Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Signs of Autumn.


" Until they think warm days will never cease," and certainly, " Seasons of mellow fruitfulness" as Keats so eloquently said. The last 2 days have been perfect weather. Clear blue sky with not one cloud , no breathe of wind and sun from dawn till dusk. Today there is a little cloud cover which is very welcome as we have 3 hydraladas here picking the late avocados ( for local market sale ) and pruning the trees at the same time. One photo shows the 3 machines trundling down the track towards the avo block. They did look a comical parade.
A very sad thing happened this morning. I was inside and heard a horrendously loud bang......a beautiful native pigeon ( Kereru ) had flown into the window and broken his neck. He died slowly ,small drops of blood dripping from his beak - That was so bad to watch.

The red nerines are flowering.( a Viburnum is also turning red in the background of the photo ) From this big clump I have transplanted lots of bulbs to different sites in the garden These ones along the bamboo fence are flowering there for the first time. Another of my very favourite flowers - the white Japanese or Wind Anemone is just coming into bloom. It is hard to fault it's clear perfect form and colour. ( much, much nicer than the pink ones which are also flowering )

My ankle and foot are back to normal, but I am freaking out a bit each time a wasp comes near me under the vines now. Thanks for your concern. I learnt something from that. When I was buying the anti histamine the lady said a nurse told her the very easiest, cheapest thing to do straight away for any sting or bite is to put roll on deodorant on it . The Aluminium apparently neutralises the sting or bite. She had proof of it working on a wasp sting so when DH got stung on the neck on Monday he tried it and it took the swelling away and gave instant relief. We now carry a roll on with our orchard supplies!















14 comments:

Shirley Goodwin said...

Oh what a shame about the pigeon.

I'm old enought to remember my Mum putting blue bags on our beestings. I haven't heard about deodorant, but I'm probably not skipping through the clover quite so much these days.

loulee said...

Glad to hear the sting is healing.

Red Nerines, I've never seen those, only the pink ones. They are a favorite flower in our family too. It's our baby sisters name!

Diana said...

I always enjoy pictures of your gardens. The anemones are just beautiful.

I'd never heard the tip about deodorant either, but it sounds like it might be worth trying. Hope you don't have to try it out anytime soon.

Thimbleanna said...

Oooh, very sad about the bird. Thanks for the great tip for bee stings -- I hope I can remember it when our bees come back!

molly said...

Poor bird! Lovely photos of the avenue and that beautiful white flower, and thanks for thye handy deodorant tip!

Harmany Quilting said...

I remember the first time I saw a NZ pigeon - it landed on a power line and the wire SAGGED. They are huge birds. Sorry to hear of it's demise.

Nicola in West Australia

Tracey Petersen said...

Oh dear! Birds are so often confused by glass.

meggie said...

That garden of yours is so beautiful, I would love to have a wander through it.
A shame about the poor pigeon, sad to see it lying there.
Interesting about the rollon deodorant, I must tell my daughter, as our Small Grandson has had a sting or two, & daughter is allergic.

Unknown said...

Signs of autumn mean that I can expect to see sign of spring very soon.

Pam said...

Red nerines - I too have never seen them. We have pink ones but I can't get them to grow well in my garden.

I do think you're ahead of us in time. My son seems to think so anyway. I'm writing this on Thursday evening...

Suzi-k said...

glad you feel better, wasps can be mean! My mom used to make a strong mixture of bicarb in water and use it on stings. You are right, that anenome is pure perfection!

julieQ said...

Thanks for the tip about the deodorant and wasp stings, for we have a thriving nest back of the house, I discovered yesterday! Lovely pictures of your flowers. Poor baby bird...

Digitalgran said...

How sad about the Kereru(lovely name). Same happened to me once, just an ordinary sparrow, but terrible to watch.

Digitalgran said...

I forgot to mention the deodorant tip! I wonder if it would work on any insect bite? I am suspect to them all on holiday. It would be so handy to carry a stick of deodorant with me. I'll have a go. Thanks.