Imagine Me

Storny Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 10:01:00 +0000

I've just been out fixing up the damage from last night's storm. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to spend much time outside and do anything really since I managed to fracture my other wrist two and a half months ago. This time I did a lot of damage to the internal structure of the wrist and the fracture itself wasn't a clean one. I still have to do regular exercises to try to get back full function. It's not too bad and I am making progress but it is still painful.

But enough the whinging. I could get out there and actually do something albeit mostly still one handed. Given there were houses with their roofs blown off we were lucky as far as the wind damage is concerned. The front driveway gates are mostly much destroyed which considering they were already in pretty bad shape and we intend to get them replaced in a few weeks is fine.

Apart from that we had some large pots blown over - quite a few actually. My little lime tree which was loaded with fruit - and very pretty they looked, too - is now bare after being blown offf the wall it usually sits on. I've shared the fruit with my neighbours but I'll miss being able to go out and pick a lime whenever I wanted. The curry leaf tree,which is in a large ceramic pot, was also blown over. While the tree is fine the pot I'm afraid has suffered a fatal injury. Because it's a very large pot and I will have to source another the pot is currently glued together. Not a permanent fix but it should give me some time.

The pineapples also suffered . These pots are in what is usually a safe place at the side of the house. Not this time. When we went to see if there was any damage from overflowing gutters - the rain was exceptionally heavy and Pisces had already found one spot with a blockage - we found more than half the pineapple pots on the ground. That meant a rather prickly rescue. Pineapples have long spiky leaves and these were large second year plants which should fruit this year, and they were heavy. Once they were all back in place I could see that the very large birds nest fern which belonged to my mother and must be at least eighty years old had also fallen over. It stands in a corner of the house and it is huge so it took both Pisces and me to manhandle it back into position.

So everything in the garden is now back as it should be - or at least in order - and I'm not complaining too much as we need rain. It's just the wind I could do without.

The Tangled Lands by Glenda Larke

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 09:08:00 +0000

In the interests of transparency I should tell you that I know Glenda and have done for many years - since we were in our teens in fact. That said I have to say she is has also been one of my favourite fantasy writers ever since her first novel was published. She has an incredible capacity to create extraordinary worlds. People using a tidal bore as transport, a world where giant millipedes are used for transport and, of course, magic to mention just a few details from some of her novels will tell you she has an amazing imagination. Add to that the ability to transport you into these worlds so they are utterly believable and to create strong and beautifully drawn characters and intricate plots and there's a lot to like. So when I heard she working on a now novel I was watching to see when it might be released. Now it's here and it was worth the wait

The Tangled Lands is Glenda Larke at her best. As Pisces would tell you I could barely be dragged away from it to do, well, anything really. She has created yet another unique world where magic happens but life also goes on. There are universal themes of prejudice, fear of the other, temptation and different kinds of deeply personal griefs but there is also honour and growth as characters make mistakes (sometimes with terrible consequences) and learn and change.

To say it was gripping is an understatement. I love fantasy when it's like this - and as you've probably guessed I recommend this novel highly. Who knows you might then want to have a look at some more of Glenda Larke's novels many of which I see are still available. There are all sorts of extraordinary worlds to enjoy between those covers.

Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 10:24:00 +0000

It's been a grimly grey and damp day here today but in a rare break in the weather I went for a wander around my garden and this is what I found.

These calendulas or pot marigolds brighten much of my garden from flower beds to the vegetable garen where they self sow. They are used medicinally I'm told and since they're edible they make a colourful addition to salads. Mostly though I just find them a cheerful addition to the garden,

The cymbidium orchids are in glorious bloom at the moment. I have several and as each stem of flowers opens I move it to a table on the veranda where its beauty can be enjoyed from inside the house.

And finally here is one of my yellow bearded irises. I love these and have several large pots of them - it was this lovely stem of blooms that drew me outside in the first place. The blossoms don't do well in heavy rain or strong wind - the delicate petals damage easily - but on a day like today they stay perfect.

Rain!

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 10:30:00 +0000

At last! It's been a very dry summer. We don't get much summer rain here - there'll be the odd thunderstorm if we're lucky but most are thunder and lightning and not much else so dry is not unexpected. This means we don't get much in the way of humidity - there's an old joke where when asked about how we handle heatwaves - and w have some beauties - a Western Australian will say: "I don't mind the heat as long as iy's dry heat." It's true enough. When the odd tropical storm shakes things up and it gets a bit humid we start to wilt. Even then we don't often get much in the way of real water coming out of the sky so so it's something of a pleasant change when we have a few wet days like we've just experienced. The garden perks up in a way no amount of hand or sprinkler watering can make it do and everything gets a much needed wash so the whole garden looks fresh and bright. Plants survive and even thrive her with hand d or sprinkler watering but there's nothing rain to give it a renewed burst of life.

Well, that's the way it's been but our climate is changing. The south west of Australia is getting dryer thanks to climate change and the dams which once supplied Perth and it surroundings with more than enough water are now at sucj low levels that Perth now depends on two desalinisation plants for around half of its water needs and there are plans to build a third. Garden sprinkler watering is restricted to two days a week from September to the end of May with a total ban on use in our wettest months of June, July and August.

Along with this our ur gardens and gardening practices are changing. Water hungry plants are being replaced with hardy natives and those from other dry climates. While there is still a place for planting that needs watering such as fruit and vegetable crops we're learning new techniques which will keep us fed. It's an interesting exercise to look at gardens and see how they are changing because Perth sits on the edge of a dry continent and for too long we've tried to emulate a European style of gardens - and it no longer works here.

While I've always been very careful and strategic in how I water I'm always looking to find ever newer and better ways to cut back on my water usage. This is where my raised beds are coming into their own. Because they're wicking beds I only need to make sure that the water level is maintained to ensure my plants stay healthy and productive. While they're not the answer for everything - plants like beans and peas still need a frame of some sort - they are certainly working for smaller plants. At the moment I have capsicums, eggplant, chard and basil but they will soon be replaced with brassica like kale and pak choi and maybe some smaller broccoli. These beds have covers which keep out pests like cabbage white butterflies so the brassica should do well in them.

There has been one setback, though. When the beds were set up for me the potting mix supplied turned out to be less than optimal. It should have been sterilised to get rid of any pathogens and this was obviously not the case. Within a few weeks a host tiny moths hatched and I'm still months later dealing with their off spring. I hate to use chemicals at any time and in beds like this they would be even more problematic so I've been spraying with a naturally occurring bacteria. I hope that will be enough to rid me of the little beasties sooner rather than later.

So my garden is changing and evolving as the climate changes but there will always be a garden here because if there's one defining thing about gardeners it's that we never stop wanting to surround ourselves with plants and I don't believe we ever will.

When Life Gives You Lemons

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 11:00:00 +0000

you're supposed to make lemonade or something In my opinion these platitudes are more harmful than good. All we can do when things are a mess - and it doesn't matter if it's health problems or a personal tragedy - is to try to survive and I find part of survival is finding small moments of joy where you can.

With that cheery beginning in mind here are a few of my moments of joy lately.

Mr Three has been spending more time with us lately - it's the last year before he goes to kindergarten and he starts to have a busy social life. We're having great fun playing silly games. This is a magical age when pretending is the way to go so when he tells me we scurry through the house pursued by crocodiles and tigers - oh and biting plants just for good measure - to the safety of the boat (my bed). then we creep back to the family room before we're under attack again and have to seek safety on my chair. This is all very bemusing to Pisces who is intomore into tangible toys.

While I've been sitting here I've been being distracted by the afternoon procession of birds at the birdbath. I made sure that the birdbath is clearly visible through my study window so I can watch them when I should be working. A few minutes ago there was a flock of New Holland honey eaters - around ten of them were splashing in and out of the water before flying off. Now there's a red wattle bird trying to manage an uninterrupted drink and the resident willy wagtail isn't putting up with that. He's about half the size of the wattle bird but it's given in and decided he's too annoying and flown off. Mr Willy Wagtail is now spending his time alternatively bathing and strutting on the side of the birdbath. I've seen him take on a bird as big as a raven and drive it off. Foolhardy? Well, he usually gains his objective so I guess not.

I invested in some raised garden beds at the beginning of summer. It's been getting harder for me to get down to garden these days and theses Vegepods are at waist height so much easier to maintain. I'm now harvesting chard, basil, and capsicums regularly from the pods. While the pods are a very good thing the area doesn't compare with the vegetable garden I used to have so I have a few plans in the ground - cucumbers and various herbs mainly but when I fractured my wrist gardening was out of the questions. It was a very long three months of healing and rehab my but arm is functional again and I I'm - at last - able to get out into the garden.

The abundance of capsicums and basil means I have the additional pleasure of converting some of my harvest to meals for the future. This means we have portions of home made pesto and vegetable stew in the freezer. The cucumbers are coming in, too, and I look forward to enjoying them for months to come.

I didn't get a chance to put in things like pumpkins or squash at the beginning og summer - for obvious reasons - but more in hope than anything else I threw a handful of butternut squash seeds into what is usually a flower bed outside the back door and they have emerged and and are growing very fast. Butternut squash are known as pumpkins here for some reason and keep very well so I'm hoping for at least some to carry us over the winter. Besides butternut plants are attractive enough to fill the space before the self seeded winter flowers come up - and they have spectacular large, golden yellow flowers so that's an additional bonus.

Miss Nearly Seven and her Dad called in last weekend. I hadn't seen her for a few weeks - you have a very busy social life once you're in school - and she's had a growth spurt. She's all long limbs and missing teeth while her big cousin Miss Eleven is now not much shorter than me. Given I'm a shorty I suspect they'll all tower over me eventually.

I've been making time for writing in among everything else that takes up my t me. I'm still working my way through some short stories. I have no idea where they are all going to end up - if anywhere - but I've now finished to first draft a bunch of of them and I'm thoroughly enjoying writing them.

I got a text from Virgo earlier in the week. Miss Nearly Seven and Mr Three wanted to come over after school and wanted Virgo to leave. I suspected plans were afoot and I was right. After a few games there were requests for Poppy Biscuits which are just BBQ Shapes but thse little cracker biscuits are very popular among the younger set. Then a few minutes later there were whispers in my ear. Could they please have ice cream? This is something have at home but there's something special about ours apparently. Since I don't want them to not want their dinner they each get a small - and I do mean small - scoop of whatever I have in the freezer. What's hilarious about this is that they would be given exactly the same thing if Virgo was here but apparently it's much more exciting if they think it's a secret.

One last note - Pisces has been out and topped up the birdbath and a flock of little brown birds - which after searching through my trusty field guide I've managed to identify as weebills - fluttered in as soon as he moved away. They didn't get long before the willy wagtail shooed them off and proceeded to have a very thorough bath himself. No sooner had he left the little birds were back noisily skimming through the water then fluffing out their damp belly feathers on the fence before they go back again.

And Still They Come

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 11:06:00 +0000

They are ants. I feel as if I'm living in a version of Groundhog Day where instead of reforming myself I just have yet another invasion of ants. I'm not alone in this battle which isn't actually any consolation.

We've always had ants doing anty things in the garden - like undermining the pavers and putting up neat little piles of sand everywhere and anywhere. Annoying - and the under paving excavations are starting to be quite a lot more than annoying but that's another story. These ants were coastal brown ants and have been around in some form or another for as long as anyone has built houses on the Swan coastal plain. They are as I said generally only annoying but in the past couple of years things have changed.

There are some new ants on the block. These are tiny - and I mean really tiny. Generally I can't even see them unless they move. Even Pisces who eyesight is much better than mine struggles at times. These little blighters - and I'm trying to be polite here - are like the invaders in the song, Close the Doors I posted about a few days ago. Now I think about it the ant apocalypse may be what has set off my obsession with such songs.

But enough of that and on to my battle with these little pests which currently they seem to be winning. Every day I get up to a trail of ants coming in from somewhere new. My kitchen is wiped over diligently after any use, everything edible is kept in sealed containers and the bin is emptied at least daily. It does no good whatever. I've tried every natural way of detering them and none of them work. They just keep coming. I don't want to use insecticide in the kitchen near foodstuffs - although Pisces did give in and spray where the bin is kept the other day and I don't blame him.

Because they are so tiny their ability to enter the kitchen has opened up a whole new lot of problems. They'vecome in behind the glass splash back and no sooner did I block the first hole than they were coming in through another. Whether the silicone seal on it was not done well enough or as I suspect they've chewed through it who knows. They've come in inside the cupboards which are supposedly sealed, they wended their way along the edge of the tiles , down beside the oven and then around to the sink.

Today though they really excelled. My lovely cleaner J. was in the kitchen when she saw them and yelled "There's hundreds of them" which might be a slight exaggeration but there certainly a lot - all over the cook top and coming out from under it. The cook top has been kept wiped over scrupulously - it actually shines - and I've even scraped under the edges to take away anything that could attract them. So how did they get there? Why were they there? Was it some sort of ant conference where they were making plans on where to go next? Who knows. J. entertained herself by going back multiple times and killing as many as she could and I turned on the burners for ten minutes in hopes of driving them out. We shall just have to wait and see I guess.

So if I come up with more songs about "things" invading people's live you'll know why.

I've Tried toWrite a Sensible Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 10:10:00 +0000

Really, I have - but I keep finding nonsense filling my brain. So here's a selection of what I've had in there over the past week.

Let's start with Stanley Holloway's recording of The Lion and Albert. This was a favourite of my Dad so brings back all sorts of memories.

Then there was this novelty song by Phil Harris The Thing.

Another bit of musical nonsense was this - Close the Door here performed by The Stargazers.

I did manage one more cultured piece of music. It's Orinoco Flow sung here by the original members of the Irish group Celtic Woman. I've been trying to get a playlist organised for an upcoming event and and this is right at the top of my list. Enjoy.

Earworm Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 10:19:00 +0000

I'm working on getting rid of a lot of "stuff" which is cluttering up the place and for some reason some earworm songs seem the right accompaniment. They date from the forties and fifties but were still on air while I was growing up.

first up is The Little Blue Man sung here by Betty Johnson. She was the original singer but there were a bunch of later covers.

Then there's this Mairzy Doats - and I have to tell you I had to look hard to find this original version by the Pied Pipers which dates from before I was even thought of.

Then how could I forget this The Purple People Eater sung by Sheb Wooley and this says it is the official video.

Enough? Probably. Listen at your peril (but they are amusing).

A Perfect Storm

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 04:32:00 +0000

as they say - or would if they (whoever they are) could.

So what do I mean by that? Well, we've had a series of medical problems - and that's the nicest way I can think of putting it.

It all started when as a result of my failing vision I had a fall - and it wasn't just any fall, no siree. It was a doozy. I landed on my right - and dominant - wrist and may have said a few words my cleaner didn't think I ever would. She and Pisces came racing from various parts of the house and helped me off the floor. My wrist was already swelling by then and I was pretty sure I'd broken something. The pain was excruciating and I put an ice pack around it and made a quick phone call to Virgo to see if she could help. It wasn't ideal timing since she was doing the school pick up run but she managed to get child care sorted. Long story short and after a trip to - and a long wait - at urgent care, yes, I had broken my radius near the wrist. With a cast in place and a referral to a specialist the next day we all went home.

The specialist confirmed what I had known as soon as I saw the x-ray - it would need surgical repair. I was booked in for surgery and went home to wait armed with a bunch of heavy duty pain killers. Surgery happened and after sporting a spiffy red and blue splint for a couple of months - much delight to Mr Three who said it looked like I'm a racing car driver. I'm not convinced. I've been seeing a hand occupational therapist to try to get as much movement as possible back. I never knew such folk existed - and that's despite there an OT in the family. I'm close to where I was before the break now and I'm still diligently doing my exercises so I'm hopeful all will eventually be well. I'm only just back to typing normally which I'm very happy about.

With my wrist under control I was hoping other things would at least stay as they were. Unfortunately that was not the case with us finding out the day after I came out of hospital that Pisces who has some health problems his own is no longer permitted to drive - I haven't been able to drive for several years due to poor vision so this is a serious blow. Then there was an appointment for me with the eye specialist with more bad news. I knew already that things were not great - since the middle of September I had noticed a dramatic decline in my vision but - had hoped for better news than that to find out my central vision is just about gone.

All of this is taking some adjusting to so blogging may be a bit patchy for a while as Pisces, Virgo and I work out ways to cope with all the changes.

Seasons Greetings to You All!

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 09:12:00 +0000

It's been a torrid few months around here - if I don't decide it's all better forgotten I'll fill you in some time - so for now I wish you and yours all the best of the season and with a New Year that treats you well.

Well That Was Not Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 04:25:00 +0000

We've been without house internet access for nearly a month and the house phone which comes through our ISP has also been non-functional. This has meant I could only get on the internet via a Personal hot spot using my phone which is not ideal. It chews up data and I only have a small amount of data on my phone - I've had to go to a higher and more expensive plan just to do the essentials like the grocery shopping and to see if I could find anything that might help. I've tried everything I could think of as well as every suggestion I could find on the internet. Nothing helped.

No-one seemed to know what was actually causing the problem. Our ISP checked our router - and said it was working perfectly. They contacted the NBN (the National Broadband Network) and technician spent some hours putting temporary patches on their cables. This is because we are on the aging copper wire system that should have been fully replaced when the NB came into being - I won't go into the details of why this didn't happen except to say it became a political football. This system is starting to fail and there's now a rush on to retrofit it with the modern fibre system but with so much to be replaced we have to wait our turn hence the temporary patches.

Unfortunately none of this helped us. But then - after nearly three weeks of being sent back and forth between the two companies - with the help of a very patient man from my ISP - I had the internet. We were on the phone for over two hours trying one fix after another. As I can't see very well these days I had to get Pisces, who is a complete computer illiterate, to read things out and which led to some interesting moments. We got there in the end, thank goodness. Phew. Then the next morning we discovered our phone was out again and the internet was gone - again.

Since then - after another marathon session with a technician lasting nearly three hours - we have now had working internet and a phone for a few days without any outages. The only problem was that now my airPrint printer still didn't work. You'd think it would have been fairly simple just set it up again but no. I tried and tried before giving in and calling support. The guy was initially helpful but when he couldn't get it to work - and to be fair we'd been on the phone for over an hour at the time - he told me that I should get in touch with my ISP to check my router password. Not helpful because I knew I had the correct password.

As I scrolled through the website totally frustrated another number came up as the company contact. I took a deep breath, tried it - and success! A very helpful woman worked through the problem with me and finally - finally everything was back in working order. Yay!

This is why I'm at last able to blog - I didn't forget you . Truly. I worked out that altogether during that month I spent close to fifteen - yes, 15 - hours trying to get the whole mess sorted. So far it's back and I have everything possible crossed that it stays that way.

It's Still Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 09:53:00 +0000

although today feels more like Spring - at least until you (and by you I mean me) realise that you're wearing thick track pants, a log sleeved (and very warm) winter top, a thick cardigan and finger less gloves so you can type. As you might guess we're not too good at preparing for the cold here. We're pretty good at dealing with summer heat with most houses with air conditioning - and there I go again saying summer. It's silly because it doesn't suit our seasons at all. There's an unofficial move to use the local Noongar which don't rely on arbitrary dates but go more on what the weather is actually like. By that calendar we're now in Djilba which has wet days but increasingly there are fine days and cold nights.

Back to how we cool our houses. The vast majority of houses have evaporative air conditioning which works well in dry heat which is what we have mostly. It's not so good when it's humid and here climate change is having an impact with the number of humid days increasing. Its other limitation is that it only cools the air not warms it. - and we have not traditionally built our houses for cold. Roof insulation has been mandatory for some considerable time but that's more aimed at te summer heat striking down. More modern houses are equipped with reverse cycle air conditioning but that still leaves at least half of all of the houses without it.

We do have heaters - in our case we're fortunate because we have better than most insulation together with a big heater that pumps out heat and combined with ceiling fans effectively heats the whole house quickly. Others aren't so lucky but even so there's also a reluctance of many to put any heating on except in the evening. You can tell when it's a chilly day in Perth because that's when somewhat shame faced someone will sidle up to you and admit to turning on the heater during the day.

I'm somewhat fixated on the weather at the moment because I have been supposed to be having two Vegepod raised garden beds installed for more than a month. I should be getting ready to put in seedlings for my summer vegetable garden but Vegepod the kits are still in the garage and 36 bags of potting mix and 180 paving slabs are sitting out in the garden waiting for workers with a compacter to come, put down paving and put the kits together.

So far the company has postponed because they've been hit by COVID - possible, wet weather so the paving can't be done - plausible, and the latest - the paver has the flu - maybe but my suspicions have raised because another worker from the company who was here to do some gardening mentioned the paver had quit. Hmm.

If it wasn't for the paving for which we don't have the equipment I'd ask Virgo and her husband if they would help us and setting up the actual pods wouldn't be too difficult. Instead we shall just have to wait and hope they can get their act together, I guess, because at the moment here skilled workers and tradespeople of any ilk are in acutely short supply. That's what happens when a country that relies heavily on bringing in qualified workers closes its borders as Australia did during the pandemic.

Our latest date for the work to be done is next Wednesday. I won't be holding my breath.

In something to raise my spirits somewhat - the final flock of little brown birds is making the most of the last of the daylight to bathe in the bird bath.

Afternoon Parade

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 10:20:00 +0000

I'm sure we've all heard of the Dawn chorus when the sun is still below the horizon but the birds are up and asserting their territorial rights in song. If like me your wake up time is linked very much to sunrise this is a magical time of the day as the songbirds sing their hearts out. It's a joy to listen to but I confess in midsummer when dawn arrives at around 4:30 AM I tend to wake up, listen for a bit and then pull the sheet over my head and doze again for an hour or so. I'm usually up by around six wakened by the sun even with my curtains drawn.

In winter, of course, all this happens much later and I'm usually still tucked in until shortly before the light starts to appear at a little after seven. This means not much time to spend listening to the birds since the day's routine has to get moving. This is when the alternative of the afternoon parade of birds visiting my birdbath becomes a delight as they vocalise as well as drinking and bathing. They are all so different and come in relays of different species.

The djitti djittis or willy wagtails (one has just rather bravely taken its afternoon bath despite the chilly weather), ravens and laughing doves come whenever they choose unlike the other smaller birds. The ravens are solitary and can appear at any time of day, often bringing some dry bread stolen from a rubbish bin to soak. The only ones prepared to try to dislodge them are the willy wagtails. These small birds smartly dressed in back and white - they remind me of a portly man in a dinner jacket - are convinced that they don't have to retreat for anything or anyone and will take on even bird as much bigger than itself as as a raven. After a few beak clips above the head even the bravest raven will decide it's not worth the discomfort. The doves don't so much bathe as just stand in the water to cool off in the summer and in the winter they've only interested in snatching a drink. They, too, are quickly sent on their way when an angry willy wagtail, less than a quarter the size, lands on the rim of the birdbath and bounces up and down chattering loudly.

The others come in quite distinct groups.

The first to come are the wattle birds and they arrive from around 4:00 to 4:30. These are mostly red wattle birds but we sometimes get a little wattle bird.They come as singles or pairs and drink then bathe spraying water everywhere and accompanying it all with harsh, raucous cries. In summer they can get quite wet and then they move out to sit on the fence to fluff out their feathers and dry off a little.

Next it's the smaller honeyeaters about half an hour later. We have several resident species - brown honeyeaters, singing honeyeaters and New Holland honeyeaters. These come in ones and twos, sometimes threes, and of them by far the most striking are the New Holland honeyeaters with their handsome vertically streaked black and white coats. The brown honeyeaters are, well, brown as are the singing honeyeaters but these sport a black patch over their eyes making my children call them bandit birds. They are unfortunately very fond of grapes so we lose a large part of our crop to them every year. These all drink then bathe quickly before flying up to the nearby banana palms to fluff and dry off.

Once the honeyeaters are done successive little chirping flocks of much smaller brown birds flutter in like so many tiny falling leaves. I've managed only to identify weebills which come from time to time. The others remain a mystery, what an ornithologist friend of mine calls LBBs - little brown birds. They don't stop only snatching a drink on the wing or skimming their bellies across the water's surface.

And then we're done. I have to confess this parade is very distracting because the bird bath is in clear view from my study window and when my attention wanders - and it does more than it should I'm afraid - I spend time when I should be doing other things watching the parade and listening to the birdsong chorus from high in the trees as daylight fades.

I've Been Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 09:13:00 +0000

I suppose I should fill you in little although I have mentioned before that I have chronic health problems. This means I need to be very care about how much I do because if I push myself too far my body decides I'm not listening to what it needs and takes its own action. This means I fall in a heap where all I can do is go to bed and sleep.

I knew I was pushing things because since my hospital stay in December I've been battling the residual effects of my injury - the nerve damage may never heal fully - and I should have realised that this meant I wouldn't be able to do what I was used to doing - but I didn't or maybe I was just ignoring the signs. Whatever the reason I fell in a heap and ended up barely able to get up let alone do anything.

The problem was that we have a lot to do around here - there are some essential repairs which need attention and these won't wait.So I just kept pushing and pushing, ran out of spoons and paid the price. If you haven't heard of Spoon Theory with regard to chronic health problems I recommend you look at Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino where she explains the problems of living with chronic disease using spoons. Sounds bizarre but when you watch the video you'll see the logic.

I'm out of spoons again today - we discovered a leak into my fabric stash cupboard so everything had to be pulled out, sorted to decide what was ruined and had to be discarded and what to keep and I'm less than halfway that process. Now after some repairs by Virgo's husband who is always kind enough to respond when we need help with such things, I have realised that I need to destash at least to some degree. If you've never heard of this term nor had I until I was talking with my artist niece who knows about such things. Destashing is when you let go (ideally to a good home) most or at least some of the accumulated collection of whatever you've collected to feed your craft/hobby - and if you've been knitting and quilting for as long as I have there's a lot. It turns out to my amazement that here are actual websites devoted to this!

I still have to decide on what to keep - I'm not finished quilting and knitting yet - but with the damage forcing me to sort things out it seems a good time to at least rationalise what I have and only keep those items I really need to. I'm pretty sure I won't have the spoons to tackle it quickly but it will get done if more slowly than I'd like it to.

I'm Still Here

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 09:03:00 +0000

despite multiple frustrations.

For a start I'm still only able to access my Blogger Dashboard on Firefox and I can't comment on anyone else's blog with any other browser if they use Google for their comment section. Weird and irritating if hardly earth shaking.

Much more concerning is that my eyesight is worsening. I've known this was coming eventually - I just hoped eventually would be a lot further off. This change means I'm having to take some practical steps to make life easier and safer. As I think I've mentioned before I've been seeing an occupational therapist who specialises with vision impairment as well as back problems and she has been helping me with the equipment I'll need to be able to stay in this house in the long term.

This is not a cheap exercise. So far I've got a new bed - and very comfortable it is, too. Why I didn't realise just how much a sagging old bed was affecting my back I don't know. I guess I'd just kept compensating by adding pillows, none of which was actually doing the job. So now I'm sleeping better - and Puss and I still have room to share. In a side note which is probably of no interest to anyone but me my old bed was taken away by the local council this morning to wherever old beds go and the space it was taking up is now free.

Then there's my office where my old chair had just become unusable when I started this process. Virgo had left an old one of hers when she moved out and although I'd made vague attempts at giving it away no-one had been interested. This was just as well as it turned out as it filled the gap while I was waiting for a better replacement. The new one finally arrived a few days ago - where it's been since it was ordered nearly five months ago I have no idea - we've been joking that it must have required someone to make each component by hand - and it is so, so much more comfortable.

The next step is to sort out the lighting. My artist niece introduced me to daylight lamps and - now there's a floor lamp for the family room where I have a new armchair which offers back support - and before anyone asks, yes, I should have realised long ago that trying to use an armchair with no back support and designed for someone with much longer legs than me was making my bad back worse. I guess until now when my back injury is affecting my ability to walk, there hadn't seemed any necessity. Well, there is now if I want to stay here living a relatively normal life. There's also a daylight desk lamp for my office about to come into my life - and there is to be under the cupboard bench top lighting in the kitchen. Swoon - as my vision has declined that whole area has become impossible for me to use except in bright sunlight. Since the last item is quite cheap we're also going to invest in cupboard lights that come on when you open the door. Who knew such things existed!

The next thing to deal with is the garden. With my mobility somewhat impaired and unlikely to improve we need steps and rails and raised beds so I can continue to move around safely and work in the garden - we're on the side of a hill so there is more than one level to the yard - and we're busy getting quotses for these items. We do already have new rails for the existing steps so I can get to one of the lower parts of the garden safely - and safety is a crucial factor in much of the outside area. Some of the rest will have to wait for a while as will updating the rest of my office at least until we save up a bit. In the meantime things are already looking better and I foresee a brighter future - pun definitely intended.

Password Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 08:09:00 +0000

Yesterday I had occasion to download something from the App store - I've been working with an OT to make things a little easier around here since my back problems have left me with some mobility problems and she had suggested an app that could help. She found it on my phone and I put in my email address and then my password - and nothing happened. I tried again - and again. Still nothing. Did I have the right password? Did I have the right case? she helpfully asked Well, yes to all her suggestions, but by now I had the distinct feeling that she was beginning to think I was some sort of idiot and had just stupidly forgotten it.

We moved on to some other things and when she left I went back to trying to get it to work. Nope, not happening. I checked and everything else on the computer was working as it should. I even tried turning the whole thing off and on again. No change, nada, zilch. So I decided to click on the "Forgotten your password?" tab and change my password. Good idea you might think? Well, it would have been if I could get it to accept any of the passwords I tried. I'd enter them, click on continue - and nothing would happen. I tried multiple different variations and then things moved up a notch. I began getting a message which read "An unidentified error has occurred." This did not fill me with much hope but I pressed on trying one password after another.

Then I got an email saying my password had been changed. Well, that wasn't much help, was it. Which of the twenty or more passwords I'd tried had it now decided to accept? I hadn't a clue. By now I had been trying to get this to work for close to four hours and my patience was wearing extremely thin so I muttered a few words my mother would definitely not have approved of, gritted my teeth and tried again - and it worked. I had to update my other devices - and it worked there, too.

I have no idea what caused the problem - I guess I never will - but this whole debacle proves what I've always said about computers - they're wonderful when they work.

Decluttering - Again - Or Should It Be Still

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 10:26:00 +0000

I've been decluttering for - well, it seems like forever. We have to move all the furniture soon to get our new flooring down so it seemed a good opportunity to get rid of all the surplus "stuff" that has wound its way into the house so when we move the furniture it won't be such hard work. Ive been working through the house and have established an area where things go until they finally make their way out the door. There are designated boxes for various charities - these are all ready to be taken out now - and as well there items to be put up on the local Buy Nothing website. We've ordered a skip for the weekend to take a load of broken and and other useless junk so I am under some pressure to get everything that needs to go in it sorted but I'm not panicking too much as I do see yet another skip in the not too distant future.

Today's decluttering area was my office/craft room. I've been working through the house and this is the last big area I have to get into. While the office part is relatively organised - I tidied the shelves and cupboards a while back and got rid of a lot of what I no longer needed - the craft section was not in the same pristine condition. I had got as far as sorting my sewing bits and pieces and I have to say the drawers of my sewing table and sewing machine equipment are looking pretty good.

I can't say the same about the rest of the are, though. This is partly due to my having lost momentum after when I hurt my back and was incapacitated for several months but if I'm honest it's also because I knew it would be a big job so I've been working through the rest of the house while building up - how shall I describe it since enthusiasm is definitely not the right word - maybe sufficient incentive to tackle it is closer to correct.

In the end it was all that was left to be sorted so that's where I've been today. I hardly knew where to begin because I've always been keen on making things with my hands so I've collected quite a lot of materials. In the end I decided to attack the knitting because I thought it would be the easiest. My wool stash is already safely stored in a cedar wood chest so it should have been only knitting needles and other tools - or so I thought. So you can imagine my surprise when I found a half finished Aran jumper. I do remember starting this some years ago but why I never finished it is a complete mystery. I've always loved knitting complex patterns especially Arans - as anyone looking in the drawers where I store my woollens would know - so that I started it is no surprise, it's just why it's still sitting there unfinished that's a puzzle. For now it's set aside until I can fix the line I know will be visible where I left off too long ago.

That aside I've now got all the knitting paraphernalia sorted - and there's a lot. Assorted needles of all different sizes and types, row counters, stitch holders, wool sewing needles, crochet hooks and these are just some of them. So the next time the urge to knit strikes - and it will now winter is here and it's chilly - I have all my knitting needs at hand. I'm just hoping I don't find anything else that has been sitting there out of sight, unloved and unfinished for a long time. Tomorrow I'm moving on to the patchwork section.Wish me luck.

Australia Has Voted

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 23 May 2022 04:57:00 +0000

On Saturday we as a nation girded our loins, stood in the queues for our ballot papers and pencil all in a COVID safe social distancing way, filled them in and posted them in the ballot boxes. Then we went out to enjoy our Democracy sausages. Then all that was left to do was to wait for the counting to start which it did as soon as the polls closed at 6:00 PM.

If you haven't heard of a Democracy sausage you're obviously not from Australia. To bring you up date with this very Australian custom I should explain that polling places here are largely placed at schools and other community buildings. Because we have compulsory voting and there are consequently crowds the school P & C (Parents & Citizens) associations and others have been taking the opportunity to fund raise with stalls selling baked goods and other things probably since Federation.

This all went up a notch in the mid 1980s. That's when we noticed our local primary school adding a sausage sizzle - a freshly cooked sausage wrapped in slice of buttered bread with tomato sauce. They weren't the only ones with that idea, of course, and soon the sausage sizzle had spread across the country and morphed to cater for just about everyone by adding vegetarian sausages, buns with a choice of condiments - and sometimes fried onion. Yum.

Somewhere around 2010 we started to hear the term Democracy sausage being used and soon everyone was calling it that. Well, why wouldn't we. Australians take their voting seriously but we also like a bit of fun along the way. It wasn't long before there were websites showing just where you could get your Democracy sausage and which places had the best menu. From then pretty much everyone I know was saying they were going to get their Democracy sausage instead of saying they were going to vote.

I missed out on mine this year. Due to my inability to stand for long periods - at the busiest part of the day the queues can mean you are standing for quite some time - I did a pre-poll vote. This is an early voting option - they are open for about a fortnight prior to election day and cater for those who are disabled or who for whatever reason will be unable to attend a polling place on polling day. Alternatively you can cast a postal vote and as well this year there was the additional option of phone voting for those forced into isolation by COVID. We do like to make sure everyone who is eligible is enrolled and can vote here.

As Pisces took me to the pre-polling place he was able to vote there as well but there was a problem. He was so conflicted at missing out on his Democracy sausage he actually considered going to our local primary school and buying one. Commonsense prevailed sort of because while he stayed home he decided he'd cook sausages for lunch.

Ear Worm Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 11 May 2022 10:04:00 +0000

After I found the clip for Right Said Fred a couple of weeks ago I seem to have unleashed a lot of memories of songs and other silliness that were mostly complete nonsense but which were very popular for a while and have stuck in my memory. Some were way before my time in their first iteration but would be replayed for a new audience when some DJ would take a trip down memory lane. Not all such trips were well advised but some were gems. Here are a couple you may have heard and enjoyed or which may be new to you. Enjoy.

The Thing sung by Phil Harris

Then there was The Ball Bearing Bird by Frankie Davidson

And how could I forget Star Trekkin' by The Firm

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 09 May 2022 09:05:00 +0000

Did you miss me? I meant to be back much, much sooner but I still can't get to my Blogger Dashboard on any browser other than Firefox. This is annoying because I prefer to use another browser but, hey, I can work with this. So this is a catch up on what's been happening around here.

First of all there were the usual seasonal celebrations in our case mainly family oriented. The Thursday before the Easter break began we celebrated the Cambodian New Year with lots of yummy food and catching up with family. Then we had another family lunch on Easter Sunday - this is another tradition for us all where we go to my artist niece's home. They live on a bush block about an hour from Perth and it's always fascinating to see what new and quirky and changes they have made. As well as this we have a bunch of family birthdays in this period so lots of family and fun.

While I seem to be the odd one out in my family having missed out on the visual art gene it is showing up in the next generation. Miss Nine and Miss Six visited during their school holidays and spent some of their time drawing - and produced some quite passable efforts. These now adorn our fridge. Master Two's drawings are a little more problematic although he insisted that his swirling green creation was a rainbow. We took the littlies to the park behind our house where a good time was had by all and they left with a promise of a baking session next holidays. When I suggested the girls think about what they'd like to make there was no waiting. "Cookies," they said.

We were lucky we could do that because then Perth was blanketed with thick smoke on and off for a number of days. This means those who like me have a bad reaction to smoke can't get outside. It's a pity because it's a real pleasure to be outside now the summer heat has eased. The smoke comes from preventative burning off in the bush and on country properties and is a frequent problem at this time of the year. I understand the necessity but hate the experience.

Oh, and I've been writing up a storm. With all my health problems I'd just about stopped doing anything creative - but here it is again with a succession of short stories ready to be edited and wrestled into something worth reading from their somewhat messy first draft shapes. It's been very satisfying I have to say and with luck some of them will end up going places.

Something to Amuse You Until I Get My Blogger Account Fixed

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 10:53:00 +0000

Equinox

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:08:00 +0000

Yes, I'm writing this on the March Equinox, that magical day when everywhere day and night are supposedly each 12 hours in length. It's not really so, though, it turns out. Depending on where you are on the planet it can vary considerably. Here in Perth, Western Australia, daylight lasts 12 hours and 9 minutes while further south in Hobart in Tasmania, it ist 2 minutes longer. That wasn't a surprise but when I looked at the figures for McMurdo Base in Antarctica I was surprised to see that they have 12 hours 40 minutes of daylight. It's probably more accurate to say that day and night at the Equinox are in the vicinity of 12 hours all over the planet. Oh, and as well that day is only when the sun is above the horizon and doesn't include other periods when there's still some light such as twilight.

This, of course, led me into wanting to find out more about twilight. If, like me, you thought twilight was just that period of the evening which we call dusk you may be surprised to learn there are several periods of twilight. There's what we call dusk and dawn for starters but there are also technical terms for different times during dusk and dawn. There's morning Civil Twilight which begins at the instant when the Sun's geometric centre is 6 degrees below the horizon and ends at sunrise while evening Civil Twilight begins at sunset and ceases when the Sun's geometric centre is 6° below the horizon. This is that time when the sun is just below the horizon and there's still enough light to be out and about to work or play. Civil Dusk and Civil Dawn it turns out aren't time spans at all but the specific moments when Civil Twilight ends and Civil Dawn begins. Then there's Nautical twilight which precedes Civil Dawn and follows Civil Dusk. It begins when the Sun's geometric centre is 12° below the horizon in the morning and ends when it reaches the 12° point in the evening. It gets its name because both the horizon and brightest stars are visible enough to allow navigation at sea. Phew!

If that's not enough there's also Astronomical Twilight which is when the geometrical centre of the Sun is 12-18 degrees below the horizon and is the earliest part of dawn and the latest period of dusk. For most of us living in cities with their light pollution there's little difference between Astronomical Twilight and night. The sky is dark and many stars are visible. Astronomical Dawn and Dusk are the moments when the sun reaches that 18° position. Astronomers can make out more stars in this period but to view fainter and more distant ones they have to wait for night.

I found this all fascinating as you can see and if you want to find out more about such things I found the Time and Date website very informative. It has lots of other interesting topics. The National Weather Service website was also helpful.

Birds Bathing

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 04:58:00 +0000

In my continuing attempt to avoid the mess the world's in - war, climate change, floods I could go on but I won't - I'm soothing my mind with birds.

I'm lucky enough to live in a suburb of big blocks which is surrounded on three sides with ideal bird habitat. Closest to us is a golf course which was established as a country club back in the days when this whole area was bushland. The golf club has made a serious effort to keep wildlife friendly and the small lakes and bushland within its boundaries houses a resident mob of kangaroos. We don't often see a sign telling you to watch out for kangaroos in the middle of suburbia but there's one on the road behind where we live. Add to this the bushland of a large pubic recreation area, a bushland reserve and another golf course all only a short distance away as well as a park directly behind our block and we have a wealth of natural habitat.

This means wild life especially birds spills over onto the blocks in the surrounding streets. I found a Purple Swamphen grabbing a quick drink when I went out to change the sprinklers early one morning and we've had several ducks nest in and around our place. They were probably Pacific Black ducks - though it's not easy to tell since they interbreed with other species - and they have a perilous trip to take their ducklings back to the safety of the golf course. As well in the late winter to early the shelducks arrive to graze on the new grass shoots.

To attract birds to our garden we have a birdbath much appreciated by the birds in the summer in particular. It's strategically placed so we can see it and while there are often visits over the day it's late afternoon when it really gets busy. I've been trying to identify all the visitors but that's proved impossible. I unfortunately don't have a great camera for capturing fast moving targets - and some of them are very fast - so many of the little brown birds will remain a mystery. Instead I'll give you a list of those I've managed to identify in the past few days.

The willy wagtail is around the garden most of the time. These are handsome little fantailed birds - around 20 centimetres -with black backs and wings contrasted by their white chests. We have a nesting pair here and they are incredibly tame, to the point that we have to keep. a watchful eye when we're on the grass hanging out the washing so we don't tread on one. They aggressively claim the birdbath at times and djitty djitty furiously if any other bird however big has the temerity to want a drink or bath. They'll happily take on a raven which at around 50 centimetres is considerably bigger than the willy wagtail and more often than not the bigger bird leaves the defeated. When they bathe they really bathe and come out to sit on the side of the bath wet feathers fluffed out before they shake themselves and fly off.

Then there are the honeyeaters, the largest of which is a pair of red wattlebirds. These are some of the biggest visitors at around 33 centimetres and can feel entitled to have the bath to themselves as well while they have a thorough bath. The smaller honeyeaters usually wait until the wattlebirds are shaking themselves on the side of the bath before they begin to come in. They fly in and out so fast and often in small flocks making it very hard to recognise them. So far I've managed to identify these: New Holland honeyeaters - these are resident here and we often see them out in the garden. Then there are the singing honeyeaters - also common here and extremely fond of our grapes. We're being visited by brown honeyeaters, too, as well as occasional white cheeked honeyeaters.

There are some other tiny birds which had been defeating all my efforts at getting a close look at them until yesterday. They come in a small flock, flying in at great speed to flit around in the water then leave just as fast which means getting a good look is all but impossible. They remind me of a flurry of little brown leaves caught up by the wind. Yesterday, though, one of them stopped for more than a second and I think I can confidently say they are weebills. This is the smallest of the Australian birds and I'm pretty chuffed at having finally being able to identify them. We've also just had another unusual visitor, a striated pardalote. I knew these were occasional visitors to the country club golf course but I have never seen one here before.

Along with these we get Australian magpies and magpie larks from time to time as well as the odd pink and grey galahs - these all live in the park we back onto - and, of course, the ubiquitous (and feral) laughing doves and spotted doves. These last two were released over a hundred years ago around the then newly established zoo and have since spread all over Perth to the point that many folk think they are natives.

Well, It's Been Interesting

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 04:47:00 +0000

That's me trying to be positive which is not easy when there's all out war between Russia and the Ukraine, we've just sweltered through the hottest summer on record and there is the worst flooding in recorded history in Queensland and northern New South Wales. All these are things I can do nothing about unfortunately any more than I can about the rapidly rising numbers of Omicron which have hit the state. We've been largely protected from COVID until now by our hard border policy but this variant is so virulent that once someone brought it in - who knows how - it's spread like wildfire. The border restrictions are soon to go there being no point in the community being isolated when the virus is already here. It's expected to peak at the end of this month and as our vaccination rates are very high - the majority of people like Pisces and me are triple vaccinated although there are still some holdouts - this should mean most who get it will get it mildly. Let's hope this and the mask and social media distancing mandating will work.

To add to our woes the federal government is in election mode - even though the date for the election hasn't been announced. It will have to be done soon because the election needs to be held no later than 21 May which doesn't give much time for actual electioneering. We can be sure that it's coming sooner rather than later because with the government having had a less than successful time in the final sitting week of Parliament distraction is at work. We were treated to the PM at home with his family recently during which he strummed a ukulele apparently unaware of how that reminded many of us about how he holidayed in Hawaii while Australia burned under wildfires in the 2019-2020 summer. He's not the only one giving us a glimpse into his family life with the leader of the opposition party doing a photo shoot for a popular women's magazine and there will no doubt be more of the same right up until election day.

In something even less entertaining I have spent some time looking at my poor garden. Although Pisces has tried he's not a gardener and that combined by wave after wave of temperatures in the high thirties and low forties Celsius, almost continually since the week before Christmas until now, means the garden is a disaster area. Before everything went pear shaped the garden was looking the best it had in years. I'd got a number of different heritage vegetable seeds and they were already planted out and starting to produce, various cuttings I'd nurtured had also been planted out and everything looked green and lush. Now it looks like someone took to it with a blow torch. My brother had warned me that it would be bad - burned to a crisp was how he described his garden and he and his wife had been nurturing theirs, but mine is even worse. I hardly know where to start with it but, on the bright side, now my knee has stopped folding up on me and my back and leg pain have eased I can actually, albeit slowly, start doing something out there. I've brought plants back from the brink before. There's no reason why I can't do it again, is there.

In more positive personal news I've been writing every day and since Christmas I've added two more first draft stories to those I'm writing about the women of ancient Greek mythology. I started the first story back in about September and got three stories done to first draft before I got stuck on one story I really wanted to tell. I finally finished that a couple of weeks ago which freed me to move on to the new ones and I've now started a third. Where these stories will end up I have no idea but I'm having a ball writing them.

Further News?

noreply@blogger.com (Helen V.) — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 09:51:00 +0000

Well, not really. Post hospital I've been being a good girl and doing everything my doctors and physiotherapists require of me. So far so good but the point when all could fall apart is still about three to four weeks off.

I've a few concerns. I still have numbness and altered sensation in my bad leg (it feels as if someone has applied an elastic bandage too tightly over a thick pad on the sole of my foot - I've actually woken up trying to take this non-existent bandage off a few times.) This, combined with my numb leg, makes walking somewhat difficult because I can't get any normal rhythm going. As well walking without the walker is also hard although I am persevering with hands free walking in safe places where I have easily accessible things I can grab if it all goes sideways. Sigh.

So life is not a bowl of cherries at the moment - but since it's cherry season in Tasmania there is actually a bowl of these delicious goodies in the fridge right now. I'm going to savour every bite of these luscious imports because in the wider world Western Australia is in the middle of shortages and consequent rationing of some food and grocery items. This is because we import many consumables from the eastern states by road and more importantly by rail and currently unprecedented rain has caused serious flooding and both road and rail links have been damaged. The road is now open but it will take some time before all the trucks backed up in South Australia will reach the Western Australian distribution centres. While this will help it's expected the rail line, which has been most badly damaged and brings the bulk of supplies, will be unusable for several weeks - and this means cherries are unlikely to be available since the local season has finished.

We're not going to starve, of course. We have local sources of fruit, vegetables and meat and there are still local suppliers of dairy products but to see how the shelves have been stripped in panic buying you'd think we'll never see food again. Of course we can't always get our favourite items but Pisces and I are largely enjoying the substitutes we're being sent - we mostly do our grocery shopping online and if they don't have what we want we get given something different. Apart from that some of the shortages have encouraged me to pull out my old yoghurt maker and start making my own again and when I can manage to stand long enough to knead some dough I just might make bread.