AUTUMN?

It rained today..

and I think some of those lorikeets had no idea what it was...

over 90% of our State now being drought-declared...

The heat has continued, and although it is officially Autumn,

there is no sign of it.

Here's a recent picture of our youngest grandson, C2 in Canada..

just to help us cool off a bit..

Remember those snake deterrents we bought before Christmas, when the Canadians were coming to visit?

They worked a couple of months, emitting their strange vibration, but they have all become corroded in their little solar powered batteries and no longer work.

Cue the first snake sighting of the season, when I went over towards this limp tree fern to take a picture of the effects of drought.

It slithered down near the fence, and hopefully went away..

At least after a bit of rain the tree ferns are now standing proud once more.

This was the only flower I could find in the garden this week.

Thank goodness for the evergreen hedge plants for a bit of greenery..

And did you see what Her Majesty wore pinned to her yellow coat at Westminster Abbey yesterday?

Yes, it is the Australian Wattle Brooch making an appearance.

I'll have to wear my faux version somewhere soon - it is time for an excursion.

I bought a little yellow clutch at a recycle shop for $3, because why not?

I put a tiny pot from the Hopi Indians of New Mexico into Mr C's mini Zen Garden.  A mix of cultures, but I am excited by the Making Modernism exhibition at the Art Gallery which opened at the weekend.

The Georgia O'Keeffe paintings are so stunning, and it is a rare treat to have them come to Australia.  O'Keeffe spent much of her painting life in New Mexico, as you probably know. 

While we are looking at the Zen Garden, I want to tell you what happened to me on Facebook.  Someone hacked into my Facebook account and made a clone version of me, same name and some of my photos, and then sent friend requests to all of my friends.  Some of you would have received them.  I was unawares this was going on until our daughter alerted me.  My fault was I did not realise my privacy settings were set to 'anyone can see' instead of 'friends only' which is how a stranger had access.  They then made a 'clone' of me, and the attempt to gather in my friends is with the intention of collecting their data or finding a way to defraud them.   Most people know to delete a friend request from somebody who is already your Facebook friend, but I am telling the story for those who have not experienced this.  One friend had accepted the friendship of the 'clone' Patricia, and was then subjected to a series of messages about large sums of money available for the taking (something similar to the well-known Nigerian scam to which many Australians have succumbed).

I hope nobody has been hurt by this event, and I will pay much closer attention to my Facebook and Instagram settings in future.

May the rain and Autumn descend on us ...

XXXX