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

Total Solar Eclipse: 14 November 2012

Total Solar Eclipse on 14 November 2012

We live just outside the track for solar eclipse totality that occurred this past week. Neither of us had ever seen a total solar eclipse. We decided that we couldn't let the chance of a lifetime slip past. In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, we kept our eyes out for a possible viewing spot within the track of totality and also within reasonable driving distance from our home. We spotted a farmer's paddock on the other side of the Atherton Tablelands. There was a bit of room between the highway and the paddock suitable for parking and providing a clear view to the southeast. Totality for the location would occur around 6:40 a.m.

As the day of the eclipse grew nearer, a gloomy weatherman began predicting cloudy days and warned that our region might miss out on seeing the eclipse. Warnings in the media about traffic congestion and delays increased as massive numbers of visitors began arriving in the region. More people began to consider driving further inland where clear skies were more assured. But inland roads and facilities are very limited. 

We heard that one station owner got a phone call asking if he would be willing to accommodate some Japanese tourists who were arriving in Australia for the event and leaving the day after. The property owner liked the idea of earning some easy money and said, sure, how many? “3000.” Oh, said the property owner, well, I do have five tents....

We rose before dawn on the day of the eclipse. It was cloudy. We drove toward our selected spot as the day began to get light. We encountered light sprinkles of rain which increased by the time we reached the halfway point in our journey. Traffic also increased. We got delayed by roadworks. In spite of growing uncertainty, we pressed on.

Fortune favoured us. The clouds cleared by the time we reached the farmer's paddock where another four or five cars were already parked, including one belonging to a friend. People stood wearing special glasses as they gazed toward the sun.

We hadn't found any of the special glasses to buy at local stores. To protect our eyes, Jerry had prepared a pinhole projector for viewing the eclipse. He cut a hole in large piece of cardboard and taped aluminium foil across the hole. Using a needle, he punched a small, smooth hole in the aluminium foil. The image of the growing eclipse was projected and focused onto a sheet of white paper fastened to a clipboard leaning against the wheel of the car. Not exactly elegant, but it worked perfectly.

He was arranging the set-up when another car pulled in beside us and a young woman's three sons hopped out as she tended to extracting an infant. They didn't have special eclipse glasses either. The boys clustered about Jerry as he pointed out the projected eclipse image and explained the set-up. Science in action. The five year old grew excited and said he had a piece of white paper and a clipboard in the car. He ran to get it. When he returned, Jerry solemnly put the boy's paper and clipboard in position in front of ours. The boys crouched beside the clipboard and watched the image of the slowly changing eclipse. Ownership does give learning an edge.

As soon as the eclipse was total, we all turned around and looked at the eclipsed sun. Words fail. I felt completely gob-smacked. I felt joyous, like I was witnessing a birth. What a privilege to witness such an event.

The twin grandsons, now two years old and living on the coast, likewise got a terrific view of the totality. When it ended, they demanded, “More!”

From the mouths of babes....

Post by M in JaM

Photo by J in JaM

Happy As Larry

Content Codger here and now: Jerry opted for a quiet birthday celebration this year, rising at dawn as usual, spending the day at home periodically relaxing in his new rocker, getting served cappuccino with homemade Anzac bisquits, finalising and sending file to Guy who immediately used his MakerBot to generate the ABS plastic shell for the new and improved LED clock – AND - ending the day with a glass of Australian wine.

Lightshow

The sun continues to shift southwards. This week we get to see the total eclipse of the sun, weather permitting. The sun's current position allows it to illuminate the Chinese holiday mobile that's been hanging in front of this window of our home since last Christmas. I love the way coloured light gets thrown around the room as the gentlest air currents make the mobile move.

Common Green Treefrog

I trust the common green treefrog knows something about the weather. We could use some rain. Everything is very dry. The frog lives in the shower/laundry area, spending the days hidden in a partially open pipe where the washing machine drains. Pipes make great amplifiers for frog calls. Lately, we've been finding him perched on the top rail of the gate that we close each night in order to keep the neighbour's goats out of the shower and shed proper. Twice the wandering mama goat and her two kids appeared and insisted on moving right into the house, but the upset dog drew the line despite being no match at all for mama goat.

3 ply handspun; 30% baby alpaca, 55% superfine merino, 15% silk
blended roving ("Sandstone") from Freelance Fibres

I wanted a break from spinning white cotton. Also wanting yarn to knit another pair of fingerless gloves, I dug through my fibre stash and found the last of a blended roving of alpaca, superfine merino and silk, surely enough for my plan. Listening to an audio book, I settled at my Ashford Traditional wheel whenever I had a chance and it didn't seem to take long to spin three singles over the next few days. I placed the three bobbins on my Lazy Kate and began plying. Soon I had created my first 3 ply yarn (not counting “Navajo-ply” which creates a 3 ply out of one single). I like the look and texture of the final yarn. The alpaca adds warmth, the silk adds shine, the merino I can't resist... and I had the chance to try something new.

Make that Two Content Codgers.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM

It's That Time of Year

The native sandpaper figs are fruiting.

Someone has mowed around the schoolbus stop, a facility built by local residents for their children. Mowing reduces fire hazards and accidental snake encounters.

School bus stop

Last week, in the evening of the same day as my close encounter with a huntsman spider, Jerry discovered what he thought was a small python slithering along the shelves above his computer. Both of us admire pythons though I wouldn't be comfortable with a big one on the loose in the house. When I took a torch to have a closer look at the snake, we realised it wasn't a python. It was a night tiger... and a ready biter. The night tiger didn't like the spot light and retreated behind a small box. As the evening went on, Jerry periodically located the snake which always moved away from the light of the torch, thus he slowly wrangled the snake along the open shelves around the perimeter of the room and toward the kitchen door. Finally reaching the frame of the open door, the snake hesitated. Jerry gave an encouraging vigorous shove with a soft pushbroom. The snake climbed on board the broom bristles. Luckily, it didn't race up the broom handle, but waited until offered escape into a nearby shrub.

We had another unexpected encounter as well. Having finished our shopping day in town, we headed home, then stopped along the way at a little roadside park with a stream running through it. Two ducks were swimming on the small pond. We parked under a gorgeous paperbark gumtree and unpacked a thermos of coffee to fortify us for the drive ahead. Sipping from our cups, we scanned the park and noted a number of other people had similar ideas to us. Suddenly, Jerry exclaimed, “That's an echidna!”

Can you see the claw on the back foot?

In the 25 years I've been living here, I had never encountered an echidna in the wild... or in a little roadside park with people strolling here and there. This solitary echidna busily dug in the ground, maybe 50 feet away from us, totally unconcerned about the presence of people. Jerry grabbed the camera and began taking photos. He got quite close to the echidna... who continued digging for ants, termites or something edible. Sometimes you get lucky.

Did you know that an echidna baby is called a puggle? Have a look at an echidna puggle at Taronga Zoo.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM

Alert Awareness

This philodendron blossom stays open for one day. I have to keep alert or I miss it. Whenever I take things for granted, awareness goes downhill.

It got hot yesterday, 34.8 C (94.6 F), building up to a brief shower after dark which cooled everything back down to an enjoyable temperature. By bedtime I was wearing a flannel shirt over my tank top when we walked to the bedroom. It felt even cooler when I got up at 5 a.m. The sky was just getting light. As I walked past the shower on my way to the kitchen, I grabbed warmer clothes that I had left hanging on pegs. I began musing about the fact that I no longer worry about creepy-crawlies getting into clothes left hanging in the shower room. It's just never happened.

During our first years in Far North Queensland, we slept in a beautiful Moss tent, safe from insects and other creepy-crawlies. Tents work a treat that way... as long as you remember to zip the zipper all the way to the end. But, eventually tents develop holes.

When we finally got our own property, it had a bedroom. We began sleeping under a mossie net there. Over the years we coped with occasional creepy-crawlies in the bedroom: centipedes, snakes and huntsman spiders. Each time we successfully wrangled them back outside... sometimes with a hint of panic flavouring the air. Using a soft push-broom, Jerry has become a Master Wrangler when it comes to evicting huntsmen spiders. Neither of us has the courage to let one climb onto a bare arm for transport outside, as one of our previous housemates could do.

Clutching my warm clothes to my chest this morning, I reached the kitchen where the stone walls still retained some of yesterday's heat. I threw my warm clothes onto a chair and stripped off my tank top. In no time I had slipped on the warm t-shirt. Chuckling at myself and feeling slightly ridiculous, I started at the bottom of my shirt and lightly patted up my torso to prove nothing was lurking inside my shirt. But... something WAS there. Something with stiff bits... near my shoulder... not far from my neck....

Time truly stretches in such moments. I had time to think: no, no, no, get the shirt off, get the shirt off, it's surely only a cockroach, ewww, nononono. I whipped the shirt off in a flash and flung it, now inside-out, onto the floor. Nothing moved. I turned on a brighter light. Nothing to be seen. I gingerly straightened the shirt. Nothing. I lifted the shoulder and a huntsman ran out. I squeeked.  He disappeared under a nearby workbench. Huntsmen get as big as my hand. He wasn't that big. He was only as big as my palm.

I'm using a new way of storing my clothes in the shower room.

After calming down, I reflected on how non-aggressive the huntsman had been. Most are timid biters. The bites aren't considered dangerous. They are scary because they are big. They are most dangerous to drivers who panic when the huge huntsman crawls into sight inside a moving vehicle. I'm sure the huntsman felt as threatened as I did. Today's experience made real for me the knowledge of huntman strategies for survival:

1. Freeze

2. Flee.

3. Bite if all else fails.

Not a bad set of strategies for anyone facing Life's surprises and uncertainties.


Post by M in JaM
Photos by JaM

Cracklings

 Pattern weft: my 2 ply handspun cotton (spun from Easy To Spin Pima cotton top)
Warp: golden cottolin; crackle weave threading with summer winter treadling

My motto: I live life slowly.... (exceptional efforts exist on twin-sitting days). As the weather heats up, I slow down even further. But... I do find that small, steady efforts - even at a slow pace - yield results.

Band: blue pearl cotton pattern weft on golden cottolin warp;
crackle weave threading with summer winter treadling

I completed the finishing processes on my experimental woven samples: two narrow bands and two table runners. They are hemmed and washed. The table runners are not very long. Perhaps I should call them table loungers. The length looks good on my table.

Table runner: patterns wefts: blue pearl cotton and Heirloom 8 ply cotton in yellow;
golden cottolin warp; crackle weave threading with summer winter treadling

I feel very happy with the look and feel of the samples, especially the one I wove with my handspun cotton as weft. I feel encouraged to keep spinning cotton yarn and start planning next winter's weaving project: more cotton fabric, perhaps handspun weft with fine commercial cotton warp?

Table runner. Pattern weft: my handspun white Pima cotton 2 ply;
Warp: golden cottolin; crackle weave threading with summer winter treadling 

I haven't yet completed the finishing (sewing and washing) processes for the two main woven pieces from this project. I bought blanket binding for their edges, but forgot matching thread. I managed to find a small amount of almost matching thread in my thread box, located my magnifers and a torch, borrowed a screwdriver from my husband and set about figuring out how to adjust the bobbin tension on the sewing machine. Success! I sewed the binding on one end of the woven fabric and promptly ran out of thread. No more sewing until we make another trip to town. Once I have thread, I'll sew in the cool of the morning as it's getting too hot to sew in the shed under the tin roof.

Without air conditioning during tropical summers, we have a few cool hours in the morning to get energetic things done, as well as anything else that requires thinking. Then the increasing heat slows body and brain. We don't fight it. Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM   

Birds of a Feather

Currawong stays alert between drinks

Currawongs have been coming to our bird bath. They do savor a drink and a splash. I love hearing the calls of currawongs.

Rainbow lorikeets

Lorikeets chatter and screech, continuously, but their brilliant colours make one forget to notice noise levels. Two kinds of lorikeets have gathered at the birdbath today: rainbow lorikeets with blue heads and scaly-breasted lorikeets (slightly smaller) with green heads.

Rainbow Lorikeets and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets 

The birdbath has a circumference of ~114 cm (~45”) . The lorikeets squabble if more than six gather around the rim. I infer that lorikeets like to occupy a personal space of about 18 cm (~7”). If each bird is about 5 cm (2”) wide, that provides 10 cm (5”) or so between each bird. I assume that distance is a little further than necessary to nip a neighbour's leg. ETA: Lo and behold, I just saw 11 lorikeets crowded around the rim. There goes my avian personal space theory.

Great Bowerbird

The Great Bowerbird is another welcome visitor. One bowerbird regularly admires/attacks its reflection in the windows of the weaving room. We also encounter this bird in the shower room excitedly conversing with its reflection in the mirror whenever we forget to turn the mirror to face the wall after each use. I can't judge the bird as too foolish since both my husband and I have found ourselves talking back with vehemence at newsreaders on tv.

We're slowly getting over the habit of watching tv news, like we got over the habit of reading printed newspapers. When we lived in California some 25 years ago, my husband bought and read a newspaper every day. Nowadays we find most of our news online through forums of interest and blogs. On occasion when I can't resist seeking a traditional news fix, I look at The Guardian newspaper online. Most often I wind up feeling like I've slowed down to look at a wreck on the freeway.

Watching native birds visit the birdbath makes me feel content on these warm autumn days.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM