Friday 15 April 2016

Moments in My Week




The winding country road with a few Autumn leaves.
In the weeks ahead our deciduous trees
will be shedding their leaves.

I've started filling the bird feeders
with wild bird seeds so they don't go hungry.
The weather is still mild but each morning
when I wake up and look out the window
there is a large flock of various birds
sitting on the brick wall
and in the trees waiting for me!



Toiletries make lovely birthday gifts!


A family of Pukeko at the garden centre.
Pukeko is the Maori name for them
you may know them as Swamp Hens.




All across New Zealand children are learning
about the life sycle of the Monarch butterfly.

They lay their eggs on Swan plants
then feed on their host until they form a
chrysalis and emerge as a butterfly.

Because of the high demand
garden centres often run out of Swan plants.




A collection of books on one of my bookshelves.



I'm joining 
Nancy for Random 5 Friday
and
Bernideen for BTTCG


Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt



Shane






31 comments:

  1. That Swan Plant looks interesting and is useful too. I think I have seen these seedheads (?) in a florist shop here. Have a lovely weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That lovely winding country road looks a lot like the area where I live - always good to feel the fresh air. Love those blue hens, looking very cute, and I'd like to go through your books, Shane. It looks like a pleasant week. Enjoy your weekend - I'll guess Autumn is starting to show its face over in NZ. xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your family of Pukeko.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i bet that lotion smells wonderful! love your book collection and those cute pukekos! i've never heard of them before! thank you so much for linking and have a great weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Five beautiful photos. Books always fascinate me, so they certainly drew the eye.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've not come across swan plants before, that's a new one on me

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dearest Shane, thank you for sharing moments of your week with us!
    Wishing you a lovely and joyful weekend, my dear friend,
    sending love and hugs and blessings,
    Claudia xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love nice creams and things to keep our skin youthful! And I would enjoy sitting with the stack of books and reading! Enjoy your weekend! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  9. It sounds like a wonderful week Shane! I love the fall and changing colors of the leaves. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. In my corner, the monarch lay their eggs on milkweed. So fun to see what they do in your corner. You are being such a good friend to the birds. No wonder they are eager to greet you each morning!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's so interesting about the Swan plant. I enjoy being reminded of a different season happening in your part of our world. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Shane, each of these photographs could be the beginning of a story.

    I particularly like the swan plant. I've also seen them over here, but didn't know their connection to butterflies.

    Thank you! xo

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't think we have Swan plant here. I'm going to have to do a little search for them. We plant common milkweed for the Monarchs, and now, they're making a comeback. The Pukeko are cute!

    ReplyDelete
  14. As usual great photos. I love the one of the winding road with a few fall leaves. Have a blessed day. Madeline

    ReplyDelete
  15. Those swan plants look so unusual to me when we're looking at tulips and bluebells at the moment. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your winding road photo is lovely. Yes, we always have the birds looking forward to their gourmet meals in the feeders. Always a stack of fun books is pure joy, especially ones I see in your stack. Attracting the monarchs is such a good thing. I haven't heard of the Swan plant. Happy weekend, dear Shane!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I remember years ago, seeing the migration of the Monarch butterflies in an Imax theatre. The effect was amazing. What brave little insects they are.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Shane,
    Love the swan plant and any plant that supplies food for the monarch! The Pukeko are too cute ... I want some! :) :) Books ... can never have too many books and yes, toiletries make lovely birthday gifts. I would like to walk down that road and see what is around the corner. Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have never seen a swan plant before, it looks quite spiky. I saw an interesting article about the migration patterns of monarch butterflies on the web somewhere, I now wish I had bookmarked it to find out more about these butterflies. At least I now know they feed on swan plants! Have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dearest Shane,
    Some lovely pictures of your week.
    The arrival of fall can be very pretty.
    We have cool (for the time of the year) weather and it rains...
    So I go on with scanning my 2nd half of photo albums.
    Hugs and happy weekend to you.
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Shane,

    Lovely to see some photos from your week - and yes, Autumn is here and days are certainly a lot cooler. Always fun to watch the cycle of the Monarch butterfly from the caterpillar, chrysalis to the beautiful butterfly. I have the same hand lotion and how sweet the little family of Pukeko are.
    Enjoy your weekend
    hugs
    Carolyn

    ReplyDelete
  22. A wonderful five, Shane and how did I not know about the swan plant?
    Enjoy your weekend reading!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Interesting post and lovely pictures. Linking from Suzanne's blog. I don't have any grandchildren yet but we do have 4 french nephews - hubby's sister is married to a Frenchman and lives in Dunkerque. Have a good weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Love your photos!! You are in New Zealand? Here in New YOrk State it is just spring and so everything is popping up green and the flowers are finally blooming! Love your blog! Thanks for sharing your faves

    ReplyDelete
  25. Lovely Five! And fall approaches. Beautiful photos document your day.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Such interesting subjects. Strange to me. Swan plant? Swamp hens? Love seeing what other people are reading. And so strange to see falling leaves when we've just begun to mow our lawns again as spring is coming on. Isn't blogging a wonderful thing? I'm so glad I wasn't born fifty years sooner.

    ReplyDelete
  27. What a lovely post! So nice to meet someone from another part of the world. Thanks for joining in and hope you will again!

    ReplyDelete
  28. It was so interesting to read that in New Zealand the monarch butterflies feast on a different plant than here in Southern California. I saw a monarch in the garden this morning hovering over my milkweed plants which is what they eat here.
    Have a happy week!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Shane, your blog is always an oasis of calm. I love your photos this week dear lady. Thanks for linking at Five Star Frou-Frou. Love, Mimi xxx

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dear Shane:
    So glad to hear the birds of New Zealand are well loved and fed. I am feeding them in Columbia, Missouri! Also the naughty squirrels too. But I do enjoy the bunnies coming in the yard. Thanks for sharing and linking your lovely photos.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I found the swan plant reference to be really interesting Shane. Here the monarchs like milkweed plants, which have been treated as noxious weeds for many years. Now the ban is being lifted (albeit slowly) because the powers that be have come to realize how the monarchs rely on it.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...