Brigitte’s autumn hideaway

Archive for the ‘Winter’ Category

In New Zealand we celebrate the beginning of Spring with the first day of September.

In October the farmers and veterinarian will be busy with lambing.

This lovely sheep had her lambs much earlier.

I enjoy the warmer days for small walks not far away from our house.
This by example is a way up to a summit.

The broom will be covered with yellow blossoms soon and is so high you can’t see anything.

On the top you can catch a glimpse of snow by the faraway mountains.

We have no snow down here but instead a lot of blooming trees and flowers
Our garden is full of interesting animals like this live bearing ‘copper skink’ which can be found only on the North island of New Zealand.

Our rabbits are also developing great and Fluffy is one who we take inside from time to time. He is Aileen’s favorite except for Anna of course

We enjoy the last days of winter and are looking forward for an exciting Spring

Winter in our region doesn’t mean snow but it can be chilly and frosty…
… we are really glad to have a pellet oven!
I wrote about a convenient and free cleaning preparation for the resins on the window. Please click here if interested.

Our garden has still things growing…

… and even our mystery plant is growing higher. Maybe she will reveal some buds some day and we can identify her.

In a corner were the hazel tree grows we found a ‘Drosselschmiede’ (translated thrush smithy)

A thrush has collected all hazelnuts in a hollow log and opened them on a stone.

The cocoon of the Emperor moth is still in our house and I am curious when we will see the moth.

Outside some bumble bees are still buzzing around.

But the cold weather makes them lazy and I guess they prefer now to stay underground in their homes.
I enjoy the last rose…

… and welcome new eucalyptus blossoms.

Winter in New Zealand is soooooo different from what I grew up and I miss the walks into the snowy forest to visit trees with squirrels peeking out…

… and feeding the wild live with hay and apples…

This rainbow arched over the village in the morning.

Amazing was, it didn’t rain at all. The humidity must have been very high.

This pic of the moon was taken on a crisp morning last week, as well as this lovely rainbow.

The kids are in their second holiday week and we were only able to make a few trips due to bad weather.
4 year old David loves traffic cones and he asked me for a photo

Most birds you can find now are fantails (Rhipidura fulginosa). They flatter around just like little speedy butterflies.

Fantails are native to New Zealand and named Piwakawaka in Maori language. If you would like to learn more about NZ native birds click here or here.

A trip sure makes you hungry

There are still some mushrooms growing due to the mild weather.

Sometimes you think it’s autumn, but we sure are in the middle of winter here.

We can’t find toadstools anymore, but these are looking cute too. Can you tell me what it is? They are very bright, nearly white. At the moment they are growing like crazy under pine trees.

Here and there foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is peeking out of the ground.

The beautiful colour of periwinkle (Vinca minor) is showing off almost the whole year round.

And even roses are still blooming in Tawa’s Rosegarden! Mmm they smell so good.

Daisies cover the lawns and our woodland path.

In some gardens torch lilies are such an awesome colour in the middle of winter!

I guess we don’t get a winter blue here in my region, since there is always enough sunshine and something blooming.

Even for Benny are enough delicious herbs in the garden. He loves especially the sweet blossoms of pine apple sage