Haiku for Covid Lock down

Rain pours,Iron roof

Covid lock down made bearable

Inside a warm Book

 

Haiku for Saturday Morning

                                             Magpies's soft murmur

                                               Rolls forth into joyful song

                                                Lights the dark grey morn 

Wet Weather & Another Covid Lock Down

Here we are in another Covid lock down and obliged to stay at home... The weather is quite conducive to being inside as it is very cold and very wet... the rain falling in lusty and enthusiastic showers ... the ducks just loving it as I watch them through the warm kitchen window frolicking  in our pond, making ducklings... which will be hatched in the hollow of the Sugargum tree by the gate...I hope this year that there will be more than three of them that survived last year...

My friends think that I have acquired a number of very useful males around me who will perform those jobs so necessary to keep a place going.....Kym our gardener-handyman, Kevin our builder-carpenter and fixer of roof leaks...Trevor our erstwhile share farmer now our firewood supplier and lately Gordon, my son and heir who is very handy with a chainsaw and fixer of old machinery ....the tractor used to run on kerosene and is his pride and joy having been able to prod it into life after 30 years in my shed..it now runs on unleaded fuel...and is 79 years old....

Last week during one of our huge winter storms a Lhemanii was split in two and half fell on the fence.

Yesterday was the first dry day we have had in weeks (it seems that way) so we decided to cut up the two trunks and clear away all the branches as well.This tree produces a lot of heavy seed pods which are also excellent to burn in the fire as they stay as hot coals  and enable you to re-start the fire in the morning.

 So there is quite a box full of them. The seed pods come after a beautiful round flower of a lime green colour. When they finish the pod has lovely red finger- like spikes which were at one stage used to make attractive necklaces when threaded on cords.

They were all the rage in the 1970ies.....