Fireys, fireground and a fiery horse

Yesterday I went to watch my sister, Jen and her boy, Eddie, do a jumping lesson.  I'm really proud of Jen and how she has worked with this horse.  He's a lovely trustworthy guy but he's a bit of a hothead when it comes to jumping.  He used to refuse at times too, lacking confidence.  Nowadays he jumps much higher and I don't think he ever refuses any more.  This trick now is just keeping him from rushing and getting unbalanced.   

Jen had a really good round at a higher level, but I videoed that for her and don't think she'd like it put on my blog.  :)  She was happy with it, anyway, and knocked off for the day to reward Eddie for a job well done.

I haven't been up to the club to watch for ages. It was my club too. I felt ok. I used to get washes of grief when I went there, but I think I'm over that now.  I didn't really want to be out there riding at all.  Life changes.

I did get the vegie garden planted up at last this week, when we had a few cooler days, so the seedlings could get a head start.

I didn't go for many tomatoes this year, just two cherry tomatoes.  We don't eat much tomato any more and I was just wasting them.  On the right there is my garlic. I do love homegrown garlic!

It's weird. For years now we've had a plague of slaters (also known as woodlice) that ate the seedlings voraciously. Since I won't use sprays, I had to resort to putting potato peels in the garden because they liked those better, and placing damp newspaper out for them to hide under so I could collect them all up and give them to the chooks.  This year, suddenly, hardly any.  I guess something that eats them has multiplied to match?

Hmm, see these paint cans?

They've been waiting over a year there for us to build a shed on the site of the crappy old we one we pulled down.  Acreage is lovely but there is always a lot of work.  Hope none of their bottoms have rusted out when I try to lift them!

This is the work we do a lot of at this time of year. Sticks, branches, and more sticks.

Amazing what we can get in the old single horse float if we jump up and down on the pile as we go.  Then we take the full load off to the tip to be composted, and start piling the sticks up all over again.  It's not good to have too much dead fuel on the ground or in the trees with fire season fast approaching.

Speaking of which, am very proud of Andrew, who finished fire school yesterday. He is now a fully-fledged active volunteer firefighter. Yay Andrew!

  
The dogs and I had an early morning walk down in bush by the bridle path the other day.  It was burned off this time last year, and I personally think it was done a little too hotly.  The fire went right up the trees in some places, but as you can see, the ground that was nothing but black ash is now recovering.

It was a nice walk for the dogs.  They love it out there.  

These pretty bell shaped flowers seem to have really enjoyed the burnt ground, along with the iconic blue Leschenaultia, which was coming up everywhere.

My weekend was vastly improved by the purchase of this:

Seven years back in the cottage, and all that time we have been restricted in our outside time by the large number of Mozzies that are here day and night now that we have a sewerage treatment plant in the bush across the road.  (State of the art, supposedly, ha!)

It was quite funny.  I was out there in the screened area, but it took me a while to stop twitching my legs, because I'm so used to moving all the time trying to keep the mozzies off!  They especially like it if you play a musical instrument, because you are concentrating and keeping so still.  They'll eve get you on the back of your chord hand as you play.  Too bad mozzies!  No more of my blood for you!

I did quite a bit of this on the weekend too.  Treating Jarrah trees for Dieback on the verge across the road.  The phosphite goes down the trees into the roots and kills the fungus where it attacks them.  The Dieback is really bad over there at the school.  Too many trees there are now stark skeletons. They don't call it "Nature's Bulldozer" for nothing.  Hopefully I can save some of these guys though!    

 

Cat Art

I've done a lot of doggy posts lately, so to balance things up a bit, here's a catty one, featuring some of the cats I've painted over the years.

 Taco and Rassy Roo. 

 Sue the Catwitch.

 Nermal the Kitchen Cat.

 Tippy cat and Molly.

 Lea in Ink.

 Lea with Watercolour added.

Billie the Spiral Cat.

Buffy and Cyrano (whoops, slipped a dog in there!)

 Nermal the couch Cat. 

 Nermal in His Blue Period.

 Nermal Watercolour

Nermal and Massey the First. (Yes there's a Massey the Second.) 

Nermal in Sunlight

Keech and Massey.  (Heh heh, another sneaky dog there!)

 
Cats are nice to paint.  Must do some more of Cyrano!

In writing news, the Heroic Plans first draft went over the 50 000 word mark this morning.  Weeeee!

Rosie's pups

Going Gently is getting a puppy for Christmas. In his case, a Welsh Terrier.  It made me so happy for him, and also made me wish I was getting a puppy for Christmas too.  That made me think about my last puppy, who was Tuppence, and who was also Rosie's own pup.

Here is a hodgepodge of videos I made of Rosie's pups.  They're out of order for age of pups, but I kind of like them the way they are. It's eight minutes long but I hope you get as much enjoyment out of watching it as I do.

Ps. Am sure I don't sound that nasal in real life!  Yegods!

    
Daisy ended up as Tuppence when we kept her and realised she needed a bit feistier name.  :)

This is Golden Boy who gets a mention and was renamed Stanley. He now has a little sister to love, as well as his kitty.

This is Legs who is now Satchmo.

Handsome was my favorite I must admit, and our firstborn pup,

but with mum keeping Angus, who was called Rocket in those days, I felt we shouldn't keep two boys from the same litter in case of sibling rivalry. He's called Manly now (after an Aussie Rules football team, not because he's particularly butch!) 

Angus was irresistible right from the start. We called him Rocket because he came out right behind the pup in front of him, as if he was in a big hurry. He has gone through life that way ever since!  Mum tried to use her head in choosing which pup to keep, but she and Angus had a thing going right from the start, a bit like Rosie and I did, and in the end the heart won!

It's worked out well, though.  They're doing well in retrieving trials, and he's a marvelous companion for mum too.  Affectionate and snuggly and SO handsome! Canine eye candy!

If you are wondering why we did photos with names, well, you try picking which Lab pup was which a few years down the track, or even by the time they are eight weeks old! We sent each pup home with their two week old photo like this, and an eight week old group shot as well. Ribbon collars to identify pups are a bit dangerous, so we marked each pup somewhere different with a tiny dab of nail polish.  That doesn't show up in photos, though, so we came up with this name card idea instead.    


Walker became Charlie.  He was born outside when Rosie went out for what we thought was a toilet break!

This little cutie grew up to be called Bruce, but we called him Diver Dan.  I can't remember why now.

He looks a lot like Tuppy, but is more chunky now than in this picture.

And of course there's our Tuppy, the only girl who lived and the biggest handful of the lot.  :)

Her registered name is Moralana Rosies Reward, and I'm happy to say that so she has become.  They are good friends and great company for each other.

They'll all be four years old this month.  We're still in touch with all the owners, though some more than others.  It's lovely to know that they all went to homes that love them and are valued members of their families.

Nonetheless, next time we want a pup, I'll be happy to buy one from a breeder other than mum and I. A reputable, registered one who house-raises their pups just like mum.  My heart is still a little sore from saying goodbye to Rosie's babies.  Going through the birth with your darling girl, raising pups well and with love, finding the right people to take the pups, then sending them out into the world, is not for the faint-hearted.  Not if you do it right.

Oh my!

If you've enjoyed the medieval music I've linked before, listen to this!

Can you see yourself sitting in a great hall?  Roaring fire sending flickers of light over rapt faces, sleeping hounds underfoot, and the visiting bards storytelling,  singing and playing.

We take music for granted now. We can have it any time by flicking a switch.  In those days, it must have been pure delight any time you got to hear it, especially anything new.      

Bunyip Dreaming goes into print!

So, at last, my latest book is also available in the print edition. I think it comes close to being my favorite cover yet!  Rosie is posing with it to show it to you.  My proof copy is already looking rather battered. Must remember to photograph it before reading!

 "Hurry up and take the pic so I can have my treaty for posing so well!

The book is 16.99 US from amazon.  I've had great reports from everyone who has read it so far. People are really loving it, which I in turn love very much to hear!

I still haven't got to the vegie garden yet, and with summer seemingly coming early this year, I've nearly missed my window to get the seedlings started safely before the sun gets crispy hot!  Ah well, Istill have masses of silverbeet!

You can see my chookies behind there, waiting for me to pick them some.
     

I'm having an odd mood kind of day today.  Very conflicted. Andyroo is off at fire training for the volunteer bushfire brigade. After this weekend and the next, he will be a fully active firefighter.  I was supposed to be there too, but I've been having so much trouble with my tum that I had to pull out.  A lot of my lyme symptoms are gone or much lessened, but GI tracts take a long time to heal, and tummy troubles and fighting fires, or even long days of training, are a bit beyond me just now.

I'll still be able to help in some ways, but for now I will not be joining the ranks of the active firefighters.  My mood is mixed because I've so been looking forward to being a full member of the team and having some adventures, but also for quite a while have been worried I am just not up to it.

Ah well, such is the way of life with chronic illness: Hoping, and grieving what you find you can't do, and always trying to do more than you probably should.  Today I'll go up to the station and treat a few Jarrah trees there for dieback. That is something I CAN do.

One of my favorite trees here at home is in full flower now.  It's known as a Native Frangipani.  I have no idea where it is native to, though!  The flowers are amazing, and the birds and bees adore them.

There were ring-necked parrots in there even as I took the photos, but they are green and yellow and too well camouflaged to see easily.  You know they are there because they drop flowers, and you can hear the sound of their beaks nibbling away.  They are also known as 28's, because of their distinctive alarm cry that sounds like they are calling out, "Twenty-eight! Twenty-eight! Twenty-eight!"

Here is a lovely pic of two, taken by John Dart.   

Ah well, better go treat those trees!   With spring coming on apace, their sap is running and it's the best time to get at that horrible dieback. 
             

Frogmouths, mouse-ears and otter bums.

It was round about this time last year or maybe a bit later, that we got some new neighbours for a few weeks.  Can you see them?  Here is a closer shot!

It's a Tawny Frogmouth, and her two half-grown babies.  They are rather owl-like, but really they are a kind of Nightjar, like the Nighthawks and Whip-poor-wills of other continents.  They are nocturnal, and very good at hiding by day.  I only saw these guys because one of the babies moved his head side to side to see me better as I was going out the front gate.


Andyroo got these pics of one who spent the day here beside the cottage a couple of years ago.  As you can see he or she was pretending very hard to be a dead branch on the tree!

 "You can't see me, dammit!"

I hope we see some more Frogmouth families this year! I didn't this morning.  I was out for a little while with the local reserve friends group, digging up Watsonia.  They are pretty, but too intrusive in our local native bush. Poor things, their pretty pink and orange blooms give them away way too easily right now!

Isn't it amazing how wattles grow these perfect little pompoms of yellow flowers?   

The egg-and-bacon plants have had their showy flowering season in no time at all this year. I think early spring has caught them on the hop!

The Calothamnus Rupestra, known more commonly as Mouse-ears, are loving the warmth. I've never seen so many flowers on them.  I think they might be called Mouse-ears because of the little round, grey flower buds they have, that maybe look like mouse ears? Neither the flowers nor the leaves in any way resemble mice!
 

I have no idea what these two are called but they're pretty.

We've had to mow up at the block, which is a bit sad for my pair of feral dogs, who totally love hunting through the tall grass looking for mice and bunnies.  They've had some lovely chases to the fenceline, but the bunnies of course are much faster than my blonky Labradors, so they get through the fence and thumb their noses!  If the dogs find any mice, sad to say, they are munched up immediately!  Ah well, it's a quick end at least.

The feral hunters in the jungle:

Sorry babies, long grass is too attractive to snakes now they are waking up, and we don't want you bitten by a hidden slithery dude as you bound through the grass.  You'll have to wait for it to grow again next year!

The latest critter in my amigurumi stable is this little guy, a baby sea otter I made for one of my cousins. I won't link the pattern because he got so modified as I went along, that he no longer really resembles the pattern at all!  The consensus of opinion was that the chubby cheeks of the original made him appear to have a bum (or worse) on his face, so I took all the features off and redid him differently, and I must admit it was a vast improvement!  Ah, kind, helpful critics!  What would we creative types without them?  :D 

 

I won't be able to post much Amigurumi news here for a while. I've started on secret Christmas Prezzies!

I got this shot of the girls the other day, very politely waiting while I put their dinner together.  My sweet matching book ends.  :)

Gawd, some lucky fur-people have a great life don't they?

Music to Write to: Deva Premal and Miten (often with Manose.)

Feel like a little peace and beauty?  Listen to Deva Premal and Miten.  Lovely to write to, lovely to sing along to.  I've learned some of the mantras from listening to these guys and do indeed find them very helpful for handling stress or ratty brain.

Here's a really accessible one to ease you in.  :)  In the Light of Love.

So beautiful.  Deva's voice truly is a gift.

This is the Twameva Mantra.  Here's a lovely explanation of it if you are interested.

If ever beings exhibited the Buddhist concept of "Right Work", it is these guys.  Such joy radiates out of them, especially Manose.  That young man positively glows with it!

The Gayatri Mantra is one of my favorites.  Its meaning is a little difficult for we westerners to get, but the essence of it might be said to be; a song of praise that awakens the vital energies and gives liberation from suffering.  You don't really need to need to know what it means, though,  Just singing along or even listening is good for you.

I love this live version.  All the people singing along in such togetherness and peace.

Feeling all lovely and peaceful?  I bet you are!

This is another more western song.  There are beautiful harmonies in this one.  Awakening/Om Shanti.  I love to sing along to this one!

Ok, ready for the big guns?  This is the Moola Mantra.  Yes it's long.  Deva has a whole album of just this mantra.  You'd think that would be boring but actually it's my second favorite album after their in concert one. You are basically acknowledging divinity, from the one that is all, to the gods in their feminine and masculine manifestations, to the divinity of all that is around us, to our own divinity.  This is just my interpretation of course!  At any rate it's lovely to sing and makes you feel good.

Here are the words. It does help to see them written down so that you sound them properly and therefore get the best benefit of them as they pass through your body.

Om
Sat Chit Ananda
Parabrahma
Purushothama
Paramatma
Sri Bhagavathi
Sametha
Sri Bhagavathe
Namaha

Deva explains their meaning this way:

 Sat - truth, Chit-  consciousness, Ananda -  bliss  (this is also a mantra in its own right)Parabramha - the unmanifest divine, the divine that is all around us, the air we breathe, the space that's all around us permeating everything.Purushothama - the divine that is manifest in human beings, as our spiritual teachers, gurus, avatars, enlightened masters.Paramatma - the soul that's within every living thing, the divine essence that's within every living thing.Sri Bhagavathi Sametha Sri Bhagavathe - the feminine principle together with the masculine principle.Namaha - I offer salutations (to all of the above). So to the divine in its unmanifest form, then channelled into our teachers and gurus, then coming to the universal understanding of everything being divine, of everything being a reflection of the divine perfection  and then the dance of the feminine and the masculine energy like a yin and yang at the end of the mantra.

 
I hope that this music gave you a lovely peaceful feeling ready for the weekend, and I hope that you listen to Deva Premal and Miten some more in the future.  You'll go out into the world radiating peace and love, and the world could do with more of that!