Parrots and Pythons

We have been walking very early in the day and this morning the world was damp and the parrots were shouting.  Here are photos and a haiku:

Last night's rain,
silver on the grass,

lorikeets stir the morning with song.

The night rain brings small surprises:

This afternoon a smallish python with a full belly coiled near the gutter to digest its meal:

I dyed some fabric today using blue quandong fruit and lots of flax lily berries (many more than on this plate).  I dyed silk mordanted with salt.

This piece of fabric was the second piece dyed in the dye-bath, the first was darker but it is under the house drying and I haven't photographed it yet.  I am amazed at the deep colour that was achieved with only the most natural of ingredients.  I am soaking a third piece of silk overnight, I think it will be lighter but still definately mauve.

Lizards

There are lots of different types of lizards sharing this small part of the world where Lily and I live.  Here are just a couple:

 This Bearded Dragon was quite relaxed when Lily and I came upon him on our walk but he soon decided that he didn't appreciate our company.....

And this next picture is of a Nobbi Dragon, a small fellow whose body was only about the length of my hand.  He did not mind at all as Lil' and I hovered around him to take photos.

And here is one I made myself.....

I hope your week has been a happy one and that your weekend holds much promise!

Frogs!

There was a bit of raunchiness happening outside our front door today.  I felt like a bit of a voyeur taking photos but.... oh well... they kept going anyway.  They are Striped Marsh frogs and live around the ponds in my yard, though these two chose a plant saucer next to the pond for their rendezvous.  During the night the males call with a toc toc sound that resembles two pieces of bamboo being struck together, they all seem to have slightly different tones and sound like bamboo wind-chimes when there are a few of them competing for the attention of the females together.  The eggs are fertilised as they are laid and appear as a mass of foam around the frogs.  

The music is "You Can Leave Your Hat On" by Joe Cocker.

I apologise for the poor quality of the slides - it is the first time I have saved a slide show, turned it into a movie and then posted it here..... or anywhere! Next time I will save it larger so the pictures are clearer.

Kezia, who is 13, reckons that to her the frogs sound like the facebook chat alert on her MacBook! 

Harlequin Beetles

Yesterday I noticed the harlequin beetles were back on the hibiscus bushes.  They are such amazing iridescent creatures, with different colours and designs on their backs.  I don't think they do the hibiscus much good but they are so beautiful I, at least, forgive them for the damage they do.

Lily is very patient while I wander around and around the hibiscus bush looking for beetles!

Here are some more stamps I carved.  I plan to put the owl and the shell skeleton in my Etsy Shop in the near future when I update it - I'll let you know when that happens.  It takes ages to organise photos of everything and then upload the photos and blurb to etsy.

Have a lovely Saturday!

Left instead of Right

This morning I let Lily choose which way we would walk and she decided we would head left when we reached the bottom of the road.  Here are some of the things we saw:

We reached a park and saw a lot of fungi:

Some of which was a bit disconcerting:

Today I carved some stamps.  I'm not sure whether to put them in my Etsy Shop or not.  What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.

The flower is about 13cm high and the feather about 11cm so they are fairly large as stamps go.  

Thank you for visiting.

Spirals

Today the world was full of spirals, I'll share a few with you....

A ringtail.....

Stone spirals.......

Unfurling spirals.....

And philodendron spirals....

It's a curly world, that's for sure!

It doesn't have to be

the blue iris, it could be

weeds in a vacant lot, or a few

small stones; just

pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don't try

to make them elaborate, this isn't

a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which

  another voice may speak
 


   

                                                      -Praying by Mary Oliver

First Flight

Last night, well around 3am this morning actually, I awoke to the sound of prolonged, high-pitched wailing, like the distress cry of a very young child.  It was coming from the Tawny Frogmouths across the road as the parent birds encouraged their two young to take their first proper flight.  Gisela Kaplan, in her book "Tawny Frogmouths" says that the only time she has heard them make this sound is at the time of their first flight and at the time of their dispersal (when the young leave their parents and home territory for good).  It was heart-rending to listen to and Lily and I were relieved to find the family intact this morning.

Recently Brisbane has been having "weather".  First days and days of warm and steamy and thumping rain which left roads and under houses water-logged.... the frogs loved it.  Yesterday was bright and cold and windy.  This tree did not survive the onslaught of the wind after so much rain.

Here are some yummy things from my garden.....

Little mini capsicums that have loved all the rain.

Fresh eggs from the girls.

Here are the girls.....

And here is a tiger guarding some of the vegie patch!

Have a lovely day!