birds

Adjusting to the sun’s southern exposure

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I’m reminded of the differences between home and Australia daily.  No huntsmen spiders or tiger snakes is one of them.  Instead, I hear coyotes howling when I am in the hot tub and wonder what their plans are.  The night sky is different.  Orion is not a saucepan but is once again a sword bearing hunter.  We no longer look for the Southern Cross and the pointers to find south but use the Big Dipper as a guide to the North Star.  During the day, I have to remind myself that the sun comes from the south, no longer from the north.  I still don’t even know how the toilets flush here or there.  We’re trying to extend our healthy eating habits by investing in a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) where we can get organic vegetables, meat and dairy products.

Scarlet Tanager

Yesterday, I enjoyed a walk with friends on a trail (not a track) led by naturalists on the Champlain Area Trail System (CATS).  When we stopped chatting long enough to listen, we had lots of sites, plants and birds pointed out along the way.  Here’s a red bird.  It’s not a Beautiful Fire Tail or a European Goldfinch,  or a Black Swan.  It’s a Scarlet Tanager.  It flew around the branches over our heads and belted out a beautiful song.

Many wildflowers were pointed out along the way as they began to bud but their names elude me.  These were pretty yellow flowers.

My head is still in the clouds

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I can’t believe we’ve been home a month already. We’ve been busy organizing and getting reacquainted with family, friends and our lovely home in the mountains.

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I made my first batch of cream cheese from a batch of yogurt that I heated too high and killed all that good bacteria. It was delicious on home made toast with jam. ‘ve got bread, bagels and, almost, english muffins perfected, I still need to get those nooks and crannies like Thomas’ does. Now that I’m discussing food, I imported ten boxes of Tim Tams and gave them away to a select few (and ate a couple of boxes myself with a little help from Tim). I was shopping in Brooklyn, NY and right at the checkout counter my son discovered Pepperidge Farms Tim Tams. Apparently they are an affiliate of Arnott, the original Tim Tam baker and sell them in the United States from October to April. So we can all enjoy the Tim Tam slam next winter and fill the void when the Girl Scout thin mints are all gone.

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We’ve got a new visitor too. This pheasant seems to enjoy our house, walks up to the window and pecks and cleans up after the birds at the feeders

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House hunting and foraging

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Not us, the birds. We are comfortably settling in at home and are adjusting to a life among people again. I am very happy to get to spend time with my family and to become reacquainted with friends.

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The birds, however, are just moving in. A pair of blue birds checked out all the bird houses (five in total) and selected one on the fence. They got down to business and built their nest in it. The feeder has attracted goldfinches, chickadees, purple finches and blue jays. The northern flickers, robins and blue birds are dining on whatever they find in the grass.

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In the meantime, we are having our own little Caddyshack battle. Moles are digging up the back lawn faster than Tim can flatten the mounds. He was even standing on one while it was still getting bigger. Soon there will be dynamite and those words, “Hello Mr. Mole, it’s just me Mr. Squirrel”.

The flight of the sailboats

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I saw this boat in the cove yesterday and the water and its shadow were so clear it seemed airborne. As more boats arrived, the dance of the sailboats at anchorage began. Initially two were anchored. Another arrived and dropped its anchor, perhaps a little too close to a boat already there. They hauled the anchor, circled around and dropped it again. We go to bed and someone drags anchor, or simply decides to move during the night, and the positions change again. Someone told us they were here when there were at least 18 boats in the cove. Hard to imagine.

Flying Sandpiper
A couple of ketches
We celebrated Valentine’s day yesterday with flowers from the garden.
Valentine's day flowers
Today I found this heart on the lawn from a Cape Barren Goose.
Cape Barren Valentine Heart
And what about this soup made entirely from the garden’s beets. Gorgeous color.
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Nothing like a good wallaby wrangle to start the day

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The local wallaby population has been gradually increasing and this morning we had the chance to shoo a few out. First we open the driveway gate then position ourselves so we head them in the direction of the gate. We managed to get four of seven out. I feel like a shepherd or I guess walherd. Tim was waving the Australian flag like a matador. Here’s a flame robin outside the sunroom.

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The other night, possums were fighting over the barbecue. Tim shooed them away and closed it up and the next day asked me if I had scrubbed it clean. I hadn’t. They did. Maybe they should stay. I could invite them into the house to clean.

The sun came out and there was a fair wind, all the visiting boats we can see have left. Time to do laundry. I can’t convey how good these sheets smell!

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Remember my little yellow bird?

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I posted about it on October 21 Well it made it to the New York Times and I was there right at the beginning without even knowing it.  I just thought there was this amazing little yellow bird.

I am spending a lot of time thinking about packing without actually packing . I have to get my fiber fixes in before I leave.  I’m knitting a sweater for a friend which I would love to be able to ship before we get to Deal Island (which means I may mail it from mainland Taz), hooking a rug and trying to spin dog hair into a yarn for a friend. It’s not quite like spinning straw into gold.   I did the first batch without washing it and the yarn is nice but it smells like dog and the cats were going wild while I spun.  I will wash the next batch first.

I traveled to West Point to watch Chelsea play rugby against Army, where MP’s searched my car before they let me in.  They loved my license, which had a piece of white tape stuck on it with my new address…before I washed and dried it with my AMEX card.  Now there’s just a piece of blank white tape on my license.  Very suspicious.  The AMEX card works fine, even though it’s slightly warped.