Brisbane, QLD


Monday, March 1, 2010

AUTUMN RAIN

Hooray! The first day of Autumn and we can look forward to some cooler weather. It never ceases to perplex Bill (who is from Switzerland), why we in Australia start our seasons on different days to that of the northern hemisphere, which uses the solstice dates for the change of seasons. We have 3 months of each season. 1 Dec to 28 Feb (Summer), 1 Mar to 30 June (Autumn), 1 Jun to 31 Aug (Winter) and 1 Sep to 31 Nov (Spring). If anyone out there can explain why we do this it would be appreciated.

grevillea
It has been raining on and off for weeks now, like it does every summer, which is our wet season. However it is getting more and more everyday until today when it has been non stop all day. The news reports say we had the wettest summer for 6 years in Queensland. It is raining all over this huge state, even in the dry deserts of the outback, where they have had more rain than ever recorded. Many roads are cut and towns are isolated.

tibouchina


gardenia
I don't have a macro lens so I use my telephoto. I think they are called close focus photos.

With the heat and the wet everything in our garden is growing like mad and it has become a jungle.

Hello! What's that I can see hiding in the jungle?

It's Fat Butt! He is being a very good boy this morning because he is eating the weeds instead of the nice plants.

He is so cute....when he is eating the weeds and not the flowers.
Wallaby is an aboriginal word. It is used to describe about 30 species of macropod or small Kangaroo. This one is called a "Pretty Faced Wallaby" and it is also known as a "Whiptail Wallaby." This is a male and grows to 1.2 m/4ft and weighs 26 kg/55lbs. They are usually very shy and have excellent hearing, see his ears turning like radar dishes. However they can become aggressive if cornered , scared and in mating season. Fat Butt is a shy one.

30 comments:

  1. Fat Butt should have been in the photo shoot on the Opera House steps this morning! Come to think of it - maybe he was!

    Seasons. The reason we do that is because we are Aussies ... 'nuff said ...

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  2. Wiki says this: "Meteorological seasons are reckoned by temperature, with summer being the hottest quarter of the year and winter the coldest quarter of the year. Using this reckoning, the Roman calendar began the year and the spring season on the first of March, with each season occupying three months. In 1780 the Societas Meteorologica Palatina, an early international organization for meteorology, defined seasons as groupings of three whole months. Ever since, professional meteorologists all over the world have used this definition.[5] So, in meteorology for the Northern hemisphere: spring begins on 1 March, summer on 1 June, autumn on 1 September, and winter on 1 December."

    The link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season

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  3. I can't even imagine seeing a wallaby in my yard! That is just too cool!
    Your photography is stunning..I can't seem to get that close and be that clear - you have done quite a nice job!

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  4. And when you get the whole winter-spring-season thing figured out, you can find out why we measure in yards instead of meters, and why we have cups and teaspoons and gallons instead of grams and liters and why the decade doesn't start until Jan 1, 2011. The things man does to complicate things! ;-) Your little wallaby is a cutie. I suppose that sometimes he seems a nuisance when he eats the things you don't want him too... much like the deer do to some of the yards around here. :-) But I sure am enjoying the pictures!

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  5. I'd love to have a wallaby in my backyard. Photos...exquisite. Would you like to trade cameras? I'll pay postage both ways. :)

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  6. Great photos, Diane, the first shot is stunning! I have never seen a wallaby, these are great shots...

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  7. So, since you are having the first rains of Autumn that must mean we are going to have Spring soon! Fat Butt is pretty cute!

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  8. Diane
    I do believe that your reporting is now as brilliant as your photography - congratulations! Great coverage of this 'peculiar' weather we are having. I looked at my feet this morning and they are becoming "webbed"! For people not from Brisbane, the rain and storms are playing havoc with the rail services as signal failures are occurring at increased rates. Being stuck on a train is not fun!
    To make matters worse, the rain according to the weather bureau is here for another week - horrible thought. "Fat Butt", the wallaby, will change in appearance to "Fat Goosey Gander" if this continues.
    Thank God it is raining all over the state, so in the end, despite the flooding and inconveniences at present, everyone should end up with broad smiles on their faces.
    Cheers
    HB - rapidly becoming a muscovy drake!

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  9. Diane, I so enjoyed your pictures! And, of course, Fat Butt! I saw one when we were at the Wildlife Preserve outside of Melbourne. It was 108 degrees that day and none of the animals were wanting to come out of the shade.

    Our seasons in the U.S. are spring-begins March 20th or 21st; Summer-June 20th or 21st; Fall-September 20th or 21st and Winter on December 20th or 21st. The two dates vary for some reason year to year. It is cold and wet here in Texas. Blessings

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  10. Well, that's one question answered re: seasons - Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Switzerland is the same as the USA and changes not on the first of the months like here in Australia, as pointed out by Diane. Now Linda and "Cotton Lady" have verified the time of changes in the north.
    New Zealand is the same as Australia, I wonder if any South Africans, Chileans or Argentinians, look at this blog and can let us know, when their seasons change - all these countries being from the Southern Hemisphere?????? No wonder Bill is
    "perplexed"!!!! I for one always thought it was the same for the whole World - here, Autumn, and north, Spring, on the same date!!!
    Cheers
    'Rapidly becoming more "perplexed" than Bill'
    HB

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  11. Glad Fat Butt is only eating the weeds... We have a horrible time here with chipmunks and squirrels --digging up our bulbs and digging holes all over the yard. Like Fat Butt--- ours are cute... BUT--oh can they cause lots of damage....

    So it's now Autumn down there???? We are almost into Spring---but since we are supposed to get snow tomorrow, it still seems like winter to us.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  12. The first pic is really lovely. Actually all yr pics are great - good shots of the wallaby.

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  13. hi Diane, lovely post as usual. lovely wallaby too. beats the lizards in my back yard. ;) it's silly about the seasons isn't it? why don't they start with the solstices? it's crazy

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  14. Ah yes the rain. This year it has certainly stopped all our moaning about drought but never fear in a year or two we will be bemoaning the lack of water again. Reminds me of the poem "Said Hanrahan" ... there seems to be nothing "in between" .. we'll all be rooned.

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  15. Oh Diane, I saw the torrential rain on the news, I hope you're coping with the downpour ok?

    WA has officailly has it's hottest, driest summer on record, I think we've had a sniff of a millimetre for months and that's it! After all the 41C days, we had a relatively cool 35C today. Hooray!

    Give Fat Butt a carrot for me!

    Cheers,

    Cindy

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  16. Hi Diane! It may be a story of meteorologists, but we also have three months on each season here... ;))

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  18. Your rain bedecked flower photos are so pretty. And I love your new header too. Mr. Wallaby with the pretty face has very long, sharp claws...I'm glad he's shy!

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  19. What can I say. Your garden is glorius, and your photography is spectacular. I love these photos, and especially the cute wallaby.

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  20. Now we are sitting in the same boat, almost, I mean I in the cold one your in the hot but both sitting in the rain ! I don't know why you start autumn now and I am still hoping for spring, maybe because you are on the other side of the world ? I learned it at school, but honnestly at that time I didn't listen to the teachers I prefered to do other things, lol !

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  21. Fat butt looks real big ! How cute !

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  22. Diane, the rain on the newly formed flowers and the leaves makes for amazing pictures.
    I delight in your pics and fully understand that you can become perplexed with the wallabies when they choose the plants over the fresh green grass.

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  23. I am learning that water is rather important to a garden ... the rain is certainly making a huge difference to yours as well as mine. Glad about your veges.

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  24. Hi Diane
    I think the three month season system that Autralia has is wonderful if the weather cooperates with that formula. Unfortunately, winter in my part of the US seems to run about 5 months long..the longest of any season. Our springs have been cold and rainy the past few years, our summers short, but very hot and humid, and the nicest weather of all seems to be autumn..as long as the hurricane season is not a bad one, which will bring rain and wind to the NE.

    Wonderful photos of the wallaby! I've heard they can be quiet agressive if they stress danger.

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  25. I love your little Wallaby, and he does have a pretty face. Since many wild animals are being forced to learn to live with lots of humans around them we are finally getting to see them and appreciate what they are.

    We have lots of deer on our place, we also have lots of wild birds, not to mention skunks, and other varmits.


    Since it is so hard to stop them from eating our crops we randomly 'feed' them. When we plant corn we put out corn seeds just for the wild critters, when the little corn is growing we once more put out corn...we place it far away from the field and keep the spot full for a couple of weeks. By the time we stop the plants are old enough and the wild ediables are plentiful. Sure beats trying to trap and kill them. I couldn't stand that...

    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.co

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  26. Great shots, Diane! I love the flowers and Fat Butt. BTW, I love your new header photo.

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  27. Lots of rain and I love it! My garden looks like a jungle too and needs urgently a few dry days and a few hands, two are not enough unlike a
    "Fat butt" comes and helps eating the weeds. I love the flowers with the raindrops. It is so good to see the rain everywhere, even if it floods!
    Diane, I have heard that the first of March was used for the first day of spring in Europe, but I can not remember if it was SWL or Germany. It is unusual because it was always the 21. I had to get used to the 1. here as well.

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  28. Diane

    Please keep Fatt Butt or has he become "Goosey Gander" with all this rain away from that "gardenia".
    If ever a plant was/is so difficult to grow, it has to be a "gardenia". I have had great success and also the equal number of failures. In other words, the successful and the pride of my potting ability has for reasons unknown to me, died overnight ( that's the failure part). Reasons unknown for this business of "magnificent one day, a mess the next".
    Your gardenia looks a very fine specimen.

    Cheers
    The Failed "Gardenia Grower" (HB)

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  29. You did the first photo with a telephoto? That is a fabulous macro, great shot.

    Fat Butt is adorable, he can eat the weeds in my yard anytime. As long as he isn't afraid of squirrels.

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  30. Hello Fat Butt! You're so cute!!! Gorgeous shots again! Great blogging Mum!
    xxx

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