MtLawleyShire’s hunt for wildflowers

First – I must apologize to all who read this. I cannot interact with other blogs.  I can reply to comments, but can’t do anymore than that.  I don’t know what the problem is, it keeps occurring on this blog and is a damn nuisance.  And the WordPress people can’t seem to fix it either.  I will keep trying though.  and I do look at your blogs.

 

First – despite the cold and the rain, this has been teh best season for wildflowers in one of teh parts of teh world that is rightly famous for its wildflowers.  and this year, I went looking for them in more than my usual haunts.  There are/will be posts from Kings Park and Hyde Park, but this year, I took myself and camera further and to more different places.

This post is from a tiny area of remnant and conserved Banksia woodland in MtLawleyShire itself.  Banksia woodland is what the natural area is like, and though there are no photos of banksias in this post, there will be in others.  It is a tiny area, perhaps half a hectare, but the ‘friends’ of this area are doing wonderful work in replanting and caring and maintaining all the plants.

And I found flowers.  Wonderful flowers!

Spider orchids:

This was the first time I had seen a spider orchid let alone photographed one.  I was delighted, despite the awkward angle!

 

  

 

Cowslip orchid – I have more photos of these in later posts, and again, this was the first time I had seen one.

Donkey orchids – again, there will be more photos, but I love these.  This is the first time I had seen them and so difficult to photograph!

 

This is affectionately called the ‘salt and pepper’ flower

This is a type of pea – there are so many varieties.  There are bushes of this little flower and I have more examples from other places.

Banksia flowers – or ‘fruit’

I don’t know what these are, but they are buds and I haven’t yet seen their flowers.

This, I believe, is dampiera – a cousin of the beautiful blue leschenaultia which will be in later posts.

 

I have no idea what this is apart from totally intriguing!

 

I don’t know what these delectable little things are, apart from pretty 🙂

 

 

And this? A ‘naughty’ plant – a weed, but it was the only one that held a bee still enough for long enough 😀

 

I hope you have enjoyed this first of the ‘wildflower hunting’ posts.  There are more to come 🙂

 

A Summer Sunset over MtLawleyShire

It start gold and uncertain

 

swathes of cloud offered promise

 

and soon became great sweeps of gilded cream against the wash of crimson on the western horizon:

and the light lowered, the sweeps of cream became gold and powerful

dominating the sky in powerful washes

as the light departed, they deepened into waves across the sky

a desert upended

rolling and rich

the sky washed clean light blue and green is a wonderful contrast against rich reds and golds

and across the evening, the ibis flew home

 

 

even in detail, the sky retains the sand dune appearance

as day departs, the hues alter, become richer, more vibrant,

luminous

the untidy tatters of neon pink to the north-west contrasted with the red golds of those sweeping clouds

but all things end, especially sunsets and as light departs, it gives a rich gift, deepening the colours

changing them in some areas to crimson, and leaving the sky beneath the tattered veil of receding crimson and red, almost green and pale blue.

All clean for the next day.

Sky calligraphy and the moon over MtLawleyShire

Another night in mid December was another wonderful example of moon-enclouded.  The sky calligraphy looked too sparse to have an effect, though it was lovely:

 

to the west, the calligraphy was sunset stained:

 

the eastern skies were clear

but the sky calligraphy reached out

almost snared:

 

She escaped and began to take on a little colour from the dying day

 

 

moving through wisps of calligraphy stained with the ink of dying sunset:

 

then in the clearing sky, her colour deepened:

 

golden moon:

becoming silver:

 

a last ink-stained swirl of sky calligraphy

and as sky darkens and deepens, she shines:

 

silvered light:

and in her proper dark, in the clear sky, tonight’s beautiful moon:

Clouds over MtLawleyShire – 25th Feb

Last week there were clouds and storm – well, for everywhere but Perth there was storm, but at least we got the clouds.  And they were fantastic, massive this, , almost making up for the lack of any rain or cool because both days have been hot and humid.  Most unpleasant.

These first 3, with their lines of mammutus clouds, are taken over Beaufort Street:

 

Then back home and out with the camera to catch massive thunderheads – cumulus piling up in the east:

 

 

 

To the southeast were all sorts of clouds – these were taken about 15 minutes apart.  I’ve greatly enhanced the contrast to bring out the different shapes and types of clouds.  Despite the colours, it was well before sunset:

 

looking west-ish just prior to sunset:

 

clouds of all types and stripes littered the sunset-waiting sky:

 

 

and then the thunderheads in the east, slowly sinking as they slid further south-east, caught the light of the setting sun:

  

  

finally, when almost all the light had fled, they remained a taunting, ghostly presence over the coming humid night:

I hope you enjoyed the clouds 🙂

Next post – sunset

 

 

 

Stormclouds over MtLawleyShire: Mon 2nd Feb

It was a fantastic storm – the first of many during the week, culminating with a fantastic storm on Wednesday night, though there was another on Thursday but I was working.  Monday’s  storm was a fantastic opportunity for cloud watching – and the rain was delicious.

The sky first filled with mammatus clouds stretching out to form cirrus hooks:

 

Then you could see the storm front approaching – a denser form with darkness beneath it:

 

 

 

a bird flying to safety and details of tossing clouds:

 

It gained more definition

 

It was impossible to get it all in the frame

  

the details were incredible:

 

and as I watched, the left hand leading edge began to swirl:

 

I was watching a storm cell form:

  

Then the right – I watched another storm cell form to my right:

 

 

 

The leading edge of the storm over one of the gracious houses remaining on my street:

It was a tide of storm looming over houses

 

It really did resemble a huge wave about to break over the world:

 

Much as I didn’t want to, there was the camera to think of – and lightning – so I retreated towards my driveway.  The cloud loomed over  the roof of the flats behind my fence:

 

and this is from my courtyard before I went inside:

A while later, I went back outside, clouds moving away:

It moved south-east, rain still pouring down.  I don’t know if it reached the area where the bush fires are:

 

Their purpose spent, the clouds had lost coherence and definition

remnant always look wonderful:

 

and the fleeing remains were great subjects for black and white:

 

Fattee Cattee you ask?  She was sufe inside in one of her alternate dimensions.

I love storms, so hope you enjoyed this post & that I didn’t post too many.  🙂

Next: post storm sunset, followed by flowers after the rain

 

 

 

 

Awesome sunset over MtLawleyShire. Saturday Jan 24. #3: The Sunset

The clouds were just – the colours, the luminous air! Nothing does justice to what I saw this evening.

For one brief moment, there was a stillness behind the old house

but above –

I tried to get in all the sky but it was impossible

 

 

That great cloud had lost all its grey and bollowed as gold as a sandstorm in a mythical Sahara

 

the architecture of the cloud

 

In this sequence, I try to show the all devouring aspect of those clouds, their apocalyptic facade

 

 

and yet, almost imperciptibly, it begins to fade

 

It loses nothing of its power as darkening sky creeps into the empty spaces s it still takes colour from the gold lining the horizon

 

and from a greater distance, the golds and oranges, the vivid power of it were being subsumed by the darker tones of oncoming night

 

Next – the ending

 

 

Awesome sunset over MtLawleyShire. Sat Jan 24. #2: the beginnings

Sunset proper began with brilliance and swirling cloud:

 

 

then momentary glare drowned out details as the sun blazed forth

 

but it was short-lived, declining it gilded the clouds, their edges turnings gold against a shadowed rose

 

There was a sweetness to that glory.

But that was not the end of it.  From the north came a large cloud, and others smeared the brilliance into spun gold

 

 

 

and intense glory

then, returning to another vantage, I noticed something was happening with all the clouds

And something interesting was happening with the washed rose and gold

 

that great grey cloud from the north-west dipped into the gold of the flaming horizon:

 

Even from a distance, there was something intense about the concentrating of colour and cloud shapes:

Closer, it was nothing that gave rise to any expectation

 

but that great lowering smear of cloud began to assume more significance

 

Then the clouds began to explode:

Next: the sunset through the exploding clouds

 

Awesome sunset over MtLawleyShire. Saturday 24 Jan. #1: Clouds

On Saturday, 24 January, 2015, there was an amazing sunset.  It was so amazing that I have split the post into 4 to cover all the photos.  There were so many and it was so beautiful!  So powerful.  In coming posts, the clouds become apocalyptic and the architecture revealed by the light is amazing.

I hope you stick with me through these four posts.

It started with lots of cloud swirling and gathering into light towards the western horizon.

 

 

as they gathered, the sky began ‘having an expression’ :

it reminded me of a certain person –

OK, her pose is not the same, but can you see the resemblance?  😀

 

streaks and layers behind the city to the south-west

puffs of cloud from the east becoming luminous in the deepening sky:

and in the south-east, picking up colours:

that certain person was unfazed by the building tension (these are actually taken earlier in the day in my courtyard)

 

The next sequence of cloud photos are out of sequence, but the following posts are already big.  These are clouds in the east, south-east & north-east/north-west in sunset mode:

Smooth and wind-swept towards the south-east:

streaming towards the pebbly edges of sunset towards the north-east & north-west:

 

 

fading into oncoming night in the east:

 

I hope this has whetted your appetite – coming next, the building into sunset proper

 

 

 

 

 

MtLawleyShire and a Sunday afternoon walk

I have a sunset to post, from last night, but it is going to take a while because it was spectacular.  Today, the sunset was merely glare in a featureless summer sky, but before that, there were flowers, bees, trees and birds

Flowers:

In sumptuous shadow and flowing light – hibiscus

 

 

the outrageous and glowing colour of bougeanvillea:

 

catching the light in the wind:

I walked past a beautiful rose garden:

 

 

 

a tiny, richly glowing geranium outside a picket fence:

Grevillea:

 

the flowers of a tallow tree:

Coral gum blossom – one with bee 🙂

 

 

a raven in a carpark, calling out to his mob:

Favourite trees:

the piebald one on the corner two blocks up

The lemon-scented gum:

      

and a tall tree down near Beaufort Street:

a tree of a different kind – & can you see the moon in the wide empty sky?

then it was time to go home –

Next – bees and blossoms.

Then, young moon and sunset.

I hope you enjoyed this post 🙂

 

New Moon over MtLawleyShire

Barely a smear of sunset, yes, but the clear sky had the beauty of the new moon:

There is a small plane in this:

I love the gradation of the colours:

She isn’t very clear, but I love the flow of light to dark:

Her changing brightness in the darkening sky:

till finally, still gilded by sunset’s glow, she shines in the darkened sky

It is a mostly clear sky again tonight – so if there is merely sunset glare, then there will be the beauty of the young moon 🙂