Daily happinesses

Hello!

We've been enjoying beautiful Autumn days  -  sunny, with a coolish nip in the air as the sun goes down.
I hope your days have been equally as beautiful in their own way  😊

A happy little camera effect of the sun shining through the trees as I snapped the carpet of leaves from our Tibouchinas

A lovingly made gift:

Can't hide my grin... as I show off my gorgeous shawl crocheted for me by our Dear Daughter.  It's so cosy.  Best of all, it was made with love and feels like a nice warm hug xx

Painting is also a happiness:

Acrylic on watercolour paper.
I followed the instructions of Angela Anderson and added my little bit extra

Here's the 'before' shot

... and completed, done in Watercolour, ink pen with a gold border

These are pre-prepared cards.  Some can hang around for a while, but its nice to have the backgrounds done and dry in readiness for when the urge to paint hits :D) 

My version of a rainforest!

Linking to Paint Party Friday 

Now to breakfast!

A daily habit for years now ... a morning milk shake with raw egg and fruit.
Always a happiness!  

A chookie update:

This is Chookie (aka Henny Penny).  She came to us by chance at the beginning of this year (I posted about it here).

Over the past few months, Chookie has become broody quite often and, now that we have another 4 hens (Alice being one of them)  and a rooster, we've placed fertile eggs from Alice underneath her. She's got one more week or so until they're due to hatch.
Chookie is so keen to sit on as many eggs as she can that we're pretty sure she encourages Alice to lay her eggs in the same laying box that she's in.  To get around that,  I've marked the originals with a pencil and then I can remove any freshly laid ones that she's gathered underneath her:

I waited until Chookie went for her daily dustbath and feed before I marked her eggs... she's a very protective mother already and dishes out a sharp peck when I check her for extra eggs!

Meet Roosterboy and Alice

All the chooks give us a lot of happiness each day.  Their antics are so funny at times, and they have both of us well trained ;D)

Birdy Happiness:

Here's a lucky shot through our kitchen window!
A male Satin Bower Bird giving a gift of a flower to the female.
It's part of their mating ritual and we're sure his bower must be nearby.

Evening settling down:

The Galahs like to settle for the evening in these treetops just over from our back door.  They're noisy but I enjoy watching them.
I took this photo quite a few years ago but I love it and, watching them again the other day, I remembered it and thought I'd share it here. 

Linking  to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday:

Floral Happiness:

My darling hubby built window boxes on our house for some of my pot plants.  These two photos are of one of them.

I often forget to water this particular succulent and yet it still gives   such a beautiful display.  Aren't they marvellous plants!

A knock on the door this morning:

and it was our neighbours, from across the street, popping in to say hello and with a gift of these beautiful flowers for no particular reason other than an act of friendship!  What a lovely way to start our day :D)

Linking  to Riitta's Floral Bliss:

 

  I'm now looking forward to getting around and visiting everyone over the next little while.

Apples, Pudding, Flowers, Birds, Painting - sharing my week!

Hello there, I hope your week is going well.

All good here.  Lots of things to do this past week or so and, as I'm no good at multi-tasking anymore, I've had to go slow on my blogging... both posting and visiting,  but I'm getting there!

Hubby harvested his lovely apples last week:

and so I got stuck in and peeled lots, well, 16 to be precise: (Update!! Hubby just read this and said there's 17 apple cores ;D))

Diced and cooked ready for the freezer for future apple crumbles!

... but, after that little effort, someone started whingeing and holding her arm, looking for sympathy and making lots of whimpering sounds!
Upshot is that hubby jumped online and ordered a "Magic Peeling, Coring and Slicing Machine"  which arrived yesterday.  It's a beauty too! (That was not an advertisement ... just sharing my joy :D))

So, with all those perfect slices, we can use the Food Dehydrator to make apple snacks for later.... plus, no sore arm because it will be MD hubby who'll be turning the handle ;D) (lol, win-win as they say!)

Before getting off the subject of apples.  With the cooler weather we're experiencing in our part of the world, we're a bit partial to a steamed pudding ... here's a pic of one I made last year with my own twist of diced apples, brown sugar and cinnamon:

Thought I'd share the recipe... it's so easy and quick:

Autumn rains fell yesterday and so I had a little fun indoors photographing the one remaining Protea flower for the season.  I'd had it in a vase for a quite a while - they last for ages.

Here it is in front of the rain-drenched kitchen window:

... and on the table:

This one is a pic I took the previous season.  I always love them wet with dew or raindrops.

... and, it seems to me, that the Little Wattlebird is the perfect accessory to the Protea (notice those matching pink wattles!)

Linking to Riitta's Floral Bliss - where so many lovely bloggers share their most magnificent blooms which never cease to delight:

Physio appointment this week, and I'm sharing one of the cute little drawings Ethan does as a reminder for me to actually do the exercises!!  (Spoilt or what!)... I love that all the faces he draws have smiles, here's one of them:

While we were there, and having time to kill before the appointment, I took some pics of the lovely artwork on the walls:

By Jan Davidson in 1984
It's such a detailed ink drawing - I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Update:  I've added some closeups of Jan's drawing:

Also, this huge tapestry:

This magnificent woollen tapestry is truly mind-blowing and is in
tribute to all the people involved in the workings of the Hospital.

and finally,

I've asked no one's permission to put these pics in my blog, but have respectfully done so because I admire them very much.  They're on public display at the hospital, and I've credited each artist.

Then we had a lovely lunch  afterwards - both vegetarian meals as it happened, very delicious too.

tasty relish on the side - yummy

Some birds in trees just outside the house which we've had the pleasure to see during the past week:

The Spotted Dove sheltering in the Ti Tree from the rain

A Bower Bird enjoying a rest on the Lilly Pilly tree.

A Blue-Cheeked Rosella gorging on the Lilly Pilly fruits

"yum yum" 

Linking to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday - where bird lovers all over the world take pride in sharing their bird discoveries every week:

I've finally finished my painting which I'd originally started some 3 years ago!

"In a Jar - Geraniums"
Watercolour and inkpen on 180gsm coarse grain paper

... and some progress pics:

at this stage I needed to hit it with the inkpen but
was so hesitant ...  kind of lost confidence for a little
while, but, here goes.........

I do that all the time, hesitate before going in with the pen!
But, once I got started it's fun!!  Gosh, it's only a painting when
all said and done ;D)

The progression!

My portable card table desk with a view.

Linking to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday - a welcoming spot for everyone, whether you paint, create or not... have a look by clicking on this image: