Unwelcome guest!

Just as I am rigging the mosquito net...I spot this on the window sill. It wasn't very big (5cm). Will showed it the door!

First Contact!

Storms.

I woke this morning to hear the news of Storm St Jude and the damage caused across the south of England. I can’t remember any other storm being named when I was there. I know hurricanes and cyclones get named and now it seems storms are too. Ok, so it looked quite windy as I watched some woman get blown over in the street. It looked a pretty bad storm“Good God!” said Dulcie watching too, “The World is going mad!”We have a storm bird here. I haven’t heard it but a few times I have been having breakfast and Dulcie will say “I heard the storm bird,” and Will will say, “Yes, I did too.” He has mimicked the sound for me but it does not seem anything special. How disappointing! It would be so much better if it sounded like an air-raid siren going off or just a piercing scream! (Apparently there is an owl that does that...the Powerful Owl...I’m yet to hear that too).No one mentioned the storm bird this morning...funny because later in the day we had a storm. Perhaps it was the storm bird’s day off...perhaps it was ill and stayed at home...perhaps it did sing out and no one heard it. We will never know...or care.I got some washing out and then helped Dulcie roll out another ‘batch a’biscuits’ before heading down under the house to tend ‘our nest’. You will remember, if you have been paying attention, that we are intending to move into the room under Will’s mum’s house. We have the ‘bargain’ bed but at the moment I am just painting the walls. I started yesterday and did 2 walls and went down today to finish off the rest.I came up for a ‘pickled pork’ lunch and Dulcie said she had been watching the weather and a storm was coming. She put the weather channel on and the fellow was saying we could expect a storm between 2pm and 6pm. It was gloriously sunny outside! If I was a storm bird I would have been fooled! I brought the washing in just in case and went back to my painting.It had been very hot and did feel very close. The temperature was supposed to be 31 degrees but it didn’t feel too bad to me. I heard the first clap of distant thunder about 12.45pm. How quickly it clouded over! The thunder got louder and then it started to rain. I had to slide the windows closed and take my chances with the paint fumes. It didn’t rain long so I opened the window again. A lovely cool breeze rushed in. It deserved a name. I called it ‘Betty.’There was a loud clap of thunder and it started to rain again but this time it did not come in the window so I was able to leave it open. It was heavy rain and soon the gutters outside were flowing. Water here is precious. I can see why houses collect the rainwater off their roof into tanks. It would have half filled a tank no doubt in the short time this storm lasted.The trouble with storms here, apparently, is hail! The house here has fixed shutters that are there to protect the windows from hail. We got no hail this time. The storm lasted about 30 minutes and then the sky brightened again. Dulcie came down to tell me that there had been hail at Tamworth and there had been a hailstorm in Sydney.‘It’s brightening up now,’ I said.‘No, they say it’s not over yet.’ She said.We got no more thunder but it did cloud over again and rain some more. I’ll check the rain gauge tomorrow to see how much we got.Even before the rain stopped there was a beautiful sunset over the houses across the street. I went out to view it and saw some fruit bats flying over silhouetted against the sky. It reminded me...this is Australia.  

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

As I looked at the sunset I remembered that tomorrow we are going to Frogknot!That instant of realisation would have been the ideal moment for an ominous clap of thunder!It didn't come...but out there, under that sky, was a lonely house that had not been disturbed for 14 months!Whatever next?!

Spooky 2!

We were having tea and heard a baby crying across the road. It sounded like a cat which made me realise I have not seen any cats here. I couldn’t remember a time in our last four holiday visits here when I had seen a cat either. At home in Mardale Close there were quite a few cats knocking about.

“Do people not have cats here? I don’t think I have ever seen one here” I asked.

Dulcie said the people over the road had three cats but she had not seen them recently.

Will said “The snakes ate them!” Such a wit!

The sound of the baby crying suddenly got louder and I turned around from the table to look across the street in the direction it was coming from.

There on the footpath, over the road, sat a black cat.

“Well,” I exclaimed, turning to tell Will and Dulcie, “I've just seen a cat!”

 I looked back again.

The cat was gone.

The baby was still crying.

Dulcie and Son’s Partner Horticultural Services.

It’s week 2 for Will at Kindergarten!Today they were all going on a walk down to the Brisbane River and back. I read the plan of action that Will was sent. It was probably more detailed than any plan NASA makes before sending a rocket into space!Meanwhile back at Celtis St...Dulcie and I had breakfast. I washed all my breakfast stuff and tidied up after myself and said,“I’ll just go and tidy the bedroom.”“Yes,” Dulcie called after me, “I’ve done mine!”Today there were some orchids that needed attention. We’d picked up some potting mixture yesterday on one of our trips to Bunnings. I carried the potting mixture and orchids down to the pergola. The pots needed topping up with soil. I added the potting mixture and the Head Gardener added some fertiliser capsules. There were a few more orchids outside that we also tended then the Head Gardener got the hose out and watered them. I was directed to add some more compost to a few other plants in the ‘fernery’.

The Fernery.

I was sent round the front of the house to water the plants under the front verandah with another hose. I was idly leaning on one of the verandah pillars spraying the plants when I felt my hand tickling. It was covered with ants! I had blocked an ant motorway.“There is a human obstruction on verandah highway number 2. Both lanes are blocked but it is not impassable...all ant traffic proceed as usual! This is the end of the 10 o’clock Ant Traffic Report.”I don’t think they were Fire Ants...I lived to tell the tale.There are ants everywhere here running along in their lines. I am getting quite used to them.Dulcie moved onto cleaning the back steps. I said “Let me do that.”She wouldn’t let me. “No, I have to keep active.” She said. “I can’t sit around all day doing nothing.”It’s hard to stand back and let her do things like that, but she is right. She is very independent.“Shall I do the front steps?” I asked helpfully.“No!” she said and she went and cleaned those as well!I sat around doing nothing. I found it surprisingly easy.