Fighting Inertia

A week has gone by, and I've taken a few photos, but not got round to writing blog posts. That's how it happens! So here is an effort to overcome my inertia.

Firstly, the "sandpaper" wattle flowered:

 

The flowers are like big golden fuzzy caterpillars. They are very soft to touch. The leaves on the other hand, are covered in hard little bumps, and do feel like sandpaper: 

 

Here's some cherry blossom from a couple of days later, with a touch of early morning light rain:

My weeping redbud is bursting into flower:

And today I finished the last batch of 28, to give me a total of 360 little half-square triangles for my Rajah Revisited quilt:

Tulip

 This tulip was a nice surprise today:

 

On Sunday the temperature reached 26 (far too high for this time of year) and my tulips all drooped. They stood up again after I gave them a good drink, but I didn't expect any flowers to survive that treatment. But here is one, and there may be another few to come.

This afternoon we went for a walk down a road we haven't walked for a few years, and saw these kangaroos grazing peacefully in a paddock.

 

Strawberry Parfait

 Today I gave my little greenhouse a spring clean and was delighted by these delicious-looking flowers:

The plant is a "Strawberry Parfait" vireya.

 

Repeats

 I'm still working on my half-square triangles, but they don't make interesting blog posts.

 

I have about 100 to go.

 

I'm not going anywhere much at present because of the cost of petrol. It almost feels like lockdowns did; staying home and only going out for grocery shopping when necessary. It is the one down-side of living in the country. Nothing is within walking distance, and there is no public transport.

  

Last night was a bit warmer, and I put out my moth light again. I was very happy to find this one just as I was about to pack it away again: 

 

 

It's a shame I didn't put anything beside it for scale. It is a Helena Gum Moth, and it is about 150mm, or 6", across. I don't see them often so am always happy when I do.

 

The blossom in the orchard still delights me every morning when I let the chooks out: 

 Anyway, that's life here. Lots to enjoy, but not much variety in the blog posts!

Morning Surprises

This guy hopped across in front of me early this morning when I let the chooks out:

I'm not sure which of was more startled! 

In the orchard this slime mould was an interesting sight:

It is probably Dog Vomit Slime Mould.
 

Little Things

I lost track of recording things to be happy about this week. I was concentrating too much on the bleakness. But there were good things along the way.

Some nice blossom on Tuesday morning:

On Thursday I spotted an echidna beside the road and stopped to photograph it before it disappeared into the vegetation: 

On Friday the evening temperature was high enough (7 degrees, not very high!) for me to put out my moth light and see if any moths turned up. Several did.

I've spent a bit of time this week sorting out my walk-in wardrobe - rearranging the shelves, throwing out stuff, and boxing up stuff to send to the op-shop. At the moment it is still more chaos than organisation, as not everything that I pulled off the shelves has found its new place yet. Give it a few more days...

On Saturday I was glad I have another camera when my main one decided I needed more arty photos: 

That is two baby magpies in a tree. Not quite the result I wanted! The poor camera seems to have had it.
 

So here is some more new blossom this morning, taken with a different camera:

 Hope your week has been full of little drops of happiness.

Planning

 Finished making all the sets of triangles for the the current round of my Rajah Revisited quilt:

And then was very happy to find that me-from-some-years-ago had already printed off the correct number of foundations for the next-round-but-one, which I am not making according to the pattern:

I had thought there was some printing and calculating and cutting ahead of me, but it was already done!
 

Growth

 This part of the garden looked quite bright today: 

Compare with the same bed in May 2018:

The big rusty ball is still in there, but you have to be on the other side of the garden to see it now.

Twin Lotuses

 Spent a lovely afternoon sewing with a friend who has a matching machine: 

I made some more paper-foundation half-square triangles, which I'm doing in sets of 7 (see under needle on my machine in front).

I then laid out what I have so far:

Only 8 more sets of 7 to do for this first round of triangles.
 

 

To anyone trying to comment - the Blogger comment system is not working at present, so it is not a problem at your end. We just have to wait for them to fix it. Seems to be fixed now.

Spring!

 From the garden for the first day of spring:

 

Powerful

 A group of people working together to plant I'm not sure how many seedlings: 

This is a contribution to a restoration project on a former pine plantation, which is now part of the Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary. 

We got them planted before lunch, then in the afternoon took a walk through parts of the property.

Highlight of the day was my first ever sighting of a powerful owl!

Wikipedia article on this species.
 

Daily Delights

 Freshly-laid egg collected when I let the chooks out this morning:

It wasn't warm because the temperature was colder than a fridge - 0 degrees!

But the day warmed up, and just after midday I photographed the first butterfly I've seen at our place this (almost) spring: 

An Australian Painted Lady.
 

A Little Progress

 A few half-square triangles for the next border on my Rajah Revisited quilt:

Rather than choose a colour scheme, I'm using dark fabrics in a range of colours.

In other good news, I have my car back, and it didn't cost me a fortune. That gives me some time to decide on its eventual replacement.

A Long Walk

 Took the dogs for a long walk somewhere we haven't been before.

And although I didn't get photos, I saw my first butterflies and dragonflies of the season. Spring is on its way!

Hello Cocky!

Without my car I couldn't make it to the half-square triangle project day today.

Here's something cheerful - a sulphur-crested cockatoo saying hello to everyone!

 In reality it was mainly just loud screeching. I like seeing these birds flying around our place.

Orchids and Car Trouble

Before I moved here I knew nothing about native orchids, but there are several species that grow on our property. Right at the moment two species are flowering.

This is a Tall Greenhood, and it is right beside the driveway:

Several flowers open and a few buds to come at the top. These pop up in various places over the property, but this particular one is in a spot where I have never seen it before.

The other orchid in flower is the Nodding Greenhood:

Each plant has just one flower. They grow in many places on the block, singly or in small groups like this.

Something that doesn't bring much joy: 

My car being loaded onto a tow truck at 9:30 at night in the rain. Hopefully it will be repairable, but I won't know until next week some time.

Things to be Happy About

Yesterday I was talking to someone about the state of the world, and how all the news seems depressing. They suggested I should look for things to be happy about to counter all the doom and gloom. So here is my first effort at that.

 There are lots of flowers and buds on my "Limelight" protea:

And the leucadendrons are covered in flowers:

 

This is one of about 4 bushes of various sizes in the garden. They don't seem to attract birds or insects, but they look colourful. 

Revisiting the Blog

This is my Rajah Revisited quilt, in progress since Feb 2018, but in reality not touched since the end of 2020. The next round is 168 small half-square triangles, and I need to make a decision about what colours to make them in by the end of this week, so I can make them in a special HST project day on Saturday.

Testing the idea of restarting my blog.