KING PARROTS

We walked through the caravan park alongside the Upper Pondage yesterday. I was taking a photo of this blossom when DMJ said, 'Look up slowly, above your head and see what's landed in the tree'. I turned around and took a few shots but, unfortunately, I still had Macro set and below is the only shot that wasn't all that blurred.





















He wasn't at all fazed by our presence and put on quite a show for us, sucking on the blossoms. Most of these birds are so tame in this area as crumbs and seed are thrown to them on a daily basis.

Male King Parrot - Alisterus scapularis

The shots below are typical of their sense of fun when visiting.

MORNING JEWELS

Dewdrops, Ersa’s happy tears,

Morning jewels

Fall once more to earth.

Alaine '09

A Noiseless Patient Spider

A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,
seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

Walt Whitman

A WALK ON THE BRRRR SIDE!

I remembered to take my camera last Saturday. It was a bleak morning, 3C at 8:30am when we started out. The pondage had been empty all week except for the old river bed but was slowly filling up after the water company had finished its annual maintenance.

This is the long walk along Riverside Drive

Fishful thinking?
Poor chap didn't know that the Pondage
had been empty for days and the fish
had escaped into the river.
We wished him luck.

On the other side of Riverside Drive, Kangaroos!

Isn't he/she magnificent!

They come down out of the bush and graze
in front of this house every morning.

Pelicans, waiting, waiting.


We came from over there.

It's a shady walk in Summer.

Further along the track.

What we call a 'drop toilet'
with a beautiful Acacia Cognata the Landcare group planted.

The car's over there.

The Pontoon
rises and falls with the Pondage level.

Track to Bridge

Fishing with Dad.

Rotunda and Ramp from Bridge.

Geese.

The road home.

Four days later, looking South from Bridge.

MY WINTER GARDEN

Eucalypt

Callistemon buds ready to burst

The first Azalea, 'Inga'

Daffodils, I've picked most of them

Derwentia

Daphne

Hellebores - Winter Rose

Manchurian Pear

Erigeron - Seaside Daisy

Camellia

Native shrub - lovely perfume!

No idea

Grevillea - Canterbury Gold

Maple, I think

Wattle

Hardenbergia - The Happy Wanderer

Named in honour of
Franziska, Countess von Hardenberg in 1937

Memorial to our darling Pug, 'Bruffy', buried in our "Grappa Grotto"

Grappa Grotto, April '06
This is how it looked again 4 months ago.

SUSAN, YOU LOOK ABFAB!

Susan Boyle has had her makeover and now we're waiting for the release of her first CD. Doesn't she look lovely! I first wrote about her on 17th April when she'd just won a round of 'Britain's Got Talent'. Since then she's had her problems but she's hanging in there and hope she can for a while longer. I'm looking forward to seeing what's on her first CD.