Whilst waiting for the barge the other day I noticed that one of my neighbours had a nifty box mounted on his bike.
He had brought this all the way from the UK when he moved here and then found a use for it even using it to hold the wiring for his bike light. It holds all kinds of stuff. Wooden boxes are hard to come by at any time and one like this is a gem.
We have a new family that has arrived to help us celebrate Xmas.
The word has gone out, "be careful driving near the creek!"
Like most of the residents of this island I park my car in the parking lot near the jetty (if I can find a place) and then catch the ferry home. But the denisans of the sky's sit around waiting for us to park.
Those lamp posts are just the right size for a pelican to roost.
and then strike when we are gone.
This is minor damage. You get a full load or multiple strikes, it is a disaster.
You NEVER park under a light post .
There are no water taps anywhere close and last time I was hit it took 10 litres of water to get the droppings off the car. There is something in those droppings that eat straight through the duco so you have to remove it quick. They are beautiful to look at but they have this evil side as well!
This past year has been a challenge and I think that the challenges will keep on coming in the future. Nothing really prepares you for old age, it is just kind of there on your doorstep and you have to deal with it the best way you can.
I have inherited a set of auto immune diseases which have made this time even more complicated. But, it shortened the lives of most of my relatives and I have survived, despite all the predictions of the medical profession, who started the doom and gloom predictions from the time of my birth.
The hot, humid, stormy weather upsets how my body works and that is what we have at this time of year.
I have air-conditioning in my bedroom and sewing room so that I can lock myself away from some of the effects this has on my body. I bought a fancy reclining chair to sit in when I put the pump on my legs and a laptop computer so I can use this in the chair.
Also, a Lowry frame to hold my embroidery (and the compression bags for my legs.)
I know the children will give me flowers and chocolates for my birthday but what I really wanted was a magnifying light for when I sit and embroider, so I bought one for myself. It is both a floor and table light.
I have had my old table version since the 1980's and the plastic handle has broken, although the light is still working. You know I bought a replacement light for it just in case it gave out. It never did. That was because I bought that replacement!
So, one adjusts to keep the pleasure of embroidery a continuing pleasure.
It is that time of year when everything speeds up.
Birthdays, Anniversaries, Xmas.
The anniversary was our Golden wedding 50 years together. (You don't get that many years for murder!!) I have all my presents planned and nothing finished. Well I do have a few finished and posted but I am stressing about the Xmas ones.
Added to this my printer died and I had to buy a new one. NEW TECH that I have to learn. I asked my children for help, "just get a techie in Mum". There are no techie's on the island so I will have to pay someone to come over from the mainland. EXPENSIVE!! So I'm trying to learn and sending myself insane.
After I wrote this I sunk into a depression about not being able too get the printer set up, then, I got one computer on, tried to get the lap top and the older computer on and it all fell into a mess, so just went to bed. Next morning I could get nothing to work but then thought "I bet this is all being controlled by AI".
Sure enough that was the key. HP want to control every printer they sell through AI. I now have one desktop and one lap top connected but am locked out from the other desktop because "it is too old". I will have to transfer info from one computer to the other is I want to print anything!!
I now have my sewing machine home but can't get near it.
Panic Stations!!!
But ,there are so many nice things to appreciate out there in the bush. These flowers would make great embroideries.
But where will I get the time?
As part of my plan to learn how to film I was looking at buying a drone to take pictures of my surrounds.
I then asked my neighbour about recommendations regarding type etc. (He has a tech business.). I was really surprised when he said "don't bother, the eagles own the skys here".
He has lost 3 drones to eagles and can no longer get any insurance for them. So I won't be buying a drone.
The weather has been just beautiful. So beautiful that I haven't had anytime to write. Plus, on Monday I decided to work in my garden, got bitten by something and have had a terrible reaction to it. It is still giving me grief but having been bitten before by this thing in my garden I know that the reaction to the bite will pass.
It has been school holidays here and with all the fares on the ferry being 50c we have been inundated with day trippers along with others who came to fish.
It makes a wonderful day for a family with the great weather and beautiful sandy beaches but is terrible for parking on the mainland. I have to admit I stayed at home for the first half of the week because I knew I wouldn't get a parking spot for my car if I moved it. When I did travel it was on the barge along with the other locals because there was no room on the ferry.
Beside the day trippers people have moored their boats off the beach and stayed here. One group of men had all made their boats themselves and each one was perfect.
Just a delight for the eye.
It has been time for the migrating birds to return from Siberia and they have flown into the bay in huge flocks. It quite takes your breath away to see them arrive.
And the whales are here on their migration down to Antarctica. The big ones stay in the deep water.
But the smaller mothers and babies have come to within 50 metres off the beach at the front of my house.
The whales had been hunted almost to extinction, it is wonderful to see them returning. Mother Nature has put on a show for spring.
They have kicked the teenagers out and have another batch.
Just balls of fluff at the moment and I love how Dad takes the rear and Mum leads.
Only 4 survived from the last batch, there are 12 here, it will be interesting to see how they go.
But for now they sure are cute.
Every day I walk past my friend Hayley's home and look at her duck pond. It has a Crepe Myrtle beside it, which makes for wonderful reflections.
I think this would make a great fabric design.
And she has a new puppy called 'Banana' who is a little terrier.
Watch out you chickens and ducks.
Once I realised it was Spring I went looking for the Feesia plants that I planted 30 years ago. My nose told me where they were. Originally they were just planted on the path down to the beach.
This was a candidate for erosion and is why they were planted here.
It helped slow the erosion but didn't stop it.
But now they have spread their way up the creek.
The banks rising from the sea heading south now also have flowers in bloom. We only planted white flowers but there are now lots of mauve ones as well.
I collected a small number to put in the house and the perfume is lovely.
There is no turning back, it is spring.
I am not sure these flowers will last very long, they now grow right to the edge of the beach. The forecast is for a week of temperatures over 30 degrees C. I will enjoy them whilst I can.