busy doing

 ?????  Beats me.  But time goes very quickly!  So, with help from the photo timeline on my phone:

FoTR activities

Friends of Triabunna Reserves picked up 5 bags of rubbish along the Pelican Park shoreline

Off Grid Bruce loads up for some planting at Pelican Walk

Malcolm's house has pardolotes.  I think Georgia painted the nest box.

Malcolm makes the nesting boxes for us.  FoTR hosted a community presentation by Bruce's sister, Dr Susan Rhind (on holiday from Western Australia) on nest box design and construction for tree-hollow dependent animals.  Some people's knowledge and dedication is astounding.

Steve had to spend a night in Hobart after medical tests so I took Jill PD with me to meet Aunty Cynthia for lunch at the Shoreline Hotel.  Jill and I then indulged in a walk around the Second Bluff in  Bellerive.

Steve's sketch of Hobart from the bus stop

Georgia has created some new lines.

wombat money box

dew catcher flower to provide moisture to insects / pollinators

I gave one of the flowers to Cazz for her birthday

which we celebrated at Mayfield Winery.

An interesting occasion that seemed to send Cazz's husband off his head.  Anne, my personal dresser, stands stoically.

The fruit trees in our garden are in blossom.

the quince is my favourite

the pear Steve's

A few of us Childless Cat Ladies gathered to see the school production of Lyle Lyle Crocodile.  Fortunately I googled the storyline before we left so at least I had a vague notion of what was happening on stage.  The teachers must be congratulated (if not knighted) for such bold ambition.  The audience went wild with applause after the final swishing of the curtain (there was a lot of curtain swishing) as their darlings took their bows.  It was a good fun night, but mystifying...

And then on the Friday Cheryl and I attended the school assembly on behalf of the Spring Bay Suicide Prevention Network to spread the Mental Health Week message and pick up badges that the students had made for the local police, ambos, health professionals and shop staff.

We have since distributed the badges through the community, with everyone grateful for the students' handiwork.

Mental Health Week has been my focus for quite a while.  We launched it on Sunday with a Dog's Breakfast.

There was a great turn out and turn over of people and dogs during the 2 hour event.

Fiona baked biscuits for the dogs and I made bandanas.

a less than flattering photo of a dachshund  who could make himself very low and long

But note the bandana.

This morning I availed myself of the Clay Target Shooting activity.  I can't imagine taking up the sport but I'd never fired a gun and was interested to know how it felt.

Cheryl under the excellent tutelage of Glenn

the machine that hurls out the clay targets

And just in case you've forgotten where I live,

here's a photo of Triabunna from a real estate ad.  In the bottom right hand corner, you can just see Steve's car parked at an angle in our garden.

But in news just in,

I took some leftover bandanas to the Maria Voices Singalong this afty.  I'm the 'lovely local lady'!!!!

Short report

There's been a TSO Winds Concert at The Mill.

It has been rumoured that's the Triabunna Symphony Orchestra...

It's lovely to be upclose and personal to the musicians.

 I've made 70 bandanas, so far, for the Dogs Breakfast next month's Mental Health Week.

Rosa's Luca looking suave

sort of self-sown tulips in the garden

native Golden Moth Orchids growing on Melbourne Street!

the road to Buckland yesterday

Zumba, tai chi, yoga, Tuesday Lunch all continue, but that's the news for now.

Happy Birthday Hildy May!

Mum and I both have a penchant for Cointreau

so what must a good daughter do on her Mum's birthday?

Mum liked to drink hers as an after dinner liqueur - neat in a small glass.  I like Cointreau and lemon with ice, cocktail style.  And that's what I've just had.

You may recall that last year Helly, Tamasin, Willowa and I went to the Magnolia Gully at Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens to celebrate Mum's birthday and her life.

Back home, I set about buying 2 magnolia plants,

one deciduous (Waterlily Magnolia)

one evergreen (White Pearl).

I am pleased to say that they have both survived and blossomed right on time for her birthday.  This spot seems to perfectly meet their needs but I'm still waiting on the inspiration to pretty it up a bit.  It will come.

Owed to Mum

This is the weekend between the first anniversary of Mum's death on 30th August and her birthday on 2nd September.

I have a friend who believes that I am still grieving.  I don't think that is so.  I have grieved that Mum did not use her full potential, content to be a wife and mother, and I am sad that she did not make better use of her time in the nursing home.  These were her choices and I respect them.

Mum was a very good wife and mother.  I left home at about 18 to live in a uni college and then left in 1974 to live in Tasmania.  I spent little time with her from then on.  This is demonstrated by the few photos that I have of her.  I have never missed my Mum. It is as if she is always with me - especially when I look in the mirror...  She and Dad did a good  job and raised me to be capable and independent.  I love her, and am very grateful.

Favourite photos:

Mum with her Mum and Dad, Weymouth, around 1930

Mum, Helen and I circa 1957

Mum, Helen and I on the verandah of the nursing home during covid

Last weekend a couple with a young daughter camped next door at the caravan park.  It mostly rained and I watched them struggle to put up their tent and, a couple of days later, pack it all away.  It occurred to me that Mum and Dad had done this many times and, as a child, I had taken it for granted.

They had their naughty eagle boy with them.  Another reminder.

Horsham, on the way to Tasmanian holiday 1970

Mum was no shirker:

concreting the driveway at 16 Ramsey

(photo courtesy of Helly)

slaving away at my place 1981

nearing the end of a big day of trains and walks in Barcelona 2014

and a big day walking the clifftops from Pwyllgwaelod to Cym yr Eglys 2014

We shared a passion for eating:

we love a good picnic, River Derwent around 1981

Mum's first paella 2014

and we both so love seafood

that Mum gave me money for The Easterers to have a fish frenzy on the Eyre Peninsula in 2013, wishing she could be there.  She loved us all.

 

I love blackbirds and consider them to be a sign of home.  We have always had them in our garden but this week they have taken to hanging around the house.  It feels like a blessing.

Take 2

 I  know the common wisdom is to never go back, but I was born on the Day of Return and that's what I do.  So, having a small errand to run, I decided to also return to Orford beach today.

better weather but not so beautiful

wattles less stunning than when against a platinum sheet

the water still clear but not glass-like

5 little black cormorants, 3 currently under water

A  house that looked like a fairytale cottage in the woods with  smoke rising vertically from the chimney yesterday, looked ordinary today.

But there was still magic to be found.

tiny fairy homes on the way back to the car

Look twice!!

Nothing to do with Orford or even Australia.  Rosa Norte's holiday photos from Alaska!!