Rain! Craftday and Snakeskins..

Last Thursday week ago, the 13th February, we had the most wonderful rain which lasted all day long and into the night as well.I couldn't resist taking photos of the rain falling on this dry, dry land and flowing into the pond, the frogs singing their happy croaking songs all day long continuing into night as well, allowing me to count how many were in the chorus,four tenors, three altos and the occasional basso profundo and one that sounded more like a cricket than a frog.

 I took a photo of the puddle lying on the track with the limb which came down in the last storm and the shiraz vines of our neighbour in the back ground. I know it would seem crazy to the poor people in the south of England who were enduring huge floods at the same time but we have been so dry since early October that rain to us is such a treat at this time of the year.All the trees and plants have responded dramatically and the Jacobean lilies , the Bella donna lilies are all up and looking beautiful.

Craft day was at our place last Thursday and we were only a small group this time. It is always a pleasant day with everyone doing their own thing in craft or doing their own thing in contemplating others doing craft while as hostess I am in and out crafting the simple lunch of soup and bread.
My creativity is out the window at present, can one blame the heat waves we have endured during January/ February? Books are much more interesting in the heat of summer. I am re reading all the Patrick O'Brian series with Aubrey and Maturin the main characters. They are an education in themselves and have looked up so many references to not only 18th century sailing ships but the characters were great natural philosophers as well and have looked up numerous words and names of unusual species.
We were all amazed when one of our group brought in this beautiful freshly shed snake-skin she had found in one of our National parks while climbing the hills.

 We think it is possibly a brown snake.
It was truly amazing because it was totally intact without a break anywhere. You can look up how a snake sheds its skin on "youtube". It is fascinating to watch and it must feel so good to a snake to do this, rather like peeling off a tight body stocking I imagine.....
We didn't measure it accurately but it would have been well over four and a half feet,or nearly one and a half meters for those of you who are more familiar with metrics.

 It was so intact that you can see the lenses of its eyes and the colour of the scales are this soft lovely browny green. The jaw line is quite visible too. Snakes evidently can shed their skins three or four times a season. The person who brought this in also watche a red- bellied black snake swim across the little dam they were standing by. The match box with the head is to give you some comparison for size.
I have met some amazing snakes in my life...
Once, riding out with my future husband who was talking to me, so did not see the King brown snake ahead of us till he wondered why my eyes were the size of saucers watching this snake rear up

chest high to his sixteen hand horse! He managed to evade it but it was not shy this snake and would have struck if the fence had not been in the way at this stage. Another snake had crawled into the dunny shed and was blasted by a shotgun in self defence as it hung from the rafters a few inches away from his face....it left rather a draughty hole at the back ....
In those days we did kill them but now we conserve them in the hope they may bite a politician......

Purple Crowned Lorikeets and the Heatwave...

It was the hottest February day on record yesterday, and it was very, very hot indeed!43C!!
I kept a sprinkler going in various areas of the front garden as the birds were all desperate for water.
I became very excited about the little green birds we had fleeting glimpses of  earlier in the week and suddenly I  saw them in the Holm Oak which provides dense shade, when shifting the sprinkler to a new area.

 To start with I thought they were Double Eyed Fig parrots when I looked them up in the bird book. This would have been too rare for words as those little parrots are only in special areas of rainforest on the East coast of Australia. So having another look this morning I came to the conclusion they are Purple Crowned Lorikeets. This is much more likely as they inhabit most of Southern Australia. It is exciting all the same to have such interesting little visitors.

The poor little New Hollands and the Greenies , both honey eaters, were sitting with beaks open on the edge of the fish bowl which sits in front of the window here, busily trying to have a drink before the bigger Wattle birds would demand their go at the water.
Meanwhile the Magpies were darting in and out of the sprinkler along with the Murray Magpies.
The rest of the Magpie clan were hogging the bird bath and wouldn't let any other bird near.

The Murray magpies are annoying in that they screech and give their warning call the moment I came out to fill yet another bowl with water for them or to shift the sprinkler thereby upsetting all the other birds except the Lorikeets or the Willy Wagtail who take no notice of me at all.

 The Murray Magpies were also domineering the pond and the Wattle bird was having a tough time there trying to get a drink.
I did not find any dead birds this time, last time there was a dead wattle bird after the heat wave which I didn't bury, thinking the ants might leave a clean skeleton for me , but no, something has carted it off.

As you can see on the right, there are three lorikeets and I took that photo with a night time setting on the camera as the shade is quite dark in the Holm Oak.
This morning it is much cooler but we are being pounded by huge winds and I have had to shut doors to keep them from flying and banging shut. Also brought the washing in as I thought the rotary hoist might be lifted out of the ground....
How did the men on sailing ships in the 18th century cope ?...

Cabin Fever in Summer Heat

We  had a lovely cool change in the weather last night. We have stayed put for the last week or so with the Tour Down Under, as well as the hot ,hot weather and we were getting cabin fever... There is only so much watering, reading books and using the computer you can do to pass the time each day when it is so hot outside and so this morning being cool and pleasant I suggested I pack a picnic and we go to Somewhere else, a different place.... I love going the back roads so after we took on fuel at McLarenVale we headed south via the roads

which go south of Willunga through the hills which give wonderful views of the distant sea at Aldinga. I still don't know where the Buddhist retreat is on the hills to your right as you go to Myponga.
In Myponga I take the road which leads to James' track and it takes you along a ridge which overlooks the hills to the sea at Normanville. There are some stunning vistas there but it was quite hazy today so we didn't stop to take photographs.The track over Mt Robinson is quite a challenge but that is why I chose a Subaru XV

so that the vehicle could deal with the rough dirt roads.There weren't a great deal of native plants flowering but the yackas were looking brilliant.
We got to Parsons beach and the look outs, where we parked and munched our sandwhiches. I had packed a bottle of bitter lemon for our drink but... we couldn't open the bottle and whats more my brilliant Subaru does not have a tool box  would you believe .....only a Philips screwdriver and a wheel brace, so we had a dry lunch.

The top photo is one of Waitpinga Beach where Sonny and I used to go fishing when we lived at Back Valley. He used to catch big salmon and I would attempt to catch Tommy roughs clearly visible in the waves. The waves were not big today and the sea seemed fractious with no real pattern to the waves at all. Brian in the photo above is looking out for mermaids......
The photo with the stone and plaque, is of Waitpinga beach as well, to my sorrow I didn't really look who the plaque was commemorating

The outlook on the northern side has this beautiful stone wall and the outline of the coast with all the headlands which were a bit hazy still.
I think this is Coolamon Beach but I am not sure if I have spelled it correctly. My son took me there just after I was widowed many many years ago and we were able to get to it in his fourwheel drive.
The stone wall runs along the path down to the beach, I love paths that meander and disappear from view.

Also on this look out were the native cotton bushes that survive in the harsh conditions of these coastal habitats.
We left and drove on to Victor Harbor where we stopped and had a very nice iced coffee in one of the many cafes Victor now has. The whole place has changed so much since I used to frequent it thirty years ago now, so many eating places and so many new holiday homes as well....
The forecast for the next week is in the forty degree area again, I hope the garden survives

Celebrating Australia Day!

Our poor garden is looking the worse for wear after the 40C and 44C temperatures we had the week before last. A lot of plants just went underground and won't come out again till the first real rains. I always think our summer has the same effect on plants as the Northern European winter-- they hide underground not wanting to know those extreme temperatures, hot or freezing cold. It was interesting to see on a documentary about ducks that the eider duck has a sort of anti freeze mechanism in its feet as do the Mongolian horses I was reading about in Tim Cope,s book who traveled those freezing steppes 

on horseback.
We decided today to celebrate Australia Day on our front verandah with a traditional sherry for Sunday lunch. It was a truly beautiful day with glorious sunshine and a little cool breeze.
We know how fortunate we are in this country and it is good to sit on your own deck and think what pleasure we get out of our surroundings here.

The pond still attracts various birds that come in for a bath and a drink while we are sitting there quietly sipping our Spanish sherry. It is amusing to see the Greenies dive in and out from the Holm oak to the Wisteria tree where they sit and preen themselves. So do the wattle birds.

On the left is what we look out on from our front verandah. Our crucifix orchid has been very slow to show any progress but it does have what we think may be a flower spike with tiny buds on which will hope fully develop into the stunning orange flower head. The poor daylillies are looking dry but they have been watered and the Queensland man says you cannot kill a daylillie.
Our new young roses are struggling too and the week ahead has been forecast as more over 40C heat. 

We were enjoying sitting here so much we decided to have lunch here as well. So I got a bit of finger food from inside and as you can see on the right Brian was bringing the white wine, a Hugo's of course....
Tonight we watched some of the migrants becoming Australian citizens and the very impressive venues the ceremonies were performed in. When I was naturalized in 1956 it was a very plain affair in the Kapunda Town hall. I have a certificate to prove I am Australian....and how fortunate we are that my parents were brave enough to bring their
four remaining children out to this wonderful country.....

Altar Bistro For Fabulous Food !!

Today Brian and I went to lunch at the Altar Bistro as Brian had not been there except when his son Perry and family were over in November and we had coffees and cake. I had been to lunch there with our craft group back in October and was so impressed with the food and service as was everyone else , that I was keen to show Brian how good it is.
We arrived at 12.30pm as I had booked just in case things were very busy. I always like to book ahead if at all possible so as to be assured of a table.

We were warmly greeted by staff and shown to our table. I love the tablecloths and proper napkins with a dear little rose in a small vase fresh from the garden.
We took out time looking through the neat menu and Brian chose the slow cooked pork while I can't ever go past duck which is served as an entree.
A glass of Minko pinot noir seemed a good choice to go with both the duck and the pork.
The food takes a while to arrive as you know it is being prepared fresh so we never mind waiting.
We are in our Epicurus stage of life when food and all things are to be savored at leisure, that is the beauty of retirement, we no longer have to hurry...
The flavors are just superb and neither of us spoke during the meal, just concentrating on the delight of good food carefully prepared and beautifully presented.
Because my lunch was an entree I felt I could have desert as well and I can tell you, the creme brulee is to die for, (als of een engeltje over je tong poept) just fabulous. The coffee too, was hot and strong.... we went home feeling we had a dining experience few Adelaide restaurants would match
I urge you all to support this treasure of a place in Willunga!!

Life and Death

Not only have sheep collected me but in a way piggybanks have also. They happened to sit near the Christmas center piece while I was getting all housewifely like and cleaning up a few things before Christmas. They looked so cute so I photographed them. The big brown pig actually belongs to Brian but the other three are mine, the other little ceramic creature is a mouse....and speaking of mice I have caught 9 mice in quick succession on the kitchen bench before Christmas and another two over this weekend. The last one was so little it fitted inside the trap so I had to drop it in a bucket and then cover it with a pot to drown it quickly, otherwise the poor little things swim for ages before they tire and drown.

Over the weekend I cut a lot of grapes off the patio vine as they were very mildewed and the blackbirds help them selves to them but drop an awful lot on the bricks and everyone treads on them and make a mess. So I cut down the beautiful nest the Greenies wove for their eggs and raised two chicks out of them. The nest is a marvel of woven grasses,twigs and fibres and beautifully attached to the vine branches.
I don't think they use it again, certainly the Willy wagtails never use their same nests.

The rather gruesome sight on the left is a chick which fell out of the nest a few days ago. I have no idea what it is as I could not see the nest it fell out of. The undertakers were busy stripping it and as I watched it over a few days the skeleton became quite clear and I could not get over the delicate little bones, how teensy they are and again, so intricately constructed.

It reminded me of another skeleton I have saved which was a goldfish. It had somehow jumped out of the outside container I sometimes keep some in, to give to friends and the ants had cleaned it up to perfection. Our pond at present has about forty goldfish and I noticed some more teensy ones yesterday. The skull is from a blackbird which I found eaten clean last year.
When you think of all the bones which must be covering the earth and also buried in the earth, the mind boggles.....all the millions of people who have died in just the last century of wars, millions and millions......

The two big goldfish are the breeding pair but I strongly suspect the slightly smaller ones are breeding too now. I don't mind if the heron has a few now and then
The cool weather has been unsettling I find, you steel yourself for the hot summer and it has only been very hot for a few days, which was enough to kill some of the plants mind you....we had ten ml of rain over the weekend.....so didn't have to water quite so much. The tomatoes are starting to look good too but the dwarf beans were a disaster, the zuchinis too are pretty slow this season and the plums are drying on the tree!!

Christmas 2013

Here we are and it is January....the Festive season behind us again and it is good to do a bit of reflecting.
I always get a couple of branches from the Cyprus tree these days. The decorating is monotone and simple with no lights.

 When the boys were little, seemingly eons ago now, we used to get Pinus radiata branches and the boys would have much fun bringing them inside and  decorating them.
Slowly too, the presents under the tree are getting less and less as we don't need or want anything these days.
So, there are tokens of gifts but always some books! Books remain a joy to give and receive.
There is always a Man Booker prize book a literary family member gives his father each Christmas and this year it is The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It looks fascinating but I haven't started it yet as my son sent me Tim Cope's On the trail of Genghis Khan for my birthday which is also at this time of the year. I have always been interested in Mongolia as my father had two volumes on Genghis Khan with beautiful cover jackets of the hordes on horseback. I wonder what happened to those books......

So I have started reading about the young man who wants to understand what the nomadic life was like in the 13th century. He travels on horse back from the edge of Mongolia to Hungary.....
It is freezing cold as he seems to insist on doing this journey in the beginning of winter ...
But I digress
Going back to Christmas, I decorated the fire place with Lhemanii buds which look like fingers, gumtree branches and bird nests and a Christmas bird or two....

 Christmas day we had quail for lunch with a bottle of Penfolds Grange my brother generously brought along for us to have a veritable feast...
and so we did.
After that, we had to try some of our own renowned local reds of course and so it went on
Why did I feel less than healthy the following morning??
Just as well we had plenty of left overs so I didn't have to think too hard about what to have for the next few meals....

Christmas time also always reminds me of sheep.
Everyone seemed to think I ought not to be without sheep after I had to give my own little flock of beautiful spinning wool sheep away years ago. So these sheep on the right here are my constant companions and reminders of days I would spin skein after skein of wool or later Alpaca and also silk. They have collected me and not the other way round.

I also adore pigs and would love to have a pet pig, in fact I wanted a pet pig long before it became fashionable. However, my mother packed my piggybank when we left Holland to come to Anlaby, South Australia and it has been with me since I was a little girl.
You are supposed to smash the pig to get at the money but my brother showed me how to insert a knife blade and the coins would slide out along it and so I was able to save and save my little pig as well.....