Rabbits are not welcome in our garden

We have been noticing the odd rabbit in the front of the garden and you worry that they will breed up and make a nuisance of themselves.They are in the neighbor across the road's place who also seems to have masses of feral stone pigeons, they too, will not be welcome on our TV antenna. The other bird which seems to be busy here is the raven, a black,black bird if ever there was one. I don't know what they are eating but they seem to find either crickets or other insects in a particular piece of ground. Yesterday ,though, it was a pleasure to see the grey thrush appear on our patio while I was having my mug of tea late afternoon. I adore their beautiful liquid call and would be happy to have a whole orchestra of them....how prejudiced we are at times!!
I spent the day in the Gallery today and had to keep the door closed as the wind was so cold and right in the door. Only had a few people through but two bought small tings so at least it wasn't a total waste of time. Apparently the ANZ bank is closing in Willunga , a sign of the times I guess.

The chooks seem to be laying an egg a day again so that is good and will help in offsetting their feed cost.

Weekend without Power

I had wondered what it would be like to be without electricity a few weeks ago and got my wish this weekend just gone! The power failure started Friday morning when I was getting the house ready for the next day when I had planned to give my young sister a birthday lunch. By late afternoon we found out nothing could be done to repair the break in the underground cable till the following Monday!!Luckily our electrician with typical Australian inventiveness, at least gave us the ability to have lights and hot water, but Oh! how we missed not being able to boil a kettle or look at TV(heaven forbid we have grown so accustomed to it).Fortunately we cook on gas but half way through cooking lunch I ran out of gas as well!! Brian saved the day by switching over the gas bottle we ordered only a week ago. So lunch of pumpkin soup followed by roast duck breast with fig sauce and balsamic roasted vegetables accompanied by Hugo 2001 reserve shiraz  was much appreciated. We had proper coffee and a piece of beautifully created birthday cake in the Studio as I was able to use the coffee maker there , the power still available in the Studio.

So, yesterday was Monday and bless the electrician and his son, they were here before 9am and got straight into digging where they thought the break might be. I went to my cello lesson and left the car at the kerb and walked into my teacher's place, past the huge new weatherboard house some one is busy building there.They had cut down some trees to fit it all in the small block. I am so pleased we live on five acres!! Vivaldi is slowly coming along..... When I got back here the electrician showed me where they had repaired the break, filled in the big hole, came and had a cup of coffee while he wrote out the cert. of compliance. What joy to have power back on in the house, all deepfreezers cleaned out and operational again too, plus the comfort of electric blankets and a bed side light to read by, how spoiled we are!!

Shortest day of the year

It came in wet yesterday afternoon and continued to rain all night . I measured one and a half inches of rain in the gauge this morning after I fed the chooks. It has continued to rain all day as well and our road gutters were full and running strongly when I came back from Craft just now. So it will be interesting to see what the raingauge has in it tomorrow morning. Our Yard between the shed and studio is awash and the cars are standing in two inches of water. Our pond is overflowing as well and I hope the goldfish don't swim out into the paddock. I wonder if our friends at Yacka have had these good rains too.
At craft today I finished an Iphone dilly bag for my sister whose birthday it is today. She will come here late tomorrow afternoon and on Saturday , my brother and his friend will join us for a celebratory lunch.

First Jonquil and three goldfish!!

We have our first jonquil out today in the driveway, bulbs amaze me, the pink Narrenes are flowering now' whereas the red ones flowered with the first rains back in April. I see the Dutch blue irises are putting up their strappy leaves too and the Daffodils under the olive trees are in bud as well. I picked a large bucket of Kallamatas this afternoon and set them to soak in rain water. I'll refresh that every day now for at least a fortnight when they will be put in brine and herbs and left to mature.
The other exciting thing is that we saw three goldfish swimming around in the pond so the shag didn't get them all it seems.I had to drag the waterlillie out of the middle of the pond as the shag had overturned it. The roots on it are quite amazing and have spread over quite an area so I will have to repot it in several pots now.
My cello lesson was great as usual and I have come home with new ways to practice getting from note to note in a more relaxed and definite way. My teacher is living under very difficult circumstances as their neighbours are building a new weatherboard house and the trucks are blocking their drive to such an extent no one can get their car in or out. Besides that the young builder is rude and offensive when asked to clear the drive so some one can get out. I had to park out on the road and drag my cello in on its little wheels, it enjoyed the experience and proved it could do it!!

A Bird I do not want to stay at all.....

Last Tuesday when I stood gazing out of the kitchen window drinking my early morning mug of tea, there was a shag, large as life, sitting on a rock at the edge of our pond, looking smug if birds can look smug....he had eaten all our goldfish, all 7 of them!!! well, so I thought. Yesterday I saw one fish swimming around and another which he wasn't able to swallow I guess, lying on the verge, dead as a doornail.So , if he comes back I'll give him such a scare he won't ever come back!!
It does make you wonder where the expression "Dead as a doornail" came from...
Have had a busy week with a dear, recently widowed friend arriving on Tuesday. Wednesday we were out to lunch at a friend's place who has a magnificent garden, even in the winter. Thursday unfortunately I had to mind the Gallery and my friend went out to lunch with her friend who had come all the way from Narracoort to see her. They had lunch at one of the highly over rated places in the district, all designer food with prices to match .Yesterday we had lunch here for five of us with a friend coming up from Adelaide to take her back.
This morning my piano playing friend came and we practiced Vivaldi once more and think we are getting on top of it better now. We also had a bash at de Fesch which is sounding better also.
After lunch I went out to start on tidying the garden but it started to rain and the mowing will have to wait now. We did get a permit finally for burning the mound of branches we can't mulch , we are getting so regulated it is appalling ,our forebears went to war to fight for our freedom and it is slowly but surely being whittled a way.... the picture is ofcourse one of a hawk at the Alice Springs bird sanctuary doing its act....

Soiree @ Tineke'Studio on a winter Sunday

It was a great way to spend a cold day, with friends who were kind enough to come and listen to the four of us play live music.Two violins, a viola and a cello, away we dashed (reverently ofcourse) with Mozart's Ave Maria.Then three Bach pieces, Two Teleman Sonatas and some more modern pieces. It entertained our friends for an hour or so and then we  had a delicious afternoon tea with homemade cakes and biscuits. Every one was very kind in their appreciation of our efforts.Brian took some photos, but because it was my camera and he wasn't familiar with it there was only one to transfer. I will see if I can insert it with this post.

My friend who moved to Maldon a few weeks ago finds she has a friendly ghost in her cottage. It reminded me of when we had first moved to Hughes Park in 1960 and I was looking out of the kitchen window over the horse paddock and I saw a female figure in a long dress and bonnet of the late 1800 dreds holding a basket on her arm walking up a disused track into a gully.It was a hot summer morning and no one from the Homestead was out at that hour because I asked if anyone from there had been walking.
This evening when taking the rubbish bins out, a small new bird was sitting singing a lovely little song in the gumtree and he was pretty too.I looked him up in the birdbook and he is a golden whistler...what joy, I hope he stays like I hope the grey thrush stays too.... 

World premiere @ Adelaide Town hall

Had such a speedy trip into Noarlunga train station this morning that I caught the express train into Adelaide and was on North Terrace by 8.30am!!Sauntered to the Town hall and was one of the first ones there to have a coffee and scone provided for us by the ASO staff. Then sat in the second row to hear Amy Dickson being interviewed about her saxophone playing and the new composition "Full Moon Dances" by Ross Edwards which she was about to rehearse with the Adelaide Orchestra conducted by Andrew Grams. She was very excited about this, so we all trooped into the balcony space to watch and listen.This work was being played and performed as a World Premiere , so how fortunate were we!! The orchestra opened with Schumann's Manfred;Overture, Op 115.
Then we saw Amy on the right in a beautiful blue hooded robe, the orchestra launched forth and she played the first movement "Mantra with night birds and dark moon blossoms"The lighting was colourful and mysterious and added to the mood of the piece.Amy then moved through the orchestra to the left and dropping her blue gown revealed a red gown and also donned a red mask and played the second movement" First Ritual Dance,"the lighting continued to change and add to the overall effect. For the third movement, " Water Moon ",  she came forward to the front of the stage in a white flowing gown with a golden halo on her head. The fourth movement "Sanctus" was played back in her first position in a white flowing hooded gown.For the last movement "Second Ritual Dance" she again came forward this time in a simple but beautifully fitted white evening gown and played her golden saxophone.Ross Edwards composition is wonderfully crafted, and I hope he was as pleased with the results as we were. The whole effect was magical I thought and while I have always thought of a sax as a jazz instrument and not my favorite at all, this has given a new dimension to the instrument for me.The delicate and liquid tones are lovely to hear and the wild rawness it can also produce is astounding .The lighting on the Town hall organ pipes and scrollwork was magical and the music carried me to the moonlit summer crop reaped paddocks of Anlaby when I was a youngster.
A fabulous day.

Transit of Venus

Well, I hope someone got to see Venus traversing the sun today. Willunga was overcast and it would have been a total loss if you'd set up equipment to view it.
We have had close to 2 inches of rain since the sharefarmer sowed the crop on Friday, here is hoping for a decent crop for him.
Today we practiced the music we will play for a few friends on Sunday, our violin player is too timid but no amount of encouraging her seems to make it better. There must come a time in one's life to stop making excuses for an artistically abused childhood and recognize the talent one has.No one can do it for you, we are here to improve on our gifts Life gave us.

Tomorrow I will take an early train into Adelaide and walk to the Townhall to hear Amy Dickson play a rehearsal with the ASO, what a treat! I will miss out on a lunch with the Craft girls at Red Poles.

First day of Winter 1st June

Where did Autumn go?This week has flown by as well, Wednesday music, Thursday a boring day in the Gallery, at least I did get the knit woven top with twisted front sewn up there, today Bookgroup here as the member whose turn it was had bronchitis so I had the meeting in my studio.Interesting discussion on "Light on Snow" and our next book is "March" by Geraldine brooks. I am re reading Tony Crisp's The instant Dream Book which is fascinating and more understandable to me now than when I first bought it in '89 and I was still living at Watervale in my cottage there.
We have the grey thrush back again and how I hope it stays and breeds here in spring. The willy wagtail has his breeding eyebrows on at present but it is too early for them to start families yet, there is bound to be more cold weather.Our tree dahlia is flowering at present and the roses are still going too. The cyclamens are beautiful and a joy to see.Here are the frogmouths!!!!