Post 557 New Life.

On Wednesday I asked Bill, my cleaner, to leave the back balcony untouched because of the nest. He insisted on climbing on a chair to see into the nest (father having flown away). He could see two chicks. 

On Friday I heard them for the first time, and on Saturday managed to snap a blurry photo through the glass of my bedroom. Today I watched the adult male blackbird feeding them and snapped a few photos without going outside and scaring him off. The photos are still not brilliant, but good enough to show.

The chicks have grown in six days, and there is a bit of a flurry when food arrives, the two young competing to get fed first, and the adult trying to serve both in turn.

I'm not sure what it is he is feeding them, but it doesn't go down in one gulp!

I had intended to go the Certificate Workshop at the Guild on Saturday, but ran out of puff. I had shopped on Friday for Monday dinner (7 of us for Chicken Maryland with haloumi and fried rice), because I also had the second day of the pulled whitework sampler on Sunday.

However, with a concert at the Cathedral on Saturday afternoon and dinner on Saturday night, I decided to skip the workshop. Instead I tidied up and worked on a project for Christmas - which I can’t write about just yet.  

The concert was terrific. Called Organ Fireworks,  it featured a couple of organ solos and numerous organ duets by Anthony Hunt and Joshua van Konkelenberg. A treat. Nothing like the sound of a pipe organ in full throttle. The day was rounded nicely by meeting Max in the evening, the 8 week-old son of family friends, who visited for dinner.  The blessing of new life beats most things.

I had spent hours during the week working on the pulled thread work sampler, taking breaks and sitting in chairs that support my  back while allowing me to get close enough to see to count threads. Carol's instructions were clear enough for me to follow on my own, so I planned to leave the workshop at lunchtime this Sunday. The plan worked and I turned the finished sampler into a bag on Monday morning. Details in my embroidery blog.

On my way home from the class I stopped at Bunnings and bought some plants to refill the pots I emptied last week. I will do it gradually. This afternoon I connected the hose to my kitchen tap for the first time in about 7 months to give the Western balcony plants a good water, and repotted two of the empty pots, one Veronica painted and gave me probably 8 years ago. Until recently it held a Tradescantia Zebrina. I've made several new plants from it, but the original finally died, so I've planted a cheerful daisy in the pot. It will probably need replacing but will look good for months to come.

While I have numerous very happy looking snake plants, this one looked insecure, so I've given it a new pot and position.

Tbere are another half a dozen plants to be potted up, but I shall take my time.

Many of the established plants are thriving on warmer days.

This morning I had my haircut, having put it off for a couple of weeks because I was enjoying the length.

My next appointment is on Christmas Eve - not sure that was a good idea, but provided the City Loop bus is running I should be OK.

On the way home there was a blackbird feeding on a young jacaranda in the Square. Was it, I wondered,  the nesting blackbird? Would it fly over the building? Chances are, it's not, but interesting to speculate.

I was home in time to open the door for the postman to deliver my copy of my brother's latest book, which is, I think, a winner.

Although it's over 500 pages, it contains 110 self-contained stories, making it easy to pick up for 10-15 minutes at a time. Some are very short indeed. Most of them are worth talking about, many worth reading aloud. 

Both Lee and Lorraine would have liked it, which makes me sad, but there are others I'm looking forward to sharing it with.

It's been a week of new life, new growth, new projects, as well as completions and sorrows. C'est la vie. 

Post 549 Spring Sunrise

The early part of my week was spent observing, pondering and investigating two trees that had suddenly developed bright red patches. I can see them from my western balcony, and couldn't recall seeing them bloom before. Maybe I wasn't looking, or perhaps other trees obscured my view.

I took photos from the balcony - not successful enough for identification, even with my DSLR, which I soon discovered, I could not download to my new laptop without new cables. That triggered a visit to OfficeWorks where two very helpful young men found what I needed. Although the new connectors did the job, I also identified a battery issue which will mean a visit to a camera shop.🙄

On Friday I took cameras into the Square to investigate at close range. It is clearly, as I suspected, a Coral Tree, or Erythrina. Althoiugh these are not native to Australia, they are very common along the east coast, and a declared weed in many places. They are less common in South Australia.

There were a couple near my primary school in Sydney and on the way to and from school we would innocently gather the 'ladies' at this time of year and pull them apart to a chant, which I can no longer remember - something like 'this is her dress (remove the outer red petal), this is her petticoat (remove white petal layer) - and there she is!"  

Bizarre? Yes. Not something I want to delve too deeply into as an adult.

Saturday was fine - the only day forecast to be sunny, so I did the washing, hung it out, and got 10 lamb shanks slowly cooking for two hours before I left for a concert by the combined choirs of St Peter's Cathedral.

It was a varied program. My favourites were the motets, the Barstow and the Vaughan Williams. The cathedral has excellent accoustics, both when the sound comes from the choir stalls and when it's from the front of the nave.

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The photos are not the best, as I took them seated in my pew. There were some very young choristers making their public performance debut.

As I left a native wood duck, undeterred by cars, was foraging in the park across the road from the cathedral.

. '.I later drove to dinner into a stunning sunset. 

Book Club on Sunday morning was a lively affair.with . plenty to talk about: is it OK to write fictional works about historical characters? (divided views), should we edit out attitudes or stereotypes we no  longer accept from older books? (no, but contextualising essential), the Boer War and Australia’s involvement is worthy of attention (we gave it some), butter or margarine? (divided views). One member has read the about-to-be released Vera Stanhope novel #11 and the rest of us are hanging out. The Tim Sullivan DS George Cross Mysteries series is interesting several of us.

As we were leaving, I mentioned I had a booking in an hour’s time to have my 8th COVID shot. This was queried by a couple of members who knew I had had COVID a couple of months ago. They were under the impression you could not have a vaccination within 6 months of the infection. The form I had filled out asked if I had had the infection, but not when. On my way home I stopped at the pharmacy and asked. The duty pharmacist confirmed I should not have a vaccination until six months after the infection, as, he explained, the infection provides sufficient immunity which is not strengthened by the vaccination. I rebooked for late November. 

As I was writing this yesterday I logged on to the Health Department website to check something, discovering in the process their advice to delay a booster only 90 days after an infection! Back to the pharmacy to check again. This time the duty pharmacist confirmed advice has changed, and yes, 90 days, not six months is now the recommended delay after a COVID infection. So the November booking has now been brought forward to this coming Friday!

Having sorted that, I treated myself to a visit to Frewville for bread, and on to the Needle Nook, which, the Cleckheaton website informed me, stocks their chunky Verve yarn. On the weekend a free beanie pattern  caught my eye. In spite of my 3 drawer yarn stash, I have no chunky and really want to try this. I opted for bold, rather than pastel. It might go ahead of this year's Shetland Wool Week hat in my queue, given we are coming into Spring, when a blend may be better than pure wool. 

It will not, however, impede progress on the blanket, which is on target. I have 6 squares to go. I expect to be on to the edging next week.

There were eight to eat the lamb shanks last night (the same as last week, which I reported as nine - clearly can't count!). Subject choices, assignments and placements were much discussed. Growing old has many challenges, but I don't miss the stresses of being a student, even though I enjoyed those years in a simpler time. 

This morning I went to the Playhouse at the Festival Centre to see Julia . It’s the first time I’ve been there in several years, because of building works, which are not yet finished. The play was excellent, worth the effort of finding a pathway around scaffolding, dealing with the understaffed booking office and ticketing errors. The brilliant performance left me somewhat depressed. While the speech which anchors it is a triumph, the need for it is appalling. We have made progress - but there’s a long way to go. 

In the face of age, infirmities, news of wars and  injustices, it is sometimes hard to maintain rage, let alone hope..

Back at home, I pondered this as I stitched another square for the blanket. This morning, on waking, I had captured this spectacular sunrise. 

Whatever the challenges, I guess that still holds its message of hope and renewal;  carpe diem