Eye Spy... a taste of Summer

Most definitely my favourite time of year! Kicking off with the 'crazy Christmas' season, the 'wind down and relax' of January, and then the 'back into the groove' February where we savour the last dregs of Summer. Well maybe that's not entirely true - we do live in Queensland and the season does last a little longer here but hey, it's not 'technically' Summer is it?

So what reminds me of Summer? Definitely most things water. Swimming with my niece and nephew (and now Jett) in my parents and aunty and uncle's pools. Cranking up our outdoor spa and relaxing after a busy day with Kym (and now Jett...). Kym and I talking about how we really should go to the beach given it's only an hour away... As you can see by my pic above, we finally made the trek down last week. And of course, RID for all the lovely mozzie's and midges that frequent this part of town.

A close second is Summer food and drinks. Christmas parties, birthday parties, mangoes, peaches, grapes, fruit smoothies for breakfast, chilled Champagne, iced tea, green papaya salad, fish, cold beer... I could go on but I won't.


Lastly, but no less enjoyable for me, are the '5pm thunderstorms' of the wet season - well, what we still have of a wet season because of global warming :( Those stinking hot and humid days followed by a massive downpour are always so welcomed, provided you're not one of the unlucky ones driving... This pic is of a golf-sized piece of ice that landed at the back of Kym's work at the start of Summer.

Thanks so much to Anastasia for picking this weeks theme, I really enjoyed it! Check out our host Cindy's site to play along.

Eye Spy... something in my garden

So this is my first Eye Spy! I just want to say thank you to Curly Pops for picking this weeks theme, and also to Cindy at Bugandpop for hosting the Eye Spy.
I love this tree in my garden, not that I know what it is called. I keep thinking it's a poinsettia but I'm pretty sure it's not. I don't have a green thumb, and to be honest if you get up close and have a look at our garden you'll see it really needs some TLC. All the rain we've been having lately is causing it to go a bit nuts, and this tree in particular is in desperate need of some pruning (is that what you call it??). But I love the pretty red flowers it drops on the lawn - they remind me that Summer is here. I'm also a fan of the big palm next to it. Before I moved up here I always thought of balmy weather and palm trees when I thought of Queensland, so it's pretty cool to know I have one in my very own backyard.

I had to include this pic of the oregano in my herb garden - the weather lately has also caused it to really spread and I think it looks very lush.
Friday night saw my extended family, Mr J, and I attend Carols by Candlelight. With early evening thunderstorms forecast we decided to risk it anyway. We were there only 1 hour before we were rained out. But the carols themselves were pretty funny, if maybe a little lame. The 'host' of the evening was definitely a Jack Black from 'School of Rock' wannabe... which my sister and I found pretty hilarious. He had the same moves, held onto those high notes a little too long, tried to get the audience to 'rock' and at one point even referred to the females in the choir and the females in audience as 'the ladies'. If nothing else, he gave us a great laugh :P

Sunday we also had our family pre-Christmas party where all the kiddies had lots of fun opening presents. And the grown ups consumed some great finger food and of course some much-needed drinks. My couple of glasses of Piper went down way too easily...




Here's a couple of pics of some of the food brought by everybody. There's some bruschetta, little sausages with zucchini, olives, goats cheese and tomatoes, some buttersnap bikkies with caramel (thanks Bec, these were one of my favourites as a kid - who am I kidding, as an adult too!), and some mini trifles. Needless to say I think we all needed a little nap afterward :P