FOTD – Paperflower

Happy Friday everyone! Today’s flower of the day is the paperflower, also known as Bougainvillea, spotted here in Caringbah, Sutherland Shire.

Interestingly, paperflower has shown potential in fighting urban air pollution due to its ability to absorb pollutants.
Its vibrant, extensive bracts and adaptability make it a perfect choice for urban greening projects aiming to reduce environmental pollutants. How cool is that?!

FOTD – Walking Iris

Happy Tuesday everyone. I don’t normally post a flower of the day on a Tuesday but I just had to showcase this flower today!

I bought a plant a couple of months ago at the local markets, without even realising what it was and woke up this morning to find my very own walking iris in full bloom! For someone with notoriously brown thumbs, this little miracle made my day.

The walking iris gets its name from the way it “walks” across the garden, after flowering, new baby plants form on the stems, which eventually bend down and root themselves in the soil. A plant that practically grows itself?! Amazing for someone like me.

FOTD – Barbados lily – take 2

Happy Friday everyone! Today’s flower of the day is another Barbados Lily. I don’t usually post the same flower twice, as I had already posted one last week. However, even though this flower is the same species / family, I feel like the colours are completely different and deserve their own chance in the limelight. The colours are absolutely stunning and completely eye popping. These flowers were spotted at the weekend past when we went for a walk around Lilli Pilli, not far from us in the Shire (what a great name for a suburb). Anyway, enjoy your day everyone!


Part of Cee’s flower of the day challenge

Wayne’s Word – plethora

It’s a little nod to Wayne’s World, but instead of ‘party time, excellent’ (if you are aware of the cult nineties classic) I will be diving into one WORD each day. It could be something I learned, something bizarre that happened, a favourite word that I have rediscovered or just a thought that won’t leave me alone.

If you’re joining in on today’s word, feel free to use this tag to connect your post to the series: #WaynesWord

Today’s word is PLETHORA.

At its simplest, plethora means “an abundance” or “an excess.” If you have a plethora of biscuits in the tin, it’s more than just enough, it’s overflowing. This fantastically regal word came to my mind this morning when I was looking through my flowers collection and realised I had a plethora of flowers to showcase for my future FOTD posts.


The countryside stretched endlessly, a plethora of rapeseed.

Living in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland

What do you love about where you live?

Good morning everyone and happy Sunday. When I woke up and saw this morning’s daily prompt, I just had to answer as I love where I currently live. Most of you know I am living in Hillsborough, a small village in Northern Ireland, close to Belfast, the capital of the country. I have only been living here for about six months and although I had heard of this village and visited once or twice before, I have a whole new love and appreciation for this place now. I have ten bullet points below to show you all why I love where I live.

1 – Its location and proximity to Belfast / other towns of interest for shopping, travelling etc. Yet Hillsborough is a small village and pretty quiet, almost like its own bubble, it is located right beside the motorway, making it easily accessible to travel around Northern Ireland.

2 – The quaintness. This village has a real old school charm with some great stone architecture, lots of flowers, quirky shops and a homely feel.

3 – The doors. There are some really amazing and colourful doors here which is a great for me with my passion for doors.

4 – The bars and restaurants. Not only does Hillsborough have one fantastic bar but it has three! This is amazing for a village to have three excellent bars / restaurants, all within walking distance. A fourth one has also opened this month and we will be trying there today for lunch.

5 – Coffee shops. We have soooooo many coffee shops in this village and we have still to try some. If you love the coffee culture, then this village is the place to be. No Starbucks or chain coffee places but lots of local independent cafes with fantastic coffee.

6 – The forest park. We have our own forest park to walk around and get lost in nature. We walk this park pretty much every day and I feel super lucky to have this on our doorstep.

7 – Hillsborough Castle. This village has its own castle, steeped in history and used as the Royal residence for when when the royal family come to stay in Northern Ireland. You can have a tour or walk around its beautiful gardens.

8 – The cars. You will see some really fantastic old classic cars or some newer and expensive models driving through the village or parked on the streets. This may not impress many but I am always in awe when I see a cool car (I am not car savvy by any means).

9 – There is an abundance of wildlife with ducks, geese and swans. These can be seen in the forest park or the castle gardens. I am used to being wakened in the mornings by birds, especially when I lived in Sydney but it’s so refreshing to be wakened by the sound of ducks quacking in the morning.

10 – The people. They are extremely friendly here, much like most people in Northern Ireland to be honest.

Hillsborough

I may be biased but I love this place and am very happy and thankful to live here at present. It’s definitely a place you would want to visit.

Enjoy your day everyone.

Wayne ✌🏽

FOTD – Coral Tree

Happy Friday everyone!! Today’s flower of the day is from the Coral Tree (Erythrina), also can be known as a Flame Tree. I think the flowers look really spectacular. The vivid red colour and their shape is extraordinary. What do you think? Have you ever seen a Coral Tree?

Spotted at Queen’s Park in the eastern suburbs of Sydney

Wayne ✌🏽

FLOWER(S) OF THE DAY CHALLENGE (FOTD)

Cee from Cee’s Photo Challenges has a Flower of the Day challenge. You can check it out here. I thought this would be a fun post to show some of my flowers as I have quite a lot on my camera roll. They just aren’t popular on my Instagram feed for some reason, therefore, they are rarely seen. I’m delighted to show them off here on my blog. A big thank you to Cee for creating this challenge 🙏🏼.

Tulips from the Walled Garden at Glenarm Castle, Northern Ireland
Orange Coneflower, Swords Village, Ireland
Montbretia, Cremorne Reserve, Sydney
Guarianthe skinneri, Fiji
Fire-star Orchid, Fiji
Bird of Paradise, Sydney
Daffodils from Queen’s University Belfast

Thanks for having a look. All photos taken by me. I have so many more if this post becomes popular enough 🤣.

Wayne ✌🏽

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