Ranunculus

These beautiful blooms were taken at the Grand Champion and Runner Up prize gardens of this year's Carnival of Flowers.

Very popular with the Toowoomba gardeners, these cultivars have come a long way from the humble buttercup.

By the Lake

This week, I was reading 'Streams in the Desert' by L B Cowman. The entry for Sept 18 caught my eye - you will see why:

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18
Waiting on God is vital in order to see Him and receive a vision from Him. And the amount of time spent before Him is critical , for our hearts are like a photographer's film - the longer exposed, the deeper the impression. For God's vision to be impressed on our hearts, we must sit in stillness at His feet for quite a long time. Remember, the troubled surface of a lake will not reflect an image.

How true! Today on my morning walk, I decided that instead of hurtling around the lake, I would stop and think, and look out for reflections. So here is a part of the lake, amidst the rest of the surface disturbed by the wind and birds of the air, much more still, almost perfectly mirroring that which is above it.

Gorgeous Gazanias

Taken on a recent weekend trip to Toowoomba on a cloudy day and in high wind! The weather forced me to use a very wide aperture but the end result was nice and dreamy. Gazanias can be solid coloured or can have a variety of striking markings which serve as landing lights for bees and other pollinators.

The lure of ink...

I have always enjoyed writing with a fountain pen. There is something very personal about touching a fine nib to paper and leaving a trail of ink that expresses one's thoughts. My modern Pelikan M400 has been my mainstay through countless meetings and document reviews, even annotating code printouts while joggeting in to work on the bus.
Over the past couple of months the feeling that one fountain pen is not enough has been insidiously creeping up on me along with the charm of vintage fountain pens. So I now find myself with two more Pelikans from the 1950s. They make quite a nice family portrait!