Thursday 28 July 2011

Monday Morning Meander

After a break to the seaside - four glorious days of sunshine and warm, with the Mother City, Cape Town, on her best winter behaviour -I expected to return home and write a profound blogpost about life continuing after death and how life is for the living...instead, I'm going to take the easy road.

On Monday I was banned from all computer work by my fabulous opthalmic surgeon (yes, I know, it was a very hard day, but somehow I survived the long computerless hours!)

One thing that kept me busy was a slow meander around the garden to see what had changed.  I'm not what you'd call an enthusiastic gardener; I prefer to leave my garden as natural as possible so I can have the illusion that I'm still in the bush. 

This is what I found on my Monday Morning Meander:
This rather cheeky fellow is a Crested Barbet. They're so ugly they're gorgeous. But they're very noisy especially when tapping holes in tree trunks to make their nests. A crested barbet is monogamous and quite shy. 
Here he is again, eating the oranges I put out for his breakfast.
The gentle primula always brightens up the winter.
My cymbidium orchid in full bloom beneath the shelter of the camelia tree

Close up of the cymbidium flower

A yellow cymbiduim orchid, nestling at the foot of Daphne.
A red hot poker is still blooming!
These bring the tiny sugar birds and a splash of welcome colour to the winter garden.
There was so much more that I found wandering around the winter garden, I realised how much I miss sitting glued in front of my laptop. Isn't it strange how we're so busy working we often forget it's the simple things like a bird on an orange or a flower in bloom that bring peace to our souls?

11 comments:

Helen Ginger said...

What gorgeous plants, flowers, and, yes I'll say it, birds you have. As soon as I saw the Crested Barbet, I thought, what an unusual and pretty bird!

Yvonne Osborne said...

This is winter???? Hmmmm I'm struck dumb. You should set up a cozy garden bench and plant your laptop on your knees! That bird is beautiful and foreign to me. It's amazing how much the garden changes when you haven't visited it in a week. Yours is lovely.

Tabouleh said...

What beautiful pictures.... loved them... the flowers and everything are great but the bird and it eating that orange were may fave.... one of my favorite cities in the world is Cape Town... you are so lucky to be living in such a beautiful city... I am jealous...

Claire Robyns said...

Your garden is stunning Judy *sigh*
Sometimes a sick-note from the doctor is the best - although I hope everything's okay :)

Nancy J. Parra said...

Love your garden~ wish our winters were so lovely. (I know you've seen pictures of our polar existence. lol)

Thank you for sharing the joys of your part of the world.

Cheers~

LynNerdKelley said...

You have a gorgeous garden! And it's a winter garden. Is your summer garden more spectacular? Can't imagine it getting better than this. And that unusual bird, wow! So cool that you feed it oranges. Nice post, Judy.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Judy .. sorry about your eyes - hope all will be well. This took me right back .. birds, flowers and names of Africa .. just lovely .. and so good to see - I enjoyed your Monday meander ..

Look after yourself .. cheers Hilary

Anonymous said...

I like cymbidium flower.Lovely colors, Love it :).
send gifts pakistan

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

HELEN: Crested barbet are really cute birds to watch. They’re shy, but can get quite tame – I’ve had one tap my window when he wants more food!

YVONNE: Don’t let the sunshine fool you – it’s freezing here! But that doesn’t stop the weeds growing when we’re away!

TABOULEH: You should see how the grey loeries push the barbets out the way when I put sweet melon and papaya out! (But I live in Johannesburg, was just visiting Cape Town, which had beautiful weather!)

CLAIRE: Only annual check up as precaution because of my Mom’s glaucoma – it runs in the family, so I have to have annual check up. (rather safe than sorry!)

NANCY: And to me your winter looks like a wonderland!

LynNerd: In winter , everything is so dry the poor birds don’t have anything to nibble on – so between the bread, seed and fruit I feed them, Husband complains about the spike in grocery costs (but if I forget to put it out for the little critters, he reminds me!!)

HILARY: Eyes thankfully 100%, thanks! I thought it would remind of your time here! :)

KEHKSHAN: Welcome! I love the cymbidium orchids too - beauty and toughness in one delicate bloom!

Jan said...

Beautiful photographs. Yes so important to make time to go outside! I love the unusual bird.

Ann Summerville said...

What lovely pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Ann