We are still in the middle of autumn, and yet Covent Garden in London is already preparing for Christmas.

wow, they are cool, Plodd!

Lucy has a mate .. Lucky Joe (he is at the back)

Sorry for my unexplained absence, I had no time for taking photos unfortunately. But some fantastic photos from everyone while I was away!

My favourite flower is the kangaroo paw. They're native to WA and can come in some really amazing colours. Here's one with an orange/red colouration. Any guesses why it is called the "kangaroo paw"?

Would you believe that this is the inside of a shopping centre (in the Venetian Hotel in Macau)? That blue sky is the ceiling. It really feels like you are outdoors!

Amazing, Carole!
Dan we call that Firecracker vine here and it comes out at CNY. I have some all over my wall outside and it is very showy.
This year CNY

MG that looks like Disneyland!

Your firecracker is gorgeous, Ren!

Love your ship, howie, and all the donkeys! Great selection of photos so far this month, everybody!

My orchid is looking good this year.

OK, I'm cross now. I love that firecracker vine, but checking it seems as though it doesn't grow well here - needs a hot climate and it completely frost intolerant. Ah well, never mind.

Dot, your orchid looks great. I have a white one which is just coming out of the rest period and putting up a new flower spike. Do you feed your at all?

Ooooh!

Our orchids are in the garden and we never touch them, when they finish flowering I just ignore them, no water (well some when I remember) They thrive on lack of attention I think.

another from teh cemetery

Ren, Daniel's plant is a kangaroo paw and yours is a firecracker vine and although they look the same in these two photos, they are actually totally different in real life. The kangaroo paw is "fuzzy" and grows in the ground in clumps - it is not a vine.

Here is a picture of the red-and-green kangaroo paw that I took years ago. It's not a good photo and ordinarily I would not post it - however, it does show the overall plant and illustrates how it differs from a vine.

The red-and-green kangaroo paw is our state's floral emblem but the kangaroo paw comes in other colours too, as you can see from Daniel's photo.

Copago - not wishing to sound morbid but cemeteries are such interesting places, from a historical point of view. There is a cemetery not far from us where there are a bunch of children's graves from one family and you can guess from the dates that they must have all died from an epidemic of some kind. So sad to think that the parents probably lost their entire family within such a short space of time.

Part of the bridleway where I walk Susie

Low tide at Caroline Bay on a calm day, not too easy for surfing. Unfortunately the sand continues to build up and is quite problematic.

Thanks for putting me right, Carole. I really thought they were one and the same.
Here is a box. Therein lies a tale
One of my students heard me moaning that I couldnt buy a Union Jack flag anywhere. She went to China and ordered this! Be careful what you wish for. I don't know what to use it for .Any ideas?

That's a lovely box Ren, you could use it for putting your flag in ~ when you get one!

Christina, in answer to your question on the orchid it's in a pot and left to its own devices most of the time. It gets watered when we feel like it and we keep it on the dining room table in bright sunlight all afternoon (when there is sunshine, that is!).

There are some lovely pictures here this month.

dinner is lasagne tonight yum

You know what? Most of the time I don't care about the actual "present", because it's the box itself I'm actually interested in. It's all about the "possibilities" of what "could" be inside (and therefore, empty is better because you can fill it up with whatever is in your mind lol). Yes, I'm quite aware that I'm weird.

ren: okay, way to go. It's only 7:30 a.m. here and I want lasagne for breakfast lol

Hey! We've got mail!
(and a whole lot of snow to shovel lol)

A winter day (July 2012) in Timaru, looking across Caroline Bay to the dunes, Piazza and Central Business District.

Timaru is a bit more majestic than I thought it would be. I grew up in Orange which is a sister city so it was often being mentioned.

here is a unwanted furry visitor to the yard. It and a multitude of brothers and sisters have moved in which is not great.

The lodge at the American School in Cobham

Another part of our local bridleway where I walk Susie. The big fence separates us from a busy road and only runs for about 100 yards.

Dessert at my sister's house tonight

I found another similar building today, the clubhouse at Burrhill Golf Club in Hersham

Crop circles in Colorado? Maybe it was western Nebraska. They're crop plantings that are watered by irrigation machines that pivot on a central point. A lot of the Great Plains crops get this type of irrigation. You see these circles all over the midwest right up to the Rocky Mountains.

One last photo of Timaru Harbour before I head back to London. Looking towards the number 2 wharf with the grain conveyor.