Captured this lightening strike one summer evening in Craigieburn

Tags:   Storm clouds storm clouds lightening weather Craigieburn

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Baby Wood duck in our local lake!

Tags:   Wood Duck Bird Baby Bird Craigieburn Tamron 150-600 Nikon D750 Lake Duckling

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This Rose is around 50 years Old. My mother planted it in the garden where I grew up. We lived on a corner and next to the local milk bar and fish and chip shop. Some of my strongest memories are of my mother, in the garden, pruning the roses. She would be out there for hours, with not a lot of gardening going on as everyone stopped to chat on their way past to the shops, or to post a letter in the big red post box that stood out the front of our home. These chats would often end around the kitchen table over a coffee. It was a time when you knew everyone in your neighbourhood and we all looked out for each other.

My dad hung on till my 21st birthday and died the day after. Mum died almost 3 years later. Both of cancer. My brother and I were still living at home. We were really still kids. We had to heart -breakingly sell the family home.
On the weekend, almost 30 years after we sold it, our old family home that held so many memories was demolished to make way for something bigger and brighter. A series of weird co-incidences led me to the house during the week, where it sat empty. I was able to walk through it and say my goodbyes. It’s true what they say about everything looking so much bigger when you are a child. It felt nothing like the lively home I grew up in that held all the love, laughter and dramas that accompany the raising of 3 children. The people that bought the home from us had virtually done nothing to it in all that time. Even the stain on the carpet where dad spilt the paint one Christmas Eve was still there.

On Saturday, my husband drove past to find the house already half rubble. He approached the workers and asked for the owner’s number. He then rang and told him of our circumstances and asked if he could dig up the roses, standing tall amongst the weeds, neglected but still flowering. The owner was kind enough to say yes. My brother, sister and I met at the house while my husband dug up the roses in the pouring rain. We will each have one in our own gardens.
We planted this rose in my front garden on Sunday evening. It still gives off the same, sweet scent it did all those years ago and takes me straight back to my mother.

Tags:   Garden Mums Rose Rose In memory mum mother Nikon Nikon D750

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One of the gorgeous signets in our local lake.

Tags:   birds Highlands Lake Signet baby bird Swan baby swan monochrome Blackand white Tamron 150-600 Nikon D750

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A male Wood duck shepherds his babies across the small dam near my home.

Tags:   Craigieburn Malcome Creek birds Duck Duckling Wood Duck Male Wood Australian Bird Wildlife Animals Outdoor Tamron 150-600 Nikon D90

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