Before the heavy rain set in this afternoon, I wandered out with some secateurs to see what the fine weather of the past two weeks has brought out in the garden (other than weeds!). The kangaroo paws and other native plants are close to flowering, and some others were already in their prime.
Here’s a taste.
It’s almost spring (spring officially starts on 1 September in Australia) and the paddocks are still green and the skies are clear. The animals I see on my drive into town are everywhere — this morning there were hundreds of black swans on the estuary; the paddocks were populated with lots of horses, cows, sheep, even a camel; there were wild ducks, pink and grey galahs, white egrets, pelicans, ring-necked parrots, willy wagtails, magpies,etc. either on or close to the estuary. And kangaroos — lots of kangaroos (they were too far back to take photos of, but I’ll try another time when they are much closer to the road).
I took my camera with me this morning when I drove into town, and was able to get some shots of the swans and some of the other animals, as well as the peaceful drive I take every few days when I ‘pop into town’.
Click on a thumbnail picture to see it in full size.
Another Etsy Treasury, this time featuring one of my sets of chicken coasters.
Tooli featured my Channelling Piet Mondrian journal cover in a Piet Mondrian Etsy Treasury the other day; this is my second appearance in a Mondrian-inspired Treasury! Thanks Tooli.
Monday’s are normally my day off. I usually catch up on accounts, makeĀ appointments for that day, do shopping, write blog posts, etc. Well, today was like many other Mondays — I had a chiropractor’s appointment, did some shopping, called in to a solar energy place in town to ask about photovoltaic systems, came home, paid bills etc. Then, as it was such a GORGEOUS winter’s day (with a Spring feel to it), my husband suggested we go for a drive. Anywhere. Just out of the house for a few hours.
My brain was numb and I couldn’t think where to go for a while. Then I suggested we drive inland to Harvey, a small town close to where I grew up, then loop around back to where we live. Off we went. When we got to Harvey, we decided to cross the main highway and head up to Harvey Dam. I hadn’t been there in decades and my last memory of Harvey Dam was the time it cracked and was threatening the town of Harvey in the 1964 (?) floods.
They rebuilt the dam in 2002 (I didn’t know that), and what a pretty spot it is! We walked across the top of the dam wall and I took some pictures of the scenery, the picnic area below, the spillway, and some gorgeous large purple flowers near the picnic area.
Our little jaunt this afternoon was a pleasant break from the computer! I can see us returning for a picnic, BooBoo! š
I had it in my head to make a stylised peacock from jewel-coloured fabric scraps. So after letting my brain consider the idea for a few weeks, I started my peacock a couple of weeks ago — and finished him today. I didn’t have a pattern — I just made him up as I went along!
Here’s a summary of the process I went through :
One of my grape leaf-shaped plate mats made it into a gorgeous forest green Etsy Treasury the other day.
Who’s there? Magpies, that’s who!
So there I was, sitting at theĀ breakfast table reading Saturday’s paper at leisure in the quiet of a gorgeous winter’s morning. Sun shining. Birds singing. Husband still asleep.
I hear a knock on glass. I look behind me and to the side of me (I’m surrounded by two large sliding glass doors). No-one there. I get up, go to the hallway and check the front door — no-one there either. I go to the back/laundry door. Nope. No-one there either. But I can still hear knocking. Now that I’m in the passage near the laundry I can tell it’s close. So I walk into my sewing room and lo and behold I find three magpiesĀ pecking away at the window! Cheeky things.
I think they could see their reflections, and were perhaps attacking them. The sewing room window faces north and at this time of the year it’s getting quite a bit of direct sun. There’s sunblock tinting on the window, so giving it a mirror-like finish on the outside. At first I thought they were going for insects, but the tapping of their beaks on the window — not in the nooks and crannies where insects like to hide — makes me think they were reacting to their reflections.
This morning (Sunday), they were back again at the same window!
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 
