Spring Unfolds

The Blue Mountains comes alive with colour and transforms into a new world in spring. Up here where the seasons are much more defined by the weather, we get to marvel at the beauty around us as the sun shines more brightly and spring unfolds.

Many private gardens are generously open to the public during this time, charging a small entry fee, often to fundraise for a worthy cause. If you missed viewing the beautiful gardens around Hazelbrook last weekend, you still have time as they are also open this coming weekend. Gardens in Yellow Rock and Winmalee open their gates as well this coming weekend while Leura has a week long garden Festival during the first week of October, culminating in the Leura Village Fair on October 8th-9th.

The early settlers of the Blue Mountains must have seen the similarities of the weather patterns here to their homes in England and covered their gardens and estates with all sorts of flowering trees, shrubs and bulbs making it feel like another world as you walk through the garden gates. This is especially evident in the long established gardens in the delightful village of Mt Wilson which are open for a number of weekends over the next few months.

Of course the The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mt Tomah and Everglades at Leura have their doors open all year round and are wonderful places to visit.

To find out more about some of the open gardens here are a number of links with more information:

Hazelbrook Gardens Festival

Leura Gardens Festival

Mt Wilson Gardens 

Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah

Everglades Historic House and Gardens

Michelle's Photoshoot

We had the pleasure of photographing the lovely Michelle last week. After her 'solo' shots we captured some great moments with son Jordan and their beautiful retriever, Cruise. Click here to view more of the photos!

Magpie Mania

An overhelming dislike of magpies seems to grip the public at the start of spring - the media this week was full of complaints about these birds swooping passers by to protect her nest and her young. What a lot of people fail to recognise is that humans have taken away the magpie's home and habitat - we force them to nest in unnatural places and have removed their source of food - we have built homes, roads and surburbs on their original habitat, and then we expect them to trust us when we go near their nest!

The magpie is a native bird - a protected species in Australia. They are impressive intelligent birds and only swoop to protect their eggs and young. They guard an area of about 30 - 50 metres around their nest but once their chicks have fledged (which takes about 6 weeks) they stop their swooping behaviour.

Old time remedies such as wearing a hat or head gear with eyes painted on them has been said to stop these birds swooping. If you're riding a bicycle, putting a flag at the rear of the bike stops the birds from making contact with the person. However the obvious plan would be to avoid the area they nest in for a few weeks till nesting is over.

There are times when we need to be reminded that we share the planet with some beautiful and amazing creatures who also deserve a space to live and survive.

DH

Murphy

SO here's the thing. Murphy is now nearly all grown up. Still as beautiful as ever but of unknown parentage. Dil bought him as a rescue dog and was assured he is part chihauhau.  I say, chihauhau my...eye! He's up to my knee and must be about 15kg. I love making her crazy about this especially by saying that his deep chest lends itself well to Doberman (she is LESS than impressed with that idea!) So here he is...and here's the challenge. What do YOU think he is? Comments welcome.

Photo by Louise and textures courtesy of Skeletal Mess (Shadowhouse Creations)

LB