WELL HELLO AGAIN GANG-GANGS! After not seeing Gang-gang cockatoos in my Blue Mountains garden for several years I was delighted when a lively group arrived. There were lured by the ripening seeds on my various wattle trees (acacias). They have been returning almost every day. So far
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I have obtained permission from my two ‘boss’ brown thornbills to write a little story about them and their relatives. We have a resident group in our Blue Mountains garden. They are really small; about 10cm long. They weigh in at around 7 grammes apiece. My darling
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My beloved Blue Mountains village of Blackheath has long been the butt of jokes regarding its chilly location. Bleakheath, Lackheat…..yes yes, we deal with these corruptions of our name with good natured humour. But remember…we are closer to heaven than our neighbours down the hill!
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The Growers’ Markets in Backheath are always wonderful, but there was something a bit special about the twilight Christmas market last night. My partner and I arrived early when the stallholders were still setting up around 4.00pm. You simply cannot celebrate the festive season without cherries. We
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I have a very strange orchid in my Blackeath garden. Its botanical name is Gastrodia procera. This leafless, Australian native has been dubbed the Potato Orchid, as the tubers the plants grow from were roasted and eaten by Aborigines (particularly the Wurundjeri people of central Victoria). They are
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HOW TO GIVE A HELPING HAND TO FIRE IMPACTED BLACKHEATH Despite living in Blackheath for nearly twenty years, I’m embarrassed to admit that I still make new discoveries. Hard to believe I know….it’s not exactly a huge metropolis. In this instance it was the small business centre
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Hello, Well my guardian Pauline Conolly and I have been documenting the life of a satin bowerbird. It lives in Memorial Park, Blackheath, here in the Blue Mountains. I’ve become quite friendly with him. Sometimes I take him a blue treasure, because he collects them to impress
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Sometimes you see another person’s garden and think, ‘Oh my word, I think I’ll rip all my stuff out and create something like this …well try to anyway.’ This is how I feel about Helen Chadwick’s garden, just up the road from me. It is a little piece
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Whimsy warning…..read no further if you are a sensible soul. ‘Could we please go somewhere without Des, Pauline?’ This pathetic plea came from Milly, who lives in the shade of her famous boyfriend, Editor Des. ‘Well of course we can Darling’, I said. I decided she might
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Hello, Editor Des here, Well I was walking up to the Blackheath Rhododendron Festival last year when I spotted one of my neighbours selling home made lemonade. It was opposite the swimming pool in Soldiers’ Memorial Park. Actually Fergus was minding the shop while the prop, propri…the owner
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