Bears in Shorts

     I promised I would try to update this more regularly.   Was that a lie? Or a broken promise? How about a picture of a Kowhai ( Sophora ) in glorious flower? I'd love to grow it here, but the summers would probably do for it.   We are still waiting for some rain...it's a good thing that we have the water tanks! Only a stop-gap, of course, but at least garden water is not coming out of the rates bill.  Just around the corner from our flat is a glorious, old jacaranda   and I keep saying I must take a camera and get some photos. I shall do that, right now! You chaps nip out and either put your kettles on or pour a Pimms, depending on your time zone...       Aaaand, I'm back. With a jacaranda for you.         But I was so excited at a pair of  Red-Tailed cockatoos         Calyptorhynchus banksii  I spent more time trying to     get them on film. Well, t...

...but I might just be sideways! Wordpress is no longer sending me demands for money at my old site, but it is being EXCESSIVELY obstructive. So I guess I'll just muddle along with Blogger.  Right! That's settled, so ... what have I been up to? Well, the de-cluttering continues, but we still have some way to go before we go! The Spring orchid show was a couple of weeks ago so I put on my kitchen pinny and served tea-and-tiny-cakes. In quiet moments, I wandered around and salivated over some gorgeous plants. I didn't take my camera (fool!), but there were some glorious blooms; like the third prize in the raffle!  Oh, you want to see the first prize? Hang on... Back home, my quisqualis is flinging itself about with gay abandon. on and over the fence close-up And the goanna has found a girlfriend! They've been flinging themselves about, too.  We are hopeful of eating home-grown passion fruit this year! At last count 8 (I think) fruits; still green, but fingers are crossed....

 I'm still muddling along in the no man's land between Wordpress and Blogger and trying to dodge sniper fire. Not the happiest analogy, but there it is.  In trawling through archives, I came across this and thought it worth a re-run... . How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?  Stop and think about it and decide on your answer before you scroll down.   The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.   2 How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?    Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.   3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference.  All the animals attend …. Exc...

  Just went out to water and discovered masses of Quisqualis buds.  ... on Lisa's side of the fence (gets more sunshine, facing North) But it's going bonkers and will soon be slugging it out with the umbrella tree ( Schleffera actinophylla)  I've been watering some very thirsty plants; it's easy to forget how searing the wind can be! I'll go out again with the camera when the sun is more obliging... A pretty little un-named orchid Petrea volubilis . Also keen to escape to my neighbour! Passion fruit! YAY! At this stage I don't know whether they are bog-standard purples or the (less tasty!) yellows. And, just like that, the clock has whizzed around to  almost Happy Hour.  ..I'll close with this... https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NVBz13CWwvM...

 ...since I used this site. I fiddled about with various ideas and plans and (as regulars know) I stayed with Wordpress. But now, like Scarlet and, apparently, quite a few others, I have decided that Wordpress is not interested in maintaining free sites. And a newsfeed I follow has its lead story today on the Muddle the Web has become   https://theconversation.com/the-internet-is-worse-than-it-used-to-be-how-did-we-get-here-and-can-we-go-back-236513 Idle Thoughts has always been a free site, but now they want me pay. And I notice that other hosting platforms are also looking to hit our hip pockets. A few years ago I probably could have accepted that, but these days I find that, with more essential costs rising, my daily "living allowance" must take priority. We don't see pensions zipping up the ladder on a daily basis, do we? Okay! That's enough moaning! There are quite a few flowers on the passion fruit vine. 😊 And that good ol' colourful Tecomanthe hillii is h...

Right! First up I should tell you that this may all fall in a heap. In case that should happen, I'm still at the old site. Think of me as a ghost...I shall waft, airily or eerily, between here and there. Now, just to see how much malarky might be involved, let's bung in a picture...                                                              Eucharis. grandiflora                                                                                                     Oh! I expect you're wondering why I now have a "funny" title ... I might leave it to you to guess. Because if I have t...