Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Late Winter in the Garden

Unlike many of my lucky friends who live somewhere where it is already warm and Spring like, it's still very much Winter here!  Lots of below zero mornings (minus 8 anyone?) and days where it doesn't get above 8 degrees all day.  We have also recently had the odd day of 15 - 17 degrees, so Spring is definitely on the way, but we aren't quite there yet.

The garden has started to flower nicely though. In another month things will be looking great!  At any rate it's a pleasant change to look outside and see some colour appearing in the yard.

A few photos from this week........

The snapdragons that have been flowering in my wine barrel all Winter (well since January when I planted them actually, so they are hardy!!):


The jonquils starting to appear under our fruit trees:





The Magnolias and Manchurian Pears with buds about the open:


........ and the Cherry Blossom in front of our house with it's buds ready to burst, and one solitary blossom out already!






Sunday, August 11, 2013

This week it's all about the ears and being cheeky!

We started the week off with Keanan's birthday party on the Sunday. Astrid of course was the picture of innocence, happily eating fairy bread, sausage rolls, cake (and anything else that took her fancy) and being slightly overwhelmed by the number of excitable boys at the party!  She did thoroughly enjoy her 'pass the parcel' experience and scored big time in the present area! The two lots of cat ears she got, and the books were hits.

While Astrid was oblivious to the Spiderman theme, everyone else was impressed and Keanan did a good impression of a superhero for the day!


Despite the amount of sugar she consumed, Astrid did manage a good sleep that night, and told me she 'had heaps and heaps of fun!'. So well done to Sharyn for organising a great party! The party ears remained a hit for the rest of the week.

 The child refuses to wear a head band or hair clips but was happy to wear her ears all week. Requesting me to lift her up and show her the ears in the mirror, on numerous occasions. Anto and I have also been spotted wearing them at various intervals. Apparently it's easier to look like a dork than argue with your 2 year old!!



You'll notice the abundance of cheeky grins and silly faces little Miss A pulls these days. She is quite happy to ham it up for the camera and insists on looking at the photos of herself on the camera display after I've taken them.

Even when we were playing out in the garden, I got a variety of interesting expressions out of her......  


When she is being sensible you get something lovely like this:

......but I love the silly faces too!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Favourite Photo Friday - 9/8/13

It's still the depths of Winter here. Cold days, frosty mornings and icy winds....... but the days are getting longer, gradually, and we can feel Spring is coming. The garden agrees. In the last week the Jonquils have started to flower. Astrid has been enjoying visiting all the new flowers opening their blooms, and this morning she stopped to smell the jonquils with me!

 

 D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8
ISO 200, focal length 90mm
Exposure: 1/160 @ f/6.3