Category: friends

Australia · friends · laughter

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree….or on the clothesline!

Joanne12 Comments

Since I started feeding the wild birds who visit my garden, on a regular basis, word must have got around among the Feathered Friends Kingdom that easy to come by food is available in the backyard where the magpies congregate.

When Kathy from Lake Superior Spirit paid me a virtual visit the other day, she told me that she would like to hear a kookaburra laughing.

Well Kathy, rarely do you ever hear just one kookaburra laughing! Even if you only see one kookaburra in the garden, as soon as one begins to laugh, before you know it you have a whole symphony of Laughing Jackasses (the largest members of the Kingfisher family) going hard at it! The whole family is never too far away.

Some days I have eight kookies perched on my clothesline. They prefer meaty treats, but also seem quite content to settle for sharing the bread with the magpies, and various other feathered visitors.

I found this link to the laugh of kookaburras, which sounds true to the real sound. You don’t want to be too close to them when one of them cracks a joke, because their laughter will deafen you!

What’s so funny, eh?

I had intended adding more photos of my other, not so loud, birdie visitors here today, but will save their photos for tomorrow, (or Thursday), for the simple fact that the kookaburras prefer to steal the limelight!

I’m sure all the other birds will thank me for allowing them their own moment in the spotlight, without those comedian kookaburras overshadowing them! 😉

freedom · friends · son

Leaving on a Jet ‘Plane

Joanne7 Comments
When you were a little boy, did you ever dream of the countries you would visit one day?

He’s leaving on a jet ‘plane this morning. He’ll be at the Brisbane airport now; his luggage will have been checked and probably loaded onto the plane. He’ll also probably be on the plane himself, sitting with two of his best mates from his childhood.

Have they been allocated good seats? Who else will be on board the plane, taking the twenty-two hour flight with them? Will he enjoy the movies he watches? His only concern about his entire trip was the flight there and the flight home again.

No, no, don’t get me wrong, he loves air travel, that’s not his concern; it’s the boredom; it’s the wasted days.

“Try to focus on the adventure ahead of you, of seeing a whole new country on the other side of the world”, his father had suggested. “That will make the flight seem shorter.”

The clock on the mantelpiece strikes 11 am. Is the ‘plane running to schedule? Is he comfortably sitting aboard the plane, perhaps in a window seat, watching as the ground races past his window and the ‘plane takes off, lifting higher and higher, the ground becoming smaller and smaller?

When I speak with my blogging friends in the U.S.A. why is it that they feel so close to me, yet when my son is taking the twenty-two hour flight to the other side of the world, it suddenly feels as if he is going to another planet?

Travel safe, my boy. Enjoy your adventure. Make the most of the trip that you and your mates have planned for months.

Your room will be waiting here for you when you return. I will be so excited as the days draw nearer to your return home, just as I have done when you have travelled overseas before.

Why didn’t Japan or Sri Lanka seem so far away? I believe I am only taking on board your concerns as my own. But haven’t I always done that?

The “Big Apple” awaits you, my son; your five-week adventure begins today. xxxxxx

~ ~ ~

blessings · friends · gratitude · traditions

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, 2012!

Joanne3 Comments

Today I have reflected on whether I have had any Irish influences in my life during the past twelve months and surprised myself by remembering a few occasions when little leprechaun’s have made an appearance in my day.

* It began on this day, one year ago, when I posted an Irish Blessing to celebrate the day.

* One of my nephews travelled overseas during the year, visiting the United Kingdom and Ireland and my sister told me how impressed he was with Ireland in particular. I believe it is one of the most beautiful countries you could ever wish to visit.

* In April last year my husband’s family travelled from far and wide for a family reunion at the old family homestead, “Lisnagar”, which was built in 1902, by my husband’s Irish Catholic great-grandfather, Edward Twohill.

* My husband’s uncle, ninety-five year old Patrick Kelly, passed away. Yes, he was named after St. Patrick himself and if Uncle Pat had lived a few more months, he would have celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday yesterday.

Remembering Uncle Pat

* My own singular Irish ancestor has driven me crazy, by thoughtlessly not leaving any records available to help me trace her line of my family! My great-great grandmother, Catherine Cummins, born 1845 in Waterford, Ireland, has had me wasting away hours on end at the computer in the hope of finding out something…anything, about her family. It would seem that Grandma Catherine has not passed the Luck of the Irish onto her two-times-great-granddaughter for the purpose of her learning some more about her grandmother’s parents and siblings.

Ah well, if the only problem any of us ever has in our lives is the lack of some ancestors names, I think we can declare our lives to be truly blessed!

And speaking of blessings, St. Patrick’s Day would not be complete without wishing you all the blessings your own heart desires, and no one sends blessings in quite the same way as the Irish themselves ~

“May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.” 🙂

Australia · friends · gardening · Mount Warning · summer · Tweed Valley

Excuse Me…..Can We Come in Please?

Joanne4 Comments
Where Mount Warning should be.

The magpies visit my garden regularly and we have become rather friendly over the last year. This summer, the mummy and daddy magpie have brought their three babies to visit, no doubt teaching them where The Home To Come To When You Are Hungry is, as I always drop everything I’m doing when they arrive and rush outside with soggy bread for them all, which they seem to enjoy enormously.

They have me very well trained!

Just the other day, as I walked outside with hands full of garbage to go the garbage bin, one of the babies, no doubt expecting a treat, swooped down out of the trees and landed right in front of me. I had to explain, of course, that I hadn’t brought any bread with me, only the garbage, but would be back in a jiffy.

Understanding every word I said, he waited, of course.

You know you love me....

We’ve had a run of rainy days for the last three days, today being the fourth day of sog and mist. The plants in the garden are growing profusely, as are the weeds. Mount Warning has vanished out of sight.

And our magpie babies are not impressed!

Two of the babies came to my bedroom door yesterday, which leads out onto the back veranda, looking straight at me, longingly, with their cute beady eyes. I could well imagine them asking, “Excuse me, but it’s awfully wet out here. Can we please come inside for a while?”

Yep. It's still raining.

Not satisfied with sitting on a post a whole six feet away from the door, the more adventurous of the siblings came even closer to the door, sitting on the back of an outdoor chair and peering longingly at me.

I took his photo through the window, hence the blurriness you see in the photo, and then carefully and gently tied to open the door, so as not to startle him, hoping to take a photo without the window impeding the way.

Can we come in please?

The baby magpies made the sudden, joint decision that they had had enough close human contact for the day and in a flurry of feathers, off they flew.

They were back again this morning for breakfast though. 🙂

ducks · freedom · friends · summer

An Early Morning Visitor….Come back later, around midday, okay?

Joanne11 Comments
My camera-shy visitor

Over the past few months we’ve had a regular visitor to our back garden, or to be more precise, to our swimming pool.

We enjoy the pool on a hot day too!

A duck must have mistaken our pool for a nice relaxing pond, in which to float around and casually pass the time of day. Obviously the chlorine and salt added to the pool has not had any adverse effect to his health as he has returned, again and again, even occasionally bringing his lady friend along with him!

In the eighteen years that we have had the pool this is the first duck that has taken a liking to it, which has left me wondering….why? Is this the first duck to ever notice, over the past eighteen years, that the pool is there? Or, have the others been put off by the smell of salt and chlorine?

Perhaps our visitor is simply an eccentric duck!

I'm up here, Mr Duck. Look this way!

I’ve tried to get a photo of this cute little guy for ages, but every time the camera has reached my face, he flies away!

This morning, however, at 7am, armed with both camera and determination, I actually photographed him! They are not the best photos of all time, that’s a certainty, but at least they are proof that I’m not hallucinating!

I’ve noticed that all the photos I take in the early morning and also later in the afternoon have a fuzzy look to them, so just to satisfy myself that the light of the day can make a huge difference to the quality of a photo, I took another photo of the same place, same zoom, but at 1pm this afternoon.

Bring Mrs Duck with you next time. Midday would suit me just fine!

The result? Much clearer, and far more vivid in colour.

Now, if the duck will just make a visit around midday, my camera will be waiting. Hey, I’ll even invite his lady friend! 🙂