Conversation with a Tawny Frogmouth

The Tawny Frogmouths have returned to our place with great regularity. There they are each morning sitting amongst the vine branches and they don't bat an eye when I come out to hang the towels out to air on the clothes horse which stands practically underneath them on our patio.
I asked them why they have decided to sleep here during the day. Generally they just keep their noses up in the air but this morning they sighed and replied that they have upgraded their sleeping quarters because it is under cover and so

out of the rain. Did they not miss the wider view of the back paddock when they sat in the gumtrees on the northside in the sun? what sun, they said... no it is much warmer and drier here amongst the vines and besides, there are no dogs or cats to annoy us either. What about the shrieking of the greenies who come in groups to scold you? Well, you can't altogether blame them, we do raid their nests and feed their nestlings to our offsprings when we are busy re-populating the area. Do you know how many of us are killed at night by cars just when we are swooping down to catch our moths which show up in the car lights?
We do have to feed our progeny same as the greenies do.....

And while we are having this conversation, have you thought of getting rid of your goldfish out of your pond? They eat the frog spawn and so there are no tadpoles to grow into frogs which is part of our diet, you know....yes, I do know that but they are so pretty in our pond, those goldfish. Now you mention it though, there are increasing numbers of them, aren't there, so perhaps we ought to catch some and sell them to the petshop.
And you don't mind the white chook on the patio? I let her and her bantam companion out to give them a chance to roam over the five acres available to them, but do they roam? no, they like to sit on the patio and rustle amongst the vine leaves and observe us as we sit and read in the sun shining through the glass door and windows.We don't mind them at all but we would like to ask you

where our second cousins ,the bearded dragons have gone? Now you mention them, of course, we used to have them in the garden and I took photos of them in rose bushes some years ago now. We even had one dig a hole in the garden path and lay her eggs. We kept the area damp for her but we never saw the hatchlings emerge, though we did see one or two in the vegie patch a few months later. We think that the mechanical grape harvesters killed a lot of them, for like you lot, they liked to sit on top of posts and survey the surrounding country side and pretend no one could see them. I am honored though, that you think our patio is a good place to rest during the day.
The winter vines are so bare now and set off the sculptural Willunga hills beautifully, don't you think?

Rainy Day Musings

It started raining last night and this morning we measured over an inch of rain! Since then it hasn't really stopped raining! The Tawneys know where their bread is buttered and are sheltering on our patio each day, out of the rain and comfortable on the vine branch.It will be interesting to see what happens when the vine has lost all its leaves and the branches have to be pruned. The photo of the climbing Gold Bunny rose I took a few days ago, flowering in June , for heavens sake, they are so cheerful but!!

 Because it was raining so this morning we couldn't be outside and started looking through some old boxes to find information to send for an application for posthumous medals for Harry who fought in the Greek campaigns and was taken prisoner of war on Crete with his section in the WWII.( I thought I better mention it was the WWII as ,when I rang the DVA the girl asked me was that in WWI !!) While looking for all this, I came across a letter which reminded me of the time in spring 1975, when my eldest son and I rode our horses Twilight and Goldie from Hughes Park , Watervale, to Springfield, Williamstown.
We rode along the backroads as much as possible as the horses

were not used to traffic.We went along a road along the Tarlee hills and at the end of the day when it was getting dark and could not go further we were at a tiny place called Ford  near Kapunda. We asked a farmer there if we could paddock the horses there overnight and he kindly suggested we put them in the shed overnight. The only problem was that there were pigs in the shed and our horses had never been near pigs.We gave the horses a good feed and there was plenty of water,so we went back with Harry to Hughes park for the night. In the morning we went back and saddled up, but Goldie the nervous Anglo/Arab, hadn't eaten a thing nor had a drink we later suspected because by the time we were near Williamstown he could hardly move. We managed to get him up to a neighbouring property where he spent the night while we went to our new place on Springfield.In the morning he had recovered and was able to be ridden on to his new paddock.

The rain hasn't abated much and the lemon tree in the tub is looking quite presentable , the pond on the left is overflowing and the gutter near the laundry can no longer cope and is making quite a little lake near the verandah post. we may well have had another inch of rain. The drain from the rainwater tanks overflow which our gardener put in yesterday is working beautifully and so the yard is no longer a soggy mess. I had planted the climbing geraniums on Monday and also other geraniums in various spots, plus thinned out and transplanted self seeded nasturtiums and the old fashioned marigolds so they should all romp ahead as long as the grubs don't eat them. I squashed quite a few caterpillars on the geraniums.

I have finished knit-weaving the red batwing jumper and will wash it now before sewing it up altogether. I usually sew up one side so as to put on the collar on the machine and then wash the whole piece and dry it flat on the studio floor. I'll take a photo when it is finished and publish it.
Some of my friends have found it difficult to enter a comment on my blog. All I can suggest is that you push the publish button and if it asks for your e mail address it is quite safe to do so as I don't get that address at all so I can only answer your comment in the next comment block. If you have to prove you are not a robot (I know that is a pain) but persevere, do it again and again and eventually the system must recognize you are human and they let your comment come to me. Do try again won't you and you can be quite anonymous as well...look forward to hearing from you!!!

Fleurieu in Winter

This morning we decided, because my musicians were not coming to play today, we would pack a picnic and drive to Carrickalinga , park our van and munch our sandwiches overlooking the lovely bay. Sitting in the van is great because you have such an elevated view of the sea and the wonderful cliffs of Second Valley towards Cape Jervis. The sea was fractious but the underlying perpetual movement of the water has such a calming effect. Funnily enough there are no longer any sea gulls around, only a few crows but a lot of crested pigeons all congregating under the low shrubs below us.

 We scoured the sea for signs of wales but none appeared.
I couldn't resist taking a photo of the lone pine against the very threatening looking sky. Only a few people about and that is the beauty of being retired, you get to enjoy all this amazing scenery mid week when no one is about. We had driven the back roads from Willunga and the bare hills for which Willunga and Aldinga were so well known are no longer quite so bare as many trees have been planted now.  Some of the hills give the impression of young men with 5'o'clock shadows. I must admit I rather miss the sculptural nakedness of those hills.
The Myponga reservoir looks very good at this stage and the burnt trees showed how near the fire came to my musicians house. The country looks very green and the sheep and cattle are in good nick.

 We drove through Normanville and Yankalilla along that very twisty road to Inman Valley and took a look at the cottage we lived in till Harry died in 1986. One should never go back!!
I started the Inman Valley Market there in 1987 and I see it is still going! I was able to hire the Hall for $10 and only charged the stall holders $2 and the Red Cross ladies were free of charge. It was a great way for them to raise funds with their morning teas. At that stage we were not bothered with all the insurances which beset us now......

 Through Victor Harbour ( where the businesses seem to be multiplying) on to Port Elliot to see if there were any wales there. Not a one! but wonderful cloud formations which I tried to capture but I only had my little Nikon as my D80 had a flat battery and it cant fit the charger which came with it. Still, the cloud formation across the bay looking toward Victor  has come out reasonably well. I also took the photo of the lone sea gull, what has happened to all the sea gulls that used to annoy the hell out of you when you were eating something?

We stopped at a lovely little seconhand book shop near the railway line in Middleton and I found a neat little book with notes and comments on Macbeth. I studied that at Kapunda High but never really understood it then at the age of 16 so will get a fuller understanding of what it was all about. The store is a converted little church and very interesting as you can sit and read there as well. There was a lovely young and welcoming Dalmation in attendance.
We drove through Goolwa and Nankita turning off onto Proctors road which leads on to the Willunga/ Kuitpo road and so home to feed the chooks and light the fire for a cosy evening at home......

The Tawney Frogmouths are back!!

What a splendid surprise on Friday morning while I was talking to my son in WA and idly looking out of the window, to see three Tawney Frogmouths huddled together on a vine branch sheltering from the rain under the patio roof!!
They are such calm birds as we had been in and out of the patio door walking almost underneath them for quite a while and they let me photograph them from a few different angles. Unfortunately I have not been able to remove the red eye effect.

They usually sit on gumtree branches or in the pepper tree on the north side of the garden as that has the warmer sun in the colder weather.
Today I did notice that the blackbirds are busy squabbling in the Holm Oak tree , surely they are not thinking of nesting now? The Wattle birds too are making mating noises but winter has only just started!!
All the seedlings are well established now and today we had our first feed of Bok choi which was lovely. The Rhubarb too, has taken well from all the plant splitting we did.

My brother put two different zygo cacti in the same basket and they are doing so well and make a splendid show of flowers. I have a zygo cactus which is now twenty seven years old which is amazing. It was given to me when I lived in Inman Valley in 1985 and has traveled from there to Watervale and in 1991 came here to Willunga.

I have been able to burn a few heaps of bark and leaves before the rain came but now all that will be on hold till it all dries out again. I am really ambivalent about this as I don't know how many little creatures home I may be destroying but the bark and leaf litter was so thick this year we felt we had to reduce the fuel load. Even though we live surrounded by vineyards if a fire starts in the hills on a blazing hot day with a fierce northerly wind an ember could easily be blown from miles away and start a fire here.One can only do one's best.....

Winterstart Soiree

 Yesterday was the 1st of June and the start of Winter in the southern hemisphere. Not only that, but it was bucketing down with rain! We measured over 50 ml this morning and the little spider which had taken up residence in the raingauge looked decidedly miserable and wet! I deposited it in the strawberry patch where it could shelter under a leaf.....

We had readied the Studio in the morning dodging heavy showers to get the afternoon tea taken over and the chairs arranged for our guests.
My viola and violin friends arrived early so we were able to squeeze in a practice and warm up to settle some nerves ,before everyone came and settled in to listen.
Our friends started arriving early afternoon and after introductions to those who didn't know each other we started our program.

 First off was the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba which we play at a very sedate pace as usually it seems a race to get the Queen over and out of the way it is played so fast.
Next we did two Bach pieces one of which is Prelude 22 and we do have that one more under control now and we actually finish together on time!Bach is very ordered and lovely.
Next came a whole series of Teleman which are very enjoyable for us to play. We are also learning a Trio by Haydn this year so we picked out the bits that we liked and played those.

We had a bit of an interval to rest our fingers and shoulders( the viola player had cut his thumb badly earlier in the week and soldiered on though despite the pain, not able to play much on his C string). We concluded with some more modern pieces like the Lennon/McCartney When I'm Sixty Four, When Allen-A-Dale Went A-Hunting and the ever popular Sahara Crossing by Richard Meyer.
My dear sister had kept the urn going and cups of tea and coffee were most welcome with some of us taking to Hugos red to relax and replenish the iron in our blood. Rain had not dampened our patient listeners enthusiasm and all went home feeling it was a good way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon!!