Lovely Soft Colours

I do not have many flowers in my garden at the moment, although some of the roses are still putting on a good show [they are protected from the nasty weather].  But, I do have one lovely Zygocactus in bloom, only a few, as it's just a tiny plant, but I can't help but love it's unusual colouring.  For some reason this one has only started blooming now, which is a little unusual for here.  They are normally full of colour in May, so this one seems to me to be a bit late, although I have read they bloom nicely when the temperature drops.  

This one is a strong lemony yellow/flushed pink as a bud - hopefully, you can see that in this photograph.  Upon opening, the yellow colour fades to lemon, and the pink/fuchsia blush is evident inside.

I also love the beautiful translucent quality of the petals.   I was 'given' one small leaflet, about two years ago, and last year had only one flower.  Thankfully, I managed to keep it away from the pups when they were on their worst behaviour!!

Hope you enjoy this gorgeous bloom as much as I do.  Cold nights and mornings here at the moment, but then, not as cold as others are experiencing. 

Water Under The Bridge

Christmas is over for another year, and what a day it must have been for many of my fellow Queenslanders.  We managed to celebrate with some of our family, and some extended family, with the day staying fairly dry, but overcast.  We had our anxious moments, but knowing the river as we do, we felt quite safe crossing for the day and knowing we could return home the same afternoon.  This is a photograph I took after crossing the bridge on Christmas morning.  The water is now over the bridge.  I do hope we might drive in to see it tomorrow some time.  We can't get far from the houses here, the paddocks are saturated, the local watercourses full and running bankers, too deep for us to wade through............perhaps tomorrow.  The town of Chinchilla, 90 kms to the north-east of us is experiencing major flooding, and every road out of the town is cut.  I hope our local grocery stores stocked up last week!!!  It appears the water won't recede for a number of days yet.  That's the way of these rivers, running through quite flat country, slow to rise, and slow to fall.  Hopefully I can get some more photos in a few days.

I took these photos on Christmas day.  These are two lovely blooms in my daughter-in-law's garden.  She has so many lovely shrubs flowering at the moment, I could have snapped all day.  The agapanthus are in full bloom, and the numerous hibiscus are a delight, although I keep wondering about this one.  Although the flower looks like a hibiscus, the leaves look very much like a Rose of Sharon......................  Maybe I don't know my plants????

I trust everyone enjoyed their Christmas day, and are having a few days' rest and relaxation.  There has been chaos in all parts of the world this Christmas.  Thankfully, in our little corner of the world, we are high [not dry as such], but safe, with food in our freezers and pantries.  Our main concern is having enough insect repellant.  The mosquitoes are on the warpath, and soon the sandflies will join forces with them.  I've had to spray our dogs with a home brew [that's not beer] in order to give them some peace from the biting wretches.  Even the horse, who usually hates being sprayed, was satisfied to stand still and take his medicine.  First on the grocery list will be baby oil and dettol, nothing beats it for the animals!!!!  We usually light logs for some smoke, but everything is so wet at the moment, a fire isn't going to be easy to get going.  This is why we live where we live I suppose!!!!!!