A Beautiful End

                                                                                                                                          Available for purchase here

Today, like our year, began rather wet and uncertain. Thankfully our day and also our year, has finished  with unexpected joy and beauty.

                                                                                                                                                Available for purchase here

 As the sun sets on this day, one never knows what joys and opportunities lay just around the corner.....

Thank you for helping to make this year one of my best ever. At the beginning of this year I had no intentions of even beginning a blog. I am filled with wonder and thankfulness for the year just finishing and all which it has brought. May we look forward to 2012, not knowing what it will bring but knowing we can each find beauty, joy and contentment every day if we look with an open heart and mind. A very  Happy New Year to you all!

Karen

Sharing at The Creative Exchange, Kent Weakley WW. Top photo published in "Coastal Views" as Photo of the Week.

Can You See It?

We were treated to beautiful sunset colours at another nearby beach late yesterday, truly delightful. Master T was about to walk through the water amongst these rocks, as we have often done before, when he suddenly stopped, he thought he saw something......

Can you see it? It has moved away from its hiding spot in the shadow of the rock and is more easily visible here.

Just in there, is it a rock, no, it's alive but what is it???

Now can you see it? It's a Wobbegong, an Australian shark. This one was about one metre/yard long and they will bite if feeling threatened.

About 20 minutes later it swam away. I had never seen a Wobbegong before, not the most beautiful of our native wildlife but certainly interesting. I'm sure we'll be more cautious around those rocks from now on!

Sharing with SkyWatch Friday, Look Whooooo's Snapping, Shoot.Edit.Submit (chosen in the Top 5), Camera Critters.

Upside Down Flower

Wanted to share this little flower with you from my parents'-in-love garden. Between gusts of wind (still very windy) I've taken photos of different flowers to show the opening process. Quite a fascinating upside down flower with petals which curl right back once open and change colour as the flower matures.

I suspect it is becoming a nuisance in the garden as its leaf tips curl around surrounding plants allowing it to climb over other vegetation like a vine, but I do like the flowers!

A big thank you to all who have been leaving comments while we're on holidays. The internet connection here is so slow it has taken many, many attempts intermittently over many hours to even upload these photos and text. I am not able to visit blogs or leave comments until we return home in a few days. It will be a treat indeed to be back to our "normal" internet access. Thank you for being understanding, it certainly is lovely to be able to share some of our holidays and read your wonderful comments.

UPDATE: Thank you to Bernie who has correctly identified this plant as the Gloriosa Lily. When I asked my parents-in-love if they knew what it was, my FIL said it had a very long and difficult name to pronounce and then proceeded to spell it for me "W-E-E-D"! MIL was a little more helpful and thought it was a lily of some sort.

Sharing at Weekend Flowers.

Sshhh.....You'll Wake the Neighbours!

Early this morning Miss G and Miss E were still asleep on an air-matress on the floor. The joys of holidays. Soon most were up, ready for a day of flying, fishing, jobs and play.

Master J couldn't resist an early morning fly from the front lawn with his light-weight r.c. glider plane (no motor and therefore silent) before the wind became too strong again. However he quickly drew the attention of a very noisy flock of corellas who wanted to fly with this amazing new "bird"!

I asked J to stop, we didn't want to wake all the neighbours so early! One of the children caught the incident on their iPod, maybe when we return home to decent internet connection we'll try to upload onto YouTube. It was quite amazing to experience. (Now uploaded, you'll find the link here).

When J landed his plane the corellas had a brief rest in a nearby tree before flying away.

Ah yes, this is a quieter early morning fly.....

Windy But Still Fun

One of our favourite things about holidays at the Grandparents' village is an evening play on the beach. Although this week is very windy on the coast, it isn't raining, and the temperature is delightfully moderate for summer.

A beautiful way to finish a day.

Sharing at This or That Thursday, SkyWatch Friday.

A Little More

A new little surprise in my garden,

and a little more Christmas, this time with my parents-in-love.

A little more fun,

and a little more time at the bay, and hopefully the beach.

We're having a few days with my parents-in-love, holiday/helping.
They do have internet (yah!) but it's very slow.......

Sharing at Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Wonderful Day

I truly hope you have all had/having a wonderful Christmas Day. We shared gifts, with much excitement, everyone being thrilled with what they received.

My Mum had Christmas with us for the first time (my father passed away last year). She loved her Shutterfly calendar, filled with photos I have taken this year.

Church was lovely, as always. Ours is only a small church, we make up about a fifth of the congregation most weeks.

 Christmas in summer brings with it much fresh fruit, including these mangoes which Mum brought with her. We also enjoyed cherries, lychees, peaches and other fresh fruit.

A selection of the fresh homemade treats made by our eldest Miss E (19), snowballs made by Miss G (14). Miss E also made her very first boiled Christmas pudding, a very large delicious one for all to share. I didn't cook a thing this year and didn't even ask the children to either, they just wanted to. What a blessing.

A cool summer's sunset walk is one of my favourite ways to end the day, just enough light to snap some flowers too!

The sun sets on a wonderful Christmas Day, yet each day is special for Christ lives in my heart. Warm Christmas and holiday greetings to you all!

Sharing at Macro Monday, Our World Tuesday.

He Gave :)

"God loved the world so much

that he gave his one and only Son

so that whoever believes in him

may not be lost,

but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Let's rejoice and be grateful.
It's early Christmas morning  here and most everyone is up, waiting patiently as they look at wrapped gifts under the tree, without touching....lots of anticipation in the air.
It's going to be a good day. Off to church for a 9am service, three of our girls will be playing music and/or singing with a song leader. My mother has come to share the day with us and mother-in-law is in her home. Peace and joy to all!

Home For Christmas?

It was dusk, and beginning to lightly rain.

 Even a lady bug needs a home and this rose was just fine!

My dear mother-in-love is having an unplanned hospital stay tonight, maybe she's been too busy, like a lady bug. However she should be home tomorrow, in time for Christmas. Our 16 year old son has gone to spend the night with his Grandfather, to keep him company.

Hoping you all make it home safely for Christmas, wherever home may be!

Sharing at This or That Thursday.

Gingerbread House

Tonight we drove around our town, looking at the Christmas lights. This house is one which draws many visitors every December night each year. For the first time we stopped to have a closer look. I call it The Gingerbread House.

The local ice cream van was parked outside selling ice-cream cones, being summer here. We were in for a surprise as reshuffled with the crowd through the driveway to discover this huge reindeer the backyard!

Nature Sings

Early yesterday

Joy to the world

The lord had come

Let earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and nature sing

And heaven and heaven and nature sing

Four hours later.....

When first I looked at this second photo, I felt in my heart that the flower was singing, clearly proclaiming God's glories. The words of the well known carol above came to mind. At CHRISTmas we remember afresh the host of angels who appeared to the shepherds, praising God, "Glory to God in heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favours".
We also recall the wise men who saw his star in the east and came to worship Jesus. The night sky, the day sky, the angels and even the little zinnia flower in my garden "sing" and proclaim God's glory if we will but observe and listen with our hearts.

Sharing at Rachel's WW With Words, Macro Flowers Saturday.

Stormy Beauty

Mid afternoon yesterday we watched dark storm clouds moving our way. It was fascinating seeing the tumble and roll and move over us.

During the storm it became quite dark inside, Miss E was much happier with a torch, although still a little unsure.

Beautiful bright sunlight breaking through after the storm. Lots of rain, a bit of wind but thankfully no damage.
*** UPDATE***Apparently some areas close by did have significant hail and wind, with some friends sustaining considerable damage to their home and possessions in the worst hit area.

Early evening, the storm clouds receding into the distance make an interesting backdrop for the setting sun.

Sharing at SkyWatch Friday.

SSHhhh.....Shutterfly

Can't share any more just yet.......

Sharing at Aussie WW, In Him We Live WW.

Layer Upon Layer

You may recall the Zinnia Delight post which traced the almost daily development of one particular zinnia  flower from the tight bud (below) through to the beautiful flower it was becoming. Being the first zinnia flower I had ever grown, I couldn't wait to share the joys of its beauty with you.

29th November

Below is the stage at which we left this zinnia flower in the earlier time lapse series. Let me share the rest of the story with you, right up to today.....

8th December

9th Dec

11th Dec

12th Dec

13th Dec

14th Dec

15th Dec

16th Dec

17th Dec

18th Dec

Today, 19th Dec

A long-lasting, ever-changing flower, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching and photographing this zinnia. There are several other zinnia flowers in the garden of various colours yet none of them have had the number of layers nor depth of this particular flower.

The photo at the top of this post was taken just a few minutes ago, looking deep into the heart of the zinnia. Thank you for letting me share the fun with you! A joy shared is a joy multiplied indeed.

Sharing at The Creative Exchange, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Shoot.Edit.Submit.