How the light changes

I have photographed this beach so many times over the last 20 years but all you need is a change of light and direction and it looks totally different.

This is low tide at dawn.

My resident Frog - Mervyn

This year has started off so wet.  I am not complaining as there are many places that are wetter than here but the weather has encouraged the tree frogs.

Don't leave the screen door open or they will hop straight in.  Seems that the weather is a little wet even for them.  One tree frog has had to be evicted so many times that I have now given him a name.  He is such a pest that I decided to paint a water-colour of him so that when the dry returns I can remember him. 

So this is Mervyn.

Fish

Mmmmm, looks like there are sand whiting around.

A mistress of weaving

On one of my walks through the bush I came across the work of a "Mistress of Weaving".

What a beautiful piece?  From this direction It almost looks like a butterfly sculpture.

Life has changed again

Well school didn't work out for my grand daughter and we are back to home schooling.  (She was targeted by bullies in the first few days and just freaked out and is now totally traumatized.)  The change this time is that I will have to travel to their home, which will see me having to catch the 5:30am ferry to get there in time.  I don't think I will come home and travel back again the next day, rather, I will stay over night.  It looks as though I will only be needed a couple of days each week as her other grandparents will return in a couple of weeks time and my daughter will join us on the roster.  There is only another 6 weeks in this term before the Xmas break, so it isn't forever.  I'm not sure what the arrangements will be for 2023.  By that time the family will be in their new home which is only 20 minutes from the island.  The last 3 years have been lessons in have to be flexible and be able to adapt the change.  I will just keep this image of my beautiful island at the front of my mind all the time and "roll with the punches"'

Flowers

The bearded iris is flowering and makes a lovely display.

But beware, they also can leave a mark on your clothes, furnishings or the wall.

The blooms don't last very long once cut.   I wonder what they would be like used in dyeing?

A lullabye

The Bush Stone Kerlew is an endangered native bird but on our island they are everywhere.  They are known for their call which is rather like a sad screaming.  First nations people say it is the screaming of a parent for a lost child or maybe a child that has died or is going to die.

At the moment there are lots of chicks being hatched  and one pair is in our yard.  The other day I heard this most unusual bird call.  It was soft and sweet and it was a Kerlew talking to her chick, rather like a mother singing a lullaby, just beautiful.   Nothing like the loud scream that is usually associated with the bird.  I hope these chicks survive.

 

The Eagles

I don't know if these are the same eagles that lost their eggs to the snake but another pair have been spotted high in the wetlands and they have chicks.

That is so exciting to see.

They are out early this year

The snakes don't usually come out for a couple of months yet but this one has woken early.

He had been hunting frogs in the creek outside the coffee shop, there are lots of frogs in there.  Every one looked on with big eyes and said they better check the chicken hutches and make sure that all the screen doors were shut so they couldn't get into the house.  Then some-one said that the snakes had got up to one of the eagles nests and taken their eggs.  Those eagles have moved house to another site.  It is almost time for all the young chicks to be born around the island.  Hope those parents are prepared.

I think I will watch my step coming up from the beach through the bush and I think that snake got something bigger than frogs.  He has some good sized lumps along his body.  He has a bit of food to digest there so that should keep him quiet for a while.

I think Spring is on the way!

Looking over the fence to my neighbours home, I see that her peach tree is in blossom.

I can't be a year ago that those blossoms were there?

And all the wattle is going bonkers.

And so many different varieties of wattle.

Even in the car park at the ferry jetty.

Then I looked up and realised that some of the other trees were covered in blossom.

It's definately looking a lot like spring.

I was wondering why all the birds were so noisey!

Time for spring cleaning.