A belated Happy New Year to everyone. My first post of the year is linked to Becky’s Geometric January. I have been tracking this little guy’s progress since Christmas Eve. Now, I’m in a dilemma about what to do.
Day One
Golden Orb Silk Weaver
I had visitors due from the UK and thought it would be interesting for them to see. These spiders are not venomous and are reluctant to bite. I was searching for geometric photos for Becky and loved the shape of the web designs.
“The next time you see a spider web, please, pause and look a little closer. You’ll be seeing one of the most high-performance materials known to man.“ Cheryl Hayashi
He was doing a pretty good job of catching all the other insects too.
Everyday the web grew larger and he caught more insects.
A spider is slow, but its web catches the fastest flies. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo
Day 18
Christmas has been and gone and we’re now preparing for Halloween.
My dear hubby is of the voice of Live and Let Live, whereas I am “enough is enough”. So that is my dilemma. The spider has provided much entertainment and has certainly earned his keep. Any suggestions?
Monochrome madness this week is hosted by Sarah from Travel with Me and the topic is trees. Looking through my archives I see I have many photos of trees, we are surrounded by enormous trees where we live.
To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots.” Richard Mabey
I did take a few new photos at the weekend especially for this challenge. I’m not sure they would look better in green though!
Weeping willows overlooking the small lake
Taken at one of our favourite places to visit on a Sunday, Chapel Farm in the Swan Valley.
The trees above are our neighbours and provide wonderful shade during the summer. The only problem with these are the red berries that fall and become squished onto the tiles! After taking this photo yesterday I saw this cheeky fellow peeking through. It looks AI generated but I assure you it’s not.
My dear hubby attempting to climb to the top of the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton, but I put the brakes on, as I was too worried that he might fall.
Palm Tree on Samosir Island, IndonesiaTree Stump somewhere in Western Australia
Playing around with photos with different editing tools is a lot of fun, I used Snapseed and the software on my S22 for these edits.
“Trees have a secret life that is only revealed to those willing to climb them” Reinablo Areras
A funfilled week was had last week, starting with Bank Holiday Monday and a trip to the zoo. As you can imagine it was packed, but Elena holds a zoo pass so you need only spend a few hours each time.
We were lucky enough to see a Tree Kangaroo with her baby, who just happened to stick his head out for a photo. Also a sausage tree in bloom!
On Wednesday I spent a lovely morning at the beach viewing the sculptures which I’ve already posted about.
With the weather getting cooler in the mornings I’ve been able to go for a walk around Lake Claremont.
Which direction shall I go?We need rain!
“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them”– Ralph Marston
Vivid green grass blowing in the breeze“We know we are on the right path. Our journey is not finished, but we have come a long way.” Muhammadu Buhari
It wasn’t that long at all, just a 40 minute circuit around the lake!
Sunday afternoon we had a drive out to one of our favourite wineries in Bickley Valley. We had a table on the terrace overlooking the vineyards and shared a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board.
Next Postcard will be from Seminyak, Bali for a short break!
Linking to CWWC (Cee’s Challenge on Which Way) and Sunday Stills (This week Terri is asking for Green).
Ju-Lyn from Touring my Backyard recently posted a new challenge (although I am not sure if she is actually hosting this!) but I’ve linked to hers anyway. It’s about taking time to capture objects or scenes from different angles, to spend around five minutes looking at it from other perspectives. I generally just snap and dash or just take one or two.
So here you have mine for this week.
This Aloe Vera just gets bigger every year and is a main attraction for honey eaters and bees and wasps. I wasn’t lucky enough to get a honey eater, they are too nervous and fly away when I got too close.
After leaving Beratan Lake, we made our way to the rice terraces. It took around 40 minutes along windy country roads. The rice terraces have always been on my list of places to see, so I was looking forward to this trip.
Stopping by the side of the road to take some of these breathtaking views.
We stopped for lunch overlooking the rice fields, the restaurant served a simple buffet lunch of curries and stir fried vegetables. It was so relaxing just sitting and looking over the terraces.
I had a quick tour of the outside of the restaurant and was intrigued by the different chairs and benches in use. I also took a video of a waitress trying to evict a stray dog!
I wonder what the hole is for! Stationary Wheel ChairsPizza Oven
“I’ll leave when I want, thanks”
After lunch we walked across the road to take a walk along the rice terraces. The different tones of green were amazing and I was stopping every few seconds to take photos. We saw mostly women in the fields, of course! It looked to be back-breaking work. We could have walked the loop but it was already late in the afternoon and we had over an hour’s journey to drive back.
A little piece of home!
I can’t imagine the exhaustion these people feel at the end of the day, still so primitive and much the same as it was many years ago.
My dear hubby is a big rice fan and we eat it nearly every day at home. I have a rice cooker so it’s always cooked perfectly. Woe betide if there is too much water and it ends up sticky! Before the rice cooker is opened, he says “did you cut the rice”. Rice has to be chopped or cut before it is served.
Jatiluwih Rice Terraces are now a protected UNESCO Heritage Site and well worth visiting. They span more than 53,000 hectares of agriculture fields mostly covered with rice terraces. The system of terracing was developed based on the Hindu religion’s beliefs of being in harmony with nature.
We had a fabulous day visiting the temple first and then the rice terraces, it was well worth the drive.
I came upon a new challenge today while reading Becky’s post – all about nature from Denzil Nature. Nature’s eyes are always on us! This week’s nature photo challenge is to capture the beauty of nature’s eyes. Eye wonder if eye’m up to the challenge.
Where words are restrained, the eyes often talk a great deal – Samuel Richardson
“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language” Martin Buber
During our week in Bali, Anthony and I hired a driver to visit one of the many waterfalls that Bali has to offer. Tengenungen was around 30 minutes drive away and our driver was going to wait for a few hours while we explored.
This not a free attraction but the fee to enter is minimal. Before walking to the steps down to the waterfall there is a small strip with many stalls selling the usual Balinese crafts. They were all calling out to us to visit on the way back.
This was the first sight of the waterfall and the glass bridge across the river. The bridge wasn’t open that day, which was a relief with the sun beating down.
It was an extremely hot and humid day and there were nearly 200 stairs to traverse! The stairs of course were not nice and even enabling one foot after the other, rather they were all different sizes; steep, wide, narrow and shallow. So it was a case of walking down like a toddler learning to walk, for me anyway.
There was a hotel set amongst the rocks with a gorgeous looking swimming pool and tables with umbrellas around it. I’m not sure if you would want to spend more than one night here.
A cute bird’s nest, large enough for a person to sit in. I did see a lady climb in, I wasn’t brave enough as the drop was too steep! It didn’t look that safe, it definitely wouldn’t have passed health and safety requirements in Australia.
Face sculptures set in the hillside
Finally at the bottom we saw there were “bridges” to cross the pool to the waterfall and more steps going up the other side. I decided to sit and watch Anthony go across as it all looked a bit risky to me. If someone was going to fall in it would be me.
I thought you would be able to swim in the pool down below but there were signs saying no swimming, I probably wouldn’t have gone anyway because of all the rocks. The sight of the waterfall amongst all the lush tropical greenery was worth the effort.
Anyone could use these signs to take selfies with, but again I wasn’t brave enough to climb over the logs and through the water to get to them.
Anthony’s journey across the river
“Hello from the other side”
I’m glad to say Anthony made it back in one piece and then we made our way back up again. Oh, boy was this tough going. I was stopping every four or five steps and with a lady hot on my tail. I had to keep turning round and apologising but she said, “no, you’re okay, it’s exactly my pace”. Then she said “you must be 30 years younger than me”! Well that would have made me 30 or her 90, maybe it was my hat and dark glasses.
Once at the top we stopped and looked at one of the stalls and I bought a dress and Anthony bought himself a sari! He said he wanted to wear it around the garden at home, but he wore it to dinner that night. He surprises me everyday.
Stopping off for a coconut and a last look across the river at the bridge.
It was a lovely morning and I’m glad we made the effort to go. There are so many different places to see in Bali but the heat does affect you, early morning is the best time to go.
While we were at the Tanjung Rhu we took a walk along the deserted beach. In the distance I could see what looked like sculptures. When we got closer I could see they were massive tree roots. They were so intriguing I took a few photos. I like the way they had been left to their own devices creating natural sculptures.
There were some other interesting structures in the sea which we found out later were used as props for the Dutch Survivor TV programme.
Posted as part of Six Word Saturday hosted by Debbie at Travel with Intent
The featured image is titled ‘Treecycle’ by Cecile Williams. It is indeed made from recycled books, wood and screws.
These are more artworks that we discovered on our recent tour of Pemberton, WA. It’s an amazing trail of nature and art, cleverly designed to blend in with the natural surroundings of the forest.
‘Written on the Wind’ By Norma MacDonald
‘Sundew’ By Nat Williamson
‘Competitive Ground’ By Peter Hill
‘Whole, You Were Meant To Be Here’ By Lorenna Grant
‘Australia House’ By Cornelia Conrads
‘Rising From the Ashes’ By Kim Perrier
There is a whole community of artists and sculptors in this small town and you can read there story here.
A challenge I haven’t taken part in for a while. As the weather is so good in Perth at the moment I thought I would post some wonderful views from the past.
Taken just a few weeks ago during our trip to Pemberton. Although I have to say this bench doesn’t look comfortable in the slightest!
Further North for this one, Badgingarra, WA, on the hunt for wild flowers.
Overlooking Meelup Brook, Nautraliste, WA
Thanks Xingfumama for hosting this lovely challenge
