A Little Joy

I was thinking last night about how our lives seem to have been totally over-run with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The daily numbers, government briefings and social isolation have been taking their toll. So I decided to make a list of some of the joys that have come my way since the beginning of the year and, yes, there have been good things.

So here are some of them in no particular order of date or importance:

My cymbidium orchids are in bloom right now and much earlier than usual - they usually start to flower around the end of April but who cares. Here are the latest ones.

Pisces and I were both able to celebrate our birthdays by going out to lunch with family and friends before the virus put a stop to such gatherings.

On the last visit by Miss I'm Nearly Four she wandered out to the veggie garden as is her wont and came running back face lit up and saying 'Come quickly. There's a surprise in the veggie garden.'. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out with her to where she'd found some ripe, red capsicums which she was allowed to pick and take home with her. They were part of a very prolific capsicum season, most of which are now char-grilled and in the freezer. Here are just a few harvested on only one day. It's a badly cropped photo, I know, but Mr Puss refused to shift his paw so the side of the basket and it had to go.

I woke up at 1:30 AM one night to hear a mopoke calling in the tree outside my window. Mopokes, sometimes called moreporks, are more properly the Southern Boobook owl and I hadn't heard one for nearly two years. I was afraid the local population had all died, a very real possibility because these owls feed on rodents among other things and if they eat rats or mice that are dying or have died from baits the poison passes on into them.

A Facetime conversation with Virgo and her family where Miss I'm Nearly Four showed her ballet prowess. She wanted me to join in but that's hard when you're having to hold the phone.

I received a box of books from my friend, John, full of lots of interesting reading.

So these are some of my moments of joy from the last three months. I hope you have some, too.

Of Owls

Last night I heard a sound coming from the tree in my front garden. You can hear it here. It's the call of the southern boobook. It's a medium sized brown owl found across most of Australia, also known as the mopoke because of its call.

I found this photo of a Southern boobook on the Pixabay website and I have to confess that I haven't ever seen one before although I've often heard them.








Saturday night's calls were the first time I've heard a mopoke for a while although I'm sure there are a number in the bushland around us - there are two golf courses with large areas of bush within a few minutes walk of where I live (one has a resident mob of kangaroos) and two bush reserves as well as a number of parks and wetlands no more than five minutes by car so there's plenty of hunting habitat.

Even more interesting than hearing the bird calling was what happened afterwards when I heard something that sounded vaguely like crickets but not quite right. In my trusty bird guide I was delighted to find that this was most likely a young owl because they make a cricket like call. Can't be positive, of course, since I didn't see the birds but I suspect we either have a nest in the tree which would be wonderful or, since it's breeding season, a parent had a newly fledged juvenile with it. Either way they are very welcome.