Wednesday 7 March 2012

IN MY KITCHEN (and the garden, and the sky)




These dahlias graced my kitchen, and indeed other parts of the house, last week.  My son brought them in from a dahlia farm near where he had been working.  There was a whole bucket full of them and having vases scattered around the house was a delight.
Some of them were as big as dinner plates, the variety of colours amazing.  For me, having flowers in the house makes such a difference and I would love to have a garden that provided me with an abundance variety all year round.


As I don't have that luxury I enjoy what there is when it is blooming.

This fushcia bush is a new acqusition.  I have lost others before so have planted this in a pot in order to keep it in the dappled shade which it prefers.


 This was the first magnolia that unfolded after I came home from my holiday. 


Even the flowers on the pumpkin vine that seems  determined to take over the garden are lovely.  Hopefully they will translate into actual edible pumpkins in  a few months.



On one of my trips to the airport a vegetable stall had this rhubarb for only $1.99 a kg so I indulged in quite a bit, chopping some of it and freezing it all uncooked.  Rhubarb,  humble creature that is has always been, is one of those items that becomes horrendously overpriced at times.



Nearly always when you desperately require some for a dish so I couldn't resist stocking up.  Of course a few weeks later the plant in my garden was ready to harvest for the first time so I won[t be running out any time soon.


I love the delicate tinges of red on the base of the stalks

This little fellow, or perhaps a girl, was in the beams of the front verhanda one day.  It kept turning round on the spot, very awkwardly and looked quite young so I began to wonder if it stuck.  After keeping an eye on it for a few hours it finally disappeared so got down somehow.


Since I returned my kitchen has seen the makings of many, many muffins, carrot and sultana, banana, sour cream, potato and chives, triple choc, corn and cheese and a few other flavours of which I've lost track. 

There was a celebration birthday/welcome home dinner of roast lamb and chocolate souffle.



                            We've had fiery sunsets,


delicate sunsets,






Lots of storm clouds building,



Sometimes  accompanied by thunder, lightning and rain, sometimes they just all drift away.  Either way they are spectacular.
 



I ended summer on the high note of a new piece of equipment for my photography.  The Canon Eos 600. 




My first Digital SLR which is replacing the trusty little Canon I 've been using.
  Learning to use it is going to be an interesting and I hope, enjoyable challenge, leading to great photographs in and out of the kitchen.


Wish me luck and enjoy!

Jo