SPRING, WHEN A BOWERBIRD’S FANCY TURNS TO …. Well, spring is well and truly here now. I have watched the blossom come out above Mr Bowerbird’s home in Memorial Park at Blackheath. I don’t know what sort it is; some sort of prunus. With a bit of
Read more →My garden in the chilly Blue Mountains has acid soil, which is why I grow azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas…..and daphnes. At last count I had nine…..sorry, ten. What could be better than a shrub that flowers in mid winter and has one of the most heavenly perfumes imaginable?
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FOR THE BEGINNNG OF THIS STORY CLICK HERE 31/8/2018 Mr S. Bowerbird’s magnificent home in Blackheath’s Memorial Park was almost wrecked yesterday. Two (illegally) unleashed dogs tore through the middle of it before I could warn their owners. How they missed crushing the bower itself is
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Let me introduce a famous Aussie dog by the name of Coil. Born in the late 19thC, he was a slate blue and tan Australian Kelpie with a ‘fox brush’ tail. He was a champion performer in sheep dog trials. Just look at that proud stance in
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FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER, CLICK HERE. August 26 2018 – A second chapter in the life of Mr S. Bowerbird of Memorial Park, Blackheath. It had been raining all day, converting many bottle caps in the bower to miniature swimming pools. Poor Mr B. was kept busy
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Do schools still hold those old-fashioned fund raising tuck shops with the lollies (sweets) homemade by parents? Perhaps they don’t, as in retrospect the goodies on offer were all pure sugar. TUCK SHOP HISTORY A young man called Edmund Verney had a tuckbox prepared by his mother
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I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity. Eleanor Roosevelt. What wise words; especially for future scientists….and writers! English crime novelist Ann Cleeves was asked what motivated her
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I once made a somewhat provocative statement on social media declaring Australia’s Foster Clarks custard powder to be superior to the UK Bird’s brand. It was absolutely true, but see that flag on the British product? I should have known I was stirring up a cauldron
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You can never have too many paths within a garden, either. I love to have them winding everywhere. If my husband says I should get rid of one for some pragmatic reason I say ….. definitely not! Edna Walling, the Australian garden designer, once said that if your paths are
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I have a great fascination for social history, and for our native, satin bowerbirds. Yes, there is a strong link between the two. When the adult blue/black male bowerbirds or the green juvenile ‘apprentices’ build their bowers they decorate them with anything blue they can find.
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