Great Places To Visit.

Just love it when my orchids flower. Especially since I'm really bad at caring for them, they mostly have to make do on their own. Occasionally I remember to water the poor things, and about once a year I might remember to liquid feed them. Still they are very loyal and continue to flower. This year my favorite is "Tetleys Little Fireball". A lovely red which had 6 flower spikes on it with 18 to 21 flowers per spike. I was really impressed with this effort. I wonder how many spikes and how many flowers per spike it would have if I gave it some attention? Perhaps it prefers to be ignored. Anyway, it looking good, so I've cut the spikes and brought them inside to enjoy them. Orchids make great cut flowers as they last for ages. My other orchid to flower this year was "Chocolate Brown". It's the first pic. My yellow hasn't any flower spikes this year and my green one has one flower spike, but hasn't opened as yet. It always seems to be the last one

Yes it's Spring again. I know because the local magpies have 2 babies. I know this because I occasionally throw out scraps on my back lawn to supplement their food rations and they are regular visitors. This week they brought me a present.....2 babies. Must be a good season this year to be raising 2 babies instead of 1. Anyway the magpies here in Melbourne are white backed magpies as apposed to the magpies at Tocumwal in N.S.W. which are black backed magpies. Also the birds here in Melb. are larger than their northern cousins, probably all the McDonalds they eat down here! I enjoy listening to their warbling song and can't help but shake my head at the patience and persistence of the adult birds constantly being "harassed" by the chicks for food. They are noisy little critters when they are hungry and very bossy, often pecking at the adult birds for more food. I've named them....squarker 1 and squarker 2, they never seem to stop. Poor parent birds, these chicks a

Recently I attended the Benalla fundraiser for Leukaemia - "Light The Night". My niece Kate organised the night, quite a feat as she herself has Leukaemia. The local Rotary Club brought their BBQ along and sizzled the donated sausages and donated the gold coins back to the foundation. There were a number of local businesses who helped sponsor the night as well as a willing team of friends and family who helped out for the event. An enjoyable and memorable evening was had by all. The evening was topped off with a sunset walk around the park with all lanterns lite. What a great sight that was. For those who don't know, a white lantern symbolizes someone living with Leukaemia, Gold - remembering someone, and blue - supporting someone. There was a large crowd in attendance and many lanterns were sold on the evening. It was a very special night that I'm sure we will all remember. Great job Kate, you are an inspiration to us all. Here are some of the photos I took on