Lucky Bird

A week ago a baby galah dropped out of one of our nesting boxes and into our lives. After several messy feeding sessions in the laundry I placed him on our front verandah and eventually the parent birds came down to feed it. It slept in a box inside at night and I got up at dawn each day to put it out for the parents to feed, which they did regularly throughout the days. After several unsuccessful jumps off of the verandah, and encouraged by its parents, it flew away on Wednesday. I was relieved, and sad, to see it go.


Eight or nine years ago, prompted by sightings of squirrel gliders, "we" built a number of nesting boxes and paid someone to install them in our big trees. The unfortunate (or maybe fortunate?) galah fell/jumped about 40 feet from a box that its parents had used previously. This photo shows the prototype box that was hung about 4 feet off the ground, just outside the workshop door - and quickly occupied by a brushtail possum. Our boxes have been used by squirrel gliders, possums, galahs and pale headed rosellas.

As I was without nursing duties on Thursday I went to Brisbane Craft and Quilt Fair - a first for me. Again I was overwhelmed by the talent of so many people, not to mention the range of products available at the various stalls. I only bought a few small things but will attend next year (if it fits into my busy schedule) now that I have an idea of the nature of the Fair.

I stayed overnight in Brisbane with our daughters and was able to give lots of helpful gardening advice and assistance. I'm actually delighted that one daughter has developed an interest in gardening: roses in particular which are not quite my style but she obviously gets the same buzz as I do when a plant responds to care and bursts into flower!

Since my last blog we have been away on a couple of short camping trips. It's such a nice time of year; pleasant temperatures and no school holiday crowds. We had a lovely time at Cressbrook Dam once I forgot what it used to look like when it was full. We saw dozens of deer at dawn, were entertained by boxing kangaroos at dusk and visited by paddy melons when we sat outside with drinks in the evenings. The wildlife is an important part of my camping experiences!

On one of these trips I read Christopher Koch's "The Memory Room" which I really enjoyed. That's another thing I enjoy about camping; I can sit and read for hours at a time.

I've also made some progress with my patchwork and quilting and have actually done some hand quilting. I am now going to make another table runner as I have decided they are a manageable sized project for me, something that I use, and provide plenty of "learning opportunities" which assist with confidence building.