What a day and it’s only lunchtime!

I woke up to the alarm not knowing what planet I was on as I was so tired from travel and my early start yesterday for an appointment in Parramatta. I got up, put the jug on and the coffee machine. I then realised the door was shut and a certain dog whose name starts with B had peed on the floor.

I had washed my interview shirt overnight and hung it on the chair in front of the heater. As I was about to clean up, I knocked the hanger and the shirt fell in the pee! So I had to rinse the shirt and I put it in the dryer – then nothing, all the power except the lights went down. I checked the fuse box and reset it but it had blown a fuse and I didn’t have time to fix it – with my son Jack looking anxious (electronics) saying he can’t change a fuse (he will get a lesson on ceramic fuses and wires). 

So the shirt went back in front of the heater while I put a saucepan on to make tea – no coffee (not good!) and went and put my face on. I got dressed, Jack got off to uni and I finally got out the door. I was in the car but I had that sinking filling that that wouldn’t be the end of it. I can’t survive without coffee (ask anyone) so I went through McCafe drive through before hitting the M1. I checked the GPS and was pleasantly surprised that the estimated time to get to Morriset was less than what it was yesterday when I looked. Great I was on track and was starting to feel more optimistic.

I arrived at Morriset for an interview with FACS based at Morriset Hospital campus. There was a chain across the road to the hospital and a sign saying the road is permanently locked! I started to get anxious and drove down another road hoping the GPS would pick up another route but it wanted to go down that road. I came back and found a sign on another road that said hospital access by Piggits Hill and Silky Oak Drive. So I stuck that into the GPS – knowing now that I was running late and I had better call them. I found the number in the email – rang and no answer, rang again and still no answer (felt like turning around and going home at this point!). I finally got on to the road to the hospital and arrived at an electronic gate on the perimeter of the hospital grounds with a pin pad and no speaker! I sat there and waited (not for long thankfully) for a car to turn up and they let me follow them in.

Anyway I survived! Came home, fixed the fuse and glad to relax after a very ordinary start to the day. Who knows if I will get the job but I think there should be points for turning up!

Frog story

At the moment I am enjoying listening to and recording frogs – the last two places I have stayed at in Sydney have frog ponds and the Australian Museum have a FrogID app that I can record them with.

I have recorded Striped Marsh frogs both in Sydney and in Maitland where I live. They are not an endangered frog but they are very interesting. After the last big lot of rain the main frog in the pond out the back called in every frog in the neighbourhood I think – there were heaps of frogs and a lot of noise. Not long after that there were egg rafts everywhere in the pond and a few days after that tons of tiny tadpoles. I felt like a kid again and was so happy to see them all.

There is another frog out the front of the house in a drain – it is quite a nice drain but sadly he hasn’t enticed any females into it which I think is a bit sad. These frogs can live for 8 years so that would be a lot of calling for a mate with nothing happening. I have seen a few cats around out the front and I’m wondering if that’s why there aren’t many frogs there. At my sisters I caught her cat with their frog (they only have one frog, also a striped marsh frog) in its mouth – luckily the cat dropped it and the frog survived.

I think the frog out the front needs to weigh up his options and find somewhere else, probably somewhere out the back or in the pond with the other two frogs. I’m keeping my eye on him.

Diana.

Image of the Striped Marsh Frog by the Australian Museum

Frangipanis

Tahitian frangipani – taken with my phone in the evening with the moon in the background

I love this frangipani tree which I walk past every time I walk the dogs. It is a beautiful tree – pink frangipanis are my favourite. I always look forward to walking under it when it is in flower as the fragrance is exquisite and it always makes me happy. The owner gave me a piece of it a while back which I planted out the front of my house although it died. I didn’t properly prepare the soil and it just shrivelled up.

There are many scents in the air at the moment on our walks – citrus blossom, roses and murraya and all equally delicious.

We had a lovely yellow frangipani growing next door and my daughter and I used to pick up the flowers from the ground and bring them into the house. Someone on their body corporate didn’t like the tree because it was messy and chopped it down. We were really sad to see such a beautiful thing go. So was our elderly neighbour whose windows it shaded in the summer.

“Scent is the most potent and bewitching substance in the gardener’s repertory and yet it is the most neglected and least understood.  The faintest waft is sometimes enough to induce feelings of hunger or anticipation, or to transport you back through time and space to a long-forgotten moment in your childhood.  It can overwhelm you in an instant or simply tease you, creeping into your consciousness slowly and evaporating almost the moment it is detected.  Each fragrance, whether sweet or spicy, light or heavy, comes upon you in its own way and evokes its own emotional response.” –  Stephen Lacey,  Scent in Your Garden, 1991

“It is a golden maxim to cultivate the garden for the nose, and the eyes will take care of themselves.” –  Robert Louis Stevenson

“Perfumes are the feelings of flowers.” –  Heinrich Heine 

Addit: We had a super storm since I wrote this and sadly the frangipani tree was destroyed. It’s a shame mine didn’t grow but I’m sure others had cuttings of it. It was a big tree, I don’t think they will replant it. I will miss the tree but I am glad that I have a photo of it and the memory of its fragrance will linger on.

PS: I was walking my dogs and got talking to the neighbour of the lady that owned the frangipani tree. We were talking about the storm and she said another neighbour had lived there for 80 years and had never seen another storm like it. We have had regular flooding events but nothing like that supercell that hit us. I said how much I missed the tree and that I had a photo of it in full flower taken earlier in the year. She said her neighbour had kept pieces of it and will replant it from the cuttings. I was thrilled to hear this and I look forward to a new tree.

Diana.

Merry Christmas from Dexter the leaping lemur that masquerades as a fox terrier.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Ready, Set, Done!.”

Welcome to my menagerie. In 1953, British naturalist Gerald Durrell wrote the book The Overloaded Ark. This is what my bedroom has become I feel. I currently have four dogs on my bed, a cat on the floor and two guinea pigs in their cages.

Presently everybody is resting but the minute there is a noise outside or someone turns up at the front door – all hell breaks loose. Two of the dogs I am minding for a few days. My daughter has totally indulged her fox terrier Dexter and he is at me all the time. Presently he is on me trying to help me type. I’m not sure about his editing style though.

Dexter has legs like a spring board and bounds around at the door or me like he’s on a pogo stick. He is the only one (apart from the cat) that can reach the cat bowl – so that goes over regularly. Then it’s a free for all. I’m sure the others put him up to it also as they’ve got dwarf legs and don’t have a hope of reaching the bowl (why I put it there). He insists on being petted over the other dogs and petted continuously – he is the youngest and he believes this is his right. He is a lovely natured dog despite being so demanding and annoying.

So two of the hounds are off back home today and the cat is looking forward to some more bed space and not having his bowl and contents spilled all over the floor. My two are looking forward to having first dibs again on the guinea pig poo that Chocko kicks out of his cage.

I’m looking forward to a rest and some peace and quiet.

In search of the Budai

         Budai – The Laughing                             Buddha.

Someone told me that to rub the tummy of a Buddha brings you good fortune. I don’t actually have a Buddha myself, maybe because I was raised Presbyterian. I discovered when cleaning clients homes that most of them have a Buddha here or there. I thought, I could do with some good fortune, it must be working for these ladies if they can pay for me to come and clean. So every visit at a house that had a Buddha I would rub the Buddha’s tummy. Eventually, I thought I could buy myself my own Buddha. I like the symbolism of the Buddha and the gentle nature of the Buddhist faith – no fire and brimstone and I enjoy the benefits of practising yoga. So I was going on an errand to the post office and went past a couple of my favourite op shops. I had a look and I found two Buddhas but they were wall plaques just of his head, so I would have to keep looking.

A couple of days later I read that Buddhists find it insulting that people rub the Buddha’s tummy. It is folklore that says the Budai’s tummy brings you good fortune. The Budai was an eccentric Chinese Chan monk, born during the Later Liang dynasty, who was poor but happy and loving. The Chinese people affectionately call him “The Laughing Buddha”. Often he is identified as an incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha.

I thought, all those tummies I’ve rubbed and I’ve probably insulted people. I’d better find out what the statues are. First house I went to – Budai doorstop laughing as I entered. Phew, I gave his tummy a rub and went in. Next house, where’s that statue? There you are on the top of the bookcase – red Budai laughing down at me. I rubbed his tummy for good measure. So far all the houses have had Budai statues, just one to go. I hope it’s a Budai.

My search continues for my own Budai and I can polish up his belly whenever I feel like it. He is such a happy looking character, I can see why he is displayed in so many homes. He makes me laugh and if the legend isn’t true, then I guess that’s why he’s laughing at me.

Diana.

Flash Fridays – October 24th

Today's Chapter

For this weeks Flash!Friday we had to include bankruptcy in a story about the following prompt, which I sort of forgot to do – oops!:

Mr. Hydrick, county supervisor, and Mr. Melody Tillery examining mouth and teeth of his mare, which has mule colt. Pike County, near Tray, Alabama. Public domain photo by Marion Post Walcott.

A Hard Bargain

Hydrick casually strolled around the colt, “He’s a fine looking horse. I’ll give you $500 for him.”
“$500? Is that a joke? I’m worth ten times that!”
Melody coughed loudly as Hydrick exclaimed, “I beg your pardon?”
“Nothing sir, must have been the wind.” Melody kicked Charlie in the shin, achieving the exact opposite of the desired outcome, “Really? You want to start a kicking contest with me?”
“What ever is wrong with your voice, you sound terrible!”
“A little hoarse perhaps?”
Melody tried pinching Charlie’s mouth shut, but Hydrick…

View original post 71 more words

Violet haze

Backyard Jacaranda and surrounding Jacarandas in East Maitland

Front yard Jacaranda

The Jacarandas are out in full force in our suburb at the moment. My back yard tree is loved by all the birds that sit in it and sing or squabble – honeyeaters, wattlebirds, parrots, doves, willy wagtails, peewees and magpies. Peewees built a nest in it last year but we had high winds and it was blown out. I also have tree orchards and “air plant” on this tree.

The front yard Jacaranda is only half the tree it used to be as council cuts them in half because of power lines. At the moment it houses about 10 magpies that love to sing and at twilight you can hear them calling. So far we haven’t been bombed by them so I’m hoping that they are used to us. My neighbour over the road has the peewee nest in her Jacaranda this year but I have the magpies.

“Air plant” growing on Jacaranda.

This is a piece of Spanish moss growing on the Jacaranda in our backyard. It is also called an “Air plant” and it is epiphytic, drawing it’s nutrients and water from the air and rainfall.

Spanish moss  in flower on Jacaranda.

I was at our local show one year and came across a fellow known as the Bromeliad Man. He is from out of town and he propagates and sells bromeliads. I was talking to him and asking him about the various bromeliads he had on display and I spotted the Spanish moss. I told him that I had some of that at home and that it was such a weird plant – I thought it was moss like in the fact that it doesn’t have any roots. He said that it is a bromeliad – now I was confused. He said it flowers and they are small and green. Since then I looked out for when my bromeliad flowers and here are photographs of two tiny green flowers. The Bromeliad Man also told me the bromeliads in South America are worth seeing. That would be a great experience.

First gardenia

 

I was mowing out the front on the weekend and I noticed that the gardenia bushes were in bud.  It made me feel happy that the gardenias would soon be in bloom. Today coming up the path I noticed one had flowered. They smell so delightful and freshen up the house when I put little vases of them around the place. I like to give them to my friends also. I put them in the common room where I used to work for people to take and it was never long before they were all gone. I love my native grevilleas, tree orchids and camellias out the back, and of course the jacarandas when they are in flower, but the gardenias have a special place in our home.

They are actually known as a funeral flower and for thousands of years,  scented flowers and herbs were placed with the dead. They are still used today in floral tributes  at funerals but not so much for the heavy scent. Apparently they are in the coffee family which I didn’t realise until I looked up different species. Interesting as the camellia are in the tea family. Coffee out the front and tea out the back. I don’t think I’ll be brewing them though.

Slinky the cat likes to lay under the bush near the porch – it is a cool spot out of the hot sun. I think he might enjoy the flowers also.  Who knows  whether a cat senses  smells the way we do. I’m fairly certain the dogs don’t, or the pigs for that matter!

Next post I will try to capture pics of the jacarandas using the camera, not the phone. I tried to upload pics to WP on the phone and it kept timing out. I have two trees but there are many around our suburb and they look delightful. I will also put in a surprise pic – I was quite excited to see this for the first time out the back. I haven’t actually taken the pic yet, but I’m hoping it will still be there.

Diana.

Top cat

This is Slinky who is top cat in the menagerie, in his favourite pose – asleep.

When he’s not sleeping or eating – he talks.  He talks a lot and he tells me all sorts of things. He is a very good ratter and mouser. He likes to supplement his diet even though he’s over 8 kg. Half the neighbourhood feeds him as well. He had a ‘please don’t feed me’ tag on his collar but he got it off.

He is also a special kitty. When he was still a kitten he woke me up in the middle of the night as the fish tank pump had caught alight. We didn’t have a pet door at that stage so his quick thinking was to wake me up – Mum I want to get out of here! He is a very happy cat and has a very loud purr. He is well groomed and has a very shiny black coat. When the dogs were pups they watched Slinky wash himself so now everyone washes themselves. Slinky is like a heater when he’s on the bed in the winter but he also snores!

Diana.

Pig Power 3

                            Chocko – pig about town. This is Chocko’s GPP campaign poster shot.

Here he is sorting clothes for the poor. Chocko has a big heart for a guinea pig.

                                                                             Spot and Buddy

These are Chocko’s GPP campaign supporters, Spot and Buddy. They know that Chocko has the leadership qualities that we expect from an MP.  Chocko is intelligent, honest, just and he eats his veges.