Canberra: A spring morning walk after a wedding…

September has been a very busy month, as we had a wedding in the family!

Our daughter Jess and her lovely husband Mike got married in the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion, a beautiful venue built up high on the hills around the National Arboretum.

Margaret Whitlam Pavilion

My apologies for using the above photo in my last post, however, it shows the height of the building and the views. This photo was taken a while ago and the trees around it have grown.

September is the beginning of our spring, and a festive time in Canberra. The biggest event is Floriade, a month long event in the Commonwealth Park, with huge garden beds exploding with colourful spring flowers. (the planning and planting for this festival goes on all year.) Tulip Tops is a smaller, but equally pretty display for spring, and the photo below shows some tulips called The American Dream.

Canberra is well known for its very cold winters (by Australian standards) and so we tend to celebrate spring as if we were in the Northern Hemisphere! We all long for warmth and sunshine by September, and even more so with a wedding coming up. Fortunately the stars were aligned and delivered a warm day with continual sunshine. The winds were blowing, but that was better than rain!

It was a lovely happy wedding with everyone in a festive mood. The gods were smiling on us. I hope to have some photos soon.

All good things must come to an end, and we enjoyed our time with family and friends. Our older daughter Rebecca lives in Melbourne and she and her family came to stay for a few extra days, which was an added bonus.

Needless to say, when everyone left, we missed the patter of little feet, and the early morning chatter of our grandchildren….not to mention our children and close relatives!

The Museum of Australian Democracy (Old Parliament House) looks down on the The Australian War Memorial and Anzac Parade

However, the weather was still warm and sunny and we decided to take a walk around Lake Burley Griffin. As Floriade was in full in swing we had to park near “Old Parliament House”.

Once we parked the car, we went to the gardens of Old Parliament House to see the lovely wisteria decorating some of the elegant buildings outside Old Parliament House (now known as the Museum of Australian Democracy.)

We were too late to see the white wisteria on the right hand side, and now looks as if it needs a trim.

Beyond the bench is a Bowling Green and an accompanying cottage.

Paul worked in Old Parliament House for a while and enjoyed the quiet elegance of the building and the gardens.

Beyond the gardens we found new statues of two important women in our history, both looking very elegant wearing their hats and holding their handbags. There was a plaque for both which told how much they had achieved…

Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons

Dame Dorothy Tangney (1907 – 1985) was elected to the Senate and was the first female member of the Labor Party to be elected to the Federal Parliament.

Dame Enid Lyons (1897-1981) was the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives and the first female member to be appointed to Federal Cabinet. She married Joseph Lyons who became Prime Minister. She supported him greatly, and they had eleven children and the 12th child died in infancy. What tough lives they had!

We walked down to the lake, but unfortunately we had missed the white blossoms of the Manchurian Pear trees. Fortunately I had a photo from 2019 which showed the lovely blossoms and life before Covid!

We walked along the pathway and all the trees were looking very green and fresh. On the right there are Manchurian Pear trees and on the left there are Claret Ashes. Needless to say this avenue of trees looks glorious in the autumn.

Many thanks for spending some time to read my blog post, and may your gardens be flourishing regardless of the weather!

Copyright Geraldine Mackey: All Rights Reserved

Canberra’s summer begins, and how green it is!

This year, Australia, like so many other countries, has been battling against unusual weather patterns, in between coping with a pandemic. We have had an unprecedented amount of rain this year in our region. I read today that there might be a locust plague in the Eastern States of Australia due to our excessive rainfall.

Despite all this, as the Desiderata poem quotes,

with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world”

This wonderful poem was found in old Saint Paul’s Church, Baltimore dated 1692

To end the year, I’ve chosen some photos taken through the year, and the seasons.

Photos that show some of the more pleasurable moments in an otherwise difficult year.

The female King Parrot is perched on the branch, she has distinctive markings on her abdomen and tail. The male King Parrot is taking his time, at the birdbath. Under his Emerald green wings he has deep blue feathers.

Winter was particularly dreary this year, but we did have one highlight. Every afternoon, at almost exactly 4.00 pm this pair of King parrots came down to the bird bath. The female would drink, while the male perched on a branch of a nearby tree, then she would perch on the same branch while the male came down to drink. Then they flew off together.

Each following their instincts for survival, but touching none the less.

In spring the King Parrot pair, brought their young one to the wires above the garden almost every day to feed. What a delight!

During the winter we occasionally looked after our daughter’s dog Charlie.

Charlie doesn’t believe in sleep-ins, and I guess he is right, the winter mornings are lovely, especially with so much greenery and soft pinks and blues around mountains at dawn.

Charlie is used to extensive runs, so it takes a while to wear him out!

The pansies below have been in the garden for nearly two years! I don’t think we have ever had such a robust bed of pansies. Whatever anti-ageing tablets they are taking, I ‘d line up for them too!

They seem to be smiling all through winter.

I have often mentioned Ken’s garden in my posts. Ken is a neighbour, whose passion is his garden. He works tirelessly all through the winter to tend, not only his own garden, but to the verge around his property. This is a great public space for children to enjoy and for adults to chat.

Our own garden has never been so green, and shady…

Our cornflowers have never grown SO tall!

Many thanks for reading my blog post today, I appreciate readers and comments, and enjoy following fellow bloggers, it is a wonderful window into other worlds.

Best wishes for Christmas and happy holidays.

Copyright Geraldine Mackey: All Rights Reserved.

Canberra, the bush capital, sun, storms, and season’s greetings

This  wonderful Sturt Desert Pea, from the desert of  Central Australia, seems to be singing..

‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

Canberra is nowhere near the desert in Central Australia, but the Sturt Desert Pea grows here in the Desert Garden of the Australian National Botanical Gardens.

 

Desert garden in the Australian National Botanic Gardens

Canberra usually becomes very hot, and dry-looking the closer we get to Christmas, but this year we’ve had unexpected rain, and the Brindabella Mountains stayed blue for a long time.

The development of the Arboretum in Canberra was very controversial at first….one hundred forests of trees from all over the world were planted.

This was an act of faith really because a ten year drought had not long ended. However, we have had regular rain since then, and despite the difficulties there may be, the Arboretum looks stunning now,  and is a great tourist attraction….

Not far from the south side of Canberra, (where I live) is Namadgi National Park…

These last couple of years, with abundant grasses and vegetation, there has been an explosion of babies in spring….

a young female Kangaroo with her joey

On the edge of Namadgi is  Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve…used by bushwalkers, and families alike, and it is a joy to see all the animals and birds around after a rainy day..

Kookaburra at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

 

baby koala Ghambi (meaning fire) and his mother..

I believe two new koala babies have been born since our visit…

…closer to home, one kindly gardener has planted red hot pokers, red geraniums, and blue agapanthus along the verge next to her house…it looks wonderful in the morning sunshine, and the red hot pokers are stunning against the white trunk of the Eucalypt tree.

I often walk along the backtracks (fire trails) with Paul and also with friends and neighbours..

Paul had just finished painting the deck  (luckily it was dry) when an unexpected hail storm occurred.

It only lasted about 15 minutes but caused some damage around the neighbourhood.

Luckily no damage for us, but most of the plants looked a bit bedraggled….. one minute it is 33 degrees Celsius and the next minute there are pieces of ice in pot plants!

 

These Liliums and the Gazanias get the prize for resilience….they began flowering again the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gazanias  must wonder what is going on here….one day a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is lopping its flowers, the next….pieces of ice are landing in the pot!

 

My favourite part of summer is sitting on the deck having breakfast, the sound of sprinklers and happy birds flying in and out of the water.

So much fresh stone fruit to add to our breakfast… the birds eat from our fruit trees and we buy ours from the markets…something seems wrong with that equation….but where would be we without them?

yes…its beginning to look a lot like Christmas….

This photo was taken last summer, we read papers online now!

The Good Food website has this variation on a Pavlova (an Australian/New Zealand favourite summer dessert) …and there is another one with honeycomb…they are worth looking at…

slablova …the perfect crowd friendly pavola..

Season’s greeting to everyone, and thank you for your company this year, I’ve enjoyed writing about Canberra’s Green Spaces, and travelling the world through blogs I read, and the people I’ve met.

…best wishes to you all, and may you have enough time to enjoy family and friends and green spaces (or snowy white spaces from the comfort of your warm fire..) where ever you are in the world.

Copyright: Geraldine Mackey All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

”I love a sunburnt country” ….

This was going to be a post about sculptures at the National Arboretum in Canberra ….but I digress…..

As you drive up to the Arboretum there is a most imposing sculpture along the ridge of the hill.

The metal words in cursive, say..

wide brown land….

These three scripted words were taken from the diary of an Australian poet, Dorothea McKellar. Her poem is called My Country .

I didn’t know until  recently that Dorothea was only 22 years old when she wrote that poem. She was living in England and missing her home country.

I was 19 years old when I came to Australia (from Africa)

…and I was 22 when I came back from a holiday in England and realised that Australia was my home, a place I love.

Perhaps we need to leave to learn how we feel about our place in the world.

I have always loved Dorothea McKellar’s poem, and here are the words of one of the verses that lend themselves to some photos I have taken over the last few years……

My country

I love a sunburnt country

A Land of sweeping plains,

..of ragged mountain ranges

Of droughts…and flooding rains…

I love her far horizons..

I love her jewel sea

Her beauty and her terror..

The wide brown land for me..

I feel very lucky to have a place in the world….what is your favourite place?

Copyright Geraldine Mackey: All Rights Reserved