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.