Or: girlish fantasy (almost) fulfilled. But we’ll get to that shortly. I caved in today and bought one of those evil-looking strap contraptions for my throbbing thumb. C’mon, thumb! I …
Source: WHO WAS THAT HANDSOME STRANGER?
A TOUCH OF TROPICAL SPRING
Which, to some readers may seem a little odd.
Actually, it feels a little odd to me as we have had cool, showery days, which is not our usual weather for the season.
No complaints, though! The herbs have kept on keeping on, David Austin’s “Abraham Darby” has rewarded me with over 12 blooms, the best so far.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been tidying and training trying to train a runaway Trachelospermum jasminoides to grow up to the verandah wires, instead of flinging itself into the clutches of the gingers and taking an orchid with it. Eventually, I saw sense and gave up trying to untwist its wiry stems.Out with the secateurs and damn the consequences! Two nights of rain and some warm sunshine and it was off, like a race horse on oats. And one flower already! (Though this picture is a wee bit of a cheat as it’s on a plant up by the back fence.) Everybody, clap your hands and shout “Hoorah!” for this little sweetheart.Why? The nasty basta neighbour over the fence doesn’t like it on the fence.In fact, he doesn’t seem to like anything in my garden! 
I think I may have mentioned that the &*&%#@***ing Eupanacra caterpillars had chomped ALL the leaves off ALL my Spathyphyllums? I have, over the years, mastered the “Gallic Shrug” as, I think , do all good gardeners. We suffer some predation and enjoy the resulting butterflies.Still, it’s disappointing when one loses an entire flowering season! But, ta-daa! The rains and not-so-cold temperatures helped and now I have blooms on 3 white and one purple.
Pigeon peas. Being leguminous they are wonderful for fixing nitrogen. And their flowers are lovely, too. Beautiful dark shiny red buds…
…opening to a rich, golden yellow..
Petunias are a fantastic filler in blank spots. So many gardeners regard them (and other bedders) as too “municipal-type” plants.I can understand that, but I can also see beyond the the regimented colour bands. When I see broad swathes of red, white and purple petunias I feel as if I’ll be shot if I don’t sing someone’s national anthem! Feel free to wander around my garden, with all sorts of bits and pieces. You don’t have to salute here. 
Oops! Did I say “tropical” and then post petunias? My bad…Okay, here’s something that is a tropical plant. A dwarf Heliconia. Sorry, if it had a varietal name, the label’s long gone.But I think it’s Jamaican Dwarf. The bright blue seeds are what draw my eye.
A few months ago, a friend dug up some Canna roots for me. I’ve long admired the brilliant red cannas in her garden. Well, the other day, the first flower bud opened. And there will be more! 
Thank you, Ali.
Other than grubbing out weeds that do not provide much in the way of sustenance for beneficial bugs, I have been busy elsewhere. But I’ll pop in again with, I hope, something entertaining.
What sort of elsewhere busy-ness, you ask? Well, still hammering the writer’s keys , but also reading. I seem to be on a fantasy kick…ask Uncle Google about David Mitchell.
Now…my glass is neither half full nor half empty.I shall rectify that!
ARTIST BOOKS AT ARTSPACE
But before I start on the one hundred + photos I took…
Updated with a link.See footnote
Mr.Yellow has gummed some leaves together and appears to have settled down to become his moth self.(This was in the making stage.Obviously.) I cannot find any accurate information on the duration, but someone up in the Northern Territory recorded it as being almost 3 months. Temperatures down here and August v March may make a difference. Stay tuned!
The Sunbirds are real characters – whenever I’m watering the gardens they’ll “ask” to be sprayed with the hose. The other day I actually managed to sneak back with a camera;this is the closest I’ve ever managed to get to the flighty little beggars!I hooked the hose in a branch and they took great delight in sliding down the banana leaves and flying through the spray.
Banana leaf slide
Mr and Mrs Bird, drying off on the rose arch.
And now… a few pictures from the Libris Awards exhibition.
The major prize-winner, a collaborative work by George Matoulas and Angela Cavalieri
“Europa to Oceania” quarter cloth binding
Janice R Nedela “Unreadable Book #2” Acrylic sheets
Caren Florance. “Pleasure Demolition” letterpress, paper, thread
Jack Oudyn. “Keer-Weer -turn again.” Waxed Vietnamese paper.
Winner of the Regional Artists’ Award. May-Britt Mosshammer. “Tapping the Knowledge.” Books, bronze, paper
I’ll post more, but right now kitchen duty beckons!
Because so many are not only difficult to photograph as they are displayed, I’m not going post all of them. But there is a list available from the gallery’s website http://www.artspacemackay.com.au/whats_on/libris_awards
ARMED AND DANGEROUS?
Well, ready to do battle with a couple of onions and some parsley…
We’ve had this magnetic knife holder for a couple of years and today The Man installed it.Why did this take so long? Mostly we were not certain where any live wires might be! And that short bladed chap on the left? Used to be longer until She Who Shall Not Be Named used it on a coconut…
Not a lot to write about , but I thought I might show some recent pictures.
The passion fruit vine which was slugging it out with the wisteria and Petrea volubilis is producing fruit.In fact, we’ve eaten several already and might have had more were it not for some late night thievery.I suspect possums.
Several empty “shells” litter the garden…
Here’s one that we’ll have!
Two of the jasmines are doing well after the unseasonal rain.
Jasminum officinale (above) and J. sambac (below)
The Man called me outside this morning to see this…
And here’s a finger (mine) for size comparison
When I find out what it is I’ll let you know.Meanwhile, if any of you can ID it, fire away!
Mr Google tells me it’s the larva of the Four O’Clock or Peacock moth we found a few weeks ago! Dysphania numana for those who need to know.
Callistemon. I think its label called it “Green Ice”
I’ll leave you with this Dendrobium orchid. Mr/Mrs Caterpillar has munched through its leaf and now it’s our turn to eat…
STILL WANDERING AIMLESSLY…
Actually, not really aimlessly.Enjoyably is a better word.
A walk in the sunshine is often a good way to focus crowded thoughts. So that’s what we did the other day.With a camera.Of course.
Seed capsules on a eucalypt.
Acacia holosericea Velvet leaf wattle. I did have one growing by the back gate, but, like all its kin, it was short-lived. But I’m clearing a HUGE clump of gingers so maybe I’ll put in another wattle…
This was as close as I dared! That mud is sucking-treacherous and I didn’t feel like getting wet. Mangroves along an inlet, in case you’re wondering.
A tradition has grown up around “lost or forgotten shoes” down at the beach. This “decorated” palm is known as The Thong Tree. (No, Muriel, not that sort of thong.Muriel!!)
Fishing with his best friend.
Bougainvillea in a beach-side garden.
Pandanus nut. How big? Hmm…not quite as big as an American football or Rugby ball. When ripe, it will be bright orange.
This is just a sample from our meandering.The sun had turned up the thermostat and we wanted coffee so we headed back to the home jungle…
Yes, somewhere in there is where we live!
CAKE FOR SCARLET
Poor, dear Scarlet has been cake-deprived for far too long.I think the Brexit debacle upset her so much that she lived on cake to keep her spirits up.Or maybe she kept the spirits up and gave up cake?
Anyway, to cheer up the poor girl some of her daft blogmates are sending her virtual cakes.
I found this treasure over at http://www.cakewrecks.com/ where the wonderfully wacky Jen has been show-casing some classics over the years.
I like that the icing reads SB 1 which, very neatly, could be for “Scarlet Blue is #1.” I suggest that Scarlet just scrapes off the redundant “Dad” and licks her finger. And, no, I will not re-phrase that. I’m sure none of my readers would see it as rather rude. Maybe.
Would you like to bake a cake for Scarlet? If you do, please leave a link in her comments section so we can all pop round to yours and scoff the lot.
ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL
Of course, “normal” may be interpreted in several ways…but for my purposes, let’s just say that I am now able to see a blean* at the end of the tunnel.
I tend to be one of those people who, when they see their plate has room for more, pile on more. Sometimes lots more. I’m not talking about the avoirdupois gluttony.No,no,no! The tendency to think I can tackle more than I can in the time I have available.That sort of more. And before I know it, my faint blean has become a ruddy bonfire, the sort that alerted towns miles along the coast that the enemy was in sight.
So, I’m relying on images to fill the space!
Yesterday morning,The Man suggested a walk down to the beach.So I put the little camera in my pocket…
A Cairo vine.I think it’s pretty, but it’s a frightful pest when it gets away!Here, it’s slugging it out with native mangroves along a drain.
link http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/ipomoea_cairica.htm
This is Sunset Beach, looking north to Bucasia. Technically, when the tide is out, you could get across the inlet to Bucasia Beach. A crocodile might fancy you as a snack though…
These caught my eye.They look a little like cashews. But they aren’t.And I still don’t know what they are! Gnomes’ hats, maybe…
Pyrostegia venusta . I’m guessing that, unless people prune it, next year that fence will be entirely draped in glowing orange flowers.
Calliandra Not sure which, but probably C. haematocephala.
When they say “beachfront living” this must be what they mean.Nice, innit?
There is a local Embroidery Guild chapter whose members are very active. Here, we see a representation of a running dog, worked in tiny French Knots. No? How about a representation of a running dog, by Mick Tyris?
“Here be pirates!” Well, a pirate’s hat.
I’ll leave you with the local Surf Life Savers’ clubhouse. If you squint through the trees you can see the Pub With the Million Dollar View, my local watering hole, high on the cliff behind the clubhouse.
Not a bad Sunday morning saunter. Mind you, the smell of sizzling bacon wafting from several places almost undid my resolve!
* those of you who have read Liff will know.
