Just In Time for Christmas

We are home just in time for Christmas. There's been rain while we've been away, the grass is long and green and the Poinciana trees in our little pocket of suburbia are covered in their showy red flowers. I think I will pick a spray of them for our Christmas table. So gorgeous and festive!

A Poinciana tree in glorious bloom decorates our neighbourhood.

As I write, a fluffy pavlova is baking slowly in our oven, dollops of meringue dotted around a circle to make a wreath shape. I made it the way Fiona, over at Stay Home Instead does. I can't wait to decorate it tomorrow with lashings of thick cream and slices of fresh fruits.  In many hours time, when I can take that pavlova out of the oven, I'll roast the chicken and the root vegetables for the salads that we'll share with our family for Christmas lunch tomorrow. It's simple, homemade food made with lots of love, baked with plenty of time and seasoned with much gratitude. There'll be leftovers too!

A cluster of Poinciana flowers.

I am looking forward to setting the table out on our verandah tomorrow, with a spray of those Poinciana flowers in the centre, and then sitting down to share the delicious meal we've made along with all the laughter, storytelling, memories and joy that comes with being together.

Wherever you are, and whether or not it is a day of celebration for you, I hope you can spend time tomorrow with the ones you love and that love you.

Merry Christmas to you.

Meg Xx

Our Little Local Creek

Just down the hill and around the corner, begins a path that walks you along our little local creek. It meanders all the way to the sea! When times are very dry, as they were back over the Winter months, our little section of this waterway is just a rocky creek bed. But, when we have lots of rain, as we have this past week, it soon starts flowing again. During breaks in the rain, or sometimes while it's pouring, we go down to the creek to see how far the water has come up and how fast it's flowing. 

Over the past few years, our little creek area has been rehabilitated. Invasive weed species have been suppressed and more native trees, grasses and reeds planted en masse. I love to see the cycles of growth and blossoming and setting seed that we observe in the plants that grow along the creek. As we walk this path almost every day, there is always something beautiful and botanical that catches my eye.

I love watching the rejuvenation that the rain brings; the increased flow of water in the creek bed, the green that returns so quickly to the landscape, the blossoming of native flora and the abundance of birds and other wild creatures that call our creek their home. Nature seems to rejoice, as much as we do, when plentiful rain falls.

Meg

Christmas Time

It seems that it is Christmas time again. In our little neighbourhood, there are beautiful festive trees gracing many homes and welcoming wreaths on many front doors. Children call to one another across the street and draw on their driveways with coloured chalks. The sound of the odd lawn mower rings out with the birdsong and the occasional waft of sweetly spiced baking carries on the breeze. In the evenings, coloured strings of lights twinkle in the darkness. Tonight, on Christmas' Eve, I'm sure there will be a few treats for Santa and one or two carrots for the reindeer left out in the homes where young children excitedly wait for morning.

Nature seems to be in a joyous mood too. We have had quite good rain since the beginning of December and all is lush and green. Just down the hill, a magnificent native flowering gum has burst into bloom. Its blossoms are truly stunning. It needs no additional decoration. No twinkle lights. It is beautiful just as it is ...

A beautiful Australian flowering gum.

A cluster of Christmasy colour!

Merry Christmas!

I feel truly blessed to live where I do. Its friendliness and its peacefulness offer a quiet haven where family and friends and nature are close.  I wish that everyone around the world knew that safety and security. I wish that everyone had a place to call home.

Thank you to everyone who visits me here, who reads my words, who offers a like-minded connection and words of encouragement. I feel very lucky to have such kind visitors to my space here.

From my little pocket of the world, I wish you a beautiful day tomorrow with those you love.

Meg Xxx

A White Jacaranda

Trees are the reason I love our particular little pocket of suburbia so much. The tall eucalypts of the state forest along the ridge and beyond, the paperbarks along the little creek, the native trees in so many of the gardens and the flowering of the Jacarandas in Spring. For me, it's the trees here that are the backdrop of my everyday world.

At the moment, when I look out beyond our verandah, I can see the beautiful purple highlights of the Jacaranda trees in bloom. This purple blossoming is synonymous with Spring in my city but, on a recent and rather hilly walk, I discovered a different Jacaranda, in a street not far from home...

Clusters of beautiful white Jacaranda flowers.

Instead of a blooming halo of purple blossoms, this young Jacaranda was covered in hundreds of pure white flowers. Oh, my! Looking up through its branches, to the sunny sky above, the white of its flowers set against the perfect blue Spring-sky background, was just gorgeous!

White blossoms and a blue sky. Sigh!

I could've laid down, right there on that footpath, for hours and happily looked up at those flowers and the wispy clouds drifting by. Instead, I've been back to visit it several times now, just to stand underneath it and look up!

Spring flowers adorn young branches.

Sometimes, the world offers up that which is so simple yet is so very beautiful. 

Meg

p.s.  A Little History...

The very first Jacaranda grown in Australia was planted in my city's Botanic Gardens back in 1864. It was a purple flowering variety and it grew & bloomed until it was knocked down in a cyclone in 1980. It is thought that it is this particular Jacaranda that features in the very popular painting, Under the Jacaranda, by the artist Godfrey Rivers. The painting hangs in the Queensland Art Gallery. I am thinking of taking a trip in to the gallery to see it. I wonder if there will be any Jacaranda flowers sprinkled on the floor underneath it when I visit?

Here & Now 16

It is October and the beautiful Jacaranda trees are in bloom now. Their distinctive seasonal flowering, a soft lavender purple, is synonymous with Spring in our sub-tropical city. In our oldest parks and public gardens and along many streets, these majestic trees put on their Spring display. Here, in my little suburb, there are many jacarandas, their spreading branches covered in masses of their beautiful blossoms. These blossoms fall in a swirl of purple that covers the grass and footpaths below in a soft and flowery carpet. I love to walk beneath them ...

Masses of jacaranda flowers 

A carpet of fallen flowers covers the path.

Soft & beautiful purple blossoms.

An almost-silhouette against a greying sky.

Loving //   Jacarandas in bloom, like purple punctuation marks along our streets.

Eating //  Little chocolate chip cookies made with chick peas and peanut butter. 
                     (Back to school biscuits!)

Drinking //  Cold water with a few lemon juice ice cubes for zing!

Feeling //  So very tired. 

Making //  A set of Melissa's red and white peace doves for Christmas giving.

Thinking //  That Christmas gets earlier every year ... 
                        
Dreaming //  Of this distant, but not too distant, shore. It's only seven short weeks away!

I'm not sure what's blooming in your own Here & Now but if you'd like to share, or to peek into the October of others, you can pop over to Sarah at her beautiful blog, Say Little Hen. A visit there will brighten your day!

Meg

Close to Trees

The late afternoons of this Winter are balmy and beautiful. I love to take Sir Steve dog for a stroll, ambling along the bike paths and footpaths at his pace, his nose forever sniffing the tree trunks and grass while my eyes look up to the treetops.

The golden, mellow light highlights the eucalypts and paperbarks; a soft glow that signals the evening is not far away. I love the shapes of branches and leaves set against the sky and the shadows, cast by straight, tall trunks, as the sun begins its descent.

A paperbark down by the creek. 

Leaves in light and trunks in shadow.

Tall gums touched by late afternoon light.

Golden treetops along the path towards home.

The trees we walk by and under, and the forest that begins on the ridge close by, make it feel as though we live far from the bustle of the city here. Cooling our little pocket of suburbia, shading our streets and paths, cleansing our air, providing a home for native wildlife and connecting us to nature. Without these trees, our place wouldn't be the same.

Meg

Here & Now 13

It's been raining today. The sound of heavy droplets drumming on our roof woke me early this morning. I listened lazily for the longest time, tucked in under cosy Winter covers. It felt such an indulgence!  The rain continued for much of the day but cleared mid-afternoon in time for a short bushwalk. We strolled along under tall eucalypts, all wet bark and dripping leaves, and dodged the many puddles left by the rain on the rocky track. I love the way rain washes and polishes the colours of the forest and leaves raindrop "sparkles" on its leaves...

Raindrops cling to the very thin leaves of a native grass tree.

Sunlight after the rain. 

Raindrops sparkle on pine needles.

Loving //  Every opportunity to wear my woolly Winter jumpers.
Eating //  Generous bowls of warming split pea & bacon soup with thickly buttered sourdough slices.
Drinking //  Hot chocolates ... still with no marshmallows!
Feeling //  Winter's chill on the tip of my nose.
Making //  Big batches of ... soup!
Thinking //  ... of how beautiful raindrops are when they catch the sunlight.
Dreaming //  Of  a campervan holiday in Tasmania to see the snow (and wombats) again.

Now, we are back home again. Outside, the nighttime air is bracing and cold but here, inside our home,  we are snug and warm. I wonder if we'll wake to the sound of more rain tomorrow?

Meg

p.s. If you'd like to share you own Here & Now, you can join in with Sarah over on her gorgeous blog, Say, Little Hen. 

Exploring Home: Jackfruit

My growing boy remembered the unusual tropical tree growing in his Grandmother's garden. The tree with heavy limbs and large leaves that reached the ground to form a protected and secret hiding spot. His four year old self would run through one of its leafy "doors", giggling and waiting to be found by those doing the seeking. But, he clearly hadn't remembered this tree's emormous fruit because, as he ducked into the secluded shade under the tree this time around, he exclaimed with much surprise that something from outer space was hanging from the tree. That "something" was a Jackfruit.

The huge Jackfruit.

 Jackfruit are very impressive. (So much so they can leave an older boy agape!) They are the largest tree-borne fruit in the world with a taste akin to ripe banana with a pineapple twist!  They have edible seeds too. If you'd like to read more about Jackfruit, or some other tropical fruits grown in the region where I grew up, you can follow this link.

Have a lovely weekend. Perhaps you'll find something unusual or surprising in your own garden.

Meg

Beautiful Barks

I am drawn to trees. Tall trees that reach upwards to the clouds, that hold out their branches for nests, whose leaves fall like confetti on windy days, whose roots are deep and strong. I feel a quiet peace when I walk among them and under them and a humility when I crane my neck up to the dizzying heights of trees much older than I am. 

It was on a recent, meandering walk that I found myself focused on the beautiful barks wrapped around the trunks of trees that grow in our neighbourhood. Creamy, green, brown and silvery. Dull and shiny. Rough and smooth. Papery and crinkly and peeling and scratched. 

Let me show you what I found:

So much diversity! So much beauty! 

Have a lovely weekend. I hope you'll have time to spend  looking closely at a tree (or snoozing in the shade of one). Perhaps there'll be time to run your fingers over its bark and to think how you would describe it.

Meg