Heat, fires, flowers and spiders!

[maewyn_2]

We had more hot weather yesterday. It was 40C by 10.40 am, and the temperature hovered in the high 30's for the rest of the day. Thankfully we've had a lovely morning with temperatures in the low 20's.

I've had the windows wide open to encourage the cool inside. The ceiling insulation is wonderful early in the summer. It keeps the house relatively

Comments

[mechtild]

What a terrible thing about the young woman thrown out of her car. I hope she was unconscious when she landed in the fire.

Your moonflower is stunning - how I would love to smell it. What is the picture below it? On my computer, that square is blank.

[maewyn_2]

I hope she was unconscious when she landed in the fire.

So do I. It was a horrible thing to happen.

The picture below the moonflower is the spent flower the following morning. It just dangles there...

I don't know why you can't see the picture. It shows up OK here. Does it have a red X? Sometimes when I get that, I right-click, and open it that way. If that doesn't work, please let me know and I'll re-do it.

[mechtild]

Lamby! I just got all your notices of reply, having opened the mail again. Guess what? Now the missing photo is there. What lovely little leaves the moonflower has.

Well, nighty-night, Maewyn. Hey, if it gets really hot there, try pretending you are here. At the moment it's midnight. I looked at the thermometer through the window: the dial says - 28 C, or - 19 F: take your pick. B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

[maewyn_2]

What lovely little leaves the moonflower has.

The leaves I think you're looking at in the terracotta-coloured pot aren't from the moonflower. The moonflower is a cactus-type plant, with long, fleshy leaves. I have a picture I took of a bud in last year's blooming (the only one that turned out well, as the others were made blindingly white by the flash). You can see the leaves in this picture:

[collpepper]

Wow..that first photo is impressive. Sooo very sad about the young lady. How scary!!

[maewyn_2]

Thanks - Laurie will be happy to hear that! He doesn't usually take many photos.

I thought you'd like to look at this picture. It was taken by our son two years ago of a fire in the hills near where he lived. The cloud/smoke formation looks amazing! I even used it as a desktop on my computer for a while...he still does on his!

[collpepper]

WOW! You know what strikes me about your smoke clouds there?; is that they are so clean! LOL....I know that sounds funny, but ours are dark and brown...In both photos, I thought they were just large cloud formations until I read the text...Great photo too!

[maewyn_2]

I don't really know why we have white smoke! Perhaps it's because our bushland primarily consists of eucalyptus-type trees? I've never really thought about it before!

In the picture my son took, you can see that the sky is blue. However, just minutes later, it started to rain from clouds that had come from the other direction! Weird all round. :)

[samaranth]

What a tragic thing to happen to that young woman. Dreadful.

The fire pictures are quite frightening and very dramatic. I've seen that orange glow a few too many times in my own not so short life to feel quite comfortable looking at them. And the roiling smoke too.

I've also had a way too close encounter with a redback...a couple of times picking up pot plants they've been underneath them, but the worst was when I put my hand in the letter box and came out with one of them sitting on the end of my finger. I said some fairly colourful things, once I stopped shaking.

I've never heard of the moonflower, but it is simply stunning.

[maewyn_2]

What a tragic thing to happen to that young woman. Dreadful.It certainly was. To make it worse, the house she fled from was untouched by the fire. Can you imagine how the children she taught would feel? It would be such a blow to them