Spring has Sprung

Here it is nearly the end of September, I have been very lax in updating my new blog.

I had family staying in July – Tasmanian school holidays. It was lovely to see them for a second time this year. Family connections are so important and it was wonderful to have the two lively Taswegians playing happily with my NSW grandson. Having children about certainly lifts one's spirits. We are looking forward already to our time in Tassie over this summer. The bookings are made.

During the latter part of August, Ian and I took off in our Toyota campervan for three nights. I was keen to soak in the hot pools at Moree. The Great Artesian Basin, which supplies the hot mineral water to the pools, is under threat. Santos wants to frack right through the basin for coal seam gas. Given their past record of contaminating water where they frack, I have little faith that our biggest area of water security for dry Australia will be secure.

We had a lovely drive up the Hunter Valley and to my surprise, the power stations were not pumping out noxious fumes as they were last time we passed that way. More and more of the Valley has open-cut coal mining going on. While the Ukraine war rages and Europe needs electricity, there seems little chance for mining to stop.

Spring has sprung and the spring equinox has just passed. September 22/23 is when day and night are equal in length. Unfortunately, It rained much of yesterday while the Spring Fair was happening. The deciduous trees in my backyard are sprouting leaves and the days are slowly becoming warmer. This also means that the grass is growing again and needs regular mowing. Ian is out with the mower as I write because today is warm and sunny with blue sky and a low humidity breeze that means the lawn is dry after all the rain we’ve had. Even yesterday there was a fierce thunderstorm and water bucketed out of the heavens. La Nina has returned and we are to have a third wet summer. What’s worse – wild fires or flooding? Climate change is well and truly with us.

On dusting...

There’s always something more worthwhile to do than dusting – reading, knitting, watching a documentary, writing a story or painting a picture …

Dust, If you Must

There were a few insects that splattered upon our windscreen on our return trip from Tasmania this year.

Something equally as important is the return of birds. They are still not up t0 the numbers prior to the massive bush fires of 2019-2020, when numbers dropped to about one third, but there is a comeback. Last October, the numbers in my bird count were about two thirds of October 2019.