So I put coconut shells in the hedge - for food and shelter - wrens will gather together to keep each other warm and I had a peek this morning and there were six in a coconut shell. I also inspected our old guinea pig hutch now bereft of guinea pigs and in there two blackbirds. I love my garden. It is wild, unkempt but full of life. Bit like my brain!
In the pond are frogs who spend the winter buried in the gloopy mud at the bottom. We have two resident hedgehogs, robins, dunnocks, sparrows and the, often maligned, starlings. The starlings have managed to get under the tiles and spend the winter months scratching around our roof space.
Then there are the bees - solitary bees, ground bees and mortar bees. One night during the summer I put out a moth trap and found 26 varities of moth.
Why no photos - well my hp Photosmart M525 6 megapixel high precision camera has stopped functioning. As with most technology these days you are lucky if something lasts more than four years. Made to fail it's know as and it usually fails about 23 seconds after your guarantee runs out! So I am unwrapping my new Samsung Digimax S500 which I purchased two years ago but what I really really want is a Nikon Coolpix L100 so am having a squige on e-Bay under 'unwanted presents' (e-Bay speak for stolen allegedly).
I've been talking to some friends and aquaintances and they complain of feeling flat and fed-up. I think once the euphoria of New Year's Eve passes and the expectations which go with it and people get back to their normal routine of work, family problems, credit card reality then a malaise hits them.
It's that expectation that New Year will miraculously change everything - maybe this year a parent will 'phone, a sibling will actually show they care, the bills will be lower, health will improve, broken down relationships will mend. I think the worst story I heard was of a mother who refused to give contact details of a long-lost half-sister to her daughter or even pass on a message - of course the other daughter who is considered to be the shining light of everythingness is allowed immediate access.
It reminded me of my own rather scattered family and I wonder how many people are hurt by these kind of actions. It is so sad that families break down, that there are so many half-this, step-that, adopted-the others around and they scatter themselves all over the universe. And, of course, they pass this behaviour on and the whole thing repeats itself over and over again.
Today is Epiphany and am I burning frankinscence (purchased in Walsingham) in a bowl I covered with gold leaf which is standing in a bowl of water. The Magi and the Angels are with us.
The Journey of the Magi by the divine T S Eliot
"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The was deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter."
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
Izzy doing well...very noisey this morning, we think she is starting to see and the bleeting is just her frustration. She is eating and drinking and has even had a little run in the paddock today. I did give her a bottle of lamb milk this morning just to make sure she is keeping her fluids up...what a start to the year this has been, a regular roller coaster ride.
Also had to kill a red back this morning...hate killing things but when you live in a country with the 10 most deadly creatures on the planet poentially in your back garden...sometimes there's just no avoiding the you or me situation. It was a big bugger too. We did have eastern funnel webs in 2008 in our house. We managed to catch one and put it in the freezer, the other got away. These spiders are potentially deadly. Their venom causes necrosis even if you recover from the bite.
Two weeks ago our dog, Misty, alerted us to a 5 foot eatern brown snake on our veranda. This is one of the deadliest snakes in the world and they will actually chase you. This was a huge snake and you simply cannot catch these creatures, they are too too dangerous and you cannot live with them around your home. Unfortunately it had to be killed. Although we have to accept that WE live in THEIR environment, one bite from these snakes and you could die, not a risk I am prepared to take. We have two beautiful 6 foot pythons living here and they are welcome guests.
I have seen so few venomous creatures in the 9 years I have been here, but, that doesn't mean they haven't seen me! We sometimes become complacent until we are confronted and then you do take stock and that respect comes right back. It's a beautiful, wild, dangerous country, we just have to remember it!
Yikes Claire and you want me to come to Australia. If I do I shall come in full body kevlaar with a flame thrower.
