Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Bright Star

I thought now would be a good time to repeat this post about my little dog, Ama, for she is now 12 and has been quite unwell again.  She recently spent a week in the vet hospital with severe pancreatitis and left with a diagnosis of insulinoma, an aggressive cancer.  She’s been home for two weeks now and is still quite bright.  Not at all like a dog on her last legs.  “Perhaps the diagnosis is wrong?” I entreated the vet on our last visit.  He didn’t think so based on a relevant blood test.  I still hold out hope.  That’s quite strange for me because I am usually such a catastrophiser.  In the meantime, we continue to enjoy her company and deprive her of cheese.  Life is so unfair.

*****

This post is dedicated to my little dog, Ama, who is not well.  So far we know that she has copper storage disease but not how bad it is or whether we can mitigate it.  I’ve not had much time for blogging lately as we’ve had a lot of medical appointments and I’ve been researching treatments, including low copper diets.  It helps to be informed when talking to veterinary specialists.  It also gives me something to do while I worry.

Ama

Ama’s birthday is this Saturday.  She’ll be six.  When I was looking for a pet name for her, I read that Ama meant born on a Saturday (in Ghanaian).  As she was born on a Saturday, and the name had a nice ring to it, we just went with that (plus we like to say Um-ah when she is naughty).  She also has a pedigree name – Eurabbie Taehti.  Taehti means Polar Star in Finnish.  Everything does seem to revolve around the little minx so it is fitting, but more importantly, she lights the way.

Here’s hoping that her star continues to shine.

Regards
Tracy

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Canberra Whatnot

Yuma, everyone. After months of no rain, the temperature and humidity is rising here in Canberra, Australia’s national capital. In West Belconnen, the rain often splits around us, a promise broken. For example, Canberra airport had over 30mm of rain today, while we had only 0.3mm. So when it rained in our patch recently, I draped my camera in bubble wrap and took to the street. I thought I would share a few photos of one of our Landcare sites.

The rain is magical, turning ugly duckling trees to swans.

The drain rapidly turns green.

We cut off the seedheads of the African Love Grass by hand. No electric tools allowed. And sneak in some carex and poa to hopefully out compete the ALG one day.

The casuarinas like wet feet.

Not sure about this magpie chick.

The new plantings are enjoying the rain. Newly arrived rabbits are enjoying the plants. We need a chicken wire fence around the bare patches to allow the winter-dormant redleg grass to re-emerge. But the wheels of bureaucratic approvals move slowly, if at all.

As for me, I’m feeling a bit flat. 600 trees nearby will be cut down for an “upgraded” road to a new sustainable housing development. I think people are oblivious to the irony. Or just oblivious. Or they don’t care or feel they can’t do anything about it. It certainly makes me kind of depressed. Same old, same old, eh?

Hug a tree, readers. Save a tree. You’ll feel much better.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

RDP – Perspire

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Spring Clean

Good morning.

A couple of photos so that long time readers will know that I am still alive. I want to say something, anything, but more and more, I am silent, assuaging my conscience by tending my garden.

Alpine Daisy Bush (Olearia phlogopappa mauve form)

The daisy bush is a mass of flowers this year but there are few insects about. We expect to see more now that we have had a few drops of rain.

Bulbine Lily

Gardening in the backyard has been on hold for the last two years. During this time, the bulbine lilies and the weeds have been multiplying gaily.

Back garden gets a reno.

I thought we might try to grow some of the native plants we have been trying to establish in the front yard in the back garden too. The soil is much better because it is has been left to go to weeds. The thick green patch at the bottom of the photo is an exotic cud weed. The work is strenuous and maybe a little mind-numbing, er, I mean, relaxing.

I’ve also started a campaign on face plough to save some big remnant eucalypts in my local area that are going to be cut down to make way for progress, er, I mean, for a road. I have all of 7 followers. A pointless exercise. Globally we are on track for a catastrophic 2.5c degrees warming and species extinction, but at least we will have good roads (until some disaster destroys them). Aren’t I a little ray of sunshine?

Below – one of the trees that may be cut down. I posted it first here in 2021. I knew blogging would come in handy one day.

Almost a quarter of a century ago, I asked someone why our emissions reduction target was so low. Emissions were increasing. That was the point. I had better stop there or I will start to sound self-righteous and, as you know, words are cheap but also powerful, which perfectly sums up many of life’s conundrums.

Well, better get back to my plants. As they say in the classics, “Have a good day.”

Cheerio and kind regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Caption This Photo

If you are staying home due to the long weekend traffic jams or for any number of other reasons, perhaps you would like to play a game with me? It’s called Caption This Photo. However, if you are on a long trip and actually stuck in a traffic jam, you could modify this game to suit your circumstances using the scenery on hand.


I’ll go first.

“Will those dogs ever shut up? I can’t hear myself think.”

Your turn now. Entries in the Comments Section below. No prizes, no glory.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

The Little Things

As a new landcarer, every day is a learning experience for me. Today a group of us got stuck into some weeding down at our local park. It was a chilly morning but we were soon stripping off our layers when the autumn sun broke through the trees. There was so much to see and hear. It was wondrous and fun.

I’ve recently spoken to several park users who have noticed an increase in the number of butterflies and birds since our woodland began its transformation from mowed urban open space to wildlife sanctuary. Today’s high point was when my True Love encountered two native bees that we hadn’t seen before in the park – the blue-banded bee (Amegilla sp.) and the chequered cuckoo bee (Thyreus caeruleopunctatus). Of course, we have blue-banded bees in our own home garden because they love salvia, but I’ve never seen one at the park where thankfully there is no weedy escapee salvia in sight! Awesome. Then to top off the day, the discovery of not one, but two, chequered cuckoo bees was a delightful surprise because neither my TL or I had seen that species before. And they were all together. How cosy! Let’s have a look at them.

The BBBs are solitary bees. The female makes a burrow in soft soil (eg. earth bank) or sometimes soft mortar to lay her eggs (or maybe it is just one egg. I’m not sure). The cuckoo bee parasitises the nest of the BBB. Apparently, it is unusual for the BBBs to roost with cuckoo bees. Anyway, here they are just chilling out together on a a blade of grass as the day warms. I have it on reliable authority (thanks Canberra Nature Mapper experts) that the BBB in this photo is a male.

Bee your kindest self. I must remember that now that I’ve chopped off the less flattering part of this park care story.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Having A Field Day

During the week about a dozen yellow-tailed black cockatoos visited our park. They were having a field day, chewing on branches and pulling out borers. My True Love snapped these photos. One of the young ones got caught up in a branch that it was chewing and it tumbled to the ground when the branch finally gave way. The youngster was unfazed by this. Check ’em out.

Take care, everyone, and carry on.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Late Bloomer

Ladies and gentlemen, I have been waiting with bated breath for the murnong (Microseris lanceolata) on my verge to bloom. I have been waiting much longer for a closed loop insulin delivery system that adjusts my insulin dose based on real time changes in my blood glucose level. Both have finally arrived.


I have only been using the new tech for one week but already I feel that I am living life less on the edge. The tech suffers from a few technical glitches, but I can envisage a day in the near future when I can free my mind from the hundreds of decisions that normally go into the day to day management of my Type 1 diabetes. It may even change my temperament – perhaps I’ll be less cranky. Life too may offer a few more possibilities, just like this murnong seedhead.


Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

For information on the revival of the Murnong see
https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2021/07/01/native-superfood-8-times-nutritious-potato-and-tastes-sweet-coconut

RDP Rest

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

Macro Monday

A photo and a poem about grass. Somehow it got a bit dark but it’s no metaphor.

En Garde
If I drive my finger onto your thorns,
would I fall asleep,
supine forevermore?
Or would I draw bonded blood in awe?
Nurse my pain in living thrall, paying my
dues to your magnificence.

Possibly the spectacular Lomandra longifolia, but I’m only guessing.

Kind Regards
Tracy.

Posted on by Reflections of an Untidy Mind

You’re Gruesome

Kind of busy, kind of wet here, ladies and gentlemen. A couple of weeks ago I visited one of Canberra’s wetlands, which is pretty much everywhere here these days. I’d been told that there were plenty of brown snakes in that area and to watch my step, a bit hard to do when there are so many other things to look at. Anyway, I went into one of the bird hides and all of sudden there was this almighty racket outside. I raced outside expecting to see a snake snacking on a nest of baby birds.

But I neither saw or heard anything unusual. How strange. So I went back into the bird hide and all hell broke loose. There were swallows squawking and flying up to my face. It was then that I realised that I was the snake.

They gave me the evil eye.


And plotted their next move under cover of darkness.


Great gobs agape.


Until I slithered silently away.

Gruesome. Not a creature stirred on this wet and windy Halloween night.

This is also my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Flights of Fantasy.

Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.