GOODBYE WINTER, HELLO SPRING

I asked and you voted.

The post you most wanted to see was "Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring - A Photo Essay on the Seasonal Changes at The Farm"... or something.

Technically it was a tie between this and My Day as a Hot Dog, but I thought I would torture Pumpkin Delight by doing that one after this.

When we moved to the Hills I was unaware that it is actually a few degrees colder up here than down on the flats. I was thrilled about this as I do so enjoy cold weather (oh how I wish there was a dry sarcasm font).

After many blizzards with knee deep snow and Medusa-like arctic gusts which immediately froze one in their spot, I vowed that I never wanted to experience any weather colder than 70 degrees.

So you are telling me that it is colder up here by at least 5 degrees Celsius (which is like 100 degrees in Fahrenheit), frosts, has heavy fog and rains more?

... and hails???



With the winter comes the rains. Perth get absolutely no rain between November and April. However when it rains in the winter, it is heavy.

These heavy rains fill up the dry creek beds and life springs up in otherwise barren land.



Do you see those green plants on the side of the winter creek?

They are called Death Lilies. Another common name is Arum Lily and Canna Lily. Technically, they are a declared weed in Western Australia, however I consider them cut flowers free from the wild.

Every weekend I grab my secateurs, put on my wellies and head into the depths of the creek to cut a few vase full of these flowers.




In case you don't believe I really do go wading in creek here is the proof:



Actually, one of my favourite activities this winter was playing in the creek. Hey don't Tiger snakes love the water and marshy areas like the winter creek?

Why yes, they do. However they hibernate in the winter so it is safe. However now that it is warming up, the snakes will start to come out of hibernation, full of venom, grumpy and desperate for a feed.

Stuart says that my wellies would be enough protection from snake bites. I am not so sure. I asked a country friend of mine if this is true and she took a long pause, pulled in her face and said, "Well, it would definitely help."

So I may just let enjoying the lilies from afar for the rest of the season.

Good thing the lemon tree is bursting with about ten million lemons.



So far I have made many jars of preserved lemons, many many jars of limoncello and have four thousand cubes of frozen lemon juice. The kicker is, there are still nine million lemons left on the tree.

Any one have any good recipes for lemons??

The roses are all pruned sticks in the ground, the maples are barren skeletons lining the driveway and the flame tree has been extinguished. However in all of this barren forest the azaleas took the opportunity to put on a spectacular show.



It's an old lady pink, but still stunning.

However the show stopper of the spring was when the plum trees decided to turn from dark silhouettes into rows of graceful white blossoms.