Wednesday 20 July 2011

The View From My Couch: Daphne

It's a miserable Winter's day here in Melbourne.  Even loving Winter, there are times when I am simply over our squelching driveway.  When receiving a face full of icy water when the wind catches one of the fern fronds is no longer humourous, or refreshing.  We are in the true heart of Winter.  When the house will no longer truly heat up, and the crispness of the air takes your breath away.  Even our randy and raucous possums are less likely to bash across our icy roof top at night.  Instead, taking their nocturnal frolicking to the warmer realm of our roof space.

I still enjoy the ethereal beauty of the thick fogs that smother sound and shrink the world.  Even yesterday driving home on our windy hills roads and not being able to see the bonnet of the car, was more adventure, than annoyance.  The hills take on an otherworldly beauty in Winter that I would never change.  But wet, chilly days, day after day, and a back yard that is now a bog, does wear on the nerves.

Just as I was ruing the mud that seeped up through my thongs yet again this morning, I caught a whiff of perfume.  Over near our bins, of all places, we have a variegated daphne bush.  It's a resilient little bugger.  It is surrounded by weeds and smelly bins.  It is frequently hit by boxes and bin bags swung by pouting children who feel that bin duty is below them.  It has been chewed on my possums and swallowed by vicious blackberry canes. Yet here, in the midst of this wasteland and a miserable Winter's day, it has flowered.  It's sweet perfume is caught on the wind, and seeps peace into your pours.  It's a smell of my childhood.  Up there with the jonquils and freesias of my grandmother's garden.
Now a little piece sits on top of my cabinet.  The strength of the perfume, incongruous with a bloom so tiny.  Yet the fragrance fills the room.  And I sit in my lounge room, breathing in the sweetness, looking out the window at the mist and damp boughs, and Winter seems wonderful again.

Michelle :)

17 comments:

  1. I like to think of you and your winter Down Under while I gasp and bake here in the Arizona desert summer--106F/41C with at least twice our normal (not July anyway) humidity of not quite 20%. At least one of us gets to be cool and fresh.

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  2. I'm still amused that you even GET winter down there. I always picture Australia as permanently warm and tropical. Although you're way down south so you know...I'm insane. :)

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  3. This was lovely. :)

    And I'm with Veg: I never even think about Australia as being anything but fun, sun and sand. And talking kangaroos...of course.

    Hope you're well.

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  4. And now I find myself sad that I've never smelled a Daphne... Though thankfully I did have lilacs outside my window for awhile this past Spring... :)

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  5. Oh please.... you don't know winter down there. Ha!

    Lovely pic thought :)

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  6. To assist those to put Melbourne in Geographical perspective, it is about 37 degrees 47 minutes South. The Northern equivalents are Seoul (37°33′N), Wichita (37°41′N), San Francisco (37°46′N), Adana (37°48′N) and Athens (38°00′N).

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  7. nice idea to bring the scents indoors. x

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  8. Sandra - I'd send you a little bit of our cool weather if I could. I dread Summer, though at least where we live now isn't so hot. Where I grew up Summers were long and hot. I remember it hit 50C (122F) one Summer. Mum and I drove into town and sat in the local supermarket as it was the only place with aircon.

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  9. Veg - not so tropical down here, though we lived in Darwin for years and that was 33C 100% humidity through Summer and 26C and dry in Winter. We didn't even own jumpers. And yes you are insane, but that's why I love you.

    OWO - whilst our talking kangaroos are really limited to one, ie Skippy, we do have a multitude of rooting possums getting it on every night.

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  10. Nonna - I hope you get a chance to smell Daphne. I love it. Lilacs are lovely too, both have that comfortable old world charm.

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  11. Brahm - I know, I know. We have nothing on your snowpocalypse Winters in Canada, although it did snow for a day and I was very excited to run around in it in my shorts and t-shirt ;)

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  12. Mr G - thanks honey you are now officially the brains of the outfit.

    Em - it was nice. That one little piece is still going strong and perfuming the lounge.

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  13. That. Was. Lovely.

    Now let's cuddle.

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  14. Visiting via Studio 30, now following. lovely moment in time...

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  15. Elly Lou - you're back!!!! I am now doing a dance of joy. Oh and I'll take that cuddle. :)

    In bed - welcome, and thanks for following. :)

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  16. I am so with you about the joys of winter - crisp and clean. And, if foggy, mysterious and magical. My daphne is a way of flowering yet, and the same for the lilacs. Looking forward to them both though.
    Lovely post. Thank you.

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  17. Elephant's child - it's a lovely time of year. We are on the sheltered side of a hill so many of our winter flowering plants are blooming. The camellias are lovely but the rhodos are a way off.

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