Snow!

This is the view my eyes beheld as I opened my lounge room curtains on Saturday morning.

Beautiful isn't it!  A dusting of snow on the Brindabellas.

On the day previously it had even snowed in parts of Canberra, 

however we didn't see it.  It was raining for us here.

So after the morning's duties were complete,

(i.e. food shopping at the markets)

we enjoyed a quick lunch and headed to the hills.

We didn't have to drive too far before we arrived at snow along the closed Corin Road.

We stopped at the gate and proceeded to walk and throw snowballs, build snowmen, make snow angels etc.

It was just so much fun!

I do so very much miss the beaches we enjoyed closeby in Adelaide.  However the snow seems to hold a similar amount of fun for everyone!  Just wish it happened more often.

Ice Decoration

A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it.  

~Author Unknown

On nights which will dip below freezing as it did this morning (down to -5degC), 

we love to set up a bowl of water, 

with a doily tied to a string lying within, 

in the hope that it will not thaw too early in the morning,

so we can hang it up on our balcony, 

we watch it hang, 

we watch it spin, 

we watch it sway in the wind.

We wonder how long the ice will hang, 

predict the time it will fall, 

then watch and wait as we enjoy morning tea....

then lunch...

today it fell after we predicted, 

no-one noticed it fall

as we were all enjoying a quiet time after lunch.

I'm amazed how much a simple little decoration

has engaged my girls

it has truly captured their attention.

We wonder about the physics of it all - 

the direction of the wind, 

the forces holding the ice up, 

holding it to the doily, 

we explore the three states of water - 

gas, liquid and solid,

the forces turning the ice, 

changing its direction, 

changing the way it swings from side to side, 

to round and round.

Yet the best part of the whole experience of making this ice decoration I am told is:

watching it fall!

(which is, of course, very difficult to photograph) 

Violets In My Winter Garden

The sun does not shine for a few trees, and flowers, but for the wide world's joy. The lonely pine on the mountain-top waves its sombre boughs and cries, 'Thou art my sun.' And the little meadow violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed breath, 'Thou art my sun.' And the grain in a housand fields rustles in the wind, and makes answer, 'Thou art my sun.' So God sits effulgent in heaven, not for a favoured few, but for the universe of life; and there is no creature so poor or so low that he may not look up with childish confidence and say, 'My Father, Thou art mine.' ~Henry Ward Beecher

It is almost my sweet niece's first birthday.  I'm made aware by the appearance of sweet violets in my winter garden, even though it is not the same garden as I enjoyed when she was born.  Last year my awareness of the violets in our garden came on the day she was born.  It was such as precious time. 

This year I am enjoying a new winter garden - my own.  I do love the garden in winter.  

It is a time of rest as we shelter indoors while the plants take a rest from their rigorous growth.  

It is a time of last farewells as we say goodbye to summer blooms such as this rose blossom which was mostly hidden by the weeping cherry during summer.  

It is time of anticipation as we wait for the budding blossoms to burst forth and reveal their delightful colours and fragrance.

Waiting for your first birthday little Eleanor...

One Frosty Morning in June

One thing I love about living in Canberra are the frosts.   In Adelaide we perhaps got one or two frosts around my birthday at the end of July.  I always thoughts I'd get ready to photograph the frost the next day.  Yet the next day of frost rarely came.  

Here we get frosts regularly for 6 or 7 months of the year.  I love the way they transform my garden with beautiful white icy crystals.  It gives me a sense of nostalgia reminding me of my childhood when my parents would announce on many a winter morning that Jack Frost had been to visit overnight.  It alights in me my sense of wonder at the beauty of nature.  The way ice forms its crystals on many varying plants, outlining them with white evenly-shaped forms.   I love the way my children delight in the ice forms.  They generally want to eat the ice which results in fingers becoming frozen and needing to be warmed on our heated tiles inside.  They too delight in this magical winter wonderland that appears every morning that is cold enough.  Voila! - that magical carpet of white!

A Sunny Break {St Kilda}

Yesterday the rainy cold days of the previous weeks gave way to a brilliant blue sunshiny day, serving to remind us that sunny Spring is just around the corner. I do love the rain and the cool, yet cosy, indoor days during winter. Yet it is essential to get outdoors, to be reinvigorated and enjoy the brightness of the colours that sunshine brings.

With a shout of "Yay!" the girls quickly bounded over the hill to the sights they beheld. We had kept our destination a little secret in order to surprise them, and indeed it did. I thought I'd be exhausted standing around as they played, yet their excitement and the colours of the day served to invigorate me.

I was inspired by the beautiful blues, greens and yellows of sea, sky and foliage.

Hope you enjoy this little peak at our day.

The day was a very different one to the day of our last visit at the end of Summer 2009.

It was a welcomed rainy day, cool enough to venture outdoors, yet there was no colour evident being the end of a hot dry summer.

The sunshine of yesterday was just for one day however, last evening we fell asleep to the sound of rain again and woke to cloud cover, sprinkles and raindrops. Only intermittent periods of sunshine prevail today.

One Foggy Morning in July

we wandered outside wondering just exactly what fog felt like,

it intrigued us of course, as we never quite reached it,

fog can be funny like that can't it!

we played long jump in a grassy clearing

watched the dew collect in moist patches on our shoes

admired dewdrops all over our Golden Diosma

and found our first daffodil budding

also covered in dew

waiting to greet us.

Daffodils are my birthday flower.

(At least in my mind they are.)

My mother tells me of how they were blossoming in our front lawn

as she brought me home from hospital.

My birthday is only a week away so we'll see how many are blooming for us then.