Tropical bliss — Kandy Shepherd

I just returned from a few days break in tropical north Queensland—the Australian state to the north of New South Wales where I live. I went in search of warmth and relaxation and found both. The winter in my part of DownUnder has been decidedly chilly. Not so in Port Douglas! It was perfect with just-right hot sunny days and water the right temperature to swim in. Bliss!

Note, however that I swam only in the pool. Walking along the lovely Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas I asked a local who was walking her cute dog why no one was swimming.

“Because there could be crocodiles in the water,” she replied somewhat reluctantly, perhaps not wanting to scare the tourists.

EEEK! Sharks I know about, but crocodiles in the surf? Apparently they sneak in from the mangrove swamps that bracket the beach. So no swimming on a beach what wasn’t netted.

The hotel where we stayed has beautiful tropical gardens. What says vacation and sun more than palm trees?

 I realised as I wandered around that the grounds that so much of the beauty of a tropical garden is in its leaves—as colourful as any flower. In fact some of the tropical plants have tiny, insignificant flowers. I just loved those leaves. But sadly tropical plants wouldn’t thrive in my farm garden where frosts are frequent.

Was there something significant I could learn from my trip to enhance my writing? Maybe something about hidden dangers or hidden beauty? Who knows what might sneak out of my subconscious and onto the page! One thing for sure is that the next romance I write will be set somewhere in the tropics!

 What says “vacation” to you? Have you ever been surprised by something unexpected where you’ve visited? Is there something about your home town you think visitors should know? I’d love to read your comments!

PS. I stayed at the QT Resort in Port Douglas. 

Feathered and Furred, or Possibly Scaled! Those Other Neighbours

Parts of Australia have been suffering through an appalling heatwave. Not just the occasional day over 40 degrees C, but here, where I live, sustained heat through several days, reaching up around the 114F mark. Too hot!

It's been remarkable and horrible, with difficulty sleeping, catastrophic bushfire conditions, worries about elderly and ill friends who don't handle the heat well, and trouble for those who lost power. One of the other side effects was that we saw much more of our other neigbours - the ones who don't live in the neighbouring houses, but who live in the gardens and bush that surround us. In particular, we saw a lot more of the birds who usually live high in the trees when they came down looking for shade and water. The poor things were suffering with the heat and it was great hearing from other people how they made water available for their furred and winged neighbours too.

Here's one we rarely get a glimpse of. Usually it sleeps during the day and only comes out at night. It's a tawny frogmouth owl that spends its time, when not hunting, blending in with the tree trunks, trying to look like a stick. 

Here he is a little closer. He's got his eyes closed but when they're open they're large and orange!

This fellow spent two afternoons on the fence by our pool, enjoying a patch of deep shade. Late in the day I turned the hose onto a gentle spray and he fluffed himself up to about 3 times his size then spread his wings at odd angles, catching the water and cooling himself off. Sadly I couldn't film him and shower him at the same time!

So, in the spirit of sharing, here are some photos of some other neighbours - taken near a relative's house. 

We get these noisy rainbow lorikeets at our home too, as well as eastern rosellas (which are thankfully much quieter), kookaburras, magpies, noisy mynas, currawongs and occasionally beautiful small falcons. We also get a couple of different types of possum and fruit bats who love our flowering plants and fight us for the pick of our vege garden!

I'm not sure if you can make this one out. It's an inquisitive little green tree snake (harmless and not venomous) leaning down to peer beneath a verandah roof. Its head is in the centre of the photo and it's looking a little to your left. You can see its right eye. We don't get many tree snakes at my house but we've had red belly blacks as well as browns and small marsh snakes. Fortunately they don't seem to want to meet us almost as much as we don't want to meet them. We also have blue tongue lizards who like to bask in the late afternoon sun. They help keep the population of snails down.

Finally, what would a post about Aussie wildlife be without kangaroos. In this case, yes, kangaroos in a suburban street. Not mine but not that far away. This family group (dad, mum and junior) were alert but not too bothered by people.

What feathered, furred or scaled neighbours do you have? Are they ones you enjoy having visit or are they ones you'd rather avoid?

Welcome to my rose garden

Welcome to my rose garden

November is my favourite time in my farm garden because it’s when the roses are at their blooming brilliant best. Right now we have hundreds of glorious roses wherever we look. The scent wafts all around the garden and into the house. I thought I’d share a few photos with you.

This gorgeous David Austin rose is a favourite.

 The climate in our part of the Blue Mountains is very favourable to roses—lots of sun, not too humid, cold winter (cold by Australian standards, that is!)

Most of the roses were already in place when we bought the place, planted by the lovely previous owner, but we’ve added some favourites as well.

This is Zepherine Drouan and it has the most glorious scent

 When we moved in more than eleven years ago, my darling husband wasn’t all that interested in gardening. But he really fell for the roses. He does most of the work these days, pruning, weeding, feeding.  Roses are known as “gross feeders”, needing lots of fertilizer. That’s where our horses and little bulls contribute! I just pick the flowers and put them in the vase—lucky me! 

Pink roses are probably my favourite

My August release from Harlequin Romance, Hired by the Brooding Billionaire was set in a beautiful, neglected garden. It was one of my favourite books to write! 

My other favourite story (because it has a cat in it!) is my contribution, Millionaire Under the Mistletoe, to the LoveCats fabulous boxed set Hot Christmas Nights to be released on December 1. These stories are fabulous—each so different I couldn't pick a favourite. There's a lot of romantic Christmas reading there for just $0.99. It's up on Amazon for pre-order now!

All ready to take inside!

Are you a rose lover? Do you have a favourite flower? A green thumb or one that’s a tad brown around the edges?

Mrs Gadget: Gardening Tragic! (Part 1)

a.k.a.  Sharon Archer!

Following on from my intermittent "Toy Boy" blogs, where I gleefully took the lid off the stacks of gadget boxes in my dh's study, I thought I'd open the door of the gardening shed and expose some collections there.  

Broad Bean seedlings

I am a "gardener wannabee" - who sadly inherited a slightly defective green-thumb gene!


But that doesn't stop me from lurking in the gardening aisles at the hardware/supermarket/market and having fantasies about gorgeous productive gardens and self-sufficiency and home-grown vegetables! 

Spinach sprouts

Occasionally... all right, more than occasionally, I weaken to purchase seeds  - this year I restricted myself to 4 packets and promised myself that I would actually plant them!  And, naturally if you're going to garden, you need other products that will ensure productive and plentiful cropping!  I was firm with myself about not buying any of these until I'd checked the garden shed!  Sure enough there were stockpiles. Is there a use-by date for these... Note to self: fertilisers won't help to produce edible goodies unless I remember to use them!


I'm proud to say that I have actually used the Seasol - twice!  So far the broad bean seedlings and spinach sprouts are going well - they've been up for a whole two weeks!  Only three casualties so far - I didn't get the slug pellets out fast enough.

Fertiliser Stash!

So back to the gardening shed - I'm embarrassed to say that some of the items can't be photographed.  They've been there so long that the plastic bags have broken down.  But I was able to identify three small bags garden lime and two of blood and bone.  Since the contents are now mixed up in the box and it seems like a shame to waste them, I'm going to dig them into the soil and leave them to "rest"... and perhaps I can plant some spring vegetables...

One of the still-recognisable Garden Lime bags!

So are you a gardener or a gardener-wannabee like me?  If you are a gardener, have you got any secrets to share?  If you're a gardener-wannabee, feel free to tell my what you've got in your garden shed that needs to be used!


P.S.  So after I wrote this, I couldn't help Googling companion plants for broad beans.  And guess what - one of the companion plants are carrots - apparently they like the nitrogen that the beans fix in the soil!  

Ancient Packets of Carrot Seed!

And... guess what else... I have two old packets of carrot seeds!  Fancy that!  One is best before 1994 and the other, before 2007.  Did I mention how I enjoy lurking in the gardening aisles and picking up packets of stuff...  Anyway, what the heck, I thought!  So now I have three little carrot patches in amongst the bean seedlings.  If they grow, fantastic!  If they don't... well, that's okay too because it means that I now have two less packets of seeds in the wannabee-vegetable-seed stash!

Carrot Patch, Number 1

Backyard Bounty!

by Sharon Archer


One of the fabulous things about having people to visit (apart from their company!) is that it makes you look at your own "backyard" with fresh eyes!

Lovely Anna Campbell is staying at Chez Archer for a few days and today the weather is glorious - a perfect spring day!

We made a spur of the moment trip to the botanical gardens!  The timing couldn't have been better.  We've had two years of normal rainfall after 10 years of drought so everything is bursting with life.  We have grass!  Lots and lots of lush green grass.  The blossom trees are laden, there are camellias the size of bread and butter plates, beds of azaleas and tulips and poppies cut colourful swathes through emerald lawns!

Lake Wendouree is full to the brim with water so the water birds have come back and the black swans have had babies!  The cygnets are little grey fuzz-balls and seriously cute!

It's enough to make me wax lyrical and take lots and lots and LOTS of photos!  These are just a few!

So how about you?  Any treasures in your backyard that you've 'discovered' - with or without visitors?