Currently the resident Butcherbird family has increased to four and the parents are kept very busy caring for their two young chicks.
The adults have been showing them places where there is shade and food (our front door step area) and water holes (buckets we have put out during this heatwave.) When we are home we also add the odd ice cube to freshen and cool the water. It is the least we can do when the summer daytime temperature is 45.3 celsius under the verandah.
What a roller coaster of a ride my memories have taken me today.
I decided this morning that I would tackle our filing cabinet and sort through the files hidden there.
Hours later and I have been laughing at wedding dress catalogues from the 1980s and crying at letters my dad wrote to us while he was in England just before he got really ill.
Reminiscing about life before Bendigo as I came across permits and plans for a house extension in Noble Park mix with chuckling over letters from a cousin’s previous boyfriend who kept begging me for advise on how to keep her! Funny because at the time I had never had a boyfriend and had only known my cousin while I travelled in England for 6 weeks!
I have stopped briefly because the writer within is calling, and so I want to share this with you on this hot summer day in Australia.
Now there are another half a dozen files to tackle before dinner.
The shredder is going to get a workout soon, too.
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One of my favourite insects this time of the year must be the Blue Banded Bee. A native of these parts, it is always busy as… and so hard to photograph as it hardly stays on or near a flower long enough to capture a pic…much faster than a regular honey bee.
Sharon Greenaway 