Colours of the season

My blog is turning into episodes of, "That was the week that was." I'll try to channel David Frost and be entertaining.  That, in itself, is funny.  

Can you believe that show was taped in the early 60s?  The episode I just watched on You Tube would be seen as dreadfully offensive these days.

I stretched my corner of the world this week to include Warkworth and Matakana, about a 1.5 hour drive from here.  Except the return journey took an extra half hour because of roadworks on the highway.  we are learning to live with roadworks lately, there sure are a lot of them around here.  One day we might end up with some decent roads.  Some hope!

With the coming of the warm weather of summer our farms are starting to look a bit dry but we aren't as dry as around Matakana.

If you can ignore the dry grass, it's a lovely time of year for flowering trees and gardens that have acces to plenty of water.

On Monday, to avoid the roadworks, I came home from town via an alternative route and stopped at a little cafe I like in Maungatapere for a late lunch.  The Office Cafe is in the building which once housed the office of a dairy factory.  I remember it from its operating days. It closed in the mid 80s and now houses a car museum and several other businesses.

On a wall outside the cafe sits this cute, brightly painted little children's book exchange.

Just up the road from the cafe I pulled off the road to take a photo of this jacaranda.  I can never see a jacaranda without thinking of where I grew up in Brisbane, Australia.  You'd think jacarandas were native to the area the way they thrive there, the climate must be very similar to that of south-central South America.  They don't grow quite so profusely here but still catch the eye.

 

While I was stopped taking the photo I noticed a street off the highway I'd never ventured into before so took another detour.  And was rewarded with another sight that reminded me of home except this Bougainvillea was very well behaved.  My favourite memory of them is an old abandoned farmhouse on the roadside going to my grandparents' farm and watching it being devoured, year by year, by a riot of red until there was no sign that once there had been a home there.  It's another native of South America that found Queensland to its liking.

The agapanthus in the foreground originally came from southern Africa and floourishes here.  I made the mistake of planting some years ago, then being told they are an invasive weed and a major threat to native plants.  It took years to get rid of them and I once broke a spade trying to dig one out.  They do look lovely, though, at this time of year when they line the roadsides for miles on end and when they can be kept under control in a lovely garden like this one.

I'm an old misery, talking about things that come from somewhere else when all around us at the moment are flowering pohutukawa our very own New Zealand Christmas tree.  Note to self - stop next time you go past the school and take a decent photo of one.

 Linking to Betty's My Corner of the World.