EPIPHANY

 

This week we celebrate Epiphany, the visit from the three Wise Men or Kings who came to see the Christ child.  

My choir sang 'We Three Kings' on Sunday: I always enjoy that.

As is traditional here, I took down the Christmas tree and decorations on the Twelfth Day of Christmas: Epiphany.

When we travelled to Europe last Easter, we overnighted in Dubai.  I found two little camels in the airport, and they are now part of my Christmas Nativity scene.

Our new house has an interesting garden, which was professionally landscaped in the past couple of years.  There is only one tree (remember the jungle we used to have!).  It is a mini Magnolia.

I have been watering it for weeks, only to have the buds die in the heat.

But at last today I found this:

So exciting to have these beautiful white floral giants to see in the back garden.  There is another one just about to open too.

The garden has few blooms, and a lot of the above: native Australian grasses which are tough, but a bit boring.

We are removing a few of them and planting some flowers we have brought with us.  We love roses and have added three new ones which are thriving, and have buds.

One flower which is dotted around is this unusual agapanthus, quite small and a variegated blue/white flower.  It can stay!

We don't know what this tree in a pot is, and wondered if it was dead.

However, it had a couple of white blossoms last week, and has tiny shoots all over.  

I am exploring the local area on my daily walks, and found this garden on a street corner.  It is called Kangaroo Paw, and is an Australian native plant.

We have always liked to live in an elevated position, and our choice to move to a ground-level house with no steps brought us to a suburb with a plateau with a lot of level plots.  And we still have elevation, high above local flooding and catching the breeze.

I passed these unusual trees today - I wonder what they are?

Today I was in a street which goes down hill from the plateau, and could see this mountain in the distance.  I have enlarged so you can see the TV towers in the centre of the picture.  This is in the view I saw up much closer from the back deck in our previous house, which has been in many blog posts.  We have moved about 10km and several suburbs away, so we still live in the same general social and shopping areas.

This week I also saw a curlew, this strange Australian bird with very big eyes.  It stands very still, hoping you can't see it.  This one was in a small shopping centre.  They are ground dwelling nocturnal birds, who in patches of long grasses and woodlands are active at night and their strange cry echos around the hills as they hunt for insects.

Have a good week

XXXX
 

A MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

We had a wonderful Christmas in our new Cardinal Nest.

Our first visitors came soon after 9 am, with gifting and brunch for all...

The new living room was perfectly suited to gathering around the Christmas tree, with children, grandchildren and grand-puppies all having a great day.  After presents and a fine lunch, the swimming was the main attraction for the afternoon.

Mr Red Cardinal gave me a longed-for bird bath for the new garden.  We are working hard to put our own stamp on this garden and have started feeding the local birds.

There are lots of lorikeets about, but they are hard to catch in a photo..

Google image

These are some old favourite ornaments, gifted by blog readers of long-standing.

I hope you know who you are :)

In the spirit of the Red Cardinal Blog, I have been researching the Royal Christmas fashions for 2025..

Queen Camilla and Princess Anne in chic red coats and a red hat

This is the first year I have noticed colour theming among the royal family and their guests at Christmas morning church in Sandringham:  Tones of red and brown were very co-ordinated, and had a lovely Autumnal feel...

Catherine, Princess of Wales, looked beautiful in a brown tartan coat, over a pleated check skirt, with a silk scarf, all in tones of brown, with a dark brown hat...

Princess Charlotte in a camel coat with dark trim, and red flowers too!

Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice continue the theme with ruby toned hats, and warm coats in check and camel..

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, in a light check coat with burgundy trim..

Zara Tindall, the daughter of Princess Anne, in a pretty hat (she will be here in Queensland next week!)

Well done all for this picture-pretty turnout.

And I thought it was all happenstance....

I hope you are all enjoying the peaceful space after Christmas.

Unless you are going to the sales....

Happy New Year to you.  May 2026 be filled with happiness and peace on earth.

XXXXX

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

 

Best wishes for Peace on Earth, and a very Happy Christmas and great New Year to all readers of the Red Cardinal blog.

XXXXX