Friends Award

My friend Sarah Sofia from 'Bed and Breakfast in Denmark' has kindly awarded all of her blogger friends and followers the 'Friends Award' and as I have been hoping for this award I am accepting it graciously and would like to pass it on to the people who mean so much to me...so here in no particular order are the deserving recipients who have welcomed me into their world of blogging and made my life so much more enjoyable...each of you have contributed something wonderful by way of your beautiful blogs and the lovely comments you have left for me...I can honestly say that I love all of you... ♥

Foamy...because you are a lovely girl and have been here for me from the very start, I appreciate your advice, your kindness to me, your friendship and support have never waivered...you encouraged me to start my blog and I have never regretted it...so lucky to have you for my friend.

Chickory/K9...you too are a lovely girl, my warrior and protector in times of need, you have supported me when I have really needed a friend and given me good advice...and invited me into your beautiful world of art and nature...again lucky to have you for my friend.

Lil Lambie...you too are a lovely girl, so sweet and innocent, you dont have much to say but what you do say means a lot to me and I'm pleased to call you my friend.

Anna-Lys... lovely girl, you are inspiring with your projects that you take on, I'm proud to call you my friend and my Celtic sister.

Sarah Sofia...I realise this is passing back an award but you are deserving, you are a lovely girl as well, I like your honesty and I'm pleased to count you amongst my friends.

Helene...another lovely girl with a beautiful smile and happy disposition, our world traveller and adventure girl, another person I am pleased to call friend.

Diane...another smiling face and lovely girl, a great Mom, thank you also for your support when it was needed, I am pleased to call you friend.

Corby...a beautiful talented girl, so sensitive and expressive, thank you for your inspirational poetry and prose, your art and for your understanding,I am pleased to count you amongst my friends.

Sparrow...a very caring and generous person, you do so much to help others, one of the first blogs that I visited and though you dont come here often when you do its nice to have your comments and call you friend.

Elaine...you too were one of my first blogging friends and remain so to this day, I thank you for your beautiful photography which you share and your kind words.

Boney...Oh Boney we have had our ups and downs but we always make up, you are one of the kindest, greatest guys I know and I count you amongst one of my special friends...thanks for all the support you have given me over these months and for your help with my blog...you too are another who encouraged me to start my blog and with your help I have...thanks.

/t. ...You are a great person and have made me feel very welcome in the blogosphere with your kind and humorous words and encouragement; and for some of the technical advice you have given me regarding links, thank you my friend.

Phossy...another person I'm proud to call friend, you have left such sweet comments at my blog, always made me feel welcome, I think you are really a very special guy.

Puggles...another good friend, supportive,I really enjoy your off beat, humorous comments and how sweet you have been to me ever since I started my blog, another really special guy.

M ...I dont know how you found me but I'm pleased that you did, you have some very fine qualities for a male, I love how you dont take things at face value, how you can see so much more and express your feelings, very pleased to call you my friend.

Lee...thank you for your wise words and support when I was at my lowest point last year, it was nice that you cared and gave me helpful advice...you are a good person and friend.

Glyn...thank you for your wonderful comments and inspiring words, you have certainly been a good friend to me, someone to talk to when I needed advice, you're a good guy and thanks for listening.

J Cosmo...we havent seen you lately so I do hope that you are well, thank you friend for all of the lovely comments you have made and your encouraging words.

Pete...thank you for your friendship, humour and words of encouragement, you are also a great guy.

Ruela...what a sweetie you are, thank you for your lovely comments and your friendship, you are a special guy.

laughingwolf ... you are my newest friend, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your lovely comments, they are appreciated, you too are a lovely guy.

I am truly blessed to be in such wonderful company...and fortunate to have 'landed' where I did in the Blogosphere, with all of you...this may only be an award which has most likely been given to many, but to me the sentiment behind it is that of sincerity, true friendship and gratitude...I do hope I havent forgotten anyone...if so I apologise. ♥

White Flowers for Chickory

Japanese Windflower -Alba Anemone

White Tulips

Zephyranthes Candida - Fairy Lily or White Rain Lily

White Foxgloves - Digitalis Alba

White Aster Daisies

Hakea Sericea - Australian Native Plant

Pandorea Pandorana Australian Native Climbing Plant

Bursaria Spinosa an Australian native plant

I love most flowers, there is so much diversity in flower shapes, petals, stamens, colours and fragrances, all have their own specific beauty and attraction.
The colour range is so vast and I tend to be drawn to the warmer colours of yellows, apricots, oranges and some pinks; even amongst these colours there are so many subtle shades and variations, I do also like the some of the cooler colours like blues through to purple.
Cream features very much in my garden colour palette and also white, I have given you a sample of some of my favourite white flowers though there are many more, I have included some Australian natives and some exotics, some you will recognise, I hope you will enjoy them all.
Flowers are the smiling faces of so many plants and one cannot help but be delighted with their beauty. ♥

Love Amidst The Flowers

Clouds float above us
in a sky so blue
As we lay in the meadow
wildflowers of every hue

Hear the song of the grasses
as the breeze drifts by
As we lay here together
and gaze at the sky

You hold me so closely
hear the beat of your heart
Nothing can come between us
or keep us apart

You kiss me so deeply
taste the sweetness of you
Together in this moment
ever closer to you

We are lost in each other
hear the softness of my sighs
You look at my face
and I lose myself
in the blue of your eyes

Wrap myself around you
You hold me closer now
we are together
here and now

Rapt in the warmth of each other
a feeling of content
Words of love spoken
whispered and meant

And in loves afterglow
Softy fall asleep
To the song of the meadow
and all of her charms

Bathed in the glow of sunshine
we fall into our dreams
Holding on so lovingly
in each other's arms...

Poem by Dianne ♥

Chasing the Setting Sun

First glimpse

Near the school oval

My favourite

At the crossroad

From my street

From my street

From my street

From my garden

From my garden

I was driving home this afternoon and first noticed that lovely glow of golden colour in the western sky.. as the sun was setting the colours changed so beautifully and dramatically and I wanted to capture it in all of its changing beauty. I took a couple of photos at first then drove to some other vantage points where I was able to get some more pictures from different locations until the sun set below the horizon.

Its difficult to believe that this is the changing colours of one sunset, I took the first photo at 4:50pm and the last at 5:16pm; I haven't posted them all as many are similar, this is a view of a glorious Winter sunset in the Southern Hemisphere.

These photos were taken with a Nokia N95 cell/mobile phone camera...I hope you enjoy the beauty and the colours...♥

Wildflowers in Winter

Flannel Flower - image courtesy of Cumberland Forest Nursery

Native Flannel Flower - Actinotus Helianthi

Lomandria Longifolia in foreground..Gray Ironbark Gum..Wattle..Scribbly Gum

Egg and Bacon plant - Eutaxia Obovata

Star Flower with buds - these flowers are less than half an inch wide

Golden Wattle

Sweet Scented Wattle - blossoms and buds with foliage and eucalypt leaves

Sweet Scented Wattle - Acacia Suaveolens

Grevillea Hybrid 'Kay Walker' in my garden

Grevillea hybrid 'Peaches and Cream' in my garden

Some Winter wildflowers from my local bushland area and some from my garden.

I should just be coming home...

Hi everyone, I thought I would give Sonja Kristina down there on the previous post a little break from singing...she must be getting tired by now.
Speaking of being tired I was watching television earlier this evening,I curled up on the sofa and fell asleep...slept for hours...well I must have needed the rest.
A lot of girls would be just getting home at this time, which is about 1.41am Sunday morning here after a nice night out with some pleasant guy, dinner, a movie, some dancing maybe... no not me...
I dont really mind though, its really cold here tonight and its been raining heavily all afternoon and still is...I just regret that I have wasted a whole Saturday evening.

I went out earlier today looking for some native flannel flowers which I want to photograph for a special friend when I can borrow a camera...I wandered through the bushland which surrounds the park and playing field in my street and found quite a few lovely plants with flowers
...unfortunately the heavens opened up, I tried to shelter under some branches of a tree hoping the rain would subside a little but it just came down heavier and by the time I got home I was dripping wet and soaked to the skin and freezing cold.
Well at least I know where to find the flowers when I have the camera, I'm hoping today will bring some sunshine as well.
Even when its raining the bushland looks beautiful, it takes on a more softened colour scheme, the green foliage is especially more muted in colour.

I'm sorry I dont have much for you this morning, just a half written poem which is a little sad and an idea for a painting which I am finding difficult to start...maybe l will find some more inspiration in the days ahead.
I guess I am in a bit of a 'slump' creatively at the moment, I hope this will soon pass...and so as to not completely disappoint you I have posted this lovely painting by Claude Monet, it is irises planted en masse in his garden at Giverney, he painted this in 1900.

I hope you are all having a great and interesting week-end. ♥

Curved Air...Melinda (More or Less) live 1972

I found this lovely ballad on Youtube whilst looking at one of Boneman's videos...it is old, 1972 and features the sweet voice of the beautiful Sonja Kristina, she is the singer with the UK band which goes by or went by the name of Curved Air...dont know exactly why but the song appeals to me for its melody and simplicity... ♥

Lovely lady falling
laughing down the glory
of a rainbow
lovely lady reaching
crying for the comfort
of the day-glow
Melinda - more or less
Melinda - more or less
in dreams

But if and when
she wakes again
she knows it all
begins again
sleeping, waking,
rising, falling
dumb but calling out
to deafened friends
that's how it ends
For Melinda - more or less
in dreams

Fade - Melinda
fade into fantasy
tell them you won't be played
like any other
instrument of fate
fade - Melinda
into your fantasy
tell them you're not
prepared to wait for
your dream of the end
Melinda - more or less
in dreams

Lovely lady falling
laughing down the glory
of a rainbow
lovely lady reaching
screaming for the comfort
of the day-glow
Melinda - more or less
Melinda - more or less
Melinda - more or less