A spot of gardening

My very lovely friend, who knows I am off sick but is willing to keep me company and risk the infection, her argument being that if she was going to get it she would have already caught from me, contacted me on my sick day to offer her services to assist with a spot of gardening, slash weeding.

She knows how overgrown and overwhelming my garden of weeds is. 

How lovely is it of her to offer to help? She could be pottering in her own garden, reading a book, watching episodes of Wentworth.

On her suggestion we took before and after photos. She concentrated on the overgrown grass and weeds and prickly rose vine around my entrance and letter box. (The postie will be pleased.)

Before:

After:

She unearthed some very tenacious bulbs sprouting!

I concentrated on the part of the driveway where I park my car. I struggle to get out without brushing clothes against shrubbery and stepping in the dirt. Quite a few prickly things have self-germinated here. Plants which will grow into monsters that will take up too much space for a suburban yard, let alone fit along side a driveway. 

Before:

After:

My gardening rescuer also brought som bromeliads which have a new home under the massive tree. 

We filled a green wheelie bin and more. Look at this pile!

But it wasn’t only me who was pleased. A kookaburra came for a feast in the disturbed soil. He found some juicy morsels and then sat on a branch waiting for more worms and grubs to surface. We were so lucky! He didn’t mind us at all as we got up very close. Less than two metres away. What a handsome fellow! And what a coincidence after the previous  post this week about kookaburras!

What a wonderful birthday present from my friend!

Lunch shared is much more enjoyable than lunch alone. We had avocado on toasted multi-grain sourdough. And the obligatory cup of tea, made in a pot of course with loose leaf tea. Drunk from Wedgwood fine bone china. 

Heaven!

Jo, you are right. Gardening is so therapeutic. Sometimes it is hard to know where to start. A little guidance and direction from a friend, and working together, made it even more pleasant. 

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

My regular walk takes me along a track that has bush on one side and trees all around. 

Anyone who has walked through the Aussie bush will know you rarely see animals. Except ants and birds.

Depending on the season and time of day I will see, or more likely hear, different birds. 

On my walks around the bush near me, I have seen and heard several lyrebirds. Their sound is very distinctive. In the two times I actually spotted one, I was led to the bird by the unusual sounds. It imitates all manner of things – mechanical and living. 

Among my favourite is the little finch. Always in a mass pack, they flit so quickly among low shrubs and tall grass. It is their movement I love. And the challenge of spotting one. 

Yesterday Dar said she’d like to hear a kookaburra in the wild. And she wondered if it would become annoying. 

The thing is Aussie birds tend not to sing all day. (In fact some are horrid screechers so singing and chirping are not the right words. Have I told you how much I hate cockatoos?)

I never find kookaburras annoying. They don’t call all the time. Mainly they communicate to other kookaburras of an evening. 

As luck would have it on my walk as the sun was setting today, I came across a group of kookaburras who were winging it home. They called to one another, gathering all together before they disappeared towards the bush. I whipped out my phone and recorded them. You cannot really see them but they flew between trees as the headed off towards the bush. 

So here’s one for you Dar? Enjoy. 

How can this sound not bring a smile to your face? (Don’t stop the video too soon. The horrid screeching towards the end is a cockatoo. Shit things. Noisey and they peck apart housing, fencing and sensor tiles for the blind as well as tip bins over.)