Post 84 Bunkered Down

I had my Vergola roof closed last night because it was wet and windy. When I opened it this morning, an Adelaide Rosella was sitting on the corner of the roof, unperturbed by the movement of the slats. Unfortunately it flew away before I could take a photo.

Within minutes the dove arrived to survey the scene. As soon as I cast some seed it flew off, returning with a companion. 

The companion is considerably smaller than my original dove, although this is not so obvious from photographs. My original dove has a white patch on one side of the end of its tail, so I know it's her. I've been saying 'her', but it now seems likely to me that this is a breeding pair and the smaller one is the female. I wondered if the second one was a young adolescent bird, but the Animalia website tells me young birds have a dark grey collar rather than the distinctive black and white.




The original bird was very bold this morning, (perhaps showing off, or made bold by backup),  coming right up to the door, which, of course, returns a reflection rather than an interior view.


They returned several times together during the day.



As it is Wednesday, I sent an email out to the World Embroidery Study Group. I had planned on sending something from Piecework magazine, but a member of the group kindly put together a presentation of embroidery and knitting from her visit to Peru some years ago. First hand is always better.

I also spent a bit of time following up something my friend Susan had told me. Some readers may recall that Susan had been very worried that her Covid infection had returned. Before she left Perth she still had a dry cough. Doctors did a range of tests to convince her she was quite normal. While she was convinced enough to return to Adelaide, she remained worried until she had another drive-through test last week and got the negative result. The basis of her fear, she told me, was a childhood memory of her mother telling her about Mattress Mary, who infected hundreds of people with a fatal disease. She couldn't remember the details, but she knew she did not want to be a Mattress Mary.

It turns out that Susan had merged two stories. Mattress Mary was the name popularly ascribed to Mary Kelleher who spent 15 months in prison for poisoning her husband,  3 children and 2 other relatives in 1907 in what was known as the Boston Poisoning Case. In 1910 she was exonerated after it was established that the mattress on which the family successively slept in relays was filled with fibres containing arsenic.  Her acquittal was reported in Australia by the Broken Hill Barrier Miner, 6 April 1910.

The other story was of course, that of Typhoid Mary. Mary Mallon was an Irish cook who migrated to the USA in 1883 and worked as a cook for wealthy families. In 1906 it was suspected, and soon confirmed, that she was the carrier of typhoid to the households for whom she cooked, even though she herself did not appear to have the disease.  She was quarantined for a period, then released on condition she didn't return to working as a cook unless she had her gallbladder removed, which is where doctors had worked out the disease was located. She refused the operation. After working as a laundress for a while, she returned to work as a cook under an assumed name. She was discovered and spent the rest of her life in forced isolation. She is thought to be the first known asymptomatic carrier, in a time when very little was understood about the transmission of disease. Debate still continues as to whether she was a victim or an agent.

My brother and I both remember our mother telling us in the 1950s about Typhoid Mary as an incentive to practice good hygiene and hand washing.  Mattress Mary was new to me. It's no wonder the name stuck in Susan's mind. The good news out of this is that Susan is not a carrier of Covid19 so will not become known as Spreading Susan - but it testifies too, to the power of those stories our mothers told us to reinforce desired behaviours!

I'm not quite sure where today went. It was cold and wet (for Adelaide - didn't get above 15C!). Discussions with Susan, with my brother, a bit of reading, the World Embroidery Study Group, emails - and a few more hexagons.

These are good for doing in front of TV or while in conversation. I am, however, itching to do something that also engages my mind.







So I've mounted two of the Nicola Jarvis birds in hoops ready to go. I need to work out colours and threads over the next couple of days while I finish my hexies.

Anticipation is at least as good as arriving!