Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Backyard Blows

When the temperature goes up to 100 degrees F - and stays there -  I find it a bit hard to take. I don't enjoy living in air conditioning all the time! Eventually the weather breaks - and often it is spectacular.  Clouds like these make great photos - but look out!
This is what hit this area on Sunday.
I had gone down to the grocery store - and didn't time it too well. By the time I got to my drive the rain had started. I got out and opened my gate and then drove to the side of the house and made a run for the back door. By the time I got inside I was soaked to the skin.  The wind was unbelievable! It picked up the rain drops, turned them into a misty cloud and then blew it all circular. I have often seen rain blown perpendicular but never until now blown in a circular cloud.  All the time there was a most spectacular lightning show. I was very lucky because the only hail I saw was very small and not too much of it.   When It all finished I went out to check what was blown over in the yard but again I was lucky. All I found was this old bird's nest.
A little further south on the coast was not so lucky. I saw pictures on the news media of shipping containers blown over and around like a pile of children's blocks; caravans in a tourist park were blown over and tossed around, and small planes at one of the airports were tossed over.
The internet went down for nearly a full day.
After all that I did not expect to see more butterflies  but they are still around and still in large numbers. I couldn't resist trying for more photos - who knows how long it will be before we have another migration event like this year.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

12 comments:

  1. Marvelous photography ~ gorgeous clouds and that flower and butterfly ~ love the bird's nest ~ thanks!

    Wishing you a Happy Week ~ xox

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  2. the butterfly shot is marvelous! glad your place didn't have damage! sounds ferocious!

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  3. Gorgeous clouds and butterfly shots!

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  4. Those butterflies must have been hanging on tight somewhere. Sounds like you're right into summer already. We still had the heater earlier in the week with snow down to 500m.

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  5. Sounds like you had a real storm there Mick. I like to go out soon after a storm as the light then can be intense and very dramatic, just the job for photographs. A real shame about the nest.

    I wonder if your storm was part of waht happenend in New Zealand? Hope everyone is safe.

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  6. That's hot. I remember temperatures like that when we lived in Los Angeles. I like our cooler summers here in Coastal BC, and even the colder winters are easier for me to enjoy. - Margy

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  7. I guess you are like Florida, with hurricanes and heavy rains being far more likely during warm months. . But I never thought about hail...that seems really odd for late spring. Glad you got home safe ... no fun to get caught out in that! The butterfly is gorgeous on the red bloom (bottlebrush tree maybe?) ...

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  8. such hard rain is not fun at all. Glad nothing was destroyed. Love the butterflies :)

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  9. Beautiful butterflies!!! Oh you're lucky...well, not maybe the 'hard' rainfall, but at least you had some rain. Around our area of Texas the last three years or so, we have had 100 degree plus temps, high humidity, but NO RAIN...our skies were cloudless and white hot! Yes, A/C is tiring and hard on the lungs.

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  10. love those flowers, what are they? they look like nz native rata flowers :-)

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    1. Thanks for your comment. The flowers are callistemon - commonly called "bottle brush".

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  11. First hot day of the season in Melbourne today - although cool change has already brought some rain!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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