Friday Follies - Autumn Leaves

I was driving to work this morning thinking about how beautiful spring is with the green grass and blooming flowers.  The fragrance wafting across our yard at the moment is wonderful - frangipanis, star jasmine, mock orange, other things that I don't know what they are called (I'm good with animals, not plants).  Then it hit me.  Its not spring, its autumn, you goose.  Autumn.  You live in the southern hemisphere now.

Frangipanis in our yard.

It seems that large parts of my brain are still Canadian-centric even though I've been here for almost 17 years.  Sometimes I forget that it is now fall and that winter isn't too far away.

My mind has trouble comprehending green grass and new growth (although this has a lot to do with  all of the rain that we've been having too) as we start slipping into the winter months.  I love that no matter what time of year it is, something is always flowering here.  I still don't take it for granted.  I definitely don't take the absence of -30C temperatures for granted!

Jasmine or mock orange...whatever

I do miss the North American autumn though.  The orange, rust and red hues mixed with the greens of the conifers and pine trees makes for a beautiful vista.  Until a big wind comes and then its stark bare branches against a grey sky.

Autumn in Edmonton - except it's Spring there right now.

Even after the leaves drop, they still create a colourful carpet, crunching underfoot.  There is a special 'autumn aroma'.  I do miss that.  I miss the crispness of the air with the warm fall days, with just a hint of a promise of snow on the horizon.  The days start getting shorter and thoughts of fireplaces and cosy warm blankets start to creep in.

And then there were no leaves.

Enough reminiscing - the season that follows autumn is winter, and I much prefer my winter here.  Even the winter here doesn't feel like the fall in Canada.  The only time that I have smelled snow in the air was in Tasmania - that was in the fall - and it did snow.  Thankfully I don't live there either, I like the heat.  Just as an aside, visit Tasmania.  It's beautiful and diverse, with lots of great Aussie history.

Grevillea - one of my favourites
because the lorikeets love them.

Autumn in Queensland can be blistering hot, or cool and/or wet.  Sometimes one day after the other in quick succession as it has been lately.  It's a mixed bag, and you never know what you'll get.  Last week it was 33C and the next day it was 21C and wet.  My dogs don't know if they need to be panting their faces off looking for shade or curled up into a ball, trying to make a nest of their beds.

Unlike the dry and brown yards that we normally see at this time of year, green is everywhere, in every shade.  Flowers are blooming and there is new growth on the trees.  The birds are having the best time, even the cockatoos that were bombing me by knocking pine cones off the trees this morning.  The brats almost got me too.   You can't trust a cockatoo.

This is not the autumn that I'm used to - I don't think I'll ever think of fall as a time when flowers bloom.  It messes with my head. 

And no thanks, it's still not enough to make me want to move back to a cold climate!  I'm sure I'll get my seasons sorted out eventually.  Or the dementia will hit.  One or the other...

Some purple flowering ground cover plant

 

Very cool flowers on this one.

 

Flowers on the tree.