I just had to tell you...

It's been a dull old day - not at all like summer!  Temperature has barely reached 20C (average for this time of year around 26/27C).  For a long time I had promised myself I would sort out all of my embroidery threads and 'catalogue' them.  Today was a great day to do it.

As I was sitting at my kitchen table sorting and winding and labelling I heard a bit of a commotion outside.  Got up to look and saw the funniest antics I've seen in a long time - just had to tell you!

Over the past week or so there's been a family of magpie birds around the yard.  Mum and possibly Dad - with 3 big babies.  I say big because they look big - but they're still getting food from Mum as well as picking around the garden.

Three youngsters were having a total scrap!  I got my camera and got a few shots!  They were more like puppies or kittens than birds.  I was laughing to myself so hard!

One of them found an old corn husk in the compost heap and was playing with it like a dog would a bone.  Sibling arrives on the scene and tries to take it away.  No way, Jose!  First baby runs quickly to my laundry trolley and hops up into the peg basket.  Deposits the husk in and picks up a red peg.  All the while the other two siblings are trying their best to antagonise and get up to the corn husk.  Eventually when the three of them were back on terra firma, another little tussle ensued.  Biting each other's tails, rolling on backs, pecking, pecking!  Oh it was such a delight to watch!

I stood there at the kitchen window and hubby joined me - thoroughly entertaining!  Eventually the scuffle broke up and they continued their meandering around the garden.  I looked out a little while later as it seemed quiet and one of the babies had fallen asleep on the fence. So cute!

Love all of God's creatures!

Anyway I did manage to get all of the floss sorted and even ended up with a bag of duplicates.  Felt satisfied that the job that I'd put off for so long was done.

Blessings!

PS (sorry about the spacing of the photos. I don't seem to be able to do anything about it this time)

Baby birds and birthdays

I rushed out to rescue the washing from the clothes line - it certainly wasn't dry, but too dry to get wet in the rain that was threatening.  I was casually watching out the kitchen window at the rain as it absolutely hosed down and to my great surprise I saw a brilliant flash of fire then smoke rising from behind the trees not far from our back fence.  Almost instantaneously our power went off.  The lightning must have hit a transformer supplying electricity to our area.  At a guess I'd say a good inch and a half of rain fell in the next hour.  Absolutely pelted down!

The power was restored a couple of hours later.  At least there was enough light by sitting close to the window, to read for that length of time.

But no matter what the weather, baby birds continue to feed, and birthday parties happen.  For the past three days, Mr and Mrs Scaly Breasted Lorikeet have brought baby SBL to my window.  I simply love their huge black baby eyes as they stumble around the tray trying to make out what they are supposed to do with this stuff that mum and dad seem to be wolfing down their throats.  It hasn't taken long and he/she has gotten the idea of what to do, but despite that still needs some from mum as well.  It is amazing thing to watch at such close range!

And parties!  Grandson E had his today to celebrate his 8th birthday. Daughter had asked me to make the cake so after trying to decide how to decorate it, finished up with a 'Mario' theme since the kids at the moment are all crazy for DS and Wii games featuring this cute character.  The water is really too cold at this time of the year but the new pool has a heater installed and after 12 hours switched on overnight, the kids were able to swim and play in 30C warmth!  A bit chilly getting out though! 

The storm has now gone and the skies are clear-ish but tomorrow we are promised from the weather bureau a bit more of the same - and rain throughout the coming week.  At least we won't need to water the garden or top up the pool!

Blessings!

It's Monday!

Monday - public holiday - Labour Day!  Has been a kind of 'nothing' weekend I guess - weather foul, wet, windy, cold - first time I can ever remember having the fire going in October!!

Despite the weather our Mr & Mrs Butcher Bird are still waiting each morning for a hand-out!  I hope they will bring their offspring to visit soon - they must be about to fly the nest I would guess.

Blessings!

Why is it?

Why is it that simply days can go by and I can't think of a single thing to write - despite all that, life has been busy.  Take these past few days for instance - grandson E7 started off the week with a cough which has gradually gotten worse. No school but mum still had to get off to work - grandma to the rescue - sitting with the little fella while he coughed his tummy sore!  Friday came and another doctor appt plus Xray - possible pneumonia!  Second doctor appt on Friday revealed Xray results not pneumonia but chest infection.  Prescribed anti-biotic and hopefully might be well enough for school on Monday.

Easter is not far away - daughter pleads "can you make E7  an Easter hat for the school parade?"  Oh boy I think - what next?  "Mum, you know you could do it so much better than me" - oh well, what's one more thing to line up?  Made a start on it this morning but will reserve the photo till it's finished.

Hasn't rained for weeks - since beginning of January - did the washing this morning to hang on the  line - including bed linen etc - now pouring with rain! Oh well - have hung some on the clothes airer - the rest can stay in the laundry basket until tomorrow to see if the weather takes a turn for the better. 

Garden is looking OK and carrots and mini cabbage are doing well.  I've erected a little netting cage over the top of them trying to keep the butterflies from laying their little eggs and caterpillars chomping the beautifully tender green leaves.  It seems to be working so far.  Put in some more purple runner beans a couple of weeks ago and they're up about 6 feet so far with flower buds just appearing.  I hope the weather stays warm enough for them to fruit.  The 'winter' tomatoes are all doing well - the Giant Tree Tomato has its first flowers open - boy are they big for tomatoes!  Can't wait to see the fruit once it starts. Have taken 7 pumpkins from the vine and one still left hanging. They're looking good too so shouldn't have to buy any for a while.  Cut the first one when I cooked roast lamb the other night.  They could take a  little more ripening but nice and sweet. 

Picked up a poor specimen of a begonia at the plant nursery a few weeks ago - reduced down in price. It seemed to have had far too much water. Let it dry right out and now blooming a beautiful red!

Had a visit yesterday from a baby kookaburra.  We hear them occasionally in our many trees around the yard but don't often see them.  This cutie perched himself in the old dead wattle tree over the back fence - he didn't seem in the least perturbed when I got as close as I could to take a shot at him - photo that is of course!

A couple of birthdays in the family in the past two weeks and a wedding anniversary - made cards to give and was pleased with the frangipani theme I used for E19.

Booked our flights to go see Mum at Easter time.  She's still in the hospital and hopefully is rehabilitating reasonably.  For a couple of weeks after her surgery we were extremely concerned about her condition but she did 'turn the corner' and is now back in the 'older people's ward' recuperating.  Hoping that there will be some kind of assessment by Easter regarding her ability to go back to her apartment and live independently.  If not, then assisted  living may need to be an option.

Have had contact from another second cousin in the United Kingdom who we'd never heard of before  - I am amazed that in the last few months no less than four distant rellies have made contact.  Genealogy is certainly a very popular pastime.  It is so good hearing from these people and being able to link extended families together. 

All for now - blessings!

Baby Kookaburra



Pretty red begonia




Birthday card for E19




Giant tree tomato plant with basil seedlings



Feeling a bit sorry for myself!

Oh my goodness -  have just come in from the library where I fell up the steps!  What a silly old moo I am!  My watch took the  brunt of the fall and I've cracked the glass and belted it up a little - grazed knee, took a bit of skin off my hand and a sore forehead where I landed. Thank goodness I didn't damage my specs apart from a little scratch on the side!  A dear old lady came rushing over to me and helped me up - she was so kind - one of God's angels there for me.  I'll really have to watch my step (no pun intended) - must be my advancing age I think and not picking my feet up properly.  I guess I'll know tomorrow if bruises emerge where else I might have landed.

My mum's back in hospital. My brother phoned me from NZ to let me know she has been in a week. He was not supposed to let me know (orders from her) however he felt I should be told.  I've spoken to her a couple of times on the phone and she doesn't sound too good.  The problem is pain in her lower back, hip and knee but especially down her right thigh.  I feel strongly that she may have a pinched nerve in the lower spine as I've had similar pain in the past myself.  There is not much that seems to relieve it.   Anyway she is having all manner of tests carried out and I just hope that before long a diagnosis will be made.  It's not good being so far away at a time like this.

We've just had 7 days of heatwave!  A record has been broken for Sydney - 5 days was previously the longest over 30C (86F). For most of those 7 days, it reached 40/42C (107F) and has been most uncomfortable - especially sleeping at night.  For those of you northerners reading this, we 'downunder' as a general rule don't have air conditioning/heating built into our homes although having said that, more and more people building new homes these days are certainly doing just that.  We mostly have brick homes too and once those bricks heat up after a number of hot days, it takes a while for them to cool down, even with insulation etc.  Yesterday we got a predicted cool change mid afternoon which brought the temperature down by about 15 degrees in quite a short time.  What a blessed relief.

Australia has certainly had dramatic weather conditions in the past few weeks.  Floods in Queensland, Northern NSW and Victoria, Cyclone Yasi has devastated many towns on the northern Qld coast and a few hundred miles inland and in the last few days, Western Australia around Perth has been battling dreadful bush fires.  It's all happening here folks!  All we in Sydney have had to cope with has been the heat. We consider ourselves more fortunate than our neighbours in other parts of the country.

Recently I've been feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets sunflower seeds instead of grain bread.  I was really being a bit aggravated by the brown Indian Mynah birds which are so aggressive, even to their own. The seeds are working out much better as the 'brown bombers' are not seed eaters.  I am putting out 3 trays each afternoon with the seeds and the birds come down and really get 'stuck in' to it.  I took a couple of pics of them with their heads down, tails up feeding - they look so comical!

Youngest grandson L5 1/2 started school this morning.  I am anxious to know how it all went for him.  His daddy was planning to take pics of him and big brother E7 before they left.  I'll post them here if he manages to send them on to me.

Well that's about it for now.  Hope you are all doing OK and thanks for popping in.

Blessings!



sunrise during the heatwave



scrambling for best position

 

heads down, tails up!




and a drink afterwards!



CHIT CHAT

Another week has passed - cannot believe we are almost at the end of January! Is this how quickly 2011 is going to pass?  It must be that I'm getting older.

Another week of reading the bible each morning. Now that I've reached 'the Samuel's' it is a lot easier even though the biblical names still get me! They are so difficult to pronounce - even silently! I usually have to read them aloud to get the 'gist' of what they sound like.  They sure were a blood-thirsty mob back in those days - going to war with neighbours almost for the sake of it without any really good reason.  I'm so glad we don't operate that way these days. But it's easy to see that God had a hand in it all and David honoured Him in everything he did (well almost - discounting his discretion with Bathsheba) - but I run ahead of myself.  I've only just begun that part of David's story this morning so I won't comment any further.

At my usual weekly bible study (which doesn't commence for 2011 until next week) the title of the booklet we will be using is "Bold I Approach" (Tony Payne Matthias Media) the why and how of prayer.  I'm looking forward to this study as prayer is something I always seem to struggle with. Not the actual praying, but the words to say.

Have been doing a little more stitching on my WIP "Daisy Girl" recently and I'll include a pic of my progress.  I've also begun a little 'Dimensions' piece which is a bicycle with a huge bunch of flowers on the handlebars - just something quick as a bit of a change from working on linen which I find fairly tedious these days.  I haven't a pic of that one yet but will do that soon.

I've just come home from an appointment at my optometrist.  My eyes tested OK with no real change in prescription for my specs from last test 12 months ago but there seems to be something going on in my right eye which is causing my vision to not be great.  My GP thought it might be blocked tear ducts and I've an appt to see a specialist at the end of the week but after this mornings check up, it's possible it may not be the cause of my problem. The machines which are used these days to take photos of the eye are absolutely amazing!  Fancy even being able to get a pic of the film across the eyeball and from that to be able to see the depth of tears formed at the base of the eye. My problem may simply be 'old age' with the old eyelids sagging somewhat and changing the shape of both the eyeball and the opening to the tearduct.  Isn't it amazing what technology can do these days?

Anyway I'll know more after Friday when I see the specialist.

A few days ago a baby Noisy Miner bird came to the birdbath.  No mum or dad nearby that I could see - its the first time I've seen such a baby attempt by itself to go adventuring this way.  It had a marvellous time flapping in and out of the water. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the cute little thing.  Oh yes - instead of feeding the lorikeets grained bread recently, I've started putting out sunflower seeds for them.  I was getting really aggravated by the Indian myna birds which were stealing it all the time and causing damage to the native birds as well.  Since I've been using the seed, the mynas have shuffled off to a certain extent but we've been getting visits from some huge white sulphur crested cockatoos. They are big birds with an awful screech and all the little lorikeets are really quite afraid of them.  They also do a lot of damage to any fruit or vegies they can swipe at the same time so I don't encourage them.  Here is a pic of one having a good feed of the seed before I shushed him away! There's also one of a colourful bug I found on one of the eucalyptus trees recently.

All for now!

Blessings!



Rain, rain, go away

A rainy, foggy Sunday morning. Everything feels damp. I'd like to think that soon we will dry out and get a little sunshine here, but the forecast says more to come!

My vegies are getting waterlogged and won't grow without sunshine so things aren't looking good in my little garden.  The potatoes are just coming in to flower but with no sunshine or bees I fear we may lose the lot after about 10 weeks of growing!

A load of washing finished and I thought I'd be tempted to pin it on the line and just 'hope for the best' with a few possible dry spells during the day enough to dry it but it's not looking positive.

Despite the 'big wet,' the birds begin their early morning twittering and busy themselves seeking out tidbits for their young.  The butcher bird family I've discovered to now be six.  In the bottle brush tree close to the house yesterday, four young sat waiting for parents to bring food.  They are amazing! Baby spied a (rather large) grasshopper and flew down and grabbed it. Back on the branch it tried to shovel it into it's mouth sideways. 'No, no, baby - that's not the way to do it!' I sensed mother saying.  She neatly took the bug, 'mangled' it in her beak and neatly turned it around so that head first, it fitted right into baby's open mouth.  After a couple of huge gulps, it was gone!  Amazing to watch these small creatures who, despite the patience they show, are also quick to admonish when babies step out of line!

Thank you God for this your day, and for the freedom we have to worship you! I'm off to do that right now.

Blessings!


Rainbow Lorikeets feeding after the rain



Baby butcher bird appears

In the past I've kind of dreaded late September, into October as the butcher birds who've nested in the big tree at the front of our place have 'terrorised' me by swooping very close to my head whenever I've taken a wander outside the door.  Being away out from home for the last 6 weeks has meant I've missed that dreaded swooping business that seems to last for ages - at least until the babies 'fly the coop'!

Yesterday I was repotting some hanging baskets just outside the front door of our house and heard a twittering, tweeting commotion quite close.  Our neighbour's garage backs on to our boundary line and has a flat roof - Mama (or Papa) butcher bird had brought baby on to the flat surface and they were perched right on the edge, baby getting his fill of tidbit.  Parent flew off again for a refill and baby remained sitting very close to the edge.   I popped indoors to get my camera and shot one of it but there was a twig in the way.  I continued with my repotting expecting parent to be back soon but when I looked up again, baby had flown - right on to a branch of a gum tree which grows quite close.  I think it might be time for baby to be out of the nest and on it's own as it flew off quite soon after that. I was surprised to see it flying very proficiently. 

I love this time of the year - so many lovely birds in our back yard including the family of Noisy Miners who come daily now for their feed of bread.  Since I've been away though, my two favourite little green parrots have disappeared so I'll be keeping watch for them in case they arrive back. They could be nesting and staying close to 'home'.  A couple of rainbow lorikeets must have stuck around as they appear each morning quite early waiting for their handout.

No doubt the amount of rain that Sydney has had over these past few months has meant that lots of flowering natives have an abundance of blooms at present and the local birds just love it.  In that respect, I'm pleased they are not needing to call in to my back door for a top up.  It is much nicer that they are feeding as nature intended.

Blessings!

LAST DAYS WITH THE TEXAS CONNECTION

The following days passed too quickly. With the children at their respective schools during the week, we had time to wander through shops, sit in the sun, more shops. The wildflowers of Texas are so beautiful - they grow along the sides of highways, out on sidewalk gardens, in ‘yet unbuilt on’ parts of new housing areas. Beautiful bluebonnets, evening primrose, pretty coloured daisy varieties, Indian paintbrush - all so brilliant and showing God’s handiwork in colour. The school where Grand-daughter A11 (soon to graduate for Middle School) attends, has a wildflower garden - DIL had provided them with seed of red bluebonnet flowers which had been growing in her garden, and they were also blooming amongst the other varieties. So, so pretty. A visit to the school during lunchtime allowed me to photograph some of them. A11’s classmates also had the opportunity to taste some ’down under’ Vegemite on crackers as well as a chocolate ’Freddo Frog’! One afternoon was spent watching Grandson A13 playing tennis against another school team. Considering he had only been playing for about a month, he did extremely well - but then he is a born sportsman and does well at most sports - just like his Dad and Grandpa!

Son took a day off work and took his Dad out to the ‘range’ - DIL and I presumed they meant the golf practice range. When they got back we were informed that it was the shooting range - they weren’t sure what my reaction would be if I’d known beforehand! In Australia it is illegal to carry guns unless you have a licence to do so - for instance police officers carry them on duty. I have never been able to get my head around the idea of people having guns in their homes (let alone carrying them). However Son has become quite proficient at shooting as a hobby and every so often goes with a group to areas specifically for the purpose of shooting wildlife. Son and a friend had a great morning ‘teaching’ Dad how to shoot targets! Of course got a photo for posterity! LOL

Sitting out on the deck some afternoons I was fascinated by the red cardinal birds who appeared to be nesting somewhere close by. The male, so vibrant in colour and his paler little mate would fly from tree to tree gathering nest-building material. I managed to get a photo of him but his back was turned - they are so quick and the trees so large it was difficult to just get the ‘perfect’ shot. Other cheeky birds were bolder and came closer to the house. Feeders for hummingbirds were hung during the week with great excitement when the first one came to drink. I managed to see one at quite a distance and was amazed at the minute size. Such amazing little birds!

Red Cardinal

Texas wildflowers Red Bonnets

Our son had purchased a shade sail to put up over his newly built deck - Dad came in handy with suggestions of what was needed to erect it and assisting to buy the necessary equipment then helping to get it up. It certainly made a big difference to the area and with a new outdoor setting gifted, outdoor meals and lounging during the summer months should be more comfortable this year.

The night before we left, we were treated to a great meal at The Salt Lick BBQ restaurant a little distance outside of Austin. The weather was warm and meeting with friends ensured a very memorable evening. We were sad to be leaving the family the next morning but all good holidays come to an end and in many ways it felt good to be going back home and sleeping in our own bed again.

The family at The Salt Lick

Resident peacock at The Salt Lick

Our flight back to Los Angeles was uneventful and we arrived there about 1pm - our flight to Sydney Australia wasn't due out until 10.30pm that night and as we didn't fancy sitting around the airport for all those hours, we took a bus to Westwood Village, near to UCLA and spent a couple of hours wandering around the area. Before we headed back to the airport we had coffee and cake at a little coffee shop. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

We were quite excited to know that the aircraft we were to fly in back to Sydney was a new A380 - what a huge machine! Fortunate also to have seats in a row which enabled DH to stretch his legs out in front of him - a treat indeed when travelling economy class!

Our son was at the airport to meet us when we arrived at 6.30am the next morning and once home and unpacked, sad to say it didn't take long to get back into the 'normal everyday' mode! Still we were grateful for good health and safe travels all the way around the world - I know our Heavenly Father had something to do with that!

BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE?

As I stepped on to the wooden floorboards in the kitchen I was immediately conscious of grains of rice which had fallen on the floor. As I went to get the dustpan and broom to sweep them up I realised with a shock that we hadn't eaten rice in our house for a good 4 months (diet blamed here!). A closer look at the floor revealed - MAGGOTS! I nearly heaved - then quickly went for the can of insect spray. Spraying them like crazy didn't really help. There must have been a couple of dozen of the critters and each second they were creating a wider circle in all directions - mostly towards my feet - and all the spray was doing was creating a slick on the floor which wasn't stopping them.

In panic mode now I dove into the laundry to grab the dustpan and broom and started furiously sweeping them up, racking my brain the whole time wondering where they had come from and was there any more lurking where I couldn't see!

They just kept wriggling along and as I inspected the rest of the kitchen floor found a few where they had managed to crawl/wriggle along the edge of the wall. Even now a couple of hours later I am absolutely puzzled to know where they came from.

After the cleanup I inspected all cupboards and drawers within the vicinity and could find nothing resembling the afore-mentioned critters. Can 'things' like this hatch in such a short time? My husband had been pottering in the kitchen only minutes before this as he made preparations for breakfast then left for work.

On checking the internet it seems they can hatch almost within minutes of the eggs being laid. Had the grandsons here yesterday afternoon and they have a habit of leaving the scrren door open. Last night I had spotted a fly in the kitchen area which must have sneaked in and had sprayed it with insecticide but didn't find the 'evidence' of its death. This morning it was on the benchtop - dead. I'm now wondering whether in it's last moments it had laid eggs on the floor and this morning's little 'troop' was the result - eek - it still sends shivers up my spine even thinking about it!

As I sit here typing close to the back door there is a dreadful racket going on outside - from birds! I've mentioned before that we have a large number of native bird who come regularly to the yard here to get fed with bread. In the past months we have also had some 'imports' of the brown Indian Mynah birds who have taken up resident in our neighbours garage roof and bred now two lots of babies. They are extremely territorial and quite vicious in attacking the natives in what they have seemed to claim as 'their' backyard. A couple of them had come down looking for bits left by the natives and had been immediately 'shoo-ed' off by both them and a couple of magpies who got in on the act for good measure. Now that they've been banished back to the neighbours yard, it is quietly peaceful except for the occasional bird calls of the maggies or beautiful butcher bird.

A good start to the day? Perhaps blessings in disguise - depends on which way you look at it I guess!

Blessings to you dear friends!

CHRISTMAS DAY IS ALMOST OVER

Christmas day in Sydney NSW. The day proved to be a lovely cool, overcast 27 degrees before a few brief showers about mid-afternoon.

The big Christmas Day cricket match! (all for fun of course)

Daughter in law talks to family in Texas USA



Daughter Kate with yummy turkey cooked in the bbq with a special cranberry marinade

SIL with the wonderful ham he cooked

Grandson E6 - Lego - just what I wanted!

Grandson L4 got a scooter and play costume

Grandsons - good mates!



Visitors for Christmas Day - pink and grey Galahs

Lovely memories of Christmas day 2009 together with family.

Blessings All!

PHOTOS FROM LAST FEW WEEKS

Been really busy making Church banners for Christmas so not much time to be blogging but will post a few photos that I've taken over the past few weeks.

My lovely Gardenia has been loaded with blooms this year

The butcher bird that kept swooping down on me a few weeks ago

When friends from the UK visited we took them to Manly on the harbour

Eight of the family went to see the musical "Wicked"

Grandson L4 surprised me when he came in dressed in a Batman costume

That's about all for this time. Have a good weekend.

Blessings!

THAT SCARY BIRD (NO! NOT THE ONE IN THE TREE)!

I've discovered that the 'friendly' Butcher Bird who lives in a tree in my front yard - is not at all friendly - at least at present it's not.

For the past 10 days or so when I've gone to the letter box, or to potter in the garden or bring the garbage bin up from the road, the Butcher Bird would appear quite quickly in a nearby branch and sit kinda peering down at me. I thought it was 'asking' for a tidbit of bread as I'd seen it sometimes in the back yard when the Rainbow Lorikeets have been flying in for theirs. It seemed quite shy then and would only fly down to retrieve some bread if I threw it quite close to where it was sitting, and then only after what appeared to be quite long 'inspection' of the morsel. I got a scare recently when coming back from the letterbox to hear a loud 'clack' beside me and realised the bird had flown very close to me and continued up into a tree. It un-nerved me for a second or two until I realised it was Mr or Mrs Butcher Bird. Oh well, it must want bread real bad to do that was my thought.

After having this busy bird 'swoop' at me three times now I've realised (slow learner here I think)! that the poor thing is protecting a nest. There are several of these birds in our area, one of them found dead on the ground recently with an 'attacked head' - the work we suspect of a flock of dreadful Indian Myna birds who terrorise the bird colony around our home. This seems to be their modus operandi when wanting to rid other birds of what they consider their territory. I've actually seen one of these scavengers attack a Rainbow Lorikeet in this manner. Dreadful to watch!

Anyway to get back to the Butcher Bird household. Since it dawned on me that the bird is actually trying to frighten me away from its nest, I'm really rather apprehensive about going outside the front door! I know it sounds foolish - I'm sure the bird wouldn't actually touch me - but I simply don't like the thought of being 'dive bombed'. It's not being aware that it's going to happen that freaks me. I'm sure if my neighbours have seen me in the past few days surrepticiously edging my way down the path they would certainly wonder what had come over me. Since the majority of them go out to work during the day, I don't think they've had to wonder.

These birds belong to the magpie family and from what I've read, they usually don't swoop from the front - I'm sure that's correct since this fellow certainly came each time from behind me. I'm thinking maybe I should buy one of those kids plastic yellow hard hats and glue a pair of eyes on the back. They say a plastic ice cream container works OK as well. Fortunately this kind of behaviour only happens between September and November - until the chicks have fled the nest.

Baby Butcher Bird taken 2007

Even though I've found it scary, I still have to marvel at the way God's little creatures take care of their young. Fancy something so small taking on something of human being size! Not a day goes by that God doesn't teach me more about the person He is! I am grateful and blessed!

Blessings friends!

THIS AND THAT

The 'bird' was not an owl at all. Having done a bit of investigating, have decided it must be a tawny frogmouth. A much harsher face than the soft features of most owls, this bird reminds me of a very stern 'old fashioned' school master perhaps weilding his cane in an attempt to coax his students into behaving. Anyway I haven't worked out a pattern for its appearance yet - it seems to come for a whole day, just sitting on the same branch, seeming not to move, then doesn't appear for a day or so, then back it comes - unusual. It definitely seems to have 'booked' the particular branch in the particular tree for now anyway. Time will tell as the weather gets hotter whether that will continue. Maybe it will seek out the more cool conifers which grow not far away.

Have been doing quite a bit of reading in the past week - I normally read a book a week but two I got from the library were very light reading and I got through them quickly - Anna Jacobs writes light historic romantic stories, often set in England however both these I read were modern in time quite enjoyable. Not long ago I read Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" which was definitely set in historic England and once into it, couldn't put it down. I have just finished his 'The Hammer of Eden' which also held my attention. I have one more to read before I return them to the library and its Follett's "World Without End". I'll begin that one tonight.

The red dust storm which hit Sydney in the early hours of yesterday morning was a very unusual sight. I woke at 5.45am just after the sun began to rise and an eery orange/red light coming through the window forced me out of bed to get my camera. A strange phenomenon which apparently hasn't occurred here for about 70 years or more. It happens when weather conditions are right - high winds coming from the north west, heat and apparently time of year. The centre of Australia is almost all red earth and the wind had picked up tonnes and tonnes of it and swept it across the country and out to sea. I guess New Zealand may get a sprinkling of it in a day or so. Traffic bedlam reigned, road tunnels closed because of the ventilation problem, harbour ferries stopped, hospitals emergency departments filled with people suffering from asthma and chest complaints triggered by the heavily polluted air. Kids were kept home from school (including my E5 grandson) and those who did go were kept inside the classrooms for most of the day. Not pleasant. We are promised the possibility of another similar dust storm on Saturday!

A couple of weeks ago I fancied doing a little bit of smocking so pleated up some light apple green cotton fabric which I'd had in the cupboard for a couple of years. Got the little baby dress finished this week and have made a frilled lacy coat hanger to go with it. Have no one in mind at this stage to give it to, but I'll just put it by to use when the right occasion comes along.

Have had two baby girls born into our extended family in the past couple of weeks. A 'trendy' name for girls at present must be Ruby. One of the babies has been named Ruby Mae, the other Ruby Rose. Cute!

Here's the pattern for the knitted childs coat hanger if any of you are inclined to try it out.

CHILDS LACY KNITTED COAT HANGER COVER

1 roll Knitting Nylon (in Australia it is Knitlon or sometimes Arbee brand)

1 pr size 4mm (or English 8) knitting needles

2 - 3 mtrs (or yards) nylon lace which has insertion holes through the centre

Wooden coat hanger

Small piece hobby plastic tubing to cover metal hook.

1. Cast on 58 stitches and knit (garter stitch, knit every row) 2 rows

2.Next row knit one stitch and with the lace at the back of the work insert the needle into the stitch and into the hole in the middle of the lace. Continue to the end of the row. Cut off lace at the end of the row.

3. Knit 3 rows garter stitch.

Repeat steps 2 and 3, 3 times (you will now have 4 rows of lace)

Knit 2 rows of garter stitch then cast off.

Thread the metal hood with the plastic tubing. Find the centre of the cover mark with a pin. Sew the short ends of the cover together. Slip the screw in end of the hook through the centre of the cover and screw into the wooden hanger. Holding the edges together, sew the cover on to the hanger along the long ends. If you wish you can tie a satin ribbon bow around the base of the metal hook. I used a double length of the knitting nylon to form a little bow for a nice finish.

These covers can be made to fit an adult size wooden hanger by casting on 68 stitches and following the same instructions. 1 cover uses about 40 mtrs knitting nylon and 3 mtrs nylon lace.

Have fun trying one out and have a blessed week!