Tuesday 2 February 2010

MONDAY PHOTO-A-WEEK

Mary is choosing the photo themes for February and this week the theme was -

"From my window"

Unfortunately, we live in the suburbs so not a lot to see from our windows but, if you're interested, feel free to click on any image to enlarge it.


This pic was taken through the frosted glass window AND the security fly-mesh screen of my ensuite/bathroom. Just in case you can't tell, it's a butterfly.



The photo below was taken from the window in my lounge room looking to the left where you can see the front entrance. I make no apology for the dull greyish pics because we've had some days of rain which cooled down our raging hot, humid temperatures substantially and I've been lovin' it!


I haven't been able to mow the grass because of the rain but these magpies didn't mind. The pic below was also taken from the lounge room window looking straight across the street where you will see a neighbour's weeds growing merrily along their side fence line...

...believe me when I say that the pic above was taken on a good day because he had only recently mowed down the rest of the weeds which had been like a veritable weed forest. I guess he couldn't be bothered mowing the edge. You may notice a hint of sarcasm but it truly makes me mad when people let weeds get out of control. When the winds come, all those seeds get blown over into my yard and I'm forever picking weeds out of my lawn and garden.

On top of that, the garden bed in the pic below (also taken from my lounge room window) is halved by the property line although no fence separates it. I could not believe my eyes one day when I noticed that the young couple responsible for the other half of the garden bed had actually sculpted out a front hedge with their weeds...I kid you not! He even lets Cobbler's Pegs (Bidens pilosa) grow with wild abandon. I feel like I'm waging a one woman battle to keep their weeds from infesting my lawn and garden.


The pic below was taken from my bedroom window overlooking our back fence-line. As you can see the bushland behind comes right up to the back fence. There are a couple of huge trees (not seen in pic) sitting right behind the fence that I always worry about during our storm season but, so far, we've been lucky.



If you're interested in joining our Photo-A-Week group, please check out the picture link in my sidebar under 2010 Happenings.

Love, light and peace

18 comments:

  1. It's always fun to see where my friends live. And I understand about how the neighbors maintain (or not!) their yards. HB is forever fighting dandelions because the house next door doesn't pay any attention to them.

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  2. Even the weeds look wonderful to a Canadian with a snow covered lawn right now;-) Your property looks like a lovely, restful place!

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  3. Really like your photos..
    always...Judy

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  4. Your part of the world looks so beautiful and interesting. You have a lovely place...Shelly

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  5. How fun to see all the different views from your windows. I can relate to the difference of opinion with your neighbors as to what is landscaping and what isn't. We aren't allowed to have fences so our lawns abut each other.

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  6. You have a beautiful yard, and all your hard work keeping it that way really shows. Too bad your neighbors don't try a little harder.

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  7. Seeing your photos Serene gave me a tiny bit of an ache to be in Australia, out in the burbs where there is some bushland nearby.

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  8. my fellow Canuck said it already.... ours is still white...with snow...and more forecast for later today..no biggy. The sky is a brilliant blue...the sun is bright...it feels much warmer than the -8C they are saying ... I love it.

    hey... don't you have RoundUP? or any other soil sterilizer? Take it out and spritz along the fence? ..or sprinkle some wildflower seeds ... they will choke out the weeds and look pretty.

    What I do out back to keep the neighbours weeds from encroaching on my lawn.. we dug down...put some inches of sand...then a truckload of small gravel on a 2 foot wide strip of yard... spray it occasionally with RoundUp and nothing grows in that...and if it accidentally gets on somebody else's property... who would ever notice anyway? they don't care nor do they look.... my neighbour across the other way laughs her head off and waves at me when she sees me out there "weeding" with my sprayer along my neighbour's high fence...the neighbour with the high fence can't see me .... no weeds on our alleyway that is visible to me...and wildflowers are beginning to sprout too...the birds must be helping...because there were even some Hollyhocks near one fence last year....

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  9. The time and effort you put into keeping your place looking nice really shows, too bad you have to put up with people who just don't care. Sometimes I think being a hermit would not be such a bad thing, not having to deal with people who just can't act right.

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  10. Looks lovely to see green instead of white. At least you have a yard to fuss over--and it is obviously well fussed over--looks great!

    Love the magpies! And the butterfly shadow on the screen. You have such great huge pots of plants, too! Green thumb. Seems like most people suffer from annoying neighbors in some form or another. I think I'd take a few weeds instead of the occasional loud music and arguments--hehe! Anyways, keep fighting the good green fight! :):)

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  11. that was fun, loved seeing your views!

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  12. Serena you have beautiful views from your window.
    Hugs

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  13. shame about the neighbours :/ its the same here with the neighbours. never does anything with his yard but mow the grass but leaves the weeds.and its not like he even has to mow grass in the front, its all gravel, but full of weeds now (and garbage :( ) not sure what we are going to do with our yard this year, might just keep it mowed and not bother growing anything.

    vee suggestion is a great one :)

    glad the temps went down. been reading that its been really hot in some areas

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  14. I think that the "weeds" in your neighbours yard are quite attractive.

    I am, myself one of those nasty neighbours who loves to harbour all sorts of wild indigenous plants in my yard and I know that many of my neighbours also do not appreciate my intention to avoid having a monoculture golf course lawn.

    There is actually quite a growing culture here in rural and urban Ontario to avoid having lawns all together in support of water conservation and to avoid the need for harmful pesticides :-)

    Love your photos, as always!

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  15. Thanks, everyone....glad you liked my pics.

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  16. Hi Serena,
    Gosh, you have been a busy gal while I was away. Love all your posts and photos.
    Thanks for your concern about my absent.
    Hubby and I went to Perth for a week visiting relatives and I've just been flat out since returning cleaning house, writing patterns up for the magazine, getting ready for classes again and trying to have some ME/Painting time.
    Hm, also having a bit of trouble uploading pics to my computer.
    Chat soon,
    Hugs,
    Anna

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  17. Hi Serena
    Totally understand about the weeds from neighbors. Why can't they be wildflowers growing there instead?
    Here in Az, they get large and dry and are a fire hazard. Just got your email and I'm so excited about PIF.

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  18. Nice tour of your yard, so much more to photo in yours then mine right now.

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