas baking..... and fresh cherries are in the shops and bursting with flavour.



The dragon boat season is in full swing for our sons and their team and it's time for the beach! 



And summer drinks by the water


It is also time for Christmas markets - and I attended one last weekend at the
Stirling Street Art Centre with my eco-printing, cyanotypes and photography products. Thankyou so much to everyone who visited, chatted, admired and purchased from me. 



It's also time for the harvest in the grain growing area. And my nephew and his team are in full swing getting the grain off before any more unwelcome summer rain comes. My grandson is working at one of the wheat bins in the wheat-belt for the harvest. It's very tiring but great income for him while he is on summer break from university. 


Unfortunately it is also the time of year for bush-fires and there has already been bush fires raging across Australia with homes and properties lost. This photo below is from a couple of years ago, taken from my front yard - thankfully it didn't come too close though we had to evacuate. 


However the joy of the Christmas season arrives as people and businesses decorate their homes, businesses, and streets. And there are Christmas street parades in our cities. I put up my Christmas tree today. 


So that is that from me this week. It is a busy time from now till Christmas. 

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!

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side. 
   

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.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy, be kind, and be with people who make you smile. 

Monday, 24 February 2025

Days of Summer

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are doing well. Life has been so busy - so something a little different today. It has been a hot summer - so here is a poem I wrote from a writing prompt at my writing group. 

DAYS OF SUMMER

A gaggle tumbles from the bus

We unstitck our legs from vinyl seats
Clamp sunhats on heads
Tramp up the sand hill hauling bags, esky, sunshade
Sand drags at our thongs


Dry grass scratches legs
A lizard turns to stone
Cicadas sing
We emerge from the peppermints
The ocean shimmers, beckoning.


Impossibly blue cloudless sky
We claim our spot on scorching sand
Struggle to tie down the sunshade
Slap on slippery sunscreen

Children shriek, diving into the biting chill
and surface laughing
Dogs sniff unfamiliar smells
Dads organise beach cricket
Frisbees fly, balls tossed
Bare skin sizzles.


Squawking seagulls snatch chips
Sand crunches in our sandwiches
Sticky icecream drips
Watermelon smiles.


Children burrow creating worlds draped with seaweed
Water drains from moats
Couples snuggle
Waves slop lazily on the shore
Parents doze, sunglasses askew
An open book falls
Flies crawl into crevices, hover, cluster, annoy
Babies grizzle.


The wind tries to claim our sunshade
We collect abandoned buckets, shovels, thongs
as the ocean engulfs sandcastles,
retrieving its pretty treasures
The sun slides silently into the ocean and over the edge of the world.  


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ps - the people swimming over the top of the fish is actually two images combined which I did for Photography Group. 

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!

If you are looking for a translator - there is one on the right hand side where you can select your language. 
   

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.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy and be with people who make you smile. 



Monday, 11 December 2023

Colour in my December summer garden

I love my December summer front garden. Every year it blooms glorious colours - 
red, yellow, pink, bluey mauve - and best of all these plants come back year after 
year with little maintenance. They bloom, I water and clip them back a little, 
and next summer they bloom again. Beautiful. 
So today I share some of them with you.  (My apologies for this post apearing strange 
on mobile phones. - I don't know how to fix it. Sorry)

Mauve-blue agapanthus, against the backdrop of the red coral bush, and along 
the bottom my wild hibiscus - an Australian native 




Pinks and mauves of the hydrangea - I must admit that the ones along the top 
row - the bluey mauve ones - are in my neighbour's garden

 
Roses, though they have finished their first glorious flush
The yellow Coreopsis daisy that is a wonderful border plant that comes 
back every year, frangipani, and the yellow rose bush

 
Last year a glorious new frangipani flowered in my garden - a cutting gifted to me 
by my friend - It looks like it has buds on it again - so fingers crossed. 




Native yellow and green kangaroo paws - the honey-eaters love these. 



The Australian native red bottle-brush
My Hoya is flowering in my shady patio garden


In my back garden we are picking apricots (a month early this year - looks like I 
will be making apricot jam later this week), the red and green grapes are looking 
fabulous along the side fence, and the tomatoes are coming on. We also quinces 
on our tree which will be ready in autumn. 
The apricot tree has bags all over it to firstly guard against fruit fly, and 
secondly to keep the birds off when the apricots are ready to pick. The parrots
love apricots too! 






Some of the native trees are blooming too. Everything seems early this year - 
you can see some of them on my previous post here - 
Trees are blooming for Christmas. Below are the candlestick banksia (they remind
me of giant Christmas candles), purple jacaranda (not an Australian native), 
the yellow Christmas tree, and the red flowering gum. So vibrant. 


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!