Pink poinsettias

You've seen red ones, you've maybe seen white ones, have you seen pink ones?

English bluebells

We visited the U of Birmingham's botanic gardens yesterday. Here are 2 shots of the gorgeous bluebells that are blooming all over now.

Poinsettias on the hoof

On the vine? the branch? stalking the wild poinsettia? So, it's June and it's winter here, or so said the news reader on the radio Monday, even though some people might say it's not winter until 21 June. Anyway here are the quintessential winter flowers, blooming away in someone's front garden a few streets over from the Treehouse.

Flowers at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

The rose looks pink, but it is in fact white, Anne. Fabulous gardens -- I must have spent 4 hours there, and as can be seen, it was a beautiful sunny day.

I'm back; late summer flora

Wow, I see it's been over 2 months since my last post. What's my excuse? Well, I was traveling in the US for 3 weeks back in Jan/Feb. Then we spent a week in NZ ("En Zed", that is) so that we could get our permanent residency visas granted -- don't ask -- En Zed was lovely and I'm eager to go back.

As soon as that was done, school started for me, both as teacher and student, so I've been busy.

My other excuse is Facebook -- I've been spending my online energy there instead of here.

But here's a photo of a cool bush I saw the other day: it has both flowers and berries at the same time. The flowers are purple and the berries are yellow, a really nice color combination with the green leaves. No idea what it's called, of course.

Now that the semester is under way, and I'm a little calmer, I'll pay more attention. I promise.

This stops a nation??

Today was The Big Event (yawn)...the immediate world here stopped work or whatever they were doing to don silly hats, drink a lot, and watch a 3 minute horse race. Strange. If you really want to see more, visit http://www.melbournecup.com/Melbourne-Cup-Carnival-2.html.

Another day in paradise

Day after day, sunshine and blue skies...how can I stand it??

More pretty flowers

Self-explanatory.