SUNSET WITH SONJA

SONJA is here overnight, we had dinner outside and sat down by the river until it was dark, perfect weather.  very warm in the afternoon and just gorgeous by sundown.  I'm going to do a 2 hour portrait of her this morning 

busybusybusy

SUDDENLY it's only 6 weeks till i go to china and i'm in the middle of getting shots, filling in 4page visa applications, just getting medical things checked before i leave. 

the grounds of Western Academy of Beijing, snow
in December.
it'll be fairly
cold when i'm there which will be nice,
it's awfully
humid there
in summer







The weather is being kind this week, cool mornings, warm to hot afternoons but staying in the low 30's.  DEEElightful

The kookaburra babies are just about living in my birdbaths, i hear them close to the house throughout the day with their funny baby kooka voices.  they don't actually laugh yet, just throaty gurgly sounds. 

MARA STYLE

this gorgeous flower is on one of a row of ugly old prickly cacti, about 6 ft high which line a fence i pass on my morning walks.
once of twice a year for a day these large blooms burst forth -
a most beautiful sight and a treat for the bees

very excited to be an expectant

grandmother again - 

darling sunny is due on 

june 30 and i'm remembering 

how good i felt when i was 

expecting her and the anticipation 

of the new little person that 

was soon to arrive

    smoky haze over the land between mildura and wentworth

morning walk - bad boys in the pines near the oval

 full moon last week, smoky skies

             i'm thinking of producing giclee prints of these
             chinese heads, i've always like them

 the baby kookas,

as big as their

parents but the

beaks are much

shorter and theyre

so naive and 

inexperience, it's 

good to see them 

safe in my garden

the wrens exploring the garden

 

A FEW DAYS REPRIEVE

AFTER THE STINKY HOT DAYS  some normally hot days :0)   but no horrible winds and dust, that'll be tomorrow.  today will be 40 but it's still so it's ok.
I'm very excited (and a bit nervous) to be going to this fabulous academy in Beijing for a month, working with students on the process of creating a picture book.  Director John Byrne posted these beautiful snowy pics a couple of days ago.  i wonder if there'll be snow in march - hope so.

                    love this pic of Cal and Mara

I have a 
family of kookaburras 







the kingfishers have moved over the fence into crown land, i guess they've finished with their nesting hollow.
Now i get to watch the kooka parents with their kids, showing them laughing techniques, flying lessons and hunting skills.  the little one (a naive little cutie) sits in the birdbath with his tail submerged for long periods as he scans the earth for edible goodies.  i'm going to get a couple more birdbaths, they get used so much

 good morning murray/darling junction - the start of another hot day, but i think it'll be a nice day despite 40 deg.

AWFUL WEATHER

IT'S A HORRIBLE SUMMER - the fires in east gippsland, in fact all the way up the east coast of vic and nsw, are raging and people are being evacuated by the defence forces.  worse than anything i've ever seen and still going strong. the weather has been so hot and today is strange, only 19 expected but everything is so brown and dry and it's still windy.  i'm really tired this morning after an early night and lots of sleep.
the birds here raise my spirits and keeping things watered and birdbaths full is a mission - i had a large kangaroo in the yard (last week the mother and joey were back) so i have a wading pool under the trees with water in it. hope they use it, poor things. food must be scarce.

these beautiful young kookas like to sit for ages with their tails in the bird bath.  they're so sweet and fresh, i watched them for at least half an hour.  it's lovely having the birdbaths right outside the window.

A MID WEEK JOY  -  pics of Mara at her traditional ceremony, i was at Cal's two visits ago. it happens at a certain age, a day for girls and a separate one for boys

this is rene's friend
whose name i don't
know - he's a
professional
photographer and
always records
these events with
fabulous personal
pics

                       
                        Nature is strange, whilst devastating
                        the landscape so far away we're
                        having these amazing sunsets.  the
                        sun was actually red but the camera
                        simply can't pick it up

A trip to town past Lake Hawthorne, masses of red-necked avocet and black-winged stilts late in the day in beautiful light (also ironically provided by the fires, dust and heat)    I think some etchings could come from these

NEW YEAR

ANOTHER YEAR ON THE RIVER coming up.  Christmas in geelong was great and after a brief stay in Melbourne and dinner with friends at the Builders Arms i drove up to don's for a visit.  I left early next day because the temperature was expected to be 44.  and it was.

the trip home from the grampians was good, i'm glad i left at 6.15am. the sky was beautiful for a couple of hours, sun behind clouds so not too hot.  i was home by 11.30 and had skulled (sculled?) a whole large bottle of V8 on the way, a meal!

the house was so hot after days with no cooling and i had to sleep on the couch under the fan because it was the only cool room in the house.  even my large cooler couldn't get the temp below 29.   so yesterday i was just a vegetable all day and didn't even acknowledge new year's eve. 

now it's a new year and i'm on the wagon this month.  time to get back in 

condition for my trip to china in march.  and work in general.  here are a few pics from the trip and a lovely young kooka that sat with his tail in the birdbath for hours on that hot afternoon.

beautiful sunrise at Lake Lonsdale as i drove out of don's gate

from the sublime to the ridiculous, in the afternoon at home, searing 

temperatures and dust storms AGAIN!!

this sweet baby kooka keeping cool - look at 

that trusting little face