Spring Has Sprung!!

YAY! This warm-weather gal is rejoicing! :0) Here on top of our 'hill' we've enjoyed a week and a bit of GORGEOUS spring weather and I think this bear is ready to come out of hibernation! Tee! Hee! Hee! And even if I WASN'T ready ... I would have been forced out of it last week when my parents were here for a visit, cos you have to get up pretty early in the morning and hit the floor running to keep up with my Mum! :0) The week was jam-packed full of errand running, shopping, visiting, appointments etc, but one thing that Mum and I decided to enjoy together was a visit to some of Toowoomba's public parks to see them in all their Carnival of Flowers finery.

We picked the PERFECT spring day to make the rounds of the parks ... the sky was BLUE, the bees were buzzing, the butterflies were flitting and it was warm enough for us to wear short sleeves for the first time this spring - YAY! :0) So ... first stop of the day was Laurel Bank Park. Oddly enough, this was the first time I've ever managed to visit Laurel Bank Park during the Carnival of Flowers, but let me tell you ... it will now be an annual pilgrimage!! You'll see why! :0)

The tour started with some gorgeous cottage garden-style displays, complete with semi-rudie-nudie statuary! :0)

Don't know if you can see ... but Mum is thoughtfully trying to retain this statue's modesty by holding her camera case in front of where her toga's sagged ... the statue's toga, that is, not Mum's! Tee! Hee! Hee! Don't you love those pretty cottagy colours?

Now ... as well as pretty traditional gardens, there were lots of floral 'paintings' ... flowers planted in such a way as to form flowery pictures in their garden frames. Do you recognise this cartoon character??

Sing it with me ...

"Felix the Cat. The wonderful, wonderful cat. Whenever you get in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks ..." :0)

Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon! This was one of the clearest pics ... some of them involved a great deal of crossing your eyes, squinting, standing on your head and just plain guessing! :0)

Some Happy Feet penguins with a pink piggy in the background .... and quite a few others that either didn't photograph well or we just plain didn't know what they were. On the up side ... we made a lot of new friends with the OTHER people who were standing there crossing their eyes, squinting, standing on their heads and guessing what the flower pictures were! Tee! Hee! Hee!

The next stop was the botanical gardens at Queens Park in the heart of Toowoomba. Let me say ... I have never seen so many COLOURS!! It was like a rainbow had exploded and splashed down in the park!! :0)

Pinks and purples ...

... sunny yellows, golds and oranges ...

... tulips. I took this photo especially for Toni who I know LOVES tulips! :0) I have to say ... so do I! They just always look so darn CHEERFUL and bright ... and just a bit exotic, since they're often a bit tricky to grow in our relatively temperate Queensland climate. (though I know 'temperate' wasn't the word I was using for our climate this winter! Tee! Hee! Hee!)

Here's my attempt at an artistic shot ... or I tripped as I took it ... can't remember which! Tee! Hee! Hee! It does show you that brilliant blue sky in the top left corner, though, contrasting nicely with those pretty flower colours.

More sunny colours ... they looked cool ... or should I say WARM against that rusty/red coloured hedge.

Doesn't this photo just scream SPRING to you?! :0) Oh ... and others were taking photos too ... that cherry-picker in the background was to lift an official looking photographer up to take aerial shots of the gardens and the gal in the red top to the left of the pic is one of our local TV news presenters ... obviously they were doing a bit of a report on the carnival build up.

So ... having now walked our way around two fairly big parks, we decided to grab some lunch before heading to a third ... Picnic Point ... for a picnic lunch and a look around.

Here's Mum contemplating here quiche ... chicken and asparagus ... YUMMO! :0) But ... from the other end of the picnic table, someone else was eyeing off her lunch ...

This rather handsome fellow sat on the other end of our picnic table for the entire meal ... I think he was hoping for some barbeque fare, but he had to make do with our sparkling company! :0)

The gardens at Picnic Point were a bit behind the others we had seen, so they weren't really showing at their best, but the Council had reinstated a favourite park feature that had been quiet for a few years ...

The waterfall. Since Toowoomba had been on severe water restrictions up until our flooding earlier this year, the waterfall had been turned off and the pond drained. It was lovely to hear and see it adding a special something to the lookout again. In fact ... when my Beloved Geek Boy and I were considering where we would like to get married, we thought about this spot, but settled on a smaller waterfall/pond/park setting in his home town of Dalby.

And speaking of our wedding day ... it was 19 years ago on Monday, September 19. WOW! That time sure has sped past at warp speed! :0)

Here we are ... looking very young ... and taking up far less space than we do now ... oh dear! :0) And you can just see the pond in the background there. I know I often tease my GB, but I can honestly say not a day goes by that I don't count my blessings for finding such a sweet, patient, clever man to spend my life with. We started out as friends and I am blessed to be able to say he is still my best friend. He's not perfect, you understand ... but he's perfect for me, so I think I shall keep him! :0) After all ... after 19 years, the warranty and returns policy have well and truly expired! Tee! Hee! Hee! Happy Anniversary, Scott! I love you more today than the day we stood by that pond to exchange our vows and I'm looking forward to at least another 19 years of shared adventures!! MWAH!!!

OK ... enough soppy stuff now ... I'm off to make myself a cuppa before I have a play in my sewing room. I'll be back soon to share some more photos that I took during Mum and Dad's visit and the Carnival of Flowers. I hope you've all had a great start to your week and I wish you all RAINBOWS in the coming days ... whether they be spring flowers, autumn leaves, hugs from a friend ... or some new additions to your fabric stash!! :0) Til next time ...

SPRING BEAR HUGS!!!

CHEERS!
KRIS