Celebrating Our Own Kind of Fall!

 

Well it's usually around this time of year that Lex gets homesick for Utah.  He misses his true Fall season.  When the mornings are crisp...I call them "cold" he often uses words like "crisp" or "brisk" to kind of take the edge off.  He misses getting ready for the hunt and of course the anticipation of what the season will bring to the mountains.

But, I have to say it was hard to feel homesick for Fall this year.  Mostly because it's very much Spring here.  Our trees are changing colors just like those in the states...only different hues!  This Spring has been incredible. Definitely going down as the most beautiful, transformative Spring I've ever seen.  The trees in these pix are called Jacaranda trees.  They are very popular here and literally line the parks and the streets.  They are huge and when they blossom, it's called "Jacaranda Season".  There is park just a block from our house called Jacaranda Park, named for the trees that line its edges.  The Jacarandas have just painted Brisbane.  They are bright purple and they splash color everywhere.

Around the big buildings downtown, you'll just see these bright blobs of purple mixed in with the concrete business landscapes.  I think it's a good reminder to all those stuffy suits that yah...we live in Brisbane-- don't take things too seriously!  The blossoms on the Jacarandas fall just like leaves in Autumn. So the roads, yards etc. are covered in purple too.  And yes...they get tracked into your houses just like fall leaves do!  It's just sheets and sheets of purple.  Even my car gets sprinkled every night!

But Jacarandas aren't the only beauty of Spring. Everything is flowering!!!  There are just massive amounts of color everywhere.  Purples, reds, yellows, oranges, pinks-- it's crazy and the smell...it's so incredible.  The air is hot and getting a little humid so the smell just hangs around you.  It's so fragrant, sometimes I feel like I'm going to pass out from breathing in so much through my nose on our bikes to school!  I just can't get enough of the smells!

On our way to school we pass heaps of these huge flowering shrubs.  They just take over yards!  We have loved walking through the botanical gardens in Brisbane.  They have a couple different gardens and they are all so beautiful, especially this time of year.  It's so weird having Halloween and Thanksgiving upon us and yet...the weather is warming up and life is starting to bloom even more.  The switched season thing makes it hard to miss home.  I just cannot picture anyone putting on layers of flannel and an orange vest for hunting right now!!

 Just on our driveway and admiring our neighbors blooms.  Of course...NO ONE has sprinkler systems here.  Unheard of!  Coming from Albuquerque, NM-- that's pretty crazy.

 This is the view on our way home from school.  If you look just above the flowering orange tree you can see a bit of the Brisbane sky line.  It's a great ride home-- climbing this beastly hill on the way there....it's a killer!

On our bikes and carriage on the way to school

We love how the blossoms fall off the trees and line the streets, sidewalks, lawns and everywhere just like leaves in the Fall.  There are literally heaps and heaps of blossoms everywhere.  And of course once Oaklee gets her hands loaded I will be picking them out of her hair all day!  

I still don't know what this blossom is.  It's one of my faves.  It's so weird and interesting. They grow all over the trees here.  Gorgeous!

I wish I could capture the brightness of the Jacarandas.  They really do kind of take your breath away.

We have loved Spring in Brisbane!  The colors and the smells will be one of the things I will miss most when we leave.  I'm so sad to only have one Spring here!  Simply Beautiful!!!!