Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas & Katydids

Don found this splendid fellow on the mower - it's a Spotted Katydid Nymph. Hopefully it's a good sign that the weather is warming up for Christmas. It just doesn't seem like Christmas time unless it's scorching hot...


Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A holiday in 7 photos

And now for the climax - summarising the holiday with 7 photos (minus the wedding - we'll save that for a special post). Wish me luck!

Dubbo zoo.

Paddle steamers at Echuca.

Smiling faces at the Coorong.

The blue, blue, oh so blue lake at Mt Gambier. (P.S. It was blue!)
Stalactites in a limestone cave.

Breath-taking views along the Great Ocean Road.

Ye Olde town of Soverign Hill at Ballarat.

Holiday - wildlife shots

I'm not sure whether you could classify Galapagos Tortoises in the zoo as wildlife, but I'm sure it was wild once - in a very sedate kind of way...!


There was a plentiful supply of ducks along the Murray River.

Beautiful swans on the lakes at Mt Gambier. I just missed a photo of it spreading it's wings!
There were so many koalas at Cape Otway it was ridiculous! So lovely to see them up close.

Not much 'life' left in this shell, but so pretty!

Holiday - botanical shots

I'm trying to sort out my holiday photos at the moment. Won't tell you how many we took... But here are some highlights of what I call the Botanical sights.

These gorgeous red flowers were on a tree at Dubbo Zoo:

The bark was in horizontal strips on this tree in the Adelaide Hills. Lower down there were only chunks of bark left. I thought it was quite interesting...:

We loved this vivid purple seaweed on the beach on the south coast:

There were lots of these delicate little blue & yellow flowers along the south coast. They are about the size of your little fingernail:

This was a little creek coming off the Murray River. We played on the bridge while Don tasted wines in the Rutherglen region:

Santa Free Zone

Yes, I'm fed up with ye old Santa rubbish. Completely irrelevant to Christmas - why focus on some bubbly drink sponsored fellow with obvious deep psychological issues, when God himself came to Earth to save the world and offer us the riches of heaven itself! Not to mention adoption into the royal family! Crikey! The children are a little non-plussed at having to explain to strangers on the street that Santa doesn't exist....

Monday, December 20, 2010

Back again

We've just had a lovely 3 week holiday - travelling around South, and attending my cousin's wedding (congrats, Holly & Sam!). As a result, today we're having a very quiet washing day...

Here's a glimpse of our trip:

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Pictures that work or don't

I went to a conference this last weekend with a friend to hear Graham Cooke speaking. It was fantastic! My friend even had glory dust on her hands at the end. For those unfamiliar with that term, it's a bit hard to describe because I don't fully understand it myself, but it's one of those 'signs and wonders' that God does at times. Basically after a prayer time she looked down and saw (and I saw, because I was standing beside her) that her hands were covered in sparkles. Each sparkle is quite small and right in the grooves of the skin. In the sunlight you can see them all over her hands in different colours, but you can hardly see them out of the direct light, and I've tried several times to take photos but fairly unsucessfully - maybe because each sparkle is so small. And when they're washed off they just come back again. Why does God do stuff like that? Don't know. Maybe you should ask him. But it's fun! God is fun! Who wouldn't want a bit of sparkle in their day? :) That's the 3rd good friend of mine who has had this 'glory dust' on their hands, so you never know, you might be next!

So that you can still have a photo, here's one of a butterfly we found. I love how soft their wings are. Gorgeous.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Just sleeping

I'm thinking I should rename this blog as "Little chicken and her beetles". This one is, quote, "called Queen, and he's sleeping."
Chicken no.2: "Um... I think it's dead."
Little chicken (very emphatically): "NO! It's not dead! It's just resting. Come and pat him, mummy."
Me: "Err... maybe later, sweetie."

Love the bronze and greens on this one.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

After the rain

I love going outside after it has rained - it's the best time for watching spiders re-create their webs. I tried rather unsuccessfully to photograph one - they're quick little things!


I did capture a beetle clinging to the edge of a rose petal.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

No sign of rain!

There was rain forecast for today, but instead we've had a lovely sunny day, most of which was spent at the park. The children collected more slater beetles than you would think lived at the park, and were surprised that the other children weren't particularly interested in them.... Hmmm...

Eldest chicken did find this cricket (? How can I tell without it's antennae?) skeleton which we've had fun studying. I love it's dramatic exit pose!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Happy Campers

Reading a book and giving the dog a rub at the same time - two happy campers. Need I say more? :)


There's been plenty of outdoor time this afternoon. The flies must be breeding in all this dampness - I can't stand them, but this one was interesting to inspect - it stayed fairly still, and my boy carried it around on a twig for ages. We are wondering if this is a Green Bottle Fly, which then led to an interesting conversation about maggot therapy....

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

More roses

What is it about roses? Their curly, uneven edges folded together so elegantly. These ones have such a sweet but subtle fragrance - I wish I could share it with you!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Raindrops on roses...

... and whiskers on kittens. Well... actually whiskers on kittens aren't so much a favourite thing of mine, but raindrops on roses are pretty high up there. Especially if you can spend a ridiculous amount of time just standing around and smelling the roses...

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Great Unfurling

It's a balmy Spring day today. We were almost blown away by the wind the last few days, but now it is peaceful and warm outside, and there are still some flowers clinging determinedly onto their branches.

We found a Bird Dropping Spider storing up it's eggs.


And watched the Great Unfurling of the Slater beetle.

Friday, October 15, 2010

A week of creating

It's been a creative week, this week. Eldest chicken has been hard at work stitching a chicken mascot for littlest chicken. (How many times can you fit the word 'chicken' into a sentence and not get confused...)


She has also been busy creating new desserts for the family to try. This particularly yummy one is called Double Chocolate Apple, and is made with the following directions:



Then the week was make complete with hand-made posies for mummy and daddy. Ahhhhh, sweet love!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ice Crystals

Aren't ice crystals pretty? (Let's not talk about the state of the freezer. Let's pretend we were purposefully growing ice crystals... which funnily enough was a suggestion in our Science lesson this week!)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Holiday lists

Why, oh why do I make lists of things to do during the holidays? Do I do any of them? Nope - because I need a holiday!!

But I did manage to get a lot of sewing done for the wedding that's coming up soon... (he he - excited, Holly??) And I've almost finished a tie for my boy, which, in my humble opinion, will be the grooviest tie at the wedding! (Eldest chicken reading over my shoulder gently suggests that it will actually be the Groom and groomsmen who will be the grooviest. Ah yes. Ahem. Of course...)

Here's a sneak peak of the soon-to-be-famous and almost-finished tie. No orders taken, because I neglected to think about the fact that it is completely hand sewn! (See previous posts if you don't know my feelings on hand sewing...)