Thursday, February 18, 2010

A BIT OF GOOD CHEER

Kate from the lovely blog Garden Bell is fast developing a bad case of Winter Fever.

She's had enough of Winter !

She's sick of snow and cold and wet and BEING INSIDE!

She wants OUTSIDE !

She wants WARM  !

She wants SUNSHINE !

She wants FLOWERS !

So here are some cheery flowers for her .....

Beautiful Cootamundra Wattle

Wattle is our national flower and there are many different varieties.


These beautiful specimens were growing along the side of the road in Victoria.
The beauty of wattle and many other Australian native plants is that they bloom in Winter and they come in strong vibrant colours.

Hope that cheered you up a bit Kate.
........................

Today my dear friend Lynnie took me off to High Tea for my upcoming birthday.
The one involving big numbers and zeros!

A little bit of this.

Delightful !

Thank you my dearest friend.

Getting older is not so bad when you have dear friends to spoil you!

13 comments:

  1. Ahhhh.... high tea. Try and find anywhere that does high tea nowadays, I mean the tea which consists of a hot main course with bread and butter followed by cakes and scones, and all served on posh crockery and on a tablecloth - it's very rare. You'll have to tell me where that place is, Helsie! And I do like the look of those well-filled sandwiches and those mini fruit tarts!

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  2. Wow, those wattles sure are fabulous specimens. Do they smell?

    How nice to be taken out for tea, what a treat! I take it you'll let us know when the big day approaches.

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  3. That wattle is beautiful - looks like what is known as mimosa in southern France. Nothing like that here although we do have some yellow daffodils!!

    Tea looks delicious and how enjoyable to have dainty sandwiches and tea from a silver teapot! Is your upcoming trip to be a birthday celebration? Do tell us when it is.

    Jane

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  4. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you. The coolest thing is you have such fun and different plants and flowers than us. I love see the varieties of the world.

    Boy, do you Aussie and the English know how to take an afternoon break with high tea. Us here in the U.S., it's about a can of soda and a Snickers bar. Oh, how I wish I was one of you all.

    Kate - The Garden Bell - <3 <3 <3

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  5. Flowers and tea, perfect!
    Love
    Lyn
    xxx

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  6. Those wattles are glorious, they do look like mimosa - hope they smell just as good.

    What a treat - high tea in lovely dainty china and wonderful silverware - you lucky girl! Is it coming up soon, this special birthday?

    Jeanne x

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  7. Folks,
    You may say once a school teacher always a school teacher but I googled and this is what I found:
    "The genus Acacia belongs to the family Mimosaceae. There are some 1350 species of Acacia found throughout the world and close to 1000 of these are to be found in Australia. Commonly known as Wattle, Acacia is the largest genus of vascular plants in Australia. Australia's national floral emblem is Acacia pycnantha, the Golden Wattle. Wattle Day is celebrated on the 1st of September each year."

    And yes it smells. The perfume of wattle is already in the air around me and that is a signal that Summer is coming to an end and our version of Autumn is only 10 days away!

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  8. Those wattles are amazing and so beautiful! When I still lived in Australia I had one right outside my bedroom window and when it was in flower the smell was just divine. Seeing your photos of them made me quite homesick. :-) I quite miss the amazing flora of Australia.

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  9. I do love viewing the wattles. Haven't seen the Cootamundra version for many years. They are all so very different. None around here to show.

    Lucky you for the lovely tea. And it will have been well earnt too

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  10. Wow the wattles look glorious. How very refined and dignified to have high tea. Although I drink my tea out of a mug, it is bone china. What a lovely friend.
    Jak x

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  11. Lovely colourful photos and that tea gosh beautiful. I have always wanted to go to the Ritz in London for tea. One day!
    Are you going to tell us what date your birthday is Helen? So we can all sing Happy Birthday to you! :)
    Hugs and Love Suex

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  12. Fantastic flowers (here in Italy we call them "Mimose")and great celebration!!
    Friendly kisses
    AnnaPaula

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  13. Hi Helsie,
    Thank you for stopping by my blog too! To answer your question (not sure how else to without leaving another comment :-) ) I was born and raised in Perth and left when I was in my early 20's. But I still call Australia home and I still consider myself to be very Australian. :-)

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