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.

Start of the blooming of the Wattle

The weather here has been wild.  We have had 100k winds beating in on us and lots of rain.  I haven't been very well this week so it hasn't really effected me.  I went to the mainland to do my grocery shopping on one day all rugged up with two jackets, hats gloves the lot.  All the umbrellas got destroyed by that wind.  But for the most part I just sat around and read books.

But now the sun has returned and the winds have dropped.  The trees have been trimmed by the winds but despite all that the wattle is starting to bloom.

This bush is on the top of the bank behind the beach but is protected by some big trees.  It is always the first bush to blossom.

Little balls of yellow sunshine.

It isn't a big bush so I only take a small spray to put in with the other flowers. 

The other flower that is blooming is the Crucifix  Orchid.

This is the most common colour.  Now I have my eye open to see the pink and purple ones.

There are lots of varieties of wattle.  The next one to blossom will be this one.  Already the green of the tree has a yellow tinge to it.

Looking at it more closely you can see the flowers forming.

It is so good to see the sun again.  I don't like it when there are extended periods of wind and rain.

I would love to buy a Bouganvillia the same colour as my neighbours.  There is something about that mauve colour.

And this is what happens when you plant a indoor pot plant out in a sheltered spot in the garden. It turns into a giant plant!

Unfortunately winter still has some time to go yet before Spring and Summer arrive.

(I hope it isn't going to be as hot as Europe.)

Where I live

The weather has returned to what it should be.  Cool clear days and cold nights.  In other words it is beautiful.  But only for a short while because the rain and cold is on it's way back.

This has brought the dolphins into the beaches and around the jettys.

Whilst I was learning my Goldwork they had a Mangrove Festival on the island and the Dolphins escorted the boats around the mangroves.

photo from Facebook by Jan Cox

The birds are all super noisey at the moment, sometimes you can't hear yourself think.  I saw these Black Cookatoos  but didn't have my camera with me luckily Gary Nolan put some great shots up on Facebook.

As I walk the dog twice a day I should take my camera with me.  The native flowers are about to bloom they should make some great shots.

 

I knew it could happen.

All that crocheting and the arrival of a very cold winter (0 degrees C) has seen my wrist taken over with rheumatoid arthritis.  I knew it might hit me and I was hoping to get the throw finished but I have had to stop, 1.5 rows from the end.  If I don't stop now it will get worse.  If I do stop now there is a chance it will go away.  I know it is lurking there just waiting for me to make a mistake.  So no action at all.  It is an autoimmune problem and my niece has it as well, although she has had to give up all her art work, and she worked as an artist she can't hold a brush or even a pencil.

So quite a bit of walking and photography.  I'm storing up design ideas for the future.  Years ago I came across the native hibiscus tree that grows on the edges of the beaches on the island.  Their flowers are lovely.

The flowers drop onto the sand and change colour.  A run of these scattered on the sand is a lovely sight.

But there is a beetle that eats the leaves and flowers leaving every thing looking rather raggie.

This is a 'jewel beetle' which is rather stunning in it's own right.

I have never seen them on this end of the island before.

Maybe it isn't them that eat the leaves because they are always found on the seed pods.

These ones aren't as bright as the ones on the northern end of the island but still, great colours.  I can see these done as stump work.

That bright red on the underside is very striking.

I remember making a small quilt that featured those flowers.  I wonder what I did with that?

 

Where I live

The window in my sewing room looks out onto the patio.  This is a sun trap in winter and a lovely place to sit and stitch or knit.  My dream would be to have climbing roses growing up the posts and all over the railings.  But I live in the sub-tropics and roses just don't grow very well here.  What will grow is Bouganvillia, so I have planted some of that.  Now, I wasn't sure just how it was going to take but it is now starting to cover my railings.

 

The view out the window is improving.  It has taken over a year to get to this stage and it has no perfume, unlike roses.

It still has to be trained into position but this is a start.

The big drawback are the huge thorns on the branches, they can ripe your arm open.  They make rose thorns look like midgets.  I bought a purple variety to plant at the other end of the patio.

So now I am on the look out for other coloured varieties.  I have seen a lovely mauve one in a local garden but haven't spotted one in a nursery as yet.  I had a wonderful climbing rose in Cairns, which is in the tropics.  Just couldn't get it to grow here.