Wild Bird Wednesday

During the winter I always spread bird seed on our lawn for the wild birds. The seed eaters find pretty slim pickings during the cold wet weather and it has been cold an very wet here this winter. These pictures aren't very clear because they were taken though my (rather dirty) kitchen window and my camera is not the best for zooming in with, but it will give you an idea of some of our winter visitors.

The galahs are back and nesting in the old River Red Gum again. We're hoping to see more babies this year.

 

 

The Adelaide Rosellas vary in colour  from very red through to orange and yellow I love the variation of colour we get with our southern rosellas.

The magpies rule the lawn and allow other birds to feed  as long as they keep out of their way.

 

 We had a family of 5 baby blue wrens last year and we took great delight in watching them grow from little fledglings on long spindly legs to cheeky, confident young adults.  We still have the family living here and they visit every day. The girls are the brave ones and will come within a metre or two while we have our coffee on the veranda in the mornings. They move so quickly that I have trouble catching them in a decent shot.

I love these little fellows - red-browed finches or firetails.. We get them in quite large groups of up to 25 at a time.

 Liz Needle  -  Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Something different this week. Last week we decided to go for a drive up to the Murray River - the biggest in Australia, but not that big by American and European standards. However it is what we've got and vital to the eastern states of Australia.

The drive was very pleasant and we enjoyed a good lunch by the river , but the find of the day was the most amazing antique shop in a small river town called Morgan. It is owned by a retired French polishing teacher and she has been running this amazing shop for many years.  It is housed in a very old cottage - the 4 rooms on the bottom being full to overflowing and she lives above the shop.

The two larger rooms house the 'for sale' items - books, clothing, jewellery, clocks, paintings, bric-a brac, etc.  Every tiny space has been used.

But even more amazing are the back two rooms where the proprietress has her own personal and family collections on display.. One of the the rooms houses a tool collection which I know my husband would give his eye teeth fo asw ell as household items belonging to her family..

The other room blew me away. The owner's mother took up tapestry at the age of 77 when her husband died. When she died at just over 100 (I think) she had completed hundreds of tapestries, which were purchased from he by friends and family so that she could afford to buy more materials. I assumed that she spent the last 25 years or so of her life sitting in her arm chair doing tapestry - not so.  In fact the old lady, Kath App, played competition ten pin bowling until she was 97 and was heavily involved in community work  and other activities.  My photos do not do justice to her amazing achievements.  I could only fit the bottom half of the 13 foot walls into each shot.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Morgan in South Australia, this is one attraction you must not miss.

Liz Needle - linking with Our World Tuesday.

Weekend Reflections

I happened to be driving past this little dam the other day when I caught sight of this reflection. Luckily for one I had my camera with me, so risked life and limb and blackberry bushes to capture this shot.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Weekend Reflections

Sepia Saturday

The theme this week for Sepia Saturday is about boats, wharves, lighthouses, tall ships or whatever the picture leads you to. Unfortunately I was unable to find any ships or wharves in my collection, so I have chosen instead to write a little about my husband's great grandfather who was a master mariner and a captain in the Pilot Service..

Alexander Frederick Boord was the son of another Alexander Frederick Boord who came to South Australia in 1840 and established one of the first vineyards and orchards at Athelstone in the foothills of Adelaide. His farm, Freshford, also called Balcombe in some records has been placed on the heritage buildings list and although not open to the public, still stands today, though apparently not in good condition.



CAPTAIN ALEXANDER FREDERICK BOORD, was born in 1845 and was better known as Pilot Boord, for he was in the Pilot Service for over 30 years,  He went to sea at an early age, gained his second mate’s Ticket in 1867 and master’s in 1871. He was mate on the ship Bengal which took telegraph material and supplies to the Roper River, Northern Territory, for the Overland Telegraph party, 1872. He also served in the Day Dawn, John Williams, and the steamer Royal Shepherd, and for a time on the survey ship H.M.S. Geranium.

He joined the Pilot Service in 1873, when 28 years of age, and was known as "the pilot with many daughters". After his retirement from pilotage he spent a few years at the Signal Station, Semaphore, and died on July 17, 1926. During his sea experiences he was never shipwrecked, but his vessel was once struck by lightning, when he sustained slight burns, scars from which he carried to the end of his days.

Nine of the 12 Boord children

Captain Boord and his wife Fanny Eliza Ranford had 12 children - one wonders when he had time to beget this large family. I have a photo of the children when they were older and after their mother died in February 1894, but the photo does not blow up clearly. The youngest child was born in December 1893, so Fanny may have died because of childbirth complications - or exhaustion!

This family photo  was taken at the wedding of one of the Boord children. Quite a gathering.

Captain Boord is the bearded gentleman third from the left in the back row. My husband's grandmother is the lady with the large white hat standing behind the dowager in black in the centre of the photo.

 Below is a copy of the record of the ship of which Captain Boord was the master. It appears that his wife and baby daughter went on this trip with him.

 Liz Needle  -  linking with    Sepia Saturday

Weekend Flowers

I loved this beautiful Bauhinia - tree orchid which I snapped at the zoo in Bali.

The Balinese love flowers and use them as daily offerings to their household gods. They often buy them from the market or gather them from their gardens.

Baskets of flowers at the market

Flower offerings to the household god

We grow these in hothouses or as treasured indoor plants. In Bali they grow everywhere.

Liz Needle  -  linking with Weekend Flowers. Visit  to see more beautiful blooms.

Fridays Fences

Nothing much in the vault this week and the weather has been too off and on to go looking for subjects. A couple of months ago we did go for a drive to the Barossa Valley, the main wine growing area in South Australia - though I imagine people living in other areas would dispute the 'main' claim. There are some pretty impressive old winery buildings, but I  rather liked the gate that leads to the Mountadam Vineyards at Eden Valley - and I like the wines too!!

 

Liz Needle linking with Fridays Fences

Skywatch Friday

We have been having some lovely sunsets lately and so as not to be caught out I am taking my camera every time I get in the car. These memes are becoming somewhat of an obsession - but a fun one.

This particular sky was a very delicate one, but I thought it rather lovely and a change from the more dramatic ones I have been catching lately.

 And for a change. Just the previous day I took a shot from almost the same spot and got this. The flower grower in the neighbouring property uses a coal burning heater to heat his glasshouses and despite numerous warnings from the EPA (Environment Protection Authority) he continues, each winter, to pollute our little valley and our beautiful skies with these foul smelling fumes

 

Liz Needle  linking to Skywatch Friday.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Last week we went for a drive up the river (Murray) to Morgan and I was able to get these photos of one of my favourite large birds - the pelican. I love watching them. They are so ungainly on land, so serene on the  water and so graceful in the air. We spent a pleasant hour eating our lunch, watching life on the river and enjoying the passing parade of water birds.

As I was writing this blog, I remembered that years ago we visited Kangaroo Island and quite by chance came across an old man who had been feeding the pelicans daily for years, so I scrounged around in my old photo albums and found this one.

Reminds me of a childhood rhyme - was it ogden nash/

A wonderful bird is the pelican
Its beak can hold more than its bell can.

Liz Needle  - now visit Wild Bird Wednesday for some wonderful bird photos.

Sepia Saturday

My family are not really into bibles as such - well not interesting heirloom type ones. However I do have some quite ancient cards that belonged to my great aunts and as these are in written form and are hand me downs, I guess they qualify under fairly loose criteria.

These are a selection of the cards all found in the effects of my late great-aunts about whom I have written before. In addition there were a number of exquisitely written notes - all in German - I must get them translated one day.

This next one is a funeral card for my great great grandmother.

 This one is a poem written by a pupil  to and for my great-aunt  "Tante Ida" who was a greatly loved teacher. None of my pupils ever addressed me in such elegant terms.

 

Liz Needle