Nancy's century lived to the full.

Nancy was born in 1920. Can any of us imagine what she has seen in her long life? She was 100 years and a few months on this planet and had recently become bionic, after a fall. She had recovered so well, but an underlying aneurism took her back into hospital just a day or so ago. She had always wondered what would take her off. With George by her side she proceeded to face time us and say her goodbyes in lucid, loving words. She was ready to go, and she slipped away peacefully yesterday the 27th of April and we are all heartbroken. 

She was remarkable in every way and Queen Nancy, Ma, Granny leaves us with her rich legacy of life. She lived through war time rationing, Hitler and the creation of the NHS. She married her first love Andrew and they lived happily in their home, raising two wonderful sons. She gave up nursing once she had Nicholas.The loss of Andrew and Nicholas a few years later was very hard for her. But she surprised us by following us around the world, with renewed zest and took everything in her small and determined stride. Her height diminished over the years but never her spirit and her impeccable dress sense. She enquired about everything and everyone. Her prodigious memory meant that what had long gone from my brain, was firmly in hers and it came out years later, accurately every time. Questions about the kinship of African tribes, the number of tiles on Sydney Opera house and Evonne Goolagong Cawley's tennis career had us rushing to Google to find answers. She was able to embrace technology and loved her IPAD which was the way she kept in touch with all, but especially her adored five grandsons of whom she was so very proud. She followed their lives with enthusiasm and genuine curiosity which included her unique ability to ask about their girlfriends. She would engage them regularly with questions about their jobs, their prospects, the changes in the world and what they thought of them. She was delighted with the recent additions of great grandchildren to the family and enjoyed receiving news of them on her IPAD. 

Her ability to move with the times also astounded us, and we often discussed politics, gay marriage, racism, bitcoins and "cryptons" as she fondly called them. She attended lectures and played bridge and we discussed questions which arose from those Fellowship lectures every time we spoke, some of which we couldn't answer! 

She was to me the most supportive mother in law I could ever have wished for and on our wedding anniversaries she would thank me for marrying her son. They are both made of the same steely material, tenacious but loving, curious and clever. Our lives will forever be blessed by the immense love of family she showered on us and our extended families and she will live with us reminding us you are never too old to learn or take advantage of what life has to offer. Forever in our love. 

Anzac Day in Corona Times

We woke up at 5.30am and watched the commemoration at the War Memorial in Canberra. At 6 am we all walked out onto our drives and we heard our young neighbour, Cayden play "The Last Post" in front of the eternal flame that his dad had lit up. The children put up their handmade sign of "Lest we Forget" and their beautiful wreath of poppies. All the street stood in silence in remembrance of all the lives lost. Those who were able to wore their medals with pride and shared stories of how they or their grandparents had come to have them. Another neighbour, Kim had the generosity to organise a sausage sizzle for the whole street. Her husband Pat had set it all up in the street. We socially isolated but chatted away catching up on all the street's news. We met new neighbours and started planning for the next get together of the street. 

A moving tribute to the Anzacs in changing times. The Aussie spirit quickly adapting and changing but never flagging or failing. 

Letting out a secret -Round Two !

Some of you know about it but not all. Not that there are many of you. Yes the secret can finally be shared.

After we got back from London in January we found that our bees had flown the coup, buggered off from their beehive, formed a dark swarm and went in search of an (ouch ) better home.

The Master Beekeeper was devastated - hence this news was kept under wraps, as its painful truth was too much to bear at the time. The bees had gone off to find another home despite the love, care and attention of the Master - well albeit not over January of 2020. There followed a lot of soul searching, looking for reasons why bees would abscond, and nothing concrete came out of that. They just do. Perhaps they knew there was something deeply troubling about this decade and the way it is unfolding and wanted to hide away somewhere ...

Anyway its all good because today on St George's day we are introducing another swarm which is said to be lively and gentle and highly productive to our cleaned out Beehive. Master Beekeeper was so happy to don his outfit and use his puffer (not to slay the dragon) but to create a lovely new colony which has been repositioned in a sunnier place in the garden, with great, and I mean great expectations resting on them. I hope they know. 

Greek Easter - A special 20th DD walk- Corona 2020

Many lives around the world feel like this :

Cocooned, hopefully protected, covered by a firm film of opacity but with shards of light filtering through.The photo was captured on a walk with the ever exuberant Dougall just a day or so ago. The path is often the same, the scenery, and nature's trajectory constantly surprising.  

It's the Greek Easter Celebrations today with many Greek people around the globe celebrating the resurrection of Christ, if not in church, then around the dinner table. Church services have not been held this year but there have been no shortages of postings of candles and icons, not to mention the traditional baked goods of Easter breads, tsoureki, red eggs and the Cypriot Flaounes. With my family not here to share all of this, we shall have Easter goodies over Xmas as a double celebration assuming we can by then travel and be with one another. 

For the time being stay cocooned but take hope and courage in new life, new beginnings and a world pared back to common shared values and love for one another. This is the gorgeousness we encountered a little later on the walk. A tree buzzing with butterflies and bees. Perhaps my favourite photo of all, the butterfly sharing the nectar with a bee.

No more hoarding or stockpiling. Its one thing to think of saving up for a rainy day but it is another thing to go over the top and this spider illustrates this beautifully ! He wont be getting any refunds.

And as if to complete the special nature of the day a plane was up in the sky giving us some messages for those more religiously inclined - but which we, the less inclined, could also appreciate.

And finally the Easter Miracle in our Household, one we have waited for years...Charles is back in the kitchen baking bread in his Qantas best.

A different Easter Sunday

With virtual hook ups planned for later on Easter Sunday we fall back on the neighbourhood and all that it has to offer and we have some welcome and unexpected guests for the celebration day who have already taken up their places around the dining room table. A shy but brightly coloured one outside is resisting our calls to join us.

The children of the neighbourhood have gone on their easter egg hunts and all have turned up chocolate treasures. Hoping the same for you all.  Home and safe this Easter day 2020.

Discoveries with Dougall 19 Grey to pink

The sky is grey and ominous a bit like the world and my roots - but what we need to focus on is our smiles. Look at these grey buds because however dark the sky, however dark they are, when the bud opens you cannot but smile. Sharing for smiles.

Dougall has discovered trees and sniffed every one we went past. He rose up on his hind legs and looked to see what he could find. Luckily, nothing. The water dragons he loves chasing are faster then he is and they manage to escape. This is one of the trees he stopped at and as  I came close I noticed this delicate leaf of pale yellow swinging in the wind on a spider's thread. It swung like a pendulum but it was not marking time. 

These lovely pink lanterns appeared on the walk - literally in the space of a day. So we begin the four day weekend staying at home, enjoying each other's company and our environment, being mindful to be kind to one another and understanding of the additional pressures and anxiety in the world, especially for those who are alone. Reach out where you can virtually and whole heartedly. I leave you today with the  light filtering through this plant and the changing sky- it radiates warmth, strength and beauty. 

Garden Watch

In the Garden I watch the crows on the empty branches of the Bunya Pine in the distance, crowing out to us all, a bit like neighbourhood security guards dressed in black, until the Noisy miners come along. What pests they are, the teenage hoodlums, the gangs who chase the crows up the Bunya in what I can only describe as Bird Snakes and Ladders.

Closer to home I look up and notice the curled up bundle of a brush tailed possum on a branch of the mandarin tree. His drooping tail gave him away. He is exhausted from spending part of the night on the deck with C, devouring the stone of a peach I had left out for him. His little claws stripping the stone clean of all available flesh, leaving perceptible furrows of where he has worked at it like those drawn by a piston bully on a slope. Here he is tackling a pear core.

The rainbow lorikeets are in the lilly pilly and enjoying the fruit that is just emerging. However they sneakily get in on the sunflower seeds as our geriatric cockatoos are becoming a regular.  We think there are two of them, one a lot worse then the other. Gone is its sulphur crest, its feathers very sparse on its head and front. They do live to a very ripe old age and I guess this is one of them. We note that they seem to be stronger in recent days and the other birds are being kind to them and letting them feed. 

The kookaburras come in at 500pm. I could set my clock by them. One flies in and then the other. One is porky, if ever a bird can be described as such, and has pretty blue feathers, the other leaner, perhaps a young one. They love their mince mixed with insects and yolk, which I specially prepare for them following the advice of my bird guru Paul Perrett. The cockatoos will come in at varying times in the day and play with the silver ties to the tablecloth. They delight in taking them off one by one and then scrunching up my tablecloth. Usually I muscle in on them just before they complete their little act of rebellion. 

At various times of the day the sounds of my neighbour's children playing imaginative games, Dougall barking and the sounds of butcher birds on the wire, now a little wary of approaching as the Kookaburras are higher in the pecking order.

Such is the richness of life and sounds we need in our lives at the moment.

Poor leadership is not without consequences.

My mood has changed from positive and cheerful to one of shock and apprehension. Modi shut down India with no regard for his people. He then asked for forgiveness. How dare he perpetrate such an injustice without regard to their welfare and ability to cope. And then the utter humiliation of hosing them down with disinfectant. I am speechless and fearful for them but also feel the powerlessness of individuals who are faced with bad decisions and bad leaders. We seem to have a lot of that in the world right now, Trump, Bolsonaro and Modi. He has set off a mass migration away from the capital but the choices for these people are not washing hands or staying at home, it's not having a home, a living wage or food to feed their families with. So they head to where they have come from and in so doing, in so walking the hundreds of miles to get there, risk their lives, the lives of their families and the strong possibility that some may also take Covid - 19 with them. So in shutting India down he has unleashed a bigger threat of spreading the virus to the whole of the sub continent as crowds gather at bus stops, train stations and on the road. Heartbroken for all of India. 

Please read this excellent report by Shahid Tantray and Ahan Penkar  https://caravanmagazine.in/amp/labour/in-photos-migrant-workers-face-police-violence-and-hunger-escaping-delhi-during-lockdown?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR1U4excKjfMvGuNlshm0H6mnk-iKNixakBtCeN6US9TCYMmdNj1-K9-7ok