To Cull Or Not To Cull

I try to avoid being too controversial here but this is something I feel strongly about so I hope you’ll bear with me this time.

When I mentioned in a recent blog post how the survival rate of baby bobtails is low due to predatory birds a commenter on this blog - hello, David - reminded me about the importance of predators in maintaining a healthy natural balance. He is quite right, too. All the evidence suggests that if you remove apex predators things start to go awry. Populations of some animals explode and that in turn has follow on effects right across the board. 

Western Australia, where I live, has a vast coastline and like most of Australia, the bulk of the population lives along that coastline, particularly in the south western corner - and we do love our beaches. They are pretty spectacular - miles of pure white sand and crystal clear water with many impressive surf breaks on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Surfing is popular - driving along the coast you'll see large numbers of folk out on their boards every day but so is swimming and for those of us who prefer not to use a surfboard, the waves are ideal for body surfing. There's good fishing, too, for any who like such activities, both from the beach and by boat. Add in long and very hot summers - we've already had several days over 40°C in Perth this summer and inland it's been much hotter - and as you can imagine the beaches and the ocean get a lot of use.

But with all this watery living there is a problem. Oceans have fish and a large fish population brings with it predators. Dolphins preying on fish frequent harbours, bays, estuaries and lower reaches of some rivers, and hunt along the coast and sea lions are found on many of the off shore islands. Further out to sea in some areas there are much larger predators in the form of orca pods. We accept these without question acknowledging that they need to eat and largely interactions with them are positive. Mind you I for one wouldn't want to risk taking a dip if a pod of orcas happened to be nearby. Beautiful they might be but they are fearsome hunters and might mistake me for something more to their taste.

I haven't mentioned sharks yet, have I, but obviously they're here. They don't have the same warm acceptance as the other predators partly because they do on occasion come into contact with us - and when that happens the outcome is rarely good. In Western Australian shark attacks are mainly by great white (Carcharodon carcharias) and tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) sharks in the ocean and bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) in rivers and estuaries. I get that these are fearsome creatures and being attacked by a shark if not fatal almost invariably leads to terrible injuries and I wouldn't wish a shark attack on anyone. 

That said, while horrific and shocking, they are relatively rare - in the last thirty years there have been 21 fatalities - which means while there are always going to be sharks out in the ocean your chances of being attacked by one are pretty slim if you’re a swimmer. Board riders are at more risk and there's some evidence that sharks confuse people wearing black wet suits for seals or sea lions, and take an exploratory bite before realising their error. As the majority of fatalities have been surfers and were not devoured it makes me suspect this may well be the case. 

My problem is that whenever there's a shark attack there is an immediate public outcry and demands for a cull including nonsensical talk of "rogue" sharks as if they are deliberately seeking out people and if we cull them the problem will go away. There are a number of things wrong with this approach in my opinion.

1. For a start how do we know the shark we cull is the one that attacked? Obviously we don't and we risk taking out sharks that never have and never will attack a person.

2. Sharks are long lived creatures and if we remove a number of mature breeding females we could completely disrupt the balance of the natural ecosystem because older sharks are not being replaced.

3. We know that when an apex predator is removed from an ecosystem on land the effects are huge. Why can't we grasp that the same will happen in the ocean?

4. When you remove one large predator the likelihood is that another will quickly move in to take its place.

Obviously there is a problem but as you can guess I don't see culling as the answer. 

So how do we deal with the problem? Well, first off we need to accept that the ocean is the shark's natural habitat and not ours. We are land creatures and while we may like to swim and surf by doing that we are entering an alien environment, one where there are dangers. As well as choosing sensible times to go in the water - like avoiding dusk and dawn and dull cloudy days - we can mitigate the dangers by netting swimming beaches. Unfortunately it's expensive and experience shows such enclosures can cause creatures other than sharks to get trapped in the netting. There's been some experimentation with shark deterrent lines at beaches recently, too, which are still unproven but look hopeful. We can patrol the most popular beaches and warn swimmers and surfers to leave the water when a shark is sighted. This is very effective at swimming beaches and has been in place here for many years. It's now being augmented by helicopter flights along the metropolitan coast line. Finally we can ensure that whale carcasses and anything similar attractive to sharks are removed from the vicinity of beaches as a matter of urgency, closing beaches where necessary. 

All of this will help but the truth is if we choose to swim or surf - particularly at times or places where sharks are likely to be - we have to accept there is always a risk. I write this as someone who grew up swimming and body surfing daily in the summer and who was taught from an early age to be aware of my surroundings and to be mindful of the potential dangers. By taking reasonable precautions we can be fairly safe but there can never be a guarantee, something we had drummed into us early on. I can't begin to imagine the horror victims go through and their families' suffering. It's something I hope would never happen to anyone ever but if we choose to enter the water we put ourselves into a place where a different set of rules apply and we have to accept that.

Sorry, People, But We're Living In A Pandemic

I'm lucky enough to be living in what is probably one of the safest places (in terms of COVID 19) in the world at the moment. We had a relatively brief lockdown in February and March which was gradually lifted although we have maintained strict controls over who can and cannot enter the state. In total as of today there have only been 854 cases here - all from incoming people (travellers, returning residents and crews of ships) and of those there have been 9 deaths. There have been no infections in the community at large. 

What has given us this safety is our hard border policy and it is supported strongly here. This has meant that apart from essential supplies coming in from outside and strict quarantine measures for those who are granted entry - you can get exemptions for a variety of reasons but then have to self isolate or go into quarantine - for months now we've pretty much been living our lives as usual. A system of contact tracing has been put in place for anywhere that large groups meet up and we can travel freely in most of the state.  This has not been universally popular in other parts of the country, many of which have been vocal in their complaints and regularly demand we open our borders. One newspaper has even accused us of threatening national unity. Those who live here, on the other hand, have seen what happens when things are not so tightly policed and are well aware of how lucky we are so are none too keen on risking what has happened in other places happening here. 

That said there is as always a small proportion of those folk who think their wants should come ahead of the safety of the whole community. Every day there are complainers - we call them whingers here - who want the rules to be relaxed and I get it. We're social creatures and we want to go back to a world where you could jump on a plane and visit family interstate or in another country, one where you don't have to sign in when you take your child to swimming class or at a restaurant, where you can go where you want when you want. The trouble is life has been turned upside down worldwide and that way of life no longer exists. 

This is not important to the whingers, though. Every day on talk back radio, on social media, in letters to the newspaper there are people complaining that they can't do what they want when they want and it's not fair. In the past few days I've heard complaints ranging from how unfair it is to not let someone from another state bring their one year old here to visit his grandparents - it's his first Christmas, how can they be deprived of this - to how inconvenient it is to have to fill out your contact details at a public venue and that's before we even consider the idiots who breach self isolation or quarantine or try to avoid quarantine altogether. They are being robbed of these moments by a mean spirited government which should let them do what they want because they want it whether it's meeting with family or going to a nightclub when they should be in quarantine. Community safety means nothing to them. 

Well, the world doesn't work that way. Even in normal times we can't always do exactly what we want and people miss out on moments like a grandchild's first Christmas all the time. People get ill or have accidents and end up in hospital instead of at a family lunch. It happens. I've missed enough Christmases with family due to health problems to know the day is not what matters. You miss that particular moment but you catch up later and it's all the sweeter for it. Let's try to understand that and realise that a small sacrifice of a looked forward to pleasure for the common good is not the end of the world. Truth be told in this world of the internet you can get to see pretty much everything via video anyway and while it's certainly not the same as having physical contact it's a great deal better than nothing.

Bobtail

 This handsome fellow is one of the bobtails I mentioned a few days ago that live in our garden. This particular one has been turning up in all sorts of unexpected spots lately. Yesterday evening as I was watering the plant pots he - I think his slightly swollen tail makes him male although it is notoriously hard to tell the difference - suddenly appeared from between two pots where he had presumably settled for the night. He was somewhat irritated at the accidental spray he'd received. He's also been a great source of kitty TV as Mr Puss fixates on him as he wanders past various doors. His mate hasn't been about as much so far this year and has very different colouring being more grey than brown. They mate for life and the female usually gives birth to two babies in spring. Sadly survival rate for the young is not great as they are preyed on by many birds. Also sadly many are killed crossing roads. Since they eat snails among other things  - and my strawberries which they consider a delicacy are safely in hanging baskets - they are very welcome here.

How Times Have Changed

The first time I remember going to a hospital was, I guess, when I was six or seven (I’m not going to tell you how long ago that was) and I was taken to see my grandfather. The ward was huge - in my memory it stretched forever - with men in beds lined up in rows against the walls and there were even more beds out on an enclosed veranda. It was all very regimented with nurses in crisp white uniforms bustling around, their starched veils fascinating me. This was the major public hospital here at the time and while a new modern extension had been added some years before, much of the hospital was still old style and as it had been back in the 1920s when it was first built. My grandfather had worked on the extension as a bricklayer but unfortunately whatever ailed him - and I have no idea what that was - didn't give him a bed in the new part although I'm sure it didn't affect his treatment which would have been to the standard of the time. The overpowering smell of carbolic disinfectant is still clear in my mind.

A year or so later I was taken to visit my father who had had surgery. This was at a private hospital and my overwhelming memory is of a big dark room with eight beds that smelled of disinfectant and cigars - one of the patients was a smoker who went out on to a tiny balcony for a smoke. As well as some of the wartime Japanese currency that had been printed for those countries they had invaded, he gave me several wooden cigar boxes so he must have smoked quite a bit while in hospital. The currency disappeared long ago and why he had it with him in hospital I have no idea. The whole place was depressing in the extreme with nurses frowning at any noise. 

My recent hospital experience couldn't have been more different. I had a minor medical procedure as day surgery and pretty much the worst bit (apart from having to have a general anaesthetic) was having to get through the morning rush hour traffic. The hospital is a private one and the Day Unit consisted of bright four bed wards with each bed curtained and having a lockable closet for your clothing and other items. Cheerful nurses in blue scrubs were there to help at the press of a buzzer and once my procedure was done and I was back in the ward there were cups of coffee and sandwiches and nurses coming in to check on me every few minutes until Pisces came to pick me up. Everything was modern and attractive with not a hint of disinfectant. Not, you understand, that these conditions made me want to stay any longer but they certainly made it more pleasant. 

We've certainly come a long way, haven't we.

NaNoWriMo?

 It barely happened this year for so many reasons outside my control. I'm forgiving myself, though - it really was just impossible - and I'm thinking about giving myself some time over summer when I can try to do some serious work. I factor in a space where I can study uninterrupted daily so why not make a similar space for writing? Since this time of year I'm usually awake at around 5:00 AM instead of turning over and going back to sleep for an hour - never very successful because I only doze fitfully  from then on - I might as well get up, make myself a decent mug of coffee then sit down and write, mightn't I.  I'll let you know how this works out. 

I can see one problem with this plan, though. I've always liked my afternoon nap - I truly should have been born into a society where the siesta was mandatory. Even in the days when I went out to work I'd find somewhere private where I could have a doze of twenty minutes or so during my lunch break (this was back in the day when a lunch hour was actually an hour). I can see I'm going to have to make sure a short nap doesn't morph into a long sleep but that shouldn't be impossible.

While getting actual words down did not go as I'd planned during NaNoWriMo I did do some thinking about the story line. There's always been a section in the middle of this novel where I just couldn't seem to get things to work - and now I know why.  This means I can fill in this blank space - at the moment marked by place holder chapter headings - and move the story on so it links with the next part - which is already written. I always knew this would be three novels but I hadn't planned how or where each of the successive novels should end  - or begin for that matter. Now I've worked it out - and I have to say it's something of a relief. 

So there you go - NaNoWri-Mo may not have worked as it's supposed to but now I can move forward and I'm really looking forward to doing just that.

Wildlife Seen in My Garden

The wildlife has been really been busy around our yard over the last two days. Well, it is still the Nyoongar season of Kambarang - the season of birth - although we'll soon be into Birak - Summer in the European calendar.

1. There's a very amorous froggie in the frog pond. He's a motorbike frog  - Litoria moorei - and has a been calling most of the day and night in hopes of attracting a mate. You can see and hear what he sounds like here http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/frogwatch/frogs/motorbike-frog

2. There are frogs everywhere at the moment. I went outside the other evening and when I came back there was an adolescent frog settled high up on the glass door into the family room. When I say settled I mean it. Convincing it to move so I could open the door was not easy.

3. And in yet another froggie tale my cat has been waking me at night banging on my bedroom window for several nights. Last night he started doing it before I went to bed and when I shone a light onto the window ledge there was a large frog completely ignoring the knocking much to Mr Puss's frustration.

4. It's not only frogs appearing in the garden. Yesterday I went out early to check my seedlings not paying much attention to anything except the task in hand. I looked up as I reached the clothesline which is just above head height and came face to face with a kookaburra which was focussed on the frog pond in front of it. I don't know who was most startled but it had no intention of moving until I spun the line around. Kookaburras are widespread here but they are actually feral having been introduced from the east coast over a century ago.

5. We know summer is close once the bobtails (their proper name is Tiliqua rugosa and they are also sometimes called stumpy tailed lizards) appear and when Pisces went out yesterday afternoon one was sunning itself on the driveway near the front door. We've had several living in our garden for as long as we've lived here. They mate for life and are live bearers. Since they can live as long as fifty years they are likely to be the same one who moved in when we did.

6. Flocks of several species of honeyeaters and wattlebirds are taking advantage of the birdbath outside my study windows. They are quite a distraction as is the resident willy wagtail and all are remarkably unfazed by my presence when I'm working in the garden.

 

Decluttering - Onwards and Upwards

 For the past far too long as you might remember I've been working on decluttering the house. It's been pretty stop start due to all sorts of things but mostly health problems. When it's not Pisces producing yet another obscure health oddity it's me - although to be honest he's way ahead of me these days. I'm making some progress on the house but while the pile of donate or recycle in the hall is more than half gone I have yet to deal with a biggie - the outdated computers and their accessories. They're still here unfortunately although the bulk of the dead phones and other obsolete electronics left the house ages ago.

Over the years that I've had computers (which I have to say is a very long time now) quite a number have passed through my hands. Some - the old desktops which I gave up using around twenty years ago - long ago died and went off to PC heaven but that hasn't been the case with several ancient laptops - and these are old, very old. They have been stored away and all but forgotten until now - mainly because I had no idea how to get rid of them. It all seemed too hard and much simpler to shove them in the back of a cupboard and forget about them. 

Now, though, it's time for them to go. I've found a charity that refurbishes computers and donates them to those in need and, as they also take old devices for parts, I'm hoping they have a use for these relics. Somewhat to my surprise, despite their age and neglect, they still work although their software and operating systems are many years out of date and their batteries - well, let's just say they're no longer fit for purpose. When I checked it turns out I was more efficient than I thought back in the day and had backed everything up. So that's a start and most of the clean up of the laptops is done but there is still a mini device from the days before tablets came in which I doubt will be of use to anyone. It, too, will have to be checked out and restored to pristine factory status before I can rid myself of it.

 It's all been very time consuming and I wish I'd done it long ago. Yes, I know that would have been the sensible thing to do but there you go. You do what you do - or don't do - and live with the consequences. Oh well, at least once they're gone there'll be one less thing to do, won’t there.

The Importance Of Remembrance

 I've been thinking about this a lot since Remembrance Day on November 11. Pisces and I always make the effort to mark the day by standing for the one minute's silence at 11:00 AM (We do the same for ANZAC Day). It's not hard to remember to do this on either day because the build up is covered widely in the media. On television and radio and in print and on social media there is extensive coverage and of course there are the poppies being distributed at shopping centres. Honestly you'd have to be completely oblivious to miss it - and yet, it seems some folk are.

I got to thinking about this specifically because just at the end of the minute's silence this year - when Pisces and I had both stopped what we were doing - the phone rang. I was somewhat shocked but answered it because the strident noise broke my concentration - it's hard to focus when a loud noise is screaming at you (our phone is set to the highest tone because Pisces is somewhat deaf). The person on the other end wanted to arrange a medical appointment for Pisces and was somewhat shocked when I pointed out that we were trying observe the one minute of silence. 

It's not the first time this sort of interruption has happened but it is the first time I've made it clear this is inappropriate. If the traffic in the city can be brought to a halt for a couple of minutes while buglers play and people stop to remember the horrors of war (in the city centre all traffic lights are turned to red so this can happen) why can't businesses of all sorts do the same unless there is a safety issue? I'm always appalled that our local shopping centre doesn't at the least announce the time and play the bugle calls over the public address system. It has never happened in my experience. 

The thing is the whole event takes only about three minutes and truth be told, however busy our lives are, we can spare that amount of time. These ceremonies are important because while we've heard the old adage about those who don't know their history being bound to repeat the mistakes of the past we need to be reminded of that. This is a way to allow us to reflect on our nation's past, a way for us to remember the waste of lives that war brings and just maybe we might remember that and avoid being rushed into a similar war in the future.

In memory of John Ellis, Robert Ellis and Horace King.

Remembrance Day 2020

Lest we forget 

Cactus Flowers

 Look what I found when I went out to water the potted cactus this morning. Cactus flowers!

Aren't they lovely? These are some of the smaller ones about the size of my spread out hand but there were a couple of others that I couldn't reach to photograph. One is a huge - about half as big again as these - and a glorious creamy white and the other - also huge - is a rich, deep cerise in the centre shading to purplish at the edges. 

I've been growing these for many years and most of the time they are fairly messy, nondescript and frankly look very uninteresting but then they produce these stunning blooms. Unlike the cacti that only open for a short time at night these open during the day and stay open for a day or so. It's a lovely gift for a gardener.

Printer Blues

About a week ago I went to print something from my computer, something I do frequently, and received an error message. The printer driver for my HP printer that I've been using for the past five years had suddenly become malware according to my Mac and if I used it I risked damaging my device. It gave the option of ignoring the message so I tried to go on with my printing only to find it was impossible. I did the usual stuff - turned the computer and printer off and restarted it, ran a malware scan - then tried again. No luck. So I went to HP support. No mention of a problem. Hmmm. Then I tried Apple Support. Same result. Hmmmmm.

Then, somewhat belatedly, I thought of seeing if there was a wider problem than my little set up. Turns out owners of HP printers and Macs everywhere were having a similar problem and while for me it was an inconvenience - I just needed to print out some household receipts  - for business owners it was proving much, much worse. As we wrestled with the problem - various work arounds were suggested but most were only partly, if at all, effective - the news slowly filtered through that there had been a miscommunication between Apple and HP resulting in "certificates" - and I have no idea what that means - being revoked with the upgrade to the Catalina operating system meaning the printers were out of commission until that could be sorted. HP were very sorry but it was all okay, though, because we could use the Air Print facility of our Macs until it was sorted. Simple.

Except it wasn't. My printer is about seven years old and originally belonged to my Dad. It does not recognise Air Print and there were many other printer owners with the same problem - a perfectly functional printer we couldn't use. 

I gave it a few days assuming it would be quickly sorted. It wasn't, though, so, given the age of my printer, I decided it might be wise to buy a more up to date one and off we toddled to the shops with a list of Air Print ready printers in hand. I settled on one, brought it home and yesterday went to work to set it up. 

The instructions were very clear and I worked my way through the set up fairly quickly. When I tried a test run was when things started to go awry. I got a succession of different error messages - these ranged from a paper jam - nope, no paper available - there was plenty, the ink cartridges were installed incorrectly - they weren't - and the messages, none seemingly related, just kept on and on. I went to the company support page which was useless, reread the user manual - I was doing everything as I should, and even posed the question to the internet but got nothing useful back. By now it was three hours from when I'd begun and the migraine I'd had niggling at the beginning was a full blown attack. Life was not fun and I started to think I had a dud device. 

In desperation I ran through the settings once more - and discovered the paper size had for some unknown reason reverted from A4 to US letter. I changed it back, tried another test and it worked. It's still working today although I confess I've been checking the paper size setting every time I've used it and my fingers are firmly crossed that it was the only problem.

"More than a Woman"

 More Than a Woman is by Caitlin Moran and all I can say is"Wow". In a series of essays - sometimes hilarious and sometimes heart wrenching - Moran takes us through the realities of life for the middle aged and menopausal woman, a time which she calls Hagdom. This references the Hag who appears in so many old stories and who is a woman beyond child rearing years,usually wizened and/or ugly but who possess wisdom - hard earned wisdom at that - which she uses to good effect. I'm not sure I want to be defined as a Hag - these women tended to be outcasts of society and often feared - but I get what she means. These are women who have moved past relying on their youth and appearance to live with acceptance of who they are as they age. In another time and place they would be the healers or the wise women of their society but in our youth obsessed world they are the largely invisible glue holding society together.

I found myself identifying with so much of what she wrote that I was reading aloud bits that strongly resonated to my sometimes bemused husband. Apparently a quote out of context can be confusing. Who'd have thought. Moran talks about many of the things that men and women have to deal with in the present world, some of them troubling, others amusing, and shares some very personal moments and experiences along with the ubiquitous To Do List that she quite rightly says every woman has either mentally or written down.

While I'm still not too sure I want to be a Hag I have to admit I have today's To Do List in front of me so maybe I've already missed my chance to be anything else. 

Jokes aside I do highly recommend this book. While it's aimed at women men would also gain a lot from it, if only a glimpse and some insight into the reality of women's lives. 

More Than a Woman is published by Edbury Publishing.

To Everything There Is A Season

I don't listen to the radio much but Pisces has it on all the time. He carries a small radio in his pocket so when he walks past I inevitably get a sound bite. Usually I don't pay much attention to whatever it is because I'm really not into talk back radio and the stations he listens to rarely have music I care about. The other day, though, there was a blast from the past that seemed incredibly appropriate to what's going on in these pandemic days. 

What I heard was Turn Turn Turn. This is a song written way back in the fifties by folk singer Pete Seeger who used (rearranging the order and slightly altering) the words of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the King James version of the Bible. He added the words of the title - Turn Turn Turn - as a refrain which repeats throughout the song and as well as the words "I swear it's not too late." as the final line of the song to make a connection with the anti war feeling of the times.

It became hugely popular during the sixties when it was released by US group The Byrds reaching number one on the charts in both the US and UK although it had earlier been recorded by folk group The Limelighters and then by folk singer Judy Collins who was to release another version later in 1969. After The Byrds success covers were released by whole host of singers and it is still being included albums today.

I have no idea who that singer on Pisces' radio was but whoever it was it inspired me to go and look at various versions of this song and among them I found a video of Judy Collins in 1966 which I loved. I'd like to share it with you. Enjoy.

Friends In Low Places

 I've had this song stuck in my head for a couple of weeks ever since I watched the Celtic Thunder version with Ryan Kelly as the soloist.

While I enjoyed that performance I have no idea why the song got itself so embedded since I wasn't a great fan of the Garth Brookes original but there you go.  

Then last night it suddenly struck me that it would work very well as a cappella and it turns out I'm not the only one who's had that thought.  Here is country music a cappella group Home Free and their cover of Friends in Low Places. Enjoy.

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia"

I love skilled fiddle playing and so for today's sliver of joy I give you Celtic Thunder's Ryan Kelly performing "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" with Nicole Hudson playing the violin.

Enjoy. 

Forest Xylophone

I've been struggling to find much more than a sliver of joy in life at the moment - although I do have to say having a four year old throw herself onto your lap and wrap her arms around you for no other reason than she is pleased to see you and to have a one year old's face light up when he sees you are pretty pleasurable slivers. 

Given the times we're living in we need to treasure such moments so I've decided - instead of dwelling on the mess we're in - I'm going to share anything which gives me pleasure for a while. The same friend who posted "Those Were The Days" found this lovely video. I gather it's been around for quite a while - it was made made as part of an advertisement some years ago - but this is the first time I've seen it. Here in the middle of a forest a wooden xylophone plays. Enjoy.

"Those Were the Days" sung by Mary Hopkin.

 I've been trying to write a blog post about how time has gone mad during the pandemic and frankly it was just too depressing to finish.  Then a friend of mine started putting up links to songs from way back when and this one by Mary Hopkin came up among them. It struck a chord with me, nostalgia for the "good old days" being something a lot of us are feeling these days. I hope you like it. 

I Haven't Been Ignoring You - Truly

  - although it might have seemed like it. My absence was due to a technology fail. It's quite a saga which left us without a home phone and internet for several weeks. 

I'll tell you what happened - but first for those of you who aren't Australian - a bit of history. Way back in 2009 the then Australian Labor government announced they would be establishing a National Broadband Network which would replace our ageing copper network with fibre to every home giving us internet speeds to bring us up to date. Then Labor lost the next election and the incoming LNP Coalition government said it was too expensive and instead those of us who weren't already fortunate enough to be connected would have to have a fibre to the node system with a node in the street and using the existing and less than efficient copper network for the actual connection to the house. (The LNP are still in government and have decided - now that the predicted failings of this system are obvious to all but with most households connected by it - they'll have to retrofit the whole network at enormous cost - but that's politics for you. It doesn't have to make sense.)

As I said the bulk of homes are now connected and the NBN has finally reached our suburb which meant we needed to connect before November when the current service to the area will be cut off.  The NBN is a wholesaler so you have to work through a retailer which then connects you by modem to the network. I did a bit of research, found a deal that suits us and signed up. There were a number of steps to take over a couple of weeks until the NBN technician came and connected us a week or so ago - except we didn't connect. Nothing worked. No landline, no internet. The only working phone was my mobile. 

I contacted the ISP which ran some tests and informed us that it was a fault with the NBN. They then arranged for an appointment with an NBN technician which took place after another week or so. A very helpful technician came today and finally we are connected. 

So it's all good, isn't it. Well, yes, except our internet outage came at a bad time for us. We had a serious health problem to deal with this week and I needed to do a lot of what was associated with it - like hospital admission forms and dealing with emails from various specialists - online. This meant I had to use my mobile phone as a hotspot. As I only have a small amount of data available on my mobile plan (I don't use my phone much for the internet) it has left me out of pocket because I had to buy a lot of additional data. Sigh. At least the health problem is now being treated and all on that front looks like it will be well in the long run.

Footsies!

Despite continuing foot problems it had never occurred to me that I could - or should for that matter - have regular treatment by a podiatrist. I've had orthotics for many years but apart from that I've been telling myself I'm quite capable of taking care of my own feet. I've been sending Pisces off to have his feet attended to for some time but I hadn't considered it for myself until a recent assessment by my physiotherapist persuaded me I should look into it.

Truth be told I should have realised I did need it. Some of my toes are no longer as they should be - they are getting more and more misshapen, I have painful areas on the soles of both feet and my plantar fasciitis has flared up. Hmmm. You'd think that would have alerted me but no. Still, after a visit with the lovely podiatrist, Paula, I've had a bit of a wake up call and I now have a list of things to do to deal with all these problems. This includes new orthotics - those I have are falling apart and since they are five years old will probably no longer be what I need anyway - and new sandals for every day wear. Turns out wearing thongs - flip flops for those of you in other parts of the world -  every day is not the best for your feet. Again I knew this but I don't like wearing closed in shoes unless I have to and while I'm here at home it seemed simpler and easier to just slip on a pair of thongs. 

Well, I've now had it made clear to me that this has to change. Apparently the reason for much of my discomfort is down to poor foot support - and that's at least in part due to not being able to use orthotics while wearing thongs. Paula tells me there are alternatives - I had no idea there were - and I have a list of specialist shoe shops that I need to visit to see what I can find. As well I need to make an appointment to get my orthotics upgraded. Apparently in five years your feet change a lot - something I should have realised anyway - so it won't be as simple as making adjustments to those I already have.

All this means I've just spent a while going down the internet rabbit hole of looking for sandals for those of us who need sensible but really, really don't want to look as if that's what we're wearing. It turned out not to be as horrible a task as I expected so now I've a list of sandals that actually look good and should do the job and tomorrow I'll be off to see what I can find. I may be a while.

Poppies!

 This is one of the poppies in the garden bed outside our family room.  Nothing unusual about it, it's just a gorgeously red poppy with a black centre of the sort that you find everywhere. I've been growing and enjoying them for years.

But this morning when I went out I discovered this beauty right beside the one above. The colour is rich and the centre a pale cream. I assume it's a mutation - and one I'd like to preserve but unfortunately by the time I found it the bees would have been very busy pollinating for several hours so the chances of the seeds reproducing the same colour are fairly remote. Just in case though I'm going to save the seed capsule and see what I get next year. Who knows I might be lucky.

My Ginger Harvest and Other Delights

This year's ginger crop.

It wasn't quite as prolific as last year's unfortunately but it's still a success story because many years ago I was told that it was impossible to grow ginger here. Naturally I took that as a challenge and have been growing it ever since. This lot was from one 35 cm pot and last year I got probably half as much again. I use a lot of root ginger so when I replanted this time I added another similar size pot. Now I just have to work out how to store my harvest. I'm thinking I'll try freezing some already grated in ready to cook portions and see how that turns out.

It's not only the ginger that's done less well this winter either. Because we've had a very low rainfall despite the damaging storms earlier - and that was after a hotter and dryer summer than usual - it's affected pretty much everything in the garden. I've been able to grow enough greens to feed us but even staples like pak choy haven't done as well as I'd expect so I'm very grateful for chard, kale, lettuce and, of course, the beetroot.

It's not only the vegetables either. Many of the winter bulbs simply didn't flower - lots of healthy looking leaves but nary a bud among them. This has meant a much less colourful garden than usual this winter.


That said things are finally looking up in the flower garden. The Flanders poppies are flowering as are the Spanish bluebells, calendulas and nasturtiums. Many of these are in a large bed outside the family room where we have a wall of glass so I see them every time I look out which is a real joy. As well I noticed some heartsease flowers this morning, the red and green kangaroo paws are in bud and, of course, the alyssum has never stopped flowering. Oh, and the sweet peas are finally starting to climb up their support so with luck they'll soon be in flower, too. It makes up to some degree for the missed daffodils, tulips and jonquils.

Pandemic Timing and Other Distractions

I started writing a blog post couple of days ago about how 2020 has turned into a blur despite my living in what is currently one of the safest places on earth where we haven't had any COVID cases in the community for months - while there have been a few people in quarantine during that time, all have come in from other hotspots. Life, apart from social distancing and hard borders enforcing quarantine for anyone coming into the state, has largely returned to normal. While we're still at Level 4 restrictions and some major events like the Perth Royal Show have been cancelled we can travel freely within most of the state, businesses have reopened and face masks are a rare sight unlike in many other parts of Australia.

This blurring of time seems to be affecting us all because I'm seeing comments about how our perception of time has gone nuts everywhere - on blogs, in discussions - online and in person, in newspaper articles and opinion pieces online. Since it's apparently a pandemic thing common to us all it made me realise that maybe I should think about something else other than how discombobulated I feel.

This is what I came up with. See that little black dot at the end of the previous sentence? It's the humble period or full stop depending on where you live and in the last few days from two quite unrelated sources I've learned that for younger folk - that would be teens and early twenties - the full stop - that extremely useful indicator of when a sentence ends - is regarded as weird or even suggests annoyance, irritation or anger when it appears in a text or email. Really. Apparently this is because these folk communicate largely electronically using short separate messages for each sentence so making punctuation redundant and other demarcation unnecessary. However much it offends my pedantic streak I can see a certain logic to this in text messages where the whole message forms a sentence but - and you knew there'd be a but, didn't you - not all text messages are only one sentence and emails in my experience rarely are. So what happens then?

The answer is things can get really messy especially with emails a major means of communication within the business community now that postal services are being cut back. Does this abhorrence of the full stop mean that this generation sees all business communications as angry? Is it going to move on to written letters - you know, those on paper - and not just those sent electronically? And what about books? Will we see the demise of commas and question marks? You only have to look at any of the bad punctuation jokes going around where an unpunctuated sentence suggests instead of sitting down for a meal with someone we're actually about to eat them to see that this could lead us into scary territory and the increased possibility of misunderstandings. (In my opinion one of the best of these bad punctuation jokes - there are whole websites devoted to them should you want to go down that rabbit hole - is the panda one which Lyn Truss featured on the back cover of her book on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. If you've never heard it you can find it here.)

I know that things change with every generation seeking to distinguish itself from previous ones by subverting accepted norms or language. I'm thinking of how a few years ago "sick" had a new positive meaning assigned to it by my kids and their friends while "cool", well, that has pretty much moved on to be mainstream. This really doesn't bother me and I've been happy to adapt to the electronic world we live in but sometimes the need to break from the past is counter-productive. Punctuation is merely a way of breaking up words to make the meaning clearer. With the exception of the exclamation mark it says nothing about meaning or status and I'm not at all convinced that assigning any other meaning to them is an improvement. What comes next? Replacing punctuation with emojis?

Plastic Free July -Update

July has been and gone so I decided to try to evaluate what I had achieved.

Shopping: we're still online grocery shopping partly because our local shopping centre is undergoing renovations that make shopping there a very depressing experience with shop closures due to the renovations limiting what we can actually buy and partly because walking around the shops is hard work for me. The downside to this is that due to the on-going pandemic the shopping is left at the front door in reusable plastic bags. While I'm not happy about this I don't see another option for us at present and at least these bags can be reused.

Cling wrap: I haven't used any since the beginning of July and Pisces finally seems to be realising that we have a cupboard full of reusable containers so has used very little, too, which I'm very pleased about.

Tea and Coffee: I've been using recyclable coffee pods and loose leaf tea for many years but we still have tea bags for the peppermint tea I like to drink. After hearing that most tea bags contain plastic I was even less keen on using them although as the peppermint ones do decompose in the compost they at least must be plastic free. Even so I would like to find a supplier of a loose leaf version of this tea but have had no luck. I do grow some peppermint but don't have the space to get a large enough yield to supply the amount we use. This is disappointing but I'll keep trying.

Recycling: I've been finding new places to recycle since our local council recycling is somewhat limited in what they accept. They won't take bottle tops for instance and are now refusing certain hard plastics. I've found a couple of locally charities which collect a wide range of items the Council doesn't and there's a whole bunch of 'stuff' ready to go there. I've also found a charity that takes old electronics so all that will be heading there. As well my decluttering has produced a pile of still usable items which are gradually making their way onto our local Buy Nothing site.

Could I have done better? Of course. Have I achieved something? Also yes - and, as I will be continuing these practices and adding to them I hope, I feel reasonably satisfied and intend to keep doing this into the future.

Storm Damage

We've had a couple of days of gales and heavy rain and this is what I found when I went out into the vegetable garden this morning.  Although I had staked them as securely as I could in anticipation of the rough weather almost all my sugar snap and snow peas have been blown off the fence.  I've picked what I can but the plants are so badly damaged I think all I can do is to pull them out.

Not everything was wrecked although the rainbow chard is somewhat mangled as are some of the cabbages and lettuces but one vegetable seems to have survived well and that's the beetroot as you can see.in this photo showing of part of the beetroot bed.

You've probably guessed from this that Pisces and I like eating beetroot. Both the roots and the leaves regularly make their way into our meals and are shared with our neighbours. I grow a mix of traditional red beetroot and other variously coloured heritage varieties which is why this bowl of borscht, made from a mix of red, yellow, cream and pink beets, is more pink than the usual red. It's just as tasty, though.

Borscht isn't the only way I use beets of course. The roots are delicious as vegetables baked, steamed or boiled, you can use them in cakes and raw grated into salads or processed into vegetable smoothies while the leaves can be steamed, braised or microwaved with the tender young leaves a lovely addition to a leafy salad. It's a vegetable that just keeps on giving.

Scammers

We've had a spate of scam and nuisance phone calls on the land line in the past few days. There have been multiple calls when there's a lot of background noise but no-one speaks initially - my rule of thumb for any such delay is to say hello three times (there have been occasions when legitimate callers haven't spoken immediately so I give them this much opportunity) as well as a number when there's no sound or they hang up very quickly without speaking. Yes, I do know that some of these may be wrong numbers but they could be courteous enough to apologise if that's the case. I would.

Then there are the out and out scam callers such as the man who said he was from the security department of Visa and Mastercard, others saying they are from the ATO (Australian Tax Office) and the robot voice claiming to be from the Department of Home Affairs. As well Australia has been plagued by robot calls from "Nicole at the NBN" ever since that entity came into being before we even get to the supposed security department at Microsoft which has been annoying everyone for years. Usually I just hang up as soon as they begin their spiel but I'm getting more and more fed up with them disrupting my life.  Today I was very tired having slept badly and decided on a post lunch nap. We'd already had three scam calls during the morning and to get a period of peace I went as far as unplugging the landline which worked for that line but I was still woken by a call on my mobile. Another scammer.

I'm really fed up with this. Having to race to the phone is challenging for someone like me - and it's not only the phone. I get emails either phishing or threatening me with having various services cut off. I know there's no point in getting upset or appealing to their better nature - these people have no conscience or they wouldn't be doing what they are - but it would be nice if there was something I could do to irritate them as much as they irritate me.

I have had fun at the scammer's expense on a few occasions when I've had plenty of time. My favourite was probably when I let fly a string of abuse - without swearing once - at one man who obviously didn't quite grasp how to be a scam artist because he rang back after I'd hung up to tell me I was a very rude woman. On the other hand it might have been another I've just remembered. I was out watering the garden with the hose and one of the kids took the call allegedly from Microsoft security and brought the phone out to me. I entertained myself at their expense for a full ten minutes as the woman tried to get me to follow her instructions to input some computer code. I pretended that I didn't understand and things were going wrong as for example when I sobbed "Oh no, the screen has gone blank. How do I fix it?" I could practically hear her gritting her teeth as she explained over and over again until I got bored and told her she should be ashamed of herself. She was so stunned that she didn't even hang up, just listened as I ranted at her.

But while this amused me for a time - and prevented them from calling someone else for a little while - it doesn't solve the problem. Even caller ID doesn't stop the phone ringing and that for me at least is the real problem because until you get to the phone you don't know who it is. I guess we're stuck with these inconveniences since there'll always be people who seek to take advantage of others. It's sad, though, isn't it.

In the garden.

First poppy of the season and it's in surprisingly good condition after yesterday's heavy rain which it must have just missed.

The winter flowers have been pretty sparse this year apart from the calendulas like these that are part of a border in the vegetable garden

 
and alyssum here bordering the poppy bed.

I told Miss Four that alyssum is also called Sweet Alice and she gave me a sideways look of disbelief. Just wait until the Johnny Jump Ups jump up.  Maybe I'd better stick to calling them heartsease.

And It's Back

- the masked woodswallow that is. This shows one of these handsome fellows. Not my photo unfortunately but I was lucky enough to find this image by Jim Bendon online and available under a Creative Commons licence. I particularly like this image because it shows the sleek body shape and large wing span of these elegant birds.

Image by Jim Bendon - Flickr Woodswallows7
CC BY-SA 2.0









We don't see masked woodswallows around here very much but every year around this time I catch occasional glimpses of them. Whether there's a breeding pair or two that likes the area and returns annually or they're just nomadic wanderers I don't know but the arrival marks the point where we're now past the coldest part of winter and are heading towards spring and Djilba, the Noongar season of first spring and season of conception which lasts from August through September.

Most of the sites I looked at say masked woodswallows fly in large flocks but that's certainly not the case around here. I have only ever seen them singly but as one site mentioned that some pairs come to the Swan River region to nest I assume that's the case with those I've seen.

Update

In comparison to much of the rest of the world Australia has done pretty well in handling the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. There have been miss-steps - the Ruby Princess debacle for one - but the Federal and state governments have generally been working together to contain the virus and that's why where I live in Western Australia we are close to back to normal. The only active cases are those brought in by returnees and are under strict quarantine and our state borders remain tightly closed with anyone coming in whether they test positive or not required to go into quarantine for fourteen days. There are exemptions for long distance truck drivers but even they are checked at the border. Our state government along with several others has resisted Federal government pressure to reopen the borders. While the Federal government's stance is understandable - they wanted to get the economy moving again as we all head into the inevitable depression that all these lockdowns are going to cause - our state government has preferred to take the more cautious approach and very few of the locals disagree with this.

Just as well they did make this decision as it turns out because we now have Victoria - one of the states which relaxed restrictions - having to backtrack with a surge in cases and deaths. The daily figures of 400 plus new cases in Victoria may not seem many compared with other countries but they are the worst we've had and the Victorian government has made wearing masks mandatory and imposed stay at home restrictions in the city of Melbourne and much of the rest of that state.

Just how contagious this virus is has been brought home to us with one man, who came into NSW from Victoria before the most recent border closures and was unaware that he had been exposed to the virus, causing an outbreak which has affected many after he visited a workplace, a local hotel and various other venues. While the health authorities have acted quickly to contain it no-one can afford to be complacent. This virus is a killer and we're only just beginning to see the after-effects it leaves in its wake for many who survive it. This is not just a case of catch the virus, be ill for a few days, recover and get on with life.

While so far we're free of community transmission of the virus in Western Australia it will only take one infected person for us to have to deal with an outbreak. Like many others I think we need to be prepared in case the worst happens and while I hope we're not going to have an outbreak of the panic buying from the beginning of the outbreak I suspect that most of us are trying to make sure we have a cushion in case things go badly wrong. This was brought home to us when the Victorian government without warning locked down several tower blocks leaving many of the residents in need of food and medicines and unable to go out to get them. While the community stepped up delivering food and ensuring they got the supplies they needed no-one wants to end up in that situation.

If we were to be locked down Pisces and I are better off than many because even in normal times I try to keep us supplied with what food and other essential items we need for at least a fortnight so that if I have a flare up of any of my chronic illnesses we will at least be able to eat. As Pisces is not the greatest of cooks this includes keeping the freezer stocked with ready prepared meals that only need reheating. Who'd have thought there could be any positives associated with chronic illness.  I certainly didn't but there you go. And that, my friends, is my Pollyanna moment for today.

Rainy Days

I'm not complaining you understand. I live in a drying part of the world so any rain is welcomed, preferably heavy soaking rain showers without strong winds which is what we're experiencing today. Even better is that I was able to go out between showers and pull up some of the thistles which seem to spring up in moments at this time of the year.

Thistles aren't the only fast growers in my garden at present. The Flanders poppies are also taking off after a slowish start. You might just be able to see the first bud peeking out in this photo.

While the poppies may be doing what they usually do in other areas of the garden it's been an odd year in many ways with a lot of the winter bulbs yet to flower when they should already be in full bloom. There's still no sign of flowers from the paper white jonquils which I'd expect to be the first to appear and even the common jonquils in the front yard have only started to flower in the last week instead of in mid June.

Then there are the totally confused roses like those in this pot. I'd normally be giving them a winter pruning by mid July but as you can see, although they're looking a little bedraggled having just had a soaking rain shower, they're still flowering and the perfume is glorious.

Why this is happening I have no idea. All I can put it down to is the general madness that is 2020.

What a Saga!

and it all started out well - sort of.

You see we had to take our car in for a repair. This was the good bit because we scraped in - just - to get it done under warranty.  Off we went just after 9:00 AM to drop it off and pick up a loan car until it's fixed which is supposed to be by next Tuesday. The car was a keyless one which was a bit of a challenge for Pisces at the beginning but after a bit of practice he felt confident and away we went to do a few errands in the same area as the car dealership.

At the first stop we locked it using the remote, went in and got what we needed and when we came out found the boot (the trunk for those of you in other parts of the world) wouldn't open more than about 30 or so centimetres. Damn. We tried everything we could think of and nothing worked but we were still close to the dealership so we decided to go back there since obviously it was not going to be ideal if this wasn't accessible. It turned out to be a simple fix that they just hadn't shown us when we picked it up.

Great. So we put our shopping in the boot and off we went again this time a few suburbs away to Ikea where we wanted a step stool for the grandchildren to use in the bathroom. We parked - by now Pisces was quite comfortable with handling all of its new fancy systems - and tried to lock it with the remote. Nothing happened. We tried to open the boot with the remote, also nothing. Dang! We wondered if it might be the area - we'd heard there'd been remote control issues in that area before - so off we went about half a kilometre to another carpark. Nope, the locking system still did not work and the boot wouldn't open. Back we go to the dealership and there it worked. Dammit.

"Oh, yes," they said. "There can be problems in the carparks in that area. Would you like another car?" Well, we were definitely not going back there now since it was nearly noon by then so we said "no, thanks" and put our shopping in the boot. That was a big mistake as we soon discovered when we got closer to home, stopped at another shopping centre and - you've guessed, haven't you - it didn't work again.

Back we went to the dealer and this time got another car (which operates with a standard key locking remote). They managed to extract our shopping from the first one and home we went. By the time we got there it was 1:00 PM  and we both had tension headaches but this car works exactly as it should. It even fits in our garage. Phew. While it's unlikely we'll be getting a new car any time soon - our cars last on average 15-20 years and this one is only six years old - we'd take a lot of convincing to even consider one with a whizzbang state of the art keyless operating system after this experience. Yes, I do know we were probably just unlucky to get one that had developed an intermittent fault but why tempt fate.

Still Blogging

A friend announced the other day that she was giving up blogging because her perception after looking at her reader numbers was that no-one blogs or reads blogs anymore. I couldn't disagree more. I have cut back on the number of blogs I follow simply because time is not infinite and I really can't afford enough of it to follow everyone I'm interested in every day. That doesn't mean there aren't a number of blogs I read on a regular basis and others I go to more intermittently and I see from my own blog figures that there is a core of people who visit my musings and I assume are doing the same.

Where else but on my blog would you get to see something like this update of how the cutting from my happy plant (more properly Dracaena fragrans 'Massangeana') is progressing. This is the beheaded top I chopped off one rather sad looking plant I had on the back veranda a few months ago. It has rooted well and now from having no stem it has one of about sixty centimetres in length. As you can see from the state of some of the leaves it didn't like the cold snap we had a few weeks ago but there is new growth coming and I think it's time I moved it from the propagation space and found it a permanent home.

Am I an established 'influencer? No. Do I want to be one? Also no. As my regular visitors will know I blog in hopes of providing something interesting for those who stop by for a read and I was somewhat surprised when I realised this morning that in November I will have been blogging here for fourteen years. I didn't expect that when I first began this blog largely to record my preparations for and time at Clarion South in 2007. From that it has morphed into a snapshot of my life both as a writer and as part of a family. This is where I talk about what's happening here, what I'm reading with an occasional review, any writing news - yes, I know that has been very sparse of recent years, and anything that catches my interest, really, and I hope will catch yours.

Unlike my friend I've no intention of giving up blogging. I love being in contact with my readers and sharing the good and the bad in my life, whether it's professionally or related to my interests. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Plastic Free July

I've signed up for the Plastic Free July challenge - the aim is to take whatever steps you can to cut back on single use plastic. I've been trying hard to avoid 'disposable' plastic for many years but it never hurts to have a revision of what we can do to cut back on the amount of plastic coming into our homes. I haven't achieved being completely plastic free because there is a place for plastic that is reused or recyclable in my opinion - so I'd describe my attitude to plastic as minimalist. As far as possible I follow the mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle.

This means avoiding bringing new plastic into the house where I can although I have to say that COVID-19 is putting something of a crimp in this since we've had to go to online food shopping and with convenience comes plastic bags for fruit and vegetables. I do wash and reuse these multiple times and when they reach the end of their usefulness they are sent to be recycled but I'd rather not get them in the first place. The other problem is that the shopping is delivered in reusable plastic bags that used to be able to be returned to the delivery man but at the moment they're not accepting them. This means they're accumulating at a somewhat alarming rate. How I'm going to fix this problem I don't know yet but give me time. I'm sure there's a solution.

I might not be able to do anything about that issue for now but there is still a lot that I can do. For instance I'm still composting vegetable scraps and I'm continuing to try hard to avoid using clingwrap, too.  I have do have a roll but since it's probably six years old and nowhere near finished I don't feel particularly guilty about it. Once I finally get to its end I'll invest in something biodegradable for those rare times when nothing else will do. I've seen this in several stores but so far not have not needed to buy it. I hope it works as well as regular clingwrap. I guess I'll find out eventually. One thing that's struck me while I've been ramping up my bread-making, though, is how many recipes tell you to cover the bread with cling wrap while it's proving. It's not something I do since I'm old school having been taught to make bread by my grandmother. Her method was to use a damp tea towel as a cover but even websites that claim to be all about sustainability suggest the plastic route which I find surprising.

The thing is, I guess, that we're somewhat addicted to the convenience of plastic and there's no question it can be useful. What we have to do is to be more mindful and look for alternatives wherever we can. That's my plan at all events.

Climate Emergency

I don't belong to Extinction Rebellion but I do share their fears for the planet. I have grandchildren and I want them to be able to live happy, healthy and productive lives on a world that provides for them and every other creature here. We cannot keep acting as if everything is going to be fine as climate change ramps up. Last week a temperature of 38° C (100.4 °F) was reported in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk which is situated within the Arctic Circle. If this is confirmed - it still has to be checked although there seems no reason to doubt it - the planet and every living thing on it is in grave danger.
This is quite frankly terrifying and is an example of why I asked a family member who is involved with Extinction Rebellion for this poster. It's on my bins so on rubbish collection days it is visible to anyone coming along my street. We've all been understandably somewhat distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic but we cannot afford to ignore the other equally urgent emergency we face in climate change. It's not going away unless we act now.

My Birdbath

                                         New Holland honeyeaters
                                       
                                         Image by Andy Ballard from Pixabay

A while ago I was talking to a friend who, before he retired, was involved in a lot of business negotiations with Chinese businesses. On one occasion he was taking a visiting businessman around and showing him the sights and asked him what he found most notable about Perth. He was told it was the sound of the birds.

When I think about it this is very true. There are large numbers of birds in our city, due to the many bushland reserves and parklands. Living as we do in an area surrounded by bushland and with several nearby parks we get to see and hear even more than most.

Yesterday as I went out into the veggie garden to plant the seedlings I'd acquired that morning at the garden centre I could see and hear the evidence. A willy wagtail flew in to inspect what I was doing. These are feisty little birds, not the least bit afraid of taking on anything no matter the size, and he jitty-jittied at me. Since he's a resident here - he has a nest in next door's garden - he was probably suggesting I stir up some insect life for him. After he decided I wasn't very interesting or useful and moved on, a young magpie arrived to sit on the fence until it saw a snack in another neighbour's yard and abandoned me. That was followed by a couple of ravens arguing as they strutted on the roof. While all this was going on I could hear more magpies and lorikeets in the tree in the park behind the fence and doves cooing nearby. This was all in the space of about five minutes.

But this is nothing compared to the afternoon rush on the birdbath outside my office window. The photo at the top of the blog gives some idea of what happens starting at about 4:30 when a mixed flock of around twenty to twenty five small honeyeaters arrives. The majority are New Holland honeyeaters with a scattering of both white cheeked honeyeaters and the smaller brown headed honeyeaters. They flit in, dip, shake then fly out for a further shake on the fence before doing it all again. Occasionally their bath is disrupted by red wattlebirds or their slightly smaller cousins little wattlebirds, sending the honeyeaters to scold from the top of the nearby banana palms. The wattlebirds are less interested in bathing and more in taking a drink and are soon gone. More annoying from the point of view of the honeyeaters is when a raven decides to bathe. They are big birds and water flies everywhere leaving much less for the baths of the waiting honeyeaters. Sometimes a laughing dove will drop in for a drink as well. The whole thing lasts for about ten to fifteen minutes and then they're done and the birdbath is quiet except for the odd visitor wanting to quench his or her thirst until the next afternoon.

Hmmm.

I had a few things in mind for today apart from going out to lunch with friends for the first time since the beginning of March. Then I saw the news headlines in the morning paper which Pisces still likes to get although this - our only local paper - has headed largely down the less than reliable and sensational tabloid route recently. That was depressing enough but then I opened up some of the news sites I read to get a more balanced view and that did not help. In fact it was even more depressing.

So in the interests of my sanity I took this photo of my cat sleeping in the sun.

He is super special because he was rescued as a kitten and before he came to us he'd already failed at rehoming. He was very afraid of everything and especially men and it took a long time and lots of patience on our part before he settled in with us. Then he was diagnosed with a  mega bowel when he was six. The vet told me then that most cats with this were unlikely to survive even twelve months after this diagnosis and all the research I did confirmed this. We decided to give him the best life we could for as long as he was happy and not suffering. Seven and a half years on he is still happy and healthy as long as he has daily medication and we are grateful for every day. We know everything could change any time but for now we just enjoy having him with us.

Reading - 'Girt' and 'True Girt' by David Hunt

For some reason, apart from virtually inhaling Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway series early on, reading, which I usually do at quite a rate - it's not uncommon for me to read 6-8 books in a week - has just not been grabbing me recently. I read a few pages then I wander off and do something else altogether.

That was until I happened to pick up a book lent me by a friend who knows of my interest in history, oh, so long ago when you could actually meet friends. This was True Girt - the Unauthorised History of Australia Volume 2 by David Hunt. Hunt has a very unusual - and irreverent - approach to history, sprinkling wry, witty commentary among the facts and had me entertained from the beginning. What he was describing was not new to me - part of my university studies back in the day included Australian history up to World War One - but the way he does it bears no resemblance to the mostly dull books and documents I had to study. You just have to look at the title to know you're in for something different. (True Girt is a reference to the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair, the words of which were written in 1878 and which replaced God Save the Queen only in 1984. One line of this refers Australia as girt by sea, the meaning of which, since 'girt' fell out of use over a hundred years ago, has puzzled much of the Australian population ever since.)

I enjoyed True Girt so much that I bought the first volume Girt - the Unauthorised History of Australia. It has also not disappointed. In these volumes convict history sits along side the attempts - some well meant, others less so - to 'civilise' a land with very much a will of its own and in so doing we hear the gossipy details which certainly never showed up in my studies. (Things like how Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whose tract A Letter From Sydney, the Principal Town of Australasia published in 1829 provided the governing principles used in establishing the colony of South Australia, never even visited Australia and wrote this tract when in prison for abducting a seventeen year old heiress and tricking her into marrying him. Her family took exception, had the marriage annulled and Wakefield went to prison. His first abductee was not so fortunate. She died soon after her forced marriage. Apparently abducting heiresses as a way to get funds, either by gaining control of the girl's inheritance or by being paid off with a substantial sum, was a not infrequent occurrence in Ireland at the time, too. Go figure.)

If you want a lighthearted look at Australian history this is a great place to start. We have much darkness in our country's past history and there's no way to change that but this is a way to find out some of the things we did not learn in school and which would no doubt have made the subject much more interesting if we had.

What I Did Today

Handsome, are't they, but they very nearly didn't happen. Let me tell you what happened.

A while back I decided that kneading bread was starting to get a bit much for my hands so I invested in a whizz bang bread maker. Stuff happened and so I didn't actually get to try to use it until today. It was not a success. You are supposed to be able to dial and select what you want according to how big a loaf you're making, how dark you want the crust and so on but no matter how I tried and followed the instructions it would not let me get past the default setting. I called on Pisces - I was clutching at straws here given he's very much a technophobe and so unlikely to have any useful input - and he wasn't able to offer any suggestions either.

At this point the ingredients were all sitting in the pan and in preference to letting them go to waste I decided to tip them into my bread-making bowl - yes, I do have one - and finish it off by hand. It's been quite a while since I made bread by hand but I was back into the rhythm in no time.

While my loaves were sitting out on the veranda in the sun to rise I went to look up customer support for the machine. Guess what, I'm by no means the only one who has had this problem with the settings. I got onto a website - not the company one which had nothing more than the same instructions that had failed me so far but a review site where company representatives are supposed to give answers - where there were a number of plaintive requests for help for just this problem. I only found one reply which was a rather patronising suggestion that the person should look at the instruction manual - and for good measure the instructions were quoted direct from the book. This was, of course, useless, since we had already been following just those instructions. By now I was pretty frustrated and decided to simply forget the machine for now and call the company when I was less irritated.

Meanwhile my bread was rising beautifully and continued to behave as it should.  It was too late now to have for lunch - the original plan - but I just tried some slathered with butter and it was fine although not great. This recipe was one from the bread maker book and I think maybe it works better in the machine. That said it's still tasty enough to eat for now.

It Feels LIke Makuru Has Arrived

Makuru is the Noongar name for the season which covers June and July here in Western Australia but while it's technically not June for a few days another storm front has just barrelled down on us. This makes me think we're already into Makuru, which the Noongar people, the first inhabitants of this area, say is the season of the first rains among other things.  Fortunately this front was not as severe as the last one but it was the third to hit in just a few weeks so things have been getting quite a battering. The good thing about this is we're getting some much needed rain. The bad side is we're getting it largely along with strong, and in some cases very strong, winds, but as you can see from the photo the garden is still doing pretty well.

The forecast yesterday was for rain, mostly in the afternoon and evening, so before it arrived I raced to the veggie garden to plant out as many seedlings as I could. The punnets they were in had been being brought in and out of the shelter of the veranda to avoid them being drowned or washed away for much of the last week and they were well overdue for putting into their permanent homes. Don't let the apparently bare spots in the photo fool you. Except for the bit in the middle at the front and along the right hand side fence at the back, both of which beds are reserved for seedlings not yet ready to transplant, the rest of the garden is planted out. The plants are simply too small to show up on the photo.

All this activity means that along with spring onions (the straggly ones have been left to go to seed), nasturtiums, broccoli, kale, beetroot, lettuce and rainbow chard (all of which are already being picked), together with red onions and sugar snap and snow peas - you can see them well on their way up the fence, I now have two kinds of pak choi, choy sum, tatsoi, more lettuces and more beetroot. Still not quite ready to plant out are brown onions, leeks and some romanesco broccoli - these three I got as freebies from Diggers Nursery and have never tried to grow before so that will be interesting - plus dill, nigella, calendula and yet more lettuce.

Today's forecast was for showers and it's expected to continue that way for the rest of the long weekend. This is a bit grim for those taking advantage of the lifting of some travel restrictions to head south for the break but for me it's good news with my plantings off a good start. It also means I probably should take advantage of any sunny breaks to put in some more more seeds and at least try to keep up a succession of new plants coming on - not one of my strong points. I really should invest in some bug control measures, too. Last year many of my brassicas were wiped out by whitefly, not something I want to happen again. I use poisons so it's time to get online and do a spot of ordering of organic controls I guess. Wish me luck.