tawny

We came home from shopping to find three Tawny Frogmouths ensconced in a tree close to the house. One looked to be a baby. We hadn't seen any since last summer so were very pleased that they'd come back, or another family had moved in. But they couldn't have picked a worse time. It was New Years Eve, and neighbours who should know better decided to stage their own fireworks event. What a dumb thing to do in the bush. Horses were running into fences and hurting themselves and other livestock was spooked and attempting to escape as far away from the noise as possible. The poor Tawnys must have decided that this was just too noisy a place for their liking and they haven't been seen since. This is the baby:

Jacksville

Things are moving along quickly with the renovations. The concrete was formed up on 14 Dec 2008:



It was poured on 15 Dec 2008:



The dividing wall between the two cabins was formed up on 17 Dec 2008:



The gyprocking began on 19 Dec 2008:

no oil painting

Art classes have ended for the year. I really enjoyed it and will be going back next year. Our last exercise was to paint highly reflective surfaces. This is my attempt at stainless steel.

snake dreaming

This carpet snake had a conspicuous bulge from something that it had recently eaten. Looking at it an hour or so later it was still in the same spot. We took a photo and not wanting to upset it any further we left it alone. Another couple of hours passed and still the snake hadn't moved. Curiosity got the better of us at this stage so we nudged it - brown bread. There was foam around it's mouth. We have no idea what killed it. Neither we nor our neighbours use rat poison. This was taken a few hours before we found it dead:



Ours had only eaten a modest meal compared to this one, that had eaten a wallaby:



'Snake Dreaming', oil on canvas, by Lindsay Bird Mpetyane:

colours of a storm

We had a storm just on sunset on 2 December. It's intent was signalled not only by the still atmosphere, the ominous dark clouds and the thunder, but also by the strange light that rested over the bush. This photo isn't 'shopped'. The colour is as the shot was taken, immediately prior to the storm.

Jackville

Our friend Jack has moved in to one of the rooms in the old retreat buildings. This has given us the impetus to 'do a number' on the retreat. There were four individual motel style rooms in this building:



We've decided to make the four rooms into two by knocking down the dividing walls.



We're also going to put in full kitchens, renovate the bathrooms, tile the floors, re-gyprock, reconfigure the windows and doors, and build a pergola on the northern side to shade them from the summer sun. The awful rock/cement area between the rooms will be built in and eventually form the entrance and kitchen areas. We're employing Pete our neighbour to help with the building. Stage one is pulling up the rock/cement work:

tree fall down

We reluctantly decided that the rest of the Liquidamber tree had to come down. The branch that had fallen previously had left a large hole in the trunk that would eventually destabilise the tree and provide an easy entry for rot. We loved the look of it and the atmosphere it gave to the back of the house, not to mention the shade it provided for us and the smaller plants around it. But it had to go. Darcey and Billy, our neighbours, who have plenty of experience, cut it down:







Tree on ground: