The mock orange (Murrya particulata) with its strong fragrence, before the fall.

The mock orange flowers do not last long then they drop into our birdbath. What a luxury for the birds today?

There are bird wars every evening when we put out the bread and honey for the coloured birds. These three are Scalys (Scaly breasted Lorikeets) who are forced to play second fiddle to the Rainbow Lorikeets who are bigger and quite agressive. In the end these little birds wait for the bigger ones to finish then go in and clean up. You can see they are very attentive.

.

Our local reservoir at The Gap (8 km from Brisbane) is under the protection of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, so this pair of wild ducks feel safe and came just within range of the 432mm lens.

My father in law in Tokyo sends us Birthday, Christmas and New Year cards every year. He hand paints them and are almost invariably of the flowers he loves. Jichan was 88 this month.

Haru Ichiban

Japan is experiencing the first strong winds at the end of Winter. These are called "Haru Ichiban". Haru is Spring and Ichiban is number one. So it is the precurser to Spring. The last two days the weather has warmed slightly in Japan so the predictions for the cherry blossoms will soon start. It is the only country in the world that publishes the predictions for the flowering of fruit trees on the front pages of the national newspapers. The character for Haru Ichiban is shown here.

We thought the fruit bats and the possums were eating our mangoes, then one morning I caught the real culprit.

Even a bowl of instant noodles for lunch can be a work of art.

Monday Morning, time to clean the pool, but sometimes the leaves can look quite nice, so I think I might leave them there for a while.

Possums in the back yard.

Here is me again in Japan having a cup of tea at Amanohasidate you will notice that I ordered coffee but it came with a complimentary cup of tea and of course you always get a glass of water in Japan.

Your host the Golden Salamander 

Photos

Sill trying to work out how to put photos on, but bear with me. Brisbane Australia dawns beautiful again 24C at 8.30am and 33C to look forward to.
Currently getting a grip on the Internet telephone system and in the process of finding a good USB phone to improve the reception. Currently I am using a head set with microphone which has a lot of echo and that is not fair to the people on the other end.
There is an element of competition in setting up this Blog as my younger brother (you wouldn't think so if you saw him) is also starting out on his Blog career.
You can see his Blog at:
http://www.tarilta.blogspot.com/
It is good for a laugh, but he is trying.
Time for me to go to the shops and get a newspaper and a lotto ticket.
Thanks to anyone who has looked in.

Small beginnings

Rather than continuously send emails to friends who may or may not wish to receive them I have decided to explore the use of a Blog.
With such and instrument I will be able to have a home to display photos which I have taken for anyone interested enough to look at.
The subject matter will be whatever is of interest to me from day to day and will vary wildly, so be warned.
The good thing is you do not have to look in again if find this stuff uninteresting.
I rather feel a Blog is a latter day diary which is open to the world community.
Please bear with me through the setup stage.