Thursday 24 January 2013

Tara's neighbourhood summer tour...

What amazing weather we are having this summer in Melbourne. Sadly with all the hot weather comes the ever present threat of bushfires, and the lack of flowers (and I am rather partial to a nice bloom).

As I keep my eyes on the weather report to see if my weekend markets at St Andrews are affected by total fire bans... and my Fountain Gate customers tell me of fires near their homes in Pakenham, I look around at this hot country I am living in and wonder how do the plants even survive a run of temperatures over 35 degrees...

Well I guess they just shut down and hibernate (much like us) and wait until the rains come to bloom again. This morning I took a walk around my neighbourhood in search of flowers. Didn't really find any (!) but I did notice some pretty amazing tree trunks and bark formations which I've overlooked in the past because I normally go skipping gaily from one blooming bush to the next.

Erm... this bird of paradise looks a little dried up...
 Hardy Eucalyptus - native trees are always the strongest...

This one smells divine when you crush the leaves - no wonder the Koalas like it (well not actually sure if they like this particular type of Eucalyptus...)
 Lens flare... or angels??  (Yes, lens flare Mr Tara - I can see you rolling your eyes...)
 These trees shed their bark and shine in their naked glory (ooh steady on!)...
 Here is some of the bark left at the base of the trunk...
Cracks appear in bare earth - this still fascinates me - its like a dried up river bed... some summers our lawn does this...
 Mottled bark ...


 Nature is stunning...
 
  Yep, everything is crisp... and it still fascinates me even after 7 years of living here.
 Fake grass on the cricket pitch showing the rest of the park up...

 Stop awhile (I usually do)...
 This cricket pitch is watered so its keeping its green...

 Peeling bark...

 This one always cracks me up... standing on the corner of Lorraine and Doris...
You don't see letterboxes like this much anymore.  Good on you number 22 for rocking the home-made letter box...
 Seriously, there were no flowers, I got to photographing drain covers...
 No wait!  I found this!!!!  Phew, the walk was not in vain.

Keep cool Melbourne, we are headed for 37 degrees today.  I'm a hot weather girl so despite my crisp neighbourhood, I'm enjoying the sunshine.  I hope you enjoyed my crusty bark tour... she's had too much sun I hear you say....

Tara

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