THE WESTERLY WINDS OF AUGUST

 

Greetings from the Red Cardinal.

Here it is, August already - and I don't know where I have been lately.

How are you all?  I am so impressed with the bloggers who continue to post through lock downs and difficult days.

It is our coldest month, and this year the Westerly Winds do not disappoint - biting through the air and blowing us to smithereens!

The flowers in our garden are going really well this...

The combination of cold mornings and sunny days seems to work for them.

Our vegetable attempts, on the other hand, have come to very little.

The tomatoes have flowers, but refuse to fruit...

Our zucchini flowers produce a little fruit which disappears in a day..???

Best display of iris we have had in years..

This is the deep waterhole I pass on my daily walks.

Local reports say there has been a platypus there lately,

 although I have not seen it.

The shy platypus is Australia's most unusual animal, and I have never seen one in the wild.  Every time I walk past, I pause, hopefully....

For the unfamiliar, the platypus has the bill and webbed feet of a duck, a beaver style tail, furry body and tail like an otter, and the male has a venomous stinger on the rear feet.  They are mammals, yet the female lays eggs in a burrow on the water's edge.  Their preferred environment is in the water where they feed on insects, shellfish, worms etc, and they are awkward on land.  As this one has not favoured me with an appearance, here is a Google image:

We Red Cardinals have continued with our weekend jaunts into the countryside, visiting some historic villages settled in our State's infancy...

At Forest Hill, we enjoyed the old Post Office cafe, gift shop and restaurant...

and a most delicious carrot, walnut and macadamia cake, with berry syrup and icecream.   And pansies...

A few days later we had guests, so I made my own interpretation:

In other news, I actually braved going into a change room at the Mall, and bought a Marimekko dress at Uniqlo:

I think we will be very happy together.

To my horror, today the Health Department has released a list of venues, days and times, associated with a new Covid outbreak.  And I was there, right in the time frame, the day I bought the dress.

Seems we will be isolating again for a while...

Our GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) reopened recently.  

Prominently displayed is this pretty flower monster 'Flowers that Bloom at Midnight" - one of a series by the famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama [1929-]

Flowers are a staple motif for Kusama, along with polka dots.  

Here the great staring eye makes us think of alien flora in science fiction and fantasy tales.

Perhaps it makes you think of something quite recent??

Our first grandson, Young Aussie, has a birthday coming soon.

He will be Eleven!  Who would have thought...

I have been looking at his baby photos:

Here he is lying on a little Peter Rabbit quilt I made for him..

and enjoying his first Christmas.  What a little cutie he was (and is :)

And here is my best news:

Young Aussie is going to be a Big Brother .... very soon.

I will tell you all about it, when it happens.

Be well, be safe, take care.

XXXX