Snow forecast.

This afternoon the weather people have issued a heavy snow warning for my part of New Zealand. They suggest the snow will fall overnight and tomorrow morning on hills at around 300 metres.
Will it happen? I don’t know. Snow falling here is a rare event but it has happened in the past. It is certainly bitterly cold here as we head into a second week of very low temperatures, biting winds and plenty of rain. Earlier predictions of a warm winter are a distant memory now.
However this magnolia bud about to burst forth is a result of the warmer conditions we enjoyed up until 10 days ago. It is a very early bud.

This brave daffodil is more “on time” as they do flower earlier here than the date that officially marks spring.

With snow forecast then this Edelweiss flowering in the garden is not looking so foreign right now.

Wikipedia offers this: Edelweiss (English pronunciation i/ˈeɪdəlvaɪs/, from German [ˈeːdəlvaɪs]; systematic name Leontopodium alpinum or Leontopodium nivale ssp.), is a well-known mountain flower, belonging to the sunflower family.
The plant is unequally distributed and prefers rocky limestone places at about 1800–3000 m altitude. It is non toxic, and has been used traditionally in folk medicine as a remedy against abdominal and respiratory diseases. The dense hair appears to be an adaptation to high altitudes, protecting the plant from cold, aridity and ultraviolet radiation.[2] As a scarce short-lived flower found in remote mountain areas, the plant has been used as a symbol for alpinism, for rugged beauty and purity associated with the Alps, and as a national symbol especially of Austria and of Switzerland.

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The ordinary and familiar

I recently read a piece on a daily email I subscribe to about how familiar things are often very ordinary things which bring us enjoyment and comfort. Sometimes it is only when something familiar disappears from our life do we realise how much we took it for granted and what benefit we gained from it.

It might be as simple and ordinary as a view out a window, a tree in the garden, the smell of sunshine in dry washing, the laugh of a loved one.

There is much beauty and pleasure in the ordinary and focusing away from the bombardment of drama and hype, information overload, busyness and stress can be so good for our wellbeing.

Right now we are in the midst of spring, that familiar part of the seasonal cycle which turns each year. It is easy to feel the extraordinary power of this season but keep an eye out for the ordinary detail that we can sometimes miss and enjoy.

Here are some familiar, ordinary sights from my garden today.

Flowering Jasmine

Self sown white primula

Self sown white and blue forget-me-nots in a pot full of shells and rocks.

Look at the changes within the magnolia flower

Magnolia petals have fallen and left this beautiful detail

Pelagonium flowers from a cutting taken from the roadside in 1998 and still flowering in pots in my garden today.

The very ordinary, very familiar but pretty, bright flower of the dandelion

Out of the blue

The pattern of rainy weather continues on here. But in a small gap between weather systems, the sun came out and the sky was blue. Rain is falling again as I type this. The garden is not thirsty.

The magnolia has burst forth with more flowers.

The gales of the past day or so plus the rainy weather have damaged some of the flowers. The tree is nearly 40 years old and was planted by a previous owner so I have no idea of the type of magnolia it is.

It hunkers down by a fence and is protected by an ever green magnolia in our neighbour’s garden plus the surprising tall Japanese Maple nearby.

The magnolia’s spread is wide and reasonably high.

Here is my best effort at capturing it while the sun shone on me and the light was welcomingly bright.

The weather forecast is for a thunderstorm and hail today and if hail falls the flowers will really suffer. An out of the blue opportunity was too good to miss with the camera.

However no thunder and no hail arrived. The magnolia has enjoyed that and so have all the humans:-)

Sunshine and beauty

When the sun has been absent for long stretches of time and the rain has dripped and drizzled or poured down on and off for weeks, a sunny day is such a tonic.

Yesterday was a warm and sunny day. I took my lunch outside and soaked up the healthy Vitamin D on offer. I could feel the goodness raising my spirits.

I checked the magnolia and the bud I have blogged about here.

Like me the buds have been waiting patiently for the sunshine and warmth.

Look at the soft suede-like petals, happy to open, at last, in the right conditions.

And with the aid of the macro on the camera have a peep in here. What beauty is held within the cup of petals.

Wordless Wednesday

Emerging Magnolia flowers on the tree in my garden. The first photo was taken on 10 August, the second photo (of the same bud) was taken, today, 15th August.

And when I turned around this bloom has almost fully emerged without me noticing it. It is higher on the tree and receives more sunshine and light.