Long absence from here

So long since my last post! I always feel I should be doing things instead of writing about them.

It's getting quite warm outside so my gardening activities have finished for the morning and I want to record my observations.  The jacaranda is in flower, the star jasmine and gardenias look beautiful and add perfume to the air, the agapanthas are in bud and even the melaleucas (bracteatas) are flowering brilliantly this year. So everything is green, purple and white/cream at the moment.

I have picked my first tomatoes for the season, we've had a few pickings of zucchinis and beans are compulsory each evening. (I can hear our daughters reminiscing about the bean gluts!)

Galahs and pale-headed rosellas used our nesting boxes again this year and the babies have already flown the coop.  My poor old magpie that I fed for over 21 years died earlier this year but his absence has contributed to a change in balance in the bird life we see regularly. We have a group of babblers http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Pomatostomus-temporalis that have been hanging around for months and have built several nests on our block although don't appear to have raised any young. They are lovely happy chatty birds. Years ago when they nested here, the blue-faced honey-eaters moved in after them.

2011 has been a pretty good year and I will blog some more soon (while I can remember it.)

Very hungry caterpillars - and other things!

The butterflies (dingy swallowtail, papilio (eleppone) anactus) are beautiful but their caterpillars are decimating my citrus trees in pots, especially the one that I am babysitting for my mother.  I have been unable to take a photo but know I have identified them correctly when my reference (Queensland Museum) writes "larvae feed on citrus trees in suburban gardens."  I have not yet been able to identify the ones that are munching away at my gardenias. I hate using poisonous sprays and also hate squashing caterpillars but every day I pick them off the plants and stomp on them. At least by doing this so regularly most of them are very small so, for me, the act is not so gross.

The wet summer has changed the balance in the garden. Shrubs and plants that survived and almost thrived in the years of drought have "drowned" while others have sprung to life with vigorous new shoots.  We have never cut so much grass so often and I am not complaining because the lush green growth is very pleasing visually and emotionally. I have revived my vegie patch, repotted plants and renewed my interest in the garden.  I use the term "garden" loosely as we simply have a few garden beds on a bush block plus dozens of pot plants in our outdoor living area.

This is a picture of one of my bromeliad flowers.  (They are wonderful drought-resistant plants that grow out of pots - literally.)

The flower head is about 10cm in diameter and quite prickly. This morning I was amazed to see that something has eaten away a large patch of the prickly "petals". I have absolutely no idea what would do this; a possum, a rat???

Actually we've observed several other amazing things lately.  My vegie patch is enclosed by chicken wire to keep out the wallabies and hares  and something had made a big hole in one of the walls at ground level. We concluded that it must be a rat although there was no other evidence. Last week I was surprised, in more than one way, to disturb a big goanna in my garden. It would have been about 4 to 5 feet long and made a quick escape through the hole in the chicken wire. Perhaps it had learned that chicken wire enclosures can be a good source of eggs?

Recently something has been chewing out the centres of the "pups" on our agave. In the absence of any evidence we again blamed a rat initially but what a surprise to learn that crows are the culprits! We've seen them on several occasions and have yet to determine the attraction.

No - we don't live in a rat-infested area!

We hate Indian Mynas

..because.. ABC article... and that is only one of many articles detailing these problem birds. We had regarded them as undesirable for a couple of years and understood that they had a preference for mowed lawns and tidy gardens (not like ours.) However one was recently spotted aggravating the galahs that are nesting in one of our trees for the fourth consecutive year and I was prompted to read more about them.

The galahs are now feeding their young and my male magpie that I have been feeding for twenty years has brought his sole baby this year to our back door. The ground is so hard because of the dry weather that it must be difficult for the birds to find sufficient food, so I am glad that they have only one baby this year. We have a couple of bird baths at the front of our house and the variety of birds that come in for water confirm what we already know: that there's not much water lying around the area.

Another baby bird

How can it be so cold today after it was sooooo hot yesterday?!? Both extremes mean that not much outside work got done.

Last week we commented on the absence of the frogmouths who have nested on our block in recent years. However a day or two later a lone downy baby was sighted at the base of a tree on our neighbours' block; another nestling had hit the ground! We placed it on a nearby branch and the parents took up guard almost immediately. Interesting because we have have observed that they are normally most reluctant to move about in daylight hours. The baby is still in the same place and being well cared for by its parents. It may be some time before it can fly.

I actually took this photo with my phone and have finally sorted out the bluetooth thing to transfer the image to the computer.

I don't watch much television but in recent weeks have started to watch old re-runs of M.A.S.H. It still makes me laugh as much as it did decades ago - and I still think Alan Alda is lovely!

We organised our annual street bbq for last week and that was a huge success. A few houses have changed hands since last year and although we all tend to wave to each other as we drive up and down the street, it was great to have an opportunity for everyone to meet and talk to each other.

I am delighted to be able to report that I can buy Australian-grown tinned asparagus spears and commend Windsor Farm on this new initiative. It really annoys me that so many foodstuffs on our grocery shelves are imported when we should be able to grow them in Australia!

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.

Spring!

My tomatoes are planted, my ponds are clean and lots of plants have been repotted! I have happy fish, croaking frogs, baby galahs, a baby possum and feeding magpies.

I've been busy this week trying to get things done before Ross has an arthroscopy on his knee tomorrow. He has been quite grumpy; partly due to the pain and reduced mobility and partly because I've been requesting help for jobs that have to be done at this time of year. (And now he is complaining about backache too! The joys of ageing!)

Previously we spent nearly a week with my sister in Airlie Beach and on their boat in the Whitsundays. How lucky are we to be able to spend time in that magical part of the world!?! We saw lots of dolphins which always adds to the magic for me and as the ocean was calm it was wonderful to fall asleep at night listening to the gentle lap of the waves.

I was home in time to attend the opening of the Toowoomba Quilters' Club exhibition on Saturday. What an inspiring occasion - but also somewhat intimidating for such a beginner patchwork/quilter. I'm surprised at how much my tastes have changed over the past year; possibly because I have a much better of idea of what is actually involved in producing the different types of finished quilts.

I didn't make it to the Carnival of Flowers parade this year and neither have I visited any of the gardens, despite having good intentions.