Beautiful Iris

Much of my life I lived in complete ignorance of Garage Sales; that changed when I moved into my present home.  Significant Other is an avid Garage Sale viewer and slowly this harmless addiction has crept into my psyche.  One need not always purchase!  One should always look ... and common sense should always prevail.

 

Saturday mornings see us driving into town armed with The Rag, our local once-a-week newspaper, advertising when and where that day's garage sale can be found.

 

Many of the folk who regularly seek out garage sales are the same week to week; a kind of camaraderie exists, though there are a few who have their eye only on bargains.

 

Yesterday was a diamond day; well an Iris day.  The goods were spaciously laid out and there in the middle of a table sat a gorgeous Iris article.  From the distance I assumed [wrongly! one should never assume as a tutor once told me, to assume makes an ass out of u and me] this delectable looking article was pottery.  The price would probably be more than what I had in my purse.  But ... luck was on my side!  This tin, with a lid, was in perfect condition and became mine for the princely sum of 50c.  Now that is a great bargain.  You may wonder how I will use it ... I am not sure, but never worry; I will find a use, and a space for it.

 

Melons

When living in New Zealand melons were considered exotic [by our family at least ... they were expensive and therefore never appeared on our menu].  You can imagine my utter surprise when whilst exploring an old mining site at Lake Austin, [Western Goldfields, Western Australia] I noticed melons growing, their spreading tendrils offering ripe fruit for the wild life. 

As I exclaimed and oohed and aahed, taking photos to record this wondrous discovery, my companion proffered the news that these melons were nothing more than weeds.  Stunned as I was, that did persuade me to seek other opinions ... all answers were the same; these melons were Paddy melons and not even suitable for jam.

 

I will never forget my excitement at my first sighting though!

 

Back at the hotel, where I worked, we were short of fruit for 'the boys' lunches.  The Boss suggested melons.  Where did one purchase melons when one lived in a small Outback town with one general store?

 

The Boss replied, "From the garden!"

 

Did we have a garden?  Where was it?  I had lived there for several months and to the best of my knowledge there was no garden.  The Boss went outside and brought in a huge water-melon!!  I will not divulge its growing position, suffice to say it was well fertilised. 

There were several melons growing in the garden and were a welcome addition to the hotel's menu which suffered slightly by the unavailability of fresh fruit and vegetables as our supplies arrived once a week.

 

Later, as I moved south, melons once again sprung on my horizon.  Not luscious juicy water melons, but small prolific paddy melons!  Over the past several years I have pulled out, chopped off, removed all paddy melons I could find on this block.  My diligence has paid off as the melon population has dried up.

 

However the neighbour is not as diligent and his paddock houses a veritable crop of melons ... all very ripe and full of seeds just waiting to be dispersed to continue the cycle. 

 Because of the close proximity of the two properties it appears that some hand weeding may still be necessary when the rains come and the seeds are scattered hither by wild-life.

March, and its still hot

Summer is still with us!  I was speaking to a neighbour at the weekend and she mentioned that we had not had rain since mid October.  The four or five drops we have had recently were not counted; indeed I am not sure if there were four or five drops, as they evaporated the moment they hit the ground, which is tinder dry with a covering of what resembles straw.

 

The gum trees are bending under the lack of moisture with many branches dragging on the ground.  For one the ground was too far down.  A stressed branch bent and cracked; two days later it succumbed to the heat and collapsed on the ground, not far from where our vehicle is often parked.  The branch was towed to the woodpile in readiness for cooler weather and the saw.

 

 

While taking the photos I could not help but hear the galah population as they call to each other in the trees.  At this time of year a favourite occupation of galahs is to strip leaves from the white-barked gum trees.  This is not an act of vandalism as in spring new growth springs from the almost naked branch.  Indeed, I would go as far to say that the galah population acts to protect the trees and ensures they spring into new growth when rain and temperature combine to provide suitable conditions.

Close to my clothes line the tawny frog mouth's take refuge from the heat, perching in the lower branches of an old tree until the heat drives them to seek a cooler spot.  Can you see the tawny frog mouth keeping cool near the base of the tree?  His camouflage is excellent.

 

In the meantime life continues ... politicians make political statements; bad parenting is exhorted on talk-back, cricket takes on a life of its own, and ordinary folks like us aim to keep as cool as possible.

 

Those residing on other parts of this planet pray for less rain, less snow, less wind ... summer is on their minds.