A new month!
Thanks all. I look forward as usual to your great photos.

Caroline Bay in Timaru on a warm summer day during the carnival. The controversial piazza and the start of the central business district in the background. Looks like we may get some rain on Monday and Tuesday....it will be very much needed.

Howie, I'll swop you some rain for some of that sunshine

Miniature daffodils just waiting for a bit more sun to come into flower

My apologies for not posting for a while, great photos by all since I have last posted!

Here's a photo of everyone's favourite animal, the spider. There were quite a few spiders on this walk, but this one was a monster. Needless to say I took the photo and walked away as soon as I could, and I'm not even arachnophobic!

... and,Christina I would swap you 50 of my best orchids for just one of your gorgeous daffs!

Lol, Daniel! I wouldn't have even stayed to take the photo! Brrr...

Sunrise. (from my phone - don't know how to make it bigger)

Oh wow, Mothergoose. Looks lovely just like that. Amazing colours!



I can't take photos of birds like some you can do so well, so I am reduced to taking photos of old plates with bird designs on them!
I like this design.

Oh so do I Chavs. Looks oriental. That may be a crane

Daniel, oh my gosh, that's huuuuuge! I'm not sure I could stand to get a picture of that even if I was so far away and still shaking like a leaf!

My new patio sized fruit trees, one apple, one pear and one plum. Waiting to be moved to their final places when the weather improves and we can get them on a trolley without dragging it through mud.

Leaves Green which is near Biggin Hill in Kent.

You cannot see me, I am camouflaged....

Oh, Howie, I love that! Loving all the February photos

A day or two ago I posted a pic of the January Thaw. Now it is time for February's Snow - this is what I woke up to this morning.



The good news is that it is Groundhog Day, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to see his shadow!

What's even more amazing is that I was up that early to see it!

Great pictures everyone! (even the spider *shudder* ) Such cute houses, Liz and beautiful sunrise, MG!

Finally got my camera out again .. I needed to have it and the charger in the same place for it to work apparently!

Daaanieeel, Scary spider! I almost walked into a web with a spider like that. I stopped within 5 inches of having it on my face. Yeah, I ran away screaming like a little girl!

Ooh, my second favorite subject! Beautiful sunrise, MG!

Christinap, I'm jealous of your fruit trees. I had five citrus trees that I think were killed during the last hard freeze we had. Only time will tell.

Howie, don't you mean "cowmaflaged".

Liz, that looks horribly cold. How cold did it get?

Jill, such interesting scenery you have. Are they wild?

This morning my mother and I went to yard sales and I found these three beautiful Stuart Crystal brandy snifters. The bowl is 4 inches and stands 6 inches tall. Can you believe that I got all three for $2.00? Such a deal!

It actually wasn't all that cold today, just a bit below freezing When it is really, really cold like it was last week (-35 or -40 with wind chill) it is too cold to snow. There wasn't much wind today either, so it was fairly pleasant to be outside.

Had breakfast with my friends this morning and saw this little "jaw-dropper" on my way to the restaurant - stopped and took a photo on the way home. Still can't believe it's up there!

I'm speechless.

(Laughing though).

One of our heros during World War II, Ira H. Hayes is from Sacaton, AZ not far from where I live. He was one of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima captured in the famous photo. Mr. Hayes was a Pima Native American and a U.S. Marine.

ClaraSue, love those brandy glasses - Stuart crystal is really expensive, great bargain.

MG - I'm laughing and looking at that in complete disbelief at one and the same time.

As I know they're popular here's another old sign I found today in Sunninghill. Streetview had the stripy pole which is the matching style pre-1964, but the sign was illegible as so little paint so had no idea what I'd find when I got there. This is not only rare, but as the advance warning signs all have different yardage each is likely to be unique, certainly by 2013 or even 1983. The best news is the second 'prohibited all vehicles' was 30 yards ahead, another I didn't have before, although like all the others except a couple in Scotland their red circles have been removed from above, meaning I still don't have a complete set of each but a small loss in comparison.

The sky just after a storm passed over us.

Very dramatic, Christinap! The statue looks like a great tribute, CS .. and as for the sign ... LOL!

and yep, the emus were wild, CS.

This is an old steam engine that was used to power a pumpjack over a well. It was used up until the sixties when a windmill (you can see bits of that in the pic too) was put over the well. The windmill fell down in the eighties in a storm. There is now just a bore there.
When it was being used there was someone living there full time to cut the wood .. there was a hut there for them to live in .. it was a bit of an outstation and about 25kms from the homestead. Now we go out there maybe once a week, or even a fortnight depending if there is many stock out there, and turn a diesel pump on over the bore. Progress!

We went to the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in Wales where we saw Roy Hattersley speak (very entertaining) and the Peter James interview. On the way there and back we went past the Tretower Castle, I managed to photograph it as we sped past in the car.

It's funny how when we travel abroad we often cover more of a country in a few weeks than the residents have in all their lives, I covered ten US states in three weeks in 1980 and covered the same distance as going from London to Warsaw and back.

I always had a fascination with flyovers as a young child so take a photo whenever I see one now, this is the A3 in New Malden.

I'm confused, David. This doesn't look like a flyover.

Ahhh,edited to add....I had to look up flyover. I always think of airplanes doing a flyover. To us in the US, I would call that an overpass.

AND, edited again....I FINALLY got it right as to what a flyover is. I never knew that a flyover was a road going over another road, not just a bridge going over a road (what I called an overpass). Geez, some days it just doesn't pay for me to get out of bed.

Howie - great grab from the car

Copago, we do it to confuse people LOL

Lovely day today, some real heat in the sun at last, and definite signs of spring in the hedgerows when I took Susie for her walk. Some catkins starting to develop

This was taken yesterday, but we did the same "Yowwwrrrr! Hiss! Why are you letting this white stuff make my feet cold?" dance again today. Precious asks to go out, we get bundled up (OK I get bundled up), she lasts for less than five minutes and then starts telling me off. When I say "Do you want to go in?" she runs straight for the door.