In my garden this morning

It's a beautiful morning here, 30 degrees C or 85 degrees F depending on your location, a little bit cloudy and a gentle breeze so I took a little stroll around and found we have some lovely flowers blooming even though it is the start of autumn here!


Ixora, the little Sunbirds and butterflys love this



Spider Lily



Golden Penda, this is Cairns floral emblem

Grevillea Fire Fly - more Sunbird food



Native Lilly Pilly



Bromliad - the little lizards enjoy the water well in the center

Another beautiful Bromliad



Ground Orchid





Bush Allamanda



Which has brought me around to reminding you about the up-coming 'Blooming Bear Show',

there are seventy five Teddy Bear Artists from around the world taking part so it's bound to be a great show for collectors, have a look at the show preview at http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/.



Meet Buttercup who will be at the show too
' with bells on' !!!

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Beary hugs, Robyn.

After the Valentine

A big thank you to Sandi Smith, Ess D' Ess, for organising another successful  TBACA  Be My Valentine On-Line Show ( the third).  I have this little person still waiting for her lover ... maybe it's you ? You can see her on my web-site now.




Cherie





Thanks Sandi , this was a lot of fun and your hard work, to pull it off,  is well appreciated !!!

Be My Valentine a Sneek Peek

Here is a sneek peek of my three bears who will be ready for adoption at this years third annual TBACA Be My Valentine Online Show. There will be 32 International and Australian artists participating and definitely a show NOT to be missed!  The show will open on Friday 11th February at 8pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time, and closes Monday 14th February at 8pm Australian Daylight Saving time.

A little footnote about Cyclone Yasi

Our garden has taken a bruising, but other than that everything else here is intact after cyclone Yasi belted into the Queensland coast with the eye crossing the coast about 150 to 200 kilometers south of us last Wednesday night and rated a category five as it did so.  It is heart breaking to see the damage so many have suffered who were in the direct path of Yasi and it will certainly be a very long recovery road, and some may never recover.  We were very well informed about Yasi  and were preparing three days before the cyclone arrived but nothing can really prepare you for the incredible power a system like that has.  Here's hoping there are no more like that in the pipeline but we have been told we could expect another within the next two months. Miraculously all the little birds are back in business in our garden and the bad weather has brought on a flush of beautiful Birdwing and Ulysses Butterflies !!! Amazing !  we have their caterpillar food plants growing in our garden.

Cairns Birdwing



Ulysses





and thank you to my friends for their kind thoughts and words of support during our Yasi experience.

Beary best wishes, Robyn. 



A little bit of Cheer

Here are some pics I took this morning while visiting our wonderful Cairns Botanical Gardens, where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the little restaurant there to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  It is always such a pleasure to walk around there and enjoy the beautiful gardens and environment.  We needed a cheer up too, as the last few weeks have been devastating for Queenslanders in the path of the flood waters, and it seems Queensland is not alone as flood waters now also create havoc in the southern states, Victoria and Tasmania.  We have been very lucky here so far and only experienced plenty of rain  in Cairns, but our hearts go out to those down south who are feeling the full force of mother nature.



Footpath leading into the gardens





This little swamp hen came flying out of the garden in a great flurry so I'm surprised the shot isn't more blurry!





Time to head home.



Hope you enjoyed the flowers, beary best wishes till next time, Robyn.  

A Very Close Call

We are having the perfect tick season here in Far North Queensland, to the point where vets here warned of a shortage of anti tick medication and that pet owners need to be very diligent indeed and check their animals daily.



  

Female paralysis ticks one fully engorged



  These tiny dangerous parasites can be very hard to find on an animal sometimes, as happened to our poor Cavalier, Tobi.  After a brushing and searching session last Thursday afternoon we noticed he had an ever so slight waiver in his gait so we immediately took him off to the vet. After intense examination by two vets, a vet nurse and myself nothing was found so home we went. 

 By Friday morning though he was clearly having difficulty and we rushed him back to the vet surgery.  While giving him a tick wash a young vet nurse found the tick implanted in the very top edge of his ear.  He started to go down very fast and we were warned he might not pull through.  Our vet said it would probably take up to 72 hours before we would know for sure that he would survive. 

 After 2 days of worrying and feeling very sad that we might loose the little fellow, on Sunday, mid-day, we had a call from our vet to say Tobi had turned the corner and was definitely rallying ...what a relief !!!.

 Tobi was allowed to come home yesterday afternoon, so it was with great joy that we went and picked him up from the vet, he is rather weak of course but clearly happy to be home again!!! 



Tobi this morning, Tuesday, and looking a lot better !



All is well that ends well as the saying goes and it will indeed be a very Happy Christmas here in the Roe household!!! Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday time and a very good New Year,

with beary hugs and  best wishes,

Robyn. 



Charming Fellows

Thanks to Sandi Smith for organising our TBACA 2010 Christmas Swap and to my delight my swap partner was Linda Benson from Benson Bears, so when the postie delivered a package from Tasmania last week I knew it was from Linda!!!. What a lovely surprise to find inside Rollo and Dink !  Rollo is made from a dense short alpaca and he has beautifully detailed paw pads and a little leather nose.  He is 10cm (4") high in a sitting position.  Rollo's friend Dink is a great little penguin standing at just 7cm (2 3/4") with wonderful webbed leather feet and a leather beak.  He has a fine white detail around his little eyes which gives him a most charming expression.  Both are wearing a red leather hat, Dink's at a very rakish angle, complete with a rusty bell on the end. They are just the cutest pair!

My swap to Linda was a little bear called Greentwinky Jnr. who is pulling along his Christmas tree cart.  He's made from silk plush and has handpainted eyes.  I had a lot of fun creating him and his little cart especially for Linda B.

Meet Daisy and Ivan




Daisy



Ivan





We had a wonderful holiday and along the way came across sweet little Daisy a 1930's Chiltern.  She decided she needed a sea change and now resides with the rest of the gang here in Queensland, which is a long way from Lewes in the UK.

She didn't travel alone however but was in the good company of Ivan, a Pat Murphy 12" gently aged reproduction Ted who also made the journey to warmer climes.

We've had plenty to do here in the garden after six weeks away, but it did feel good to be home again.  The doggies had a great time with their carer while we were away and got a bit spoilt too with extra treats!  and the doggie family has grown since we returned with the addition of a beautiful Black and Tan Cavalier pup, who has been happily causing havoc around the place chewing all manner of things.  Our elderly Cav, also a Daisy, was no longer interested in playing games with poor Tobi, a young Tri Cavalier, so now Tobi has a pal and the two boys are having a great time together.  Daisy dear can now enjoy relaxing just as every princess should ! 

Daisy, Barnaby and Tobi

Just after we returned our computer gave up the ghost, yet again, and was out of action for several weeks and after a new mother board seems to be behaving ok now. We think the high humidity and those pesky little Gekkos cause  havoc with computers here.  I've upgraded my website too since we came home and you might like to take a look, I'd love you to leave a comment for me in my guest book there and finally I'm back in my workroom and working on some new designs. 

Cheers till next time, Robyn.