Thankful Thoughts

During this Thanksgiving week, I'm feeling especially thankful for the dry sclerophyll open forest that we get to walk through each day and for the physical ability to make those walks. Our canine companion encourages us.

Walking the dog in dry sclerophyll forest

Something has eaten almost all the leaves of our orchid collection growing on stones at ground level in front of the house. No blossoms from those orchids this year. I just hope they survive. Plans are afoot to transplant them into hanging pots.

Nature provided a welcome surprise during our daily walk. Eagle-eyed Jerry noticed this native orchid in bloom, maybe twenty feet up in an ironbark gumtree. Amazing abundance in a harsh environment and canny enough to avoid ground level.

Queensland native orchid in ironbark gumtree

A neighbour who raises chickens (and other birds) stopped by to give us fresh eggs. Why, Thanks! She doesn't engage in craftwork, so I gave her a couple of my hand-knitted dishcloths. The yolks of the eggs are incredibly yellow, in comparison to the eggs from the supermarket. We made a batch of yummy deviled eggs. They didn't last long... but we do know where the chickens live.... 

Over the past week we had almost daily thunderstorms along with a smattering of rain. We appreciate any rain at all as it has been very dry. We unplug the computer and the landline phone during thunderstorms and that unsettles us. Thunder also makes the dog very nervous. We can avoid sedating her if we stick to a routine but that curtails our own activities and results in not much else getting done. We figure it's worth the effort and we're thankful that it works.

Lemon scented gumtree reaching for rain

Each afternoon our eyes turn skyward in search of clouds and we take note of wind direction. I examine online weather forecasts. I feel more than ready for the end of the Dry Season... and I'd be grateful for more rain than thunder, thanks.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM