Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Sky, Tree and Shades of Green

From left Duranta, Lilli Pilli, Scribbley Gum and in the foreground Coastal Rosemary set against today's beautiful blue sky

Palm fronds and Ornamental Cardamon Ginger plant bathed in sunlight

Sago palm frond at dusk...these are related to pre-historic plants

Palm frond in sunlight

Thalia leaves and Sago palm fronds (don't look at the weeds :/)

Zamia (Cardboard plant left rear) Thalia leaf and Sago palm frond

Blechnum Gibbum 'Silver Lady' fern frond

Today was such a beautiful Winter's day and as I am sick with some kind of cold... no not H1N1 thankfully...bronchitis, which is bad enough... so I decided to sit outside in the sunshine for a while to warm up, get some vitamin D and try to think happy thoughts and ponder life's mysteries...
If I had felt better I should have removed some of the 'bad' weeds from my garden...not the nice ones, some of them are lovely and I encourage them to grow.

While I was sitting there I noticed how beautiful the sky looked... such a lovely blue... looked at my tree which was filled with singing birds earlier in the morning... all of the lovely shades of green... the sun felt warm on my skin... my bed sheets which were on the clothes line looked like billowing sails on a ship as they moved with the gentle breeze which sprung up occasionally and stirred through my garden...rustling the leaves making them glisten in the sunshine...I was feeling much better already.

I had a 'light bulb' moment, I thought it would be a perfect time to try out my new camera, I wouldn't have to go far I could just practice by photographing plants in my own garden and I have heard that some of you are experiencing very hot temperatures in the US so I thought this green foliage might soothe you and make you feel cooler.

Please bear with me, I am just getting used to this camera and all of its features and as I have told Foamy I don't like reading instruction manuals so it is all a bit of 'hit and miss' for the moment...I'm sure to get better with more practice...well hopefully I will... ♥

Please left click on images to enlarge.

39 comments:

darkfoam said...

but these are lovely nature photos ... !
you have such a beautiful garden.
i do hope you get over your bronchitis soon, dianne ..
having it is no fun. i'm glad you got to enjoy your garden though. thanks for sharing it's beauty..

Lily said...

very nice pictures and imagine that this is winter!!! it's probably warmer than our summer!

Diane, I have just sent you 3 mails, all health realted and not that you'
ve said it... vitamin D... yes you are right and that ws one thing I could tell from your photographs: you do not get enough vitamin C!!! others perhaps as well, but that one you can spot right away from looking at the pictures.

Anyway, I hope you will receive them well and it's something you can use. if you have any questions, you know wher to find me.

love, SSG

Diane said...

Lilli Pilli made me laugh... it would be cute to have two kittens -- one named Lilli Pilli and one Willy Nilly, don't you think? ;)

Hope you're feeling better soon, darlin'!!! xo

The Mess said...

That foliage looks sharp:-)

The possibility of hanging laundry outside is a privilege. You can't just do it the same way if you live in a flat or live in a polluted area with unclean air. You get such a nice smell in the bedclothes from hanging it outside.

And to sit and watch it dry in a sunny breeze is so relaxing, starts up lots of thinking....

Anonymous said...

Nice post Dianne and again good to see your own pixs, especially sharp ones like these latest :-)) Love the description of the billowing sheets, nice one! XX

HLiza said...

Bronchitis is not nice at all..hope you get better soon. Don't worry about reading camera manuals, I never did that..he he..in fact I'm still trying each and every button on my camera without clue what they are really for..I think it's more fun like that.You'll learn from your instict what will produce the most satisfying image for you, trust me! And wow oh wow..I really love all those green palm leaves..we have many varieties here but I don't really know their name. My neighbour who has her own gardener plants a lot of them near the fence that divides our house. So, sometimes I took photos of them and pretend they belong to me..he he..naughty me!

dianne said...

Thank you dear Foamy
I'm pleased that you liked my photos, yes I do have some beautiful trees and plants, I love being in my garden, I find it a very peaceful place to be. ♡

Thanks, I hope I feel better soon, not feeling too well today but I am on the mend. ♡

dianne said...

Yes dear Sarah Sofia it is a beautiful Winters day again today, the sun is shining and the temperature is 17ÂșC...pleased you liked the pictures.

Thank you for all of the trouble you have gone to and your husband in giving me that advice and also finding the links for me...I appreciate your concern for me...the diet you recommended sounds like a good idea...
but please dont write me off dear, I am not an invalid and I havent been given a death sentence, well not yet, in time yes... sure I am in a higher risk category because of the angina and the by-pass surgery... my Mum had angina and she lived a very active life until she was 8o...she passed away at age 82...I havent read all of your advice yet but I shall. ♡
love Dianne xo

dianne said...

Yes Diane dear friend, Lilli Pilli is a funny name and I spelt it incorrectly it is actually Lilly Pilly, an aborigianl name, the botanical name is syzygium which is hard to pronounce.

It has edible berries, which are quite nice, the possums eat the leaves, seeds and fruits.
Yes those would be very cute names for two kittens :)...one of mine is called Lily.

Thank you for your well wishes,you are very sweet... I feel really yukky today, hope to get better soon. xo ♡

dianne said...

Yes dear M , the fronds on the sago palm are sharp on the ends, the others are all soft foliage.

I love having the privilege of hanging clothes out to dry on my clothes line...they do have that special fragrance, they smell like the sunshine itself along with my fragrant laundry powder and rinse...and they feel so nice when you get into bed. :)
I used to live in a flat when I lived north of the harbour, there was one clothes line but you had to be quick to get your clothes out otherwise you would have to dry them at the laundromat...not the same freshness.

I like to pretend that my sheets are sails on a ship billowing in the breeze and that I am going on a long sea journey...I guess that sounds odd but I have a vivid imagination. :) ♡

dianne said...

Thanks Glyn dear, I am very pleased that you like my photos, the camera sure makes a big difference from the cell phone, I just have to practice more and improve my composition.

Yes the billowing sheets, just like sails,they did look lovely and tallships with sails are so romantic... I think I must have been a seafaring wench in a previous life...Lol. ;-) ♡

dianne said...

Thank you dear HLiza , I am looking forward to feeling better soon, bronchitis is an awful thing to have, it just makes you feels so yukky and no-one likes being sick. :/

Yes I am gradually finding out what all of the buttons are for on my camera, yes it is more fun that way, lifes too short to be reading through pages and pages of instruction manuals.

I have many more lovely green palms and ferns, they look so exotic mixed in the garden with other plants.
You have some beautiful palms and flowers in your country, just the right climate for all of those exotic plants...
my neighbour on one side has palms planted against the dividing fence and thanks to the birds spreading the seeds I have quite a few new palms courtesy of her...how lucky I am. :)

I have bought many of my palms and ferns as small plants in pots and they have grown well,some I have propogated and some have been given to me by friends so they have a story and a special meaning to me. xo ♡

Lily said...

Diane, I am definitely NOT writing you off!!! ON THE CONTERARY!!! I am telling you that there is a very good chance that you can move out of that higher risk area and get much better, probably even completely well! So note the difference: it's not that I think you are so ill and so much at risk that soemthing will happen to you, i think you can restore your health so much that nothing ever will happen to you again!!!
BIG DIFFRENCE here! and the power is all yours!!!

I am glad, that you have taken my mails so well, because I do have a way of being a little to direct and blunt... I appologize for that, but I am just no good at the gentle stuff...

great about your mom, good to know she did so well in spite of all!

re invalid: you probably would be surprised, but I myself have been one more or less, until very recently and that's why I say don't trust anything the medical expert do or say, check out everything for yourself and get well educated. if I had listend to doctors and had gone along with their treatments, I would have died many times, that's how bad things really were! But luckily you can study yourself and observe what is right and wrong and you can find the few things that work and the few experts who aren't quacks. it's all still there, just difficult to find and that's why we have to help each other! and that's why I am interested in helping you.

Little Lamb said...

Pretty.

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Beautiful greens!

dianne said...

Thank you dear Sarah Sofia
I know you mean well and you are very kind, I am not dismissing your good advice you have given me, its something to think about, something that may do me some good.
I just didnt want you to think that I am some kind of chronic invalid...I'm not...I am very much alive. ♡ xo

dianne said...

Thank you dear Lil Lamby
I'm pleased that you like the photos...I must pop over and see how those birds are getting on. :) ♡

dianne said...

Thank you dear J Cosmo ,
its nice to see you here, I hope you are well and enjoying these lovely Winter days of sunshine...supposed to be a cold change mid next week, I hope we get some rain. ♡

boneman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

very
exotic looking
to north american eyes

lovely, dianne

¤ ¤ ¤

/t.

puerileuwaite said...

Lilli Pilli? Scribbley Gum?!

That's it, henceforth Australians are expressly FORBIDDEN from naming plant life.

Also, I've alerted the authorities about the "weeds" you have elected to spare.

dianne said...

Lovely poem Boney dear...
I can just imagine how lovely that would be since Ive seen photos of your grass and trees.

Sounds like the kind of thing I would like to do...trees are wonderful and soft grass...
somewhere I would take refuge from the heat of the Summer and most likely drift off to sleep...

If it gets too hot I like to spray myself with the garden hose when I turn it to a soft mist of water, its very refreshing and cooling. ♡

dianne said...

Thanks dear /t.
I guess these kind of ferns and palms would be exotic to your part of the world...
but you do have beautiful prairies with lovely grasses and wildflowers I should imagine and those beautiful deciduous trees with their fall colours and pine forests...so there are always compensations...how fortunate we are to have such diversity in nature. ♡

dianne said...

Lovely to see you here Puggles my sweet.

Yes they are funny names and there are some which are more amusing, I sometimes wonder how they come up with these names especially when we get into their botanical Latin names of genus and species.

So it was you who alerted the authorities about my plant which lookslike marijuana...sorry none of that 'weed' growing here, just the pretty ones with flowers. :) ♡

Lily said...

Diane,
I am closing down one of my blogs (actually several! it's just such a chaos!), where you are a follower. the same entries will come on my other blogs. I would be happy, if you would also find those interesting and would regiter as a follower there.

love and greetings from Denmark, sarah sofia

dianne said...

Thanks dear Sarah- Sofia

Good luck with your trimming down, I dont know how you manage them all, I have enough problems filling the space here with something of interest... but then my life isnt that interesting.
Yes I will register as a follwer at all of your blogs. ♡

Love and greeting from Australia, Dianne ♡

darkfoam said...

GOOD MORNING!

dianne said...

Good evening dearest Foamy
I hope you are enjoying your vacation, thanks for coming over to say 'Hello'. ♡

Anonymous said...

good evening,
dear dianne

fortunate are we
indeed for diversity & beer

& some other things, too

¤ ¤ ¤

<3

Anonymous said...

hmmmm

good afternoon

<3

dianne said...

Good evening dear /t.

nice of you to pop by and say 'hello', I will have to get a clock and set it to 'Canada' time, I guess it is late evening there.

I am wondering what a Canadian Summer would be like? ♡

<3 <3 <3

Lee said...

There is something so wonderfully relaxing about ferns. They are very graceful and calming.

dianne said...

Thanks dear Lee
they are lovely to look at, there are so many shades of green and leaf shape...they remind me of the tropics;I have so many in my garden.♡

Anonymous said...

dianne,

summer evenings
we lay naked together
in our igloo, holding hands
and watching reruns of australian nature shows

it's a simple but pleasant life here

¤ ¤ ¤

<3

darkfoam said...

ohhhhhhh ..
those canadians and their igloos ...
tsk ..
us southerners laze about under a slowly turning fan while sipping on mimosas and going for the occasional skinny dip down by the creek ..

dianne said...

An igloo? Gosh dear /t.

I was sure you lived in a house...nice that you lay naked together and hold hands,that would be nice, but surely there are other shows to watch. :) ♡

dianne said...

Foamy dear
that sounds good, a cooling fan, a soft drink of sorts, I have no idea what a 'mimosa' is, my creek is too far away so I guess I would just have to settle for a cold shower or a spray with the hose on those really hot Summer evenings and I have done it before. ♡

Ruela said...

I love your garden ;)


very beautiful!

dianne said...

Thank you dear Ruela

I'm pleased that you think it is very beautiful, it is very tropical and green in parts...nice to see you again. ♡