The yard around now.... heading into spring.

I have never taken so much pleasure in hanging the washing as I do here. When it rains it really rains and when it 'suns' it really 'suns'. So you really do need to pick your times. But in the spring is an in-between time and you can enjoy hanging and drying at your leisure.

In August the weather turned. Essentially it stopped raining and the sun came out. And it's like the sky over WA found itself behind the clouds and went: "Oh yeah I'm the blue one. I shine all day long. I am warm and I am friendly." It has taken the odd step backwards for a day or so. But it still feels like late spring. In fact so much so that even the trees, flowers and soon to be fruits are in a hurry to catch up.

We have a Mulberry Tree. I'm not sure I have ever seen one before. I think I may be in love, especially now having tried one straight from the tree.

This picture doesn't really capture what I wanted it to. But one of the best parts of winter and early spring sun is that it hangs a little lower in the sky. Rather than relentlessly beating down from above the sunlight trickles around the sides of our world and flitters through the trees. It's just the loveliest light too soft and warm rather than harsh and blinding.

I didn't take pictures of the driveway after 106 days of sunshine. I should have because the contrast to now is so stark it's mind blowing. There was NO green. None at all, ever, amen. The same goes for that last picture- under the trees is was all brown gum nuts, leaf litter and dirt.

There's just so much to see and so much to love. And some of it is familiar and yet not quite. These flowers look a lot like Manuka- but not quite.

These guys are popping back out now too to soak in the rays. It's good to see them again I am looking forward to another summer of 'lizard walks' where we count the lizards just before bedtime.

We had a nondescript pile of dead brown leaves beside the start of the drive way when we moved in and now they are the most spectacular display of these things (I have no names for anything, so frustrating!) in orange which I have seen before and yellow which I had not.

Another spot that was just a big sand pit when we moved in and is now quite green. I love the light through these trees as well especially at sunset. I am really looking forward to the Jacaranda in flower- I adore them and never had one before.

'Dappled sunlight'... sounds like a paint colour... looks lovely.

Who ever planted the bulk of the trees and shrubs had an eclectic mind the mixture of things shows no real planning. I don't care, as long as it's pretty and these Camelia's certainly are that.

More grass that was sand.

Another type of Fig I think.

Love these Grevillea, and want lots more, lots more. And any other bird attractors.

Some one was kind enough to plant spring bulbs- they are all scattered though so I will be looking to dig them up and put them en-mass for next year.

These cuties greet me every time I walk out the front door. No smell but masses of sprays and bunches of delicate flowers- so lovely.

See that light? I wish more of it got into the house- Merenia's room and the laundry are the only places that have a window on the sunny side.

I was so, so delighted to find the first of these pop up in the garden bed down the driveway side of the house. We had these when I was growing up right beside the front gate below the letterbox. My mother called them Star of David Flowers but they are actually: Spring Starflower or Ipheion uniflorum. It made me very nostalgic for the Leith Street days. I always thought that this was the flower that they called 'Shy' in Maurice Gee's Halfmen of O- the flower that got Susan into O.

Spring is when WA comes into it's own and I am super, super grateful to have a garden this year that is quite representative of that.
♥