Where have all the Spiders' Webs gone?

September Rain, originally uploaded by Adriana Glackin.

I would love to boast and say the reason there are no spiders’ webs around my home is due to the fact I am fastidious and clean my eaves and gutters regularly. But that’s not the case. The photo I’ve included was taken over two years ago. The spider web was huge. I have iron verandah posts and plenty of shrubs and trees perfect for web making, and yet, not a decent spider’s web has been formed in such a long time. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of spiders. In fact last week I almost picked up what I thought was a dead huntsman spider – he wasn’t dead at all, and only moved at the last minute before I picked him up. Luckily spiders don’t frighten me, or I would have been in trouble. The flower pots on my verandah are riddled with red back spiders, but no webs. We used to have magnificent St Andrew’s cross spiders spin their webs amongst the rose bushes, but they’ve moved out as well. So, what’s going on? Where are they all? How can I invite them back? Where do I send the photo shoot invitations out to these unknown spiders who once resided in my garden? I really miss being able to take photos of their webs. I’m a much more patient person now with a few more skills under my belt and I would love nothing more than to take photos of their glorious homes. I will simply wait patiently until the spiders return. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, then pop your feedback into my comments below.

If you would like to buy this image as a greeting card, wall art, canvas or print, it is available for sale at my gallery over at RedBubble.

What gifts are you buying this Christmas?

That's the thought on lots of people's minds at the moment as Christmas 2009 quickly approaches. I've started my Christmas shopping by selecting some t-shirts and photographic prints over at Red Bubble where I am a member. Logging onto the Red Bubble website today, I noticed a fancy-dancy new tab for people looking for gift-giving solutions. Not only does it look fab and you can type in your favourite keyword to search whatever your little heart desires, but you don't need to worry about parking, or the shop not being open or traffic or tired shop assistants! It's all on-line, and you can shop in the convenience of your pyjamas and it's delivered to your door - what's not to love! Go on, check it out...Happy Christmas Shopping!

Feature Sunday

Using Stumble Upon's feature of finding random images from the web, here are my pick of 5 random photographic images:

Le Carrelet - France 2007 from The Michel Rajkovic Portfolio

Fashion Mistress by Joseph Cartright Photography

Glass Chamber by Andrew Pearce Photographer

DYPTCH002 by ProspectOfTwilight

Image by http://www.eliara.com/

Apples and Autumn in the Hawkesbury

The Hawkesbury region of Sydney is known as the food basket region, dating back to early settlement days of Sydney. And today, it's no different when it comes to being able to pick delicious, juicy, fresh season apples from the orchards in the Hawkesbury area that are seeing a resurgence of demand for their yummy produce. And this is exactly what we did a few weeks ago when we ventured over to Shields Orchard.

Tastier, juicier apples than any you'll ever find in supermarkets, it was simply a matter of grabbing a basket and skipping through the orchard, picking whatever apples you fancied right off the tree. We were even invited to eat whatever apples along the way - which we relished! Don't expect the apples to be shiny and glossy though, that happens prior to the apples going to the supermarkets...just give them a polish on your jeans and they're ready to munch.

I felt a little like Trixie Belden in the orchard as I skipped and picked apples. Surely her gang would appear at any second and then we'd be off solving the next mystery. Sigh...the only mystery is that there seemed to be a definite lack of wicker baskets. Surely wicker is the best receptacle to carry freshly picked apples? Well, we were given plastic shopping baskets...it somehow didn't fit the rustic, romantic, country charm of a wicker basket I had envisioned carrying through the orchard...but never mind, it's all about the apples, not the basket.

Oh, and all that picking sure makes you hot and thirsty, so we took ourselves over to Tutti Fruitti cafe just along the road where we were served the yummiest berry and vanilla ice-cream. The cafe has it's own rose farm, and although the roses didn't look like the perfect roses we're so used to today, their scent was simply out of this world - rich, delicious, fruity.

Visit http://www.shieldsorchard.com/ to se what's ripe and ready for picking!

Shields Orchard - some apples still waiting to be picked.

A glorious, juicy apple.

Blossoms and fruit, all on the one branch - the apples were totally delicious!

Gloriously scented roses from Tutti Fruitti Cafe at Bilpin.

Would you like to buy a greeting card or print of any of these images, then drop me a line.