The Changing of the Seasons

We are noticing a definite change in the seasons here in the Central Tablelands.  Autumn officially started at the beginning of March, but I'm one of those people who believe you notice the real change after the Autumn Equinox, which was last week. 

Friday, the week before last, Mick and I had a quick trip down to Picton.  It was an early start, but the sunrise made it all worth it.

There is a large row of Pin Oak trees by the highway at Lithgow and they are always some of the first to change colour, and what a stunning show they put on.  A little teaser of the autumn colours to follow over the next month or so.

After we had delivered a machine for repairs it was time to have a look at the town, not somewhere we usually go.  The car park was right next to a delightful historic church. After a coffee, it was back on the road home.

We've been hoping for no frosts for a while as we have the best crop of raspberries coming on.  We were given some raspberry plants before we even moved into this house and just kept them in pots.  As soon as possible they were planted in our garden.  As they only fruit on second year canes, we received very few berries in spring, but the amount of growth on the plants was incredible.  We kept thinking we will get a good crop next spring.  To our delight, late summer they started flowering again.  We've been picking a few each day, but there are so many big bunches like the ones in the photo in various stages of ripening.  Please, no frosts until we can enjoy them.

It's still really dry in the district, but we have been fortunate to be under a couple of storms.  Two weeks ago we received just under two inches - most of which ran off and caused havoc and minor flooding in storm water drains.

On Sunday we had a very wild and woolly storm, followed by some more rain overnight.  This time we received 10mm.  Not to be sneezed at. (You can see our raspberries growing either side of the arch in a rather overgrown hedge.)

Overall, the temperatures in March have been well above average.  We've even had one day of 34 C.  That's just not what you expect here. There have also been some nice days in the low 20s.  Yesterday was one of those days, but really windy.

What we didn't expect was to wake up this morning to a frost!!!!!!!  The photo doesn't show it too well, but next door's black roof was white!!!

I took a photo of our zucchini plant early this morning with the leaves looking a bit glassy.  Not good.

When I came home this afternoon they were looking very black.  That's the end of them for the season.  The dahlias are sad too.

On a brighter note, our street trees are looking a picture.

I'm so happy that we have nice street trees.  It will be interesting taking photos each year and seeing them grow.

As the month of March comes to an end, we are forecast to have maximum temperatures into the low 30s again and no sign of another frost for at least the next week.  Just crazy weather, but we will make the most of the warmth before our cold old winter sets in (well cold for Australia).  

We may get some more raspberries yet.