The Marri trees are flowering

I always say there is always something flowering in the Western Australian bush.  It's mid summer here and the marri trees are flowering in the south west of Western Australia. 

Corymbia calophylla - commonly known as Marri - is one of around 80 eucalypts which were transferred in 1995 from the genus Eucalyptus to the newly created genus Corymbia. The species was formerly known as Eucalyptus calophylla and that name is still preferred by some. Australian Native Plants Society

Marri is an indigenous aboriginal Noongar word. Growing to 40-60 metres tall they are not suitable for suburban gardens, but they shade a creek walk near where live. We walked along there this morning. The bees were buzzing in the Marri flowers and the cockatoos where having a good time high in the trees chewing on the new buds and cracking into last year's nuts. 

Here below you can see the buds, the flowers, the nuts (commonly called honkey nuts) and nuts laying on the ground that have fallen after they have been cracked open by cockatoos. 

Below you can see here are red-tailed black cockatoos. We could hear them screeching in the trees. 

The red-tailed black cockatoos use their wide beak to shred the edge of the nuts so they can get to the seeds inside. 

Gum nuts and the gum nut babies were a feature of May Gibbs book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie - an Australian children's classic - May Gibbs

More information:

Kings Park Botanic Gardens

Australian Native Plants Society

Just a short post from me today. I hope yo and yours are safe and well in these troubled times. 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. 

Take care, stay safe, hug those you love, and enjoy your week. 

You might also like:

Arbor Day - Celebration of trees

Old Timbeline Trail , St John's Brook, Nannup, Western Australia

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!

 

All Seasons 
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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.

Experimenting with Paper making

 Hi everyone, I hope you have had a good start to 2021, and that you and yours are safe and well. There has been some disturbing footage coming from around the world, and I feel very fortunate to be in my little relatively safe bubble here in the south west of Western Australia. 

I have started a new project. I think my husband despairs of me....always some new art project to explore. But he is very supportive and even bought me a "paper making kit" this year after I had it on my Christmas list for the second year. He managed to get it into the house without me knowing when the parcel deliver brought it. 

Now I don't profess to know anything about paper making. I have never even seen it demonstrated. So all I know is what I have gleaned from the Born in Paper website from where my husband bought the kit, and from a few little on-line videos. 

But I wanted to have a go, and that is what I have been doing most afternoons for the last week.  I have had mixed results, but I have enjoyed playing but gosh it has been hot on my patio. My husband did ask me the other day what I was going to do with the paper I had made. All I could reply was "don't ask me something I can't answer yet". 

The best place for you to learn is go to a workshop if you can. Born in Paper is located on the eastern side of Australia, a LONG way from me, so I need to find a workshop closer. Until then I just experiment and play. 

1. First you need paper. I have always kept paper in a box under my computer that has only been printed on one side. So this is a great place for me to start. If you work in an office I am sure there is a LOT of office waste paper. Also for one batch I used offcuts from my botanical eco-printing projects which uses printmakers art paper. 

Tear the paper up and pulp it all up in a blender with water. I bought a cheap one just for this. Don't use it for food after. 

2. You can add flowers or leaves to your mix. I've sun dried some rose petals. Only took a couple of days, but it is summer! 

3. You also need a Mould and Deckle. Put the pulp and extra water into a plastic tub. Mix it around so it is moving freely then "pull" your first sheet of paper with your mould and deckle. 

Below is a mould and deckle. It is like two picture frames the same size with a piece of wire on one piece.   The mould is a frame covered with metal or nylon mesh, and the deckle is the frame that sits on top of the mould. The paper is formed on the mould, and the deckle is used to create straight edges on the paper sheet.

There is a good video here to show you the process: Born in Paper on instagram

4. Transfer your paper mush on the mould and deckle face down onto the "couching" cloth. Also can be seen on video from Born in Paper on instagram

Press out some of the water with sponge, then take the mould away - this is the tricky bit! Put another piece of cloth on top and roll with a rolling pin. Turn over, take away the wet cloth, replace with another cloth, roll again. The firmer and more you roll the better the paper will be. 

Then transfer your paper to a board to dry. You can iron them flat when dry, and then put them under a stack of big books to flatten them more. 

Here you can see my first go - a bit of tearing going on. Could be the paper was a bit thin, but also because I had trouble peeling the paper from the wire of the mould. 

I've only started making paper this week, so honestly, I think you should ignore my "notes" and go to a proper paper making site like Born in Paper or Paper Slurry

 Here are a few of my papers from this week. I still have lots to learn Like how to get the wet paper off the screen without it tearing.... and how to get an even layer of slurry in the mould and deckle. Lots more to learn. 

Dry wildflowers and leaves added to the mix 

Dry statice flowers sprinkled on top of the wet paper and pressed in

The paper I made with scraps of printmakers paper previously eco-printed with eucalypt leaves. A few dry leaves were added to the blended when pulping the paper. This paper was thicker than the paper I made with the office paper. 

So there you have it. A newbies little look at paper making. 

I've borrowed the couple of action photos from Born in Paper on instagram

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!

   
All Seasons 
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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.

December 2020 - Covid photo a day project

 So the end of 2020 has come and gone and we are now in 2021. I am not going to bring you any words of wisdom, and I'm not even going to look back over the year, because we all know the year we have had. And I am sure everyone's experience has been similar in some ways, or vastly different in others.  

But I am going to ask you to be safe and cherish precious moments with those we love. If this past year has taught us anything I think it has taught us that. I am going to look forward with hope for a better year and an end to the Covid 19 virus, for all people around the world. 

My Covid photo a day project continues, far longer than I expected when I first started it in mid March. Below are my daily photos from December 2020.

1 December 2020 - Tuesday - posting our Christmas cards

2 December 2020 - Wednesday - I love the cross-hatch pattern that the sun is making with my palms in my garden

3 December 2020 - Thursday - not much inspiration happening here. The view from the arm "heat" box therapy room at the Hand Therapy clinic.

4 December 2020 - Friday - we were surprised to see that the little birds that lost their babies to currawongs a couple of months ago (and 2019!) are nesting again in the same tree. I hope they have more luck this time.

5 December 2020 - Saturday - We had a stall at the Bunbury Market today and came home exhausted. So after we had unpacked the car we collapsed in a heap with some snacks and drinks.

6 December 2020 - Sunday - peekaboo! Look who we saw right by the path in Manea Park today - a mother kangaroo and joey - both totally unfazed by us.

More @ Summer colour in south west Western Australia

7 December 2020 - Monday - it's starting to look a bit like Christmas - giant Christmas tree at Eaton Fair shopping centre.

8 December 2020 - Tuesday - crafting some little note books for my writer's group Christmas gift.

9 December 2020 - Wednesday - Rusticana in Bunbury is a great place to buy fresh produce and the makings for your Christmas goodies.

10 December 2020 - Thursday - making my wrist bend on the hand therapy machine. It's about 2/3 the way better.

11 December 2020 - Friday - my writer's group held their Christmas lunch at beautiful Evedon Park in the Ferguson Valley.

12 December 2020 - Saturday - finally putting up some Christmas decorations. This is my rustic wreath.

More about an Australian Christmas here: Christmas in Australia

13 December 2020 - Sunday - our son's dragon boat club had their Christmas do at the Bunbury Dolphin Centre.

14 December 2020 - Monday - started to do some WA based trip planning for 2021

15 December 2020 - Tuesday - The Western Australian Christmas trees are blooming. These were along the Collie River walk in Eaton. More @ Western Australian Christmas Tree

16 December 2020 - Wednesday - the paddocks are taking on their summer colours

17 December 2020 - Thursday - playing Stock-Market with the grandies. I lost.

18 December 2020 - Friday - went for an evening drive to see some Christmas lights

19 December 2020 - Saturday - we were taken up to the Wild Bull Brewery in the Ferguson Valley by our son and daughter-in-law for lunch for our combined birthdays. I had a spicy squid salad. Delish

Bonus shot: After lunch we went up to the Wellington Dam to see the progress on the dam wall mural. More @ Painting the Wellington Dam mural

20 December 2020 - Sunday - a smokey firey sunset tonight along the Leschenault Inlet looking over towards the port facilities.

21 December 2020 - Monday - convergence of Saturn and Jupiter - yes I needed a longer lens and a tripod 

22 December 2020 - Tuesday - making little Christmas puddings, More @ A little bit of Christmas baking

23 December 2020 - Wednesday - summer fun on the water

24 December 2020 - Thursday - all shut up for Christmas break

25 December 2020 - Friday - beautiful sunset on Christmas Day evening along the Leschenault Estuary

26 December 2020 - Saturday - our apricots are nearly ready!

27 December 2020 - Sunday - the beach beckons - discard the thongs

Monday - 28 December 2020 - another brilliant sunset - from the porch

Tuesday - 29 December 2020 - a walk along the Leschenault Estuary at sunset

Wednesday - 30 December 2020 - the post Christmas sales are on!

Thursday - 31 December 2020 - a New Year's eve sunset cricket match at our son's block block by the lights of a 4WD. I am amazed they played so long. 

The end of the year has come and gone, and there still seems to be leftovers, though they are not the leftovers from Christmas, just new leftovers.

 Thank you so much for stopping by. For those who are sick, or have sick or dyeing loved ones, for those separated from loved ones, for those in isolation or quarantine or waiting for the result from a Covid test, those struggling with loss of income, our frontline workers, and those who are fearful of the future, I send you my heartfelt prayers and thoughts. I can only but imagine what you are going through. 

Unfortunately the turning over of the clock doesn't produce a miracle clean slate, we still have a long way to go, but if we look after each other we can come out the other side.

Numbers in the eastern states of Australia: New South Wales and Victoria, have been increasing over the last two weeks, and the other states have closed their borders to visitors, and returning residents must quarantine for 14 days. I hope we remain safe here in Western Australia and everyone does the right thing. 

Some words of wisdom from Pooh. 

Take care everyone, follow your government guidelines and stay safe. 

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!

All Seasons 
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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.