Quackers and Cheese came back home!

After going missing for many months, Cheese and Quackers returned home a few weeks ago and started begging for food at the window again. They are almost tame still, but Quackers doesn't do her flying-up-and-down-on-the-spot trick any more when I say "fly". I am so pleased to see them and that they survived the duck hunting season.

I started feeding the ducks again because it was still Winter, and I have a soft spot for Quackers. After a week Quackers and Cheese brought 5 little fluffy ducklings to us to feed. The ducklings all managed to hop onto the deck and ran straight to the window encouraged by Quackers.

After stuffing themselves with soggy wholemeal bread, Quackers and her ducklings all snuggled up cosily on the deck for a snooze. I continued feeding the ducks and ducklings 3 times a day for a couple of weeks. Then Quackers and Cheese started visiting without the ducklings. I thought something had happened to them, but they were quite safe hiding by the pond. Cheese and Quackers had had enough of them and decided that they were old enough to fend for themselves.

The ducklings started coming to the house by themselves, hopping onto the deck and tapping on the window with their beaks, begging for food. They have adopted us as their parents. When I open the window to feed them they rush up to me and peck at my toes waiting to be fed. So now they are being fed 3 times a day.

I took the photo above this afternoon. The 5 ducklings are about half the size of their parents now and have got most of their adult feathers.

And here are the mischievous ducklings trying to get into the house. We can't leave any of the doors open, and have to keep the cat door closed because the ducklings try to get into the house. They discovered the cat door a week ago and one duckling managed to get in through it. I was sitting at my computer at the time when I heard a rather loud quacking noise. I found the duckling in the kitchen. Dad managed to get it out through the dining room door without any trouble.

Now the ducklings can hear which room we are in from outside. They go from window to window looking in and if they are hungry they tap their beaks on the glass demanding service. Spring is a wonderful time!

See you again soon.

Hugs

Rose x

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

I hope that you have a wonderful Easter holiday with family and friends and that the Easter Bunny is good to you with lots of Easter eggs to share!

With lots of hugs

from Rose xxx

And then the sky turned pink

After the storm we were rewarded with a hazy sunset which turned everything softly pink.

The mist steamed off the hilltop trees as the evening turned muggy and hot.

All is well in our little part of Auckland.

Tomorrow, if the rain holds off, I will take a closer look at my wildflower garden to see if it can be revived.

Red sky at night shepherds delight!

See you again soon

Hugs

Rose x

Friday flower blues

Last night the forecasted storm hit Auckland with a deluge of rain that filled up our water tank. The rain was much needed as our water tank level was running quite low and there is a 3 to 6 week wait for water to be delivered! The wind was so strong it shook the house and then the power went off.

It was quite comforting to be tucked up inside with my cats. No damage was done to the house, but my wildflower bed is flattened and there are no petals left on the coreopsis flowers. All is a mass of tangled stems. I will have to wait until the rain stops before I can have a closer look.

I cheered myself up by looking through some flower photos that I took midweek. The lovely cobalt blue hydrangeas are still intact, as are the agapanthus flowers.

It is surprising that none of our trees got damaged by the storm. We had most of the old and dying pine trees removed over a year ago because they were falling over by themselves and causing a lot of problems. We now have a lot of pine and gum tree saplings growing happily in their place.

I hope that the weather has been kinder to you!

With love

from Rose x

Wildflower garden success, it's looking totally wild!

I started this wildflower garden just over a year ago, in November 2016, and it's still in full flower. The coreopsis flowers have survived the rabbits, lack of rainfall and no watering whatsoever by me.

I trimmed the coreopsis plants down to one foot when they first finished dropping their seed. These same plants came up again, together with the seedlings grown from the dropped seed. I plan to do the same again once the flower seeds have set and dropped.

The main flowers showing at the moment are coreopsis tinctoria. They reach over 6 feet tall, so are quite a bit taller than me!

I enjoy going for a walk around this flower bed very much, especially in the mornings and evenings when it's a little cooler. My cat Oscar usually follows me and meows very loudly if I go too fast.

There are some scabious plants dotted around amongst the yellow coreopsis, in shades of mauve, pink, white and a deep, dark, almost blackish maroon, the petals of which look like rich velvet. The butterflies and bees love it.

The following photos show the view across the wildflower garden and down onto to our neighbours horse paddocks and arena. The hill in the background is a nature reserve filled with native New Zealand bush (woodland).

The weather forecast for the end of the week is for strong wind and heavy rain. I am keeping my fingers crossed that not too much damage will be done to my flowers. However looking at it optimistically, the coreopsis will grow back again if trimmed down.

Time now for a cup of hot chocolate and back to reading my book.

See you again soon,

Hugs Rose x

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2018

Merry Christmas from Rose - Happy Ramblings blog

It has been a year since my last post, yet it only feels like yesterday. Time passes so quickly. I hope that the year went well for you and that you have time to stop and enjoy the coming holidays.

I finished all of my shopping yesterday for our Christmas Eve dinner and all the presents are wrapped and waiting to be given out on Christmas day. The shops were getting crazy yesterday, even at 8.00 o'clock in the morning, the supermarket was packed. Plus I had to wait for parking at Farro, my favourite delicatessen for all things Christmas.

It is 27 C outside at the moment. It doesn't feel hot as there is a lovely breeze and it isn't humid. Perfect weather for me for Christmas. Usually I feel really hot at this time of the year and don't want to do anything but lounge around the house because of the heat.

I have a rather meagre Santa Sack for myself this year as I had to be very frugal due to not working. I think that I have 4 items in my Santa Sack which I put in at the beginning of the year. Plus Mum has snuck something into it too which is really fun.

During the run-up to Christmas I went to a candle-making party like last year. I enjoyed it very much. I made 2 candles and a tea-light out of soy wax and scented them with citrus peel fragrance. I chose silver-plated engraved metal containers this time. I liked them so much that I kept one for myself. The other is being given as a Christmas present.

Have a wonderful Christmas-time and take care on the roads. Hope to catch up with you again soon.

Lots of hugs

Rose x