Spring: Early Morning Light

This morning around six, when the sun was just rising over the Willunga hills and reaching our garden, the view amongst the trees was breath taking.You cannot always reproduce the intensity of the moment of viewing sadly, and the sound of the blackbirds, wattle birds and thrush are missing too. Must have felt quite poetical all day with this start of such beauty because I came across this piece of prose written for my friend in the Riverland years ago now. They were struggling on a vine block which was slowly eroding away their income and health due to low grape prices and water restrictions.

They had a stunning gumtree trunk in the front garden.

           "Your figure moving quietly among the vines,
             in mind's eye totally absorbed in gently moving
              each new spur to it's allotted space, gives joy.
              Yet lonely in a desert landscape transformed
               to green Fibonaci rows, we see you there.
                The "now" is quite alright, its the future that we fear.
              Yet yesterday was future of the day before
                the sun shines just the same, the moon at night
                 with stars so vivid we wonder why we are here.
                 It is "agape" that we long for, or "caritas"?
                We have it, though we seem not to comprehend......
The thrushes were on the verandah inspecting the Pandorea vine, wouldn't it be good if they nested there and kept the blue tongue lizard company, she lives here all the time now and you have to watch out you don't step on her.

           

Spot the Bronzewing!

Here we are, took the picture with my little Nikon coolpix L1 yesterday afternoon from the kitchen window. Unfortunately the second bronzewing is just hidden by the branch of the fig tree. At this stage I can only publish small pictures so you won't get much detail of the birds, but I am quite chuffed I managed to get a shot at them at all!!
It has been a vile day weather wise today with huge winds and lashing rain. My friend in Clare rang today to see how we were and said that it was an equally awful day there with no rain which all the farmers need on their crops now to give them that extra moisture to fill out the grain. We were discussing too, about the lack of purple Salvation Jane flowering against the brilliant yellow of the canola crops. The bee people will be sad about the fact there is so little Salvation Jane for the bees to feed on but it was a curse and caused quite a few deaths in horses because of the heavy metals collecting in their livers from the Jane.
I was blown away by a video on Friesian horses on youtube  a friend forwarded to me. The grace and beauty of these animals is astounding and while I have been a devotee of the Arabian horse since a teenager, I think the Friesian horse has replaced it. I want one for my birthday!!!!!! Mind you, I would now need a stepladder to get into the saddle, where has all the strength and elasticity in my legs gone?? Still, Henry VIIIth was hoisted into the saddle with a winch so I could resort to that.....
I don't seem to have a foto of myself on horse back so one of my son in the Mounted Police from years ago will do....

Spring and Bronzewing Pigeons

This morning early I saw a pair of bronzewing pigeons just out from the pond in front of the kitchen window. We have heard one booming away for quite some weeks but to see a pair is very exciting because it must mean our place is suited to them. They generally like open woodland and as we are only 5 or so acres in the midst almost of all vineyards it is truly remarkable.

Our gardening man came early this morning to continue clearing a lot of deadwood. The dead peach tree had a lot of amazing fungi growing on it  so before he cut it down, took some fotos of it. Then continued taking more photos as I am breaking in new batteries.Everything is in flower, the quince tree is looking beautiful alongside the D'Argent plum which looks like a veiled bride.
My music friends arrived later in the morning and we are continuing with Papa Haydn's trio.It seems a slow learning curve as we have all had a rather stressful week and had not practiced the difficult passages. We always revert back to playing Telemann and Bach though this time we also played the Beatles song "when I'm 65"! My friends left early because we all had things to attend to.

Cox's Scrub and the Grey Shrike Thrush

It was delightful this morning to hear the thrush being answered!! It means there is a mate and hopefully they will nest here and raise a family...

The other exciting thing this afternoon, was that we went to Cox's scrub, which is a reserve on the Ashbourne road. We approached it from the Nankita road and found gate no 4 which is closed of course. We went in between the three little posts and found an absolute wonderland of colour! Prostrate grevillias , donkey orchids, isopogons, daisies, heath , little blue star flowers and the thrush was there too, singing its little heart out. No wonder the early botanists were amazed at all this colourful and unusual flora!
Below is the Donkey orchid.
I am Having trouble organizing these pictures and then adding their descriptions.








So , below is an Isopogon and I think it may be the thorny corn bush, it wasn't flowering at this stage.

We have had a good wet winter  of course and so everything has responded and grown beautifully.We came back via McGharg creek road which runs up the very steep hill towards Mt Magnificent and down the other side past Kuitpo forest. Along the road everything there too is flowering and putting on a show. As you come down old Willunga hill road you can see McLaren Vale show up as a large block of new housing. The vines are all sprouting too and look good, though I am wondering what this cold weather is doing to the fruitset. I am glad I am not a horticulturist or a vigneron!!

Fleurieu wanderings

After my cello lesson this morning (which I always enjoy and feel inspired by) Brian and I went to Goolwa via the back roads from old Willunga hill, through Nankita onto the Strathalbyn Goolwa road. Every thing is looking wonderfully green and lush, some of the scrub bright with yellow flowers of the acacias and white with the lucerne trees along the roads.In Goolwa we picked up some very good fish and chips and then drove to the riverside east of the magnificent Hindmarsh Island bridge. The chips were excellent and hot as well and the seagulls and mallard ducks looked in vain for scraps. I was surprised to see the mallards there, ducks unfortunately, are promiscuous breeders and may contaminate our native black duck population. A couple of cormorants were sitting on the rails hanging their wings out to dry and two marsh hens were strutting around flipping their tails in that delicate way they have.The Murray of course is looking magnificent  after all the rain the Eastern states and Queensland has had which all drains into the northen plains and hence into the Murrumbidgee and then the Murray at Wentworth. The year before last it was just a muddy flat when we sat in the same spot.
We then went to Signal point where there is a magnificent space for a gallery and saw Rita Hall's retrospective exhibition on her study of museum bird skins. Her drawing and painting skills, her compositions and shadings are much to be admired. The birds look dead, which of course they are and to see them with their stiff legs in the air with tags on them, is just bizarre.

We left there and did a bit of a photo shoot of the bridge and some buildings.

On to Pt Elliott which is my favorite place for overlooking the beautiful Horse shoe Bay and spotting a whale or certainly some seals. Took some photos there too and watched a skein of black cormorants flying towards Victor Harbour. The cloud formations to the south and west were stunning. We went back up the road a bit to take a photo of this strange building which looks as though it has been tossed about and left to settle as best it could. 

Drove out of Victor to the Sawpit road which takes you over the river Inman and again over back roads to Willunga through dairy country . It was raining in the hills and got home where it was wet also. Let the chooks out for a little roam around, the bluetongue lizard was hiding by the back door.

Dilemma!

We are in a dilemma. When we first came here in 1991, the block was almost bare of trees. Plenty of marshmallows 6ft tall and wild mustard plants equally tall and one lone gumtree near the house. There were some little Lhemaniai trees along the fence and a ginormous sugar gum by the gate. The cry in those days was: "Plant trees especially natives ". So we planted and planted, three deep along the perimeter of our house block, interspersed with bottle brushes , small native rosemaries, grevillia Wynpara gems and eremophillae. They have now created a wonderful space for us but of course they litter bark and branches everywhere too now. And we are not allowed to burn except by special permission. The cry now of course is "Get prepared for summer and the fire danger season". Fair enough,but the other cry is" Remember our wild life and don't remove the bark and leaf litter". What does one do?? I'll admit if you do start to rake the leaf litter, you have every likely hood of a bearded dragon popping up its head , cocking it to one side and asking you what are you doing destroying its habitat and endangering its species. Mind you, the vineyards have done more harm to the bearded dragon than anything else. The dragons love sitting on top of posts , or in our case, rosebushes, and of course the grapes are now mechanically harvested and don't recognize the poor old beardy at all. You wonder how many don't finish up adding a little protein to the shiraz!!!! This reminds me of a little story from the station hand who was also a part time grape grower and used to deliver his grapes to a particular winery which also sold bulk port. One chap came and wanted his flagon filled because it had been an extra special drop. He pointed to the vat it had come out of, "Ah" said the cellarman " the one in which we found the drowned possum". !
One of the good things that happened today was the return of the young man who made our pond and relayed all our verandah bricks late last year. He is a very willing and enthusiastic gardener, so he trimmed the one olive tree (the other one had a dove on a nest so we didn't want to disturb her) cut down a tree which blew over in the last ferocious winds two weeks ago and the Agonis which was dying and then mulched all the twiggy bits in our mulcher. He is willing to tackle any job so there could well be some painting done and perhaps improve my chook shed plus all the trimming that is now inevitable in a mature garden. I am over the moon to have some one to call on for all those jobs Brian now finds hard to do. 

After lunch I took advantage of the SW wind and lit another but much smaller pile of twigs and leaf litter and burnt the acacia branches cut down this morning, it all leaves a good feeling of things achieved today.

Worldwide Audience

What fascinates me is the fact that people all over the world actually bother to look at my blog! Should you like to leave a comment I would be enchanted! You do have to leave your e mail address I believe, when making a comment, but rest assured I don't receive that address, as the comment comes with a "noreply @" so if I wanted to reply to your comment I would have to do it on the blog comment spot...
This morning I have been able to set the large heap of cuttings alight as there is a southerly wind and I won't be smoking my neighbours out. No rabbits or foxes tore out from under the heap so they must be residing elsewhere.Spent till lunch time tending the fire and when I came back to the house my friend was already here, playing the piano. We all had lunch together and after coffee we set to, to play the Vivaldi sonata no 6 for cello and piano. It is coming together at last! We played for over an hour and felt quite encouraged.
Brian has his camera ready on the kitchen sink to take a photo of the white faced heron which is lurking around the pond casting an eye on the goldfish and frogs. He is very alert and sees us through the window and is very nervous and flies off. So there is not much of an opportunity to get a photo of him, or her, they both look the same. Last year they raised one chick in the Sugargum tree by the gate and you could only see he was younger because he was fluffy here and there.

Spring has Sprung

Spring is really here, the blackbirds are singing their beautiful, liquid songs early in the morning. It is lovely to wake up and listen to their serenades before getting up and starting the day one's self. Making tea in the ancient teapot used for at least a half a century, and sipping the comforting liquid in my little mug made by a Japanese master potter is pure delight. I write my journal of reflections and observations in the quiet of the early morning alongside my pottery mug.This morning though, here was a giant kangaroo hopping in our paddock, rabbits are bad enough and now we can add a kangaroo as well! Mind you, I think the meek, in the form of little black ants, seem to be inheriting the earth!! They are dropping from the pineboard ceiling and marching all over the carpet. Not only that, today, when I finally managed to start burning some of the little heaps of deadfall, any branch I picked up, some ant or other bit my wrist or crawled up my arm.Still, I got a little bit done and after taking Brian to the doctor, came back and did some mowing as well, so the place doesn't look quite so hairy.

Tonight I picked up my artist friend who had the pacemaker fitted last week, and took her to the launch of the second edition of the Fleurieu Living Magazine. in which there was an article describing my friends artistic beginnings in London and her developement into the digital photographic era. It was held at the Penny's Hill venue, half way between Willunga and McLarenVale, behind a beautiful Georgean cottage. The place was crowded when we got there, but we got a wine and joined the people all standing in their little groups. I knew no one, but always find it interesting to observe. Finger food was passed around by attractive young things and the wine was flowing if you wanted it.At one stage I felt like a little tranquil island in the midst of a sea of noise. The magazine is very well presented and has beautiful photography.
We left after the launch and I was home in time to notate the weather maps presented on the ABC after the news. We are to get more rain tomorrow!

Lights on in the Gallery

We went into Willunga this morning to see if the Gallery was open and it was. The building has been sold but no one knows at this stage who to or if we will be able to afford to stay on. I'll make a few more scarves to put in and hopefully sell. My fabric collages are displayed standing up and as they are at eye level there may be a better chance of them being sold or at least looked at. I got a lot of favorable comments on the collages I did as tribute to my parents which was encouraging.
We then went to the Farmers' Market and got some honey from the beekeeper. Across the road is the Artisan Market which is sadly depleted now, it could well be that I go back there again as it is only once a month for five or so hours against two full days in the gallery. Then walked back through the Quarry Market and I got the olive oil which is straight from the producer and very well priced $14 for two liters and $1 back on the flagon!! how good is that? Brian meanwhile got his tomato plants from another stall to plant out soon.
After lunch got the 12 horse power self  propelled mower out which started straight away. It is always a joy if it starts and I find mowing quite a meditative practice. There is something deeply satisfying seeing long grass and weeds transformed by their haircut. The chooks love scratching through the windrows of cuttings. I also saw the bronze wing pigeon poking about near the pond this afternoon and the grey thrushes are definitely staying and singing their little hearts out. The willy wagtail has donned his breeding eyebrows and getting very aggressive with another male which was hanging around.

Have been trying to get the PhotoMaker to work to transpose old slides to the laptop but cannot get it to work. Found some advice on their website but there is one step which isn't there for me to perform, so frustrating as it would be good to have them all together in a folder in the computer.Will wait till my computer friend has a morning to come and show me. He is a whiz and gets menues up I don't know about.
One of my friends rang me this morning to say she is back in the McLarenVale hospital, recuperating from having a pacemaker inserted on Friday, medical help can be amazing at times. She thinks she will be able to go home on Monday!!
Sunday 9th September
My friend asked me to pick her up from the hospital tomorrow morning to take her home and I shall be very happy to do so!!!!

Huge Storm

Early this morning, 1 am in fact, we were woken up by the most tremendous noise of rain or hail we have ever heard on an iron roof, it was frightening. It lasted about ten minutes but the wind never abated. Luckily our trees are still relatively young and seem to be able to withstand the onslaught of these ferocious winds we seem to be having this winter. The ground is well and truly soaked by now and trying to drain the water away on flat ground is well nigh impossible.
This afternoon was Bookgroup and we were a sadly depleted lot. One of our members had to leave her home and now resides in the Helping Hand care unit in Adelaide. Another one had a bad fall and broke her upper arm, another one's husband has been diagnosed with probable liver cancer and yet another one was in Adelaide preparing the sale of her sister's house who died a few months ago. She had been a single woman so had no children.
Our book for the month had been Jeffrey Archer's "Paths of Glory" which was about George Mallory who died in the attempt to climb Mt Everest. Archer made a very readable book out of this. Our next book is "A Distant Shore" by Peter Yeldham. It was my choice so this means I have to do research on the author and give a critique on his writing next meeting in October.
I have just heard a fox bark not far from the back door, I find it a very primordial sound and quite disturbing. The chooks are locked up so they should be safe but foxes are so cunning and can find ways in you haven't thought of. In some of the English crime series you quite often hear the fox bark in the background of some creepy scene!

I had an e mail from the co op president to say the power has been cut off from our Gallery because the landlord had not paid his bill of several thousand dollars.Not amusing when the gallery has been very prompt in paying the rent and portion of that powerbill for years.So the gallery is closed and we are back to wondering what is going to happen. I will leave my garments in there for the time being.

Back to Winter

 We are having some wild and wet weather again today, luckily it was dry  this morning when the man came with his large truck to pump out the septic tank which hadn't been done for quite some years. Do his friend call him "the shit stirrer"? Their trucks have been going up and down our road constantly since this prolonged wet weather. Aldinga and Sellicks hill would be finding it hard to drain off their effluent, the place being so flat. The euphemistically called "wet lands" are at the end of our road where they process all this waste. All we have to do now is wait for a new pump to be fitted and that won't be for a week or so.
The gardening man couldn't come this morning so after Brian came back from the doctor, I suggested I make sandwiches and a thermos and drive to Carrickalinga in the campervan and have our lunch overlooking the bay. We went via the back roads and the Reservoir road, getting nearly blown away crossing some of the gullies. The Second valley hills were totally obscured by the low cloud and later the heavy rains, the sea a raging crossed mass of waves dumping their white foam along the beach. We watched a couple of crows delving into the rubbish bin as the lid had blown open, coming out with the odd chip and flying with it onto the ground, there to find a way of reducing it enough for them to swallow. Of course they  scattered bits of plastic and paper to the winds, they are not concerned with being environmentally responsible.....

and in the Fire of Spring!!

It is the first day of Spring and it is a beautiful day, it brought to mind the verse out of the Rubaiyat of  Omar Khayyam .....
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garments of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly_ and Lo! the Bird is on the wing.
He knew a thing or two about living and enjoying that living, old Kayyam...
I used to quote him quite a bit to my boys, especially when they needed to be roused from their beds.
Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultans Turret in a Noose of Light.....
they were never amused!!
All the birds are very active today,the spoggies have returned and are helping themselves to the chookies food, the doves who whooing, the grey thrush singing, the blackbirds darting hither and dither.
This afternoon when I was spraying the fence lines  and edges of the track for weeds, the grey thrush came and sat in the gumtree above my head and sang and sang, I asked if there was a mate for it, I do hope so. The swallows are inspecting the shed where the cars are parked and I don't really want them to nest in there, they are dear little birds but their droppings on the car are not good. Still not as bad as the pelicans that foul the pumpman's car who lives near the Onkaparinga river in old Noarlunga!
imagine the mess !! The bluetongue is still sunning itself but has moved to the garden bed while he still seems to overnight behind the box next to the norhtfacing wall.

Brian has started to prune the roses at the back, the front ones have been done and are shooting now. We need to feed the bulbs which have finished flowering so as they can store energy for next year's flowers.