Anyone want to come over for tea?

Although the weatherman said it was going to rain all week, it's looking beautiful outside. 

I thought I would go for a walk and take some pictures of sunshine and green for my poor friends in the cold dark corners of the world, battered by storms, early snow, blackouts and election blues.

So here we go, out the front door. Take a deep breath!

The Chinese star jasmine by our front steps is still going strong. Next to the port wine magnolia, its heady  burst of vanilla lemon is my favourite scent of Spring.

The bauhinia at the corner is already going to seed.

Can someone tell me why my bouganvillea doesn't look like this?

[Hint. Maybe because it's dead?]

Out by the church on Darling Street is my favourite Spring flowering tree, the jacaranda. 

Leaves are already starting to sprout.

*

No walk to Darling Street would be complete without a visit to a cake shop. This one has all my current favourites. Lemon mascarpone muffins. Glazed orange poppyseed cake. Fat carrot cake with thick mascarpone icing. Flourless dark chocolate cake. Simple treats, not like the fussy stuff that comes out of Zumbo these days. Baked at the back of the shop, sometimes cracked, burnt at the edges and imperfectly shaped. Just the way I like them.

See the loaf on the lower left hand corner, next to the glazed orange poppyseed slice? It's an apple plum bread and it just came out of the oven. Heavy, moist and almost too hot to handle.

I had to get a slice of course.

Did I say, a slice?

It looked so lonely in that box, I decided to get the whole loaf. 

Yeah, that's right. Wrap it up, Jo.

It should go very well with what's sitting in the bathtub, ripening away.

The Australian Kensington Pride or Bowen mango. 1 a day for as long as the season lasts. 

Have I mentioned I put on weight every Spring? 

I think I might need to go to exercise class now. Tchau! X