Abundance into a New Year

 I do think that Spring 2023 suggested an abundance everywhere. The wattles lined the creek back to font and were in full flower .... quite lovely. The seeds of these wattles have covered the blocks and the waratah and bottlebrush were heavy with flora. The turbo chooks have so far had 2 clutches of babies as have the swallows. I have counted 17 turbo chooks on the block with 6 being new seasons babies that survived - we lost 6 to hawks and kookaburras plus a couple of unknown. The wallabies are overrun with babies (joeys) as can be seen from my nightly torchlight check from the deck. So cute - quite the nursery.

I spotted a white goshawk, for the first time since moving here, feeding on a dead wallaby one day and we have a resident eel and platypus in the creek. Meanting #Snowcone is living the life having retired from the dairy many years ago.

FUN FACT : did you know more people are killed by cows than by snake bite and shark attack combined !

Our abundance continues for which i am grateful - we continue to plant and water in the veggie patch with a few epic fails. But potatoes this year are rife and we have enjoyed lettuce, cabbage and so many lemons. Pumpkins have taken off so that should be good when winter arrives and i think i have revived the apple tree. (we shall see).

I discovered a (giant) moth Pupae and some weird insect that was large and seems its a weevil ? A beautiful purple poppy that i planted from seeds collected when we moved 18 months ago from Ports (East Devonport). It popped up so much healthier and was a ball of fluffy purple ... beautiful.

A few images here of abundance and my wish is the same for you and yours in this coming New Year. 

the Glory of the Wattles this year and a surprise visitor to the creek

These are just magnificent this year. last year, there were no yellow flowers - i did notice a couple had small bits of yellow 'trying' to come on but it never happened. at the time i thought perhaps it was a variety that didnt flower ... but nope, happily i was wrong. We are surrounded by them ... thankfully i am more allergic to grasses than pollen

see more about the wattles here and join our youtube channel

Lovely to find these visitors yesterday - went down with a cup of coffee to see if i can see playtpus ... he hasn't been around for weeks ... i am thinking because the creek is running high and fast.

Spring is Here - i think its safe to say

 Although we are still having very cold (-1) overnighters and frost, the wattles are singing of Spring and are looking magnificent - there were no yellow flowers at all last year so I am not sure what the trigger is. and today I saw a welcome swallow, my first fire tail and a fly in the studio ! (Who knew a fly can bring so much pleasure?)

the new plantings are looking good - hopefully they take off this Spring/summer. They are Leucospermum, tea tree, leucodendron, a mini pine, and 3 tasmanian pepper berries (1 male 2 female)

this little banksia in the turning circle with the tea tree is looking fabulous.

have you seen the short videos on our youtube channel? lots to explore there.

this playlist shows a variety of learning to live in the country having moved here a year ago. We live on 25 acres of a mix of bush, forest, cleared land/paddocks with a creek that runs through the whole property. We share with the wildlife and some protected species (wallabies, platypus, blackfish, turbo chooks, a resident tiger snake and a dairy cow in retirement).

Do let me know what you think; comment, like, subscribe .... email me - blackfishartstasmania@gmail.com

a baby has arrived in the creek

 

so sweet ... today the 'platypus' was not shy and hung around for hours.... then i realised its a baby ... i hadn't seen the platypus (the adult) for nearly three weeks ... maybe this is why ? So much great footage here as this one was quite open to its environment. so good.

and there is a bit of a cleanup required along the creek edge after a night of high winds and trees that have fallen across the creek. see video here

MUSING : how a place contributes to lifestyle

Examples of 'lifestyle' include habits in sleeping patterns, physical activity, hydration habits, sleeping patterns.

Wikipedia defines a lifestyle "as the way a person lives. This includes patterns related to personal relationships, consumption, entertainment and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual's attitudes, values or worldview."

We 'know' this means tempering things 'bad' and maintaining things 'good'. Bad and good being highly subjective and individual to circumstance, beliefs and choices made. I also want to include a level of privilege.

There are many lists on the internet defining 'lifestyle' to include an active lifestyle, a rural lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle, an urban lifestyle, a solo lifestyle etc.

Its been a long road to this place in the country, in Tasmania - and what a place it is ... we feel most grateful and look forward to discovering all it has to offer. We have been here for 12 months now having spent time here in all seasons, plus the experience of the creek flooding 3 months into our residency.

YES this is my studio ... imagine when we first came across the bridge and saw this magnificent building. We both KNEW it was going to be an art studio - truly, for the months prior I kept saying to V 'I need, I want a warehouse' ! Many around us thought i could never fill it which always made us both smile. 

early days.

I had a long list (about 12 points) of things that 'had to go' or be refashioned, in my mind.

Once we moved in ... not a single thing needed taking out or refashioning - it all seemed to fit once we put our things in - everything we had in furniture and bits and pieces found its place as if it were made for it and everything on my list to get rid of, began to make sense. For example that shelf in the kitchen sticking out in the middle of nowhere holds my coffee machine with the coffee pods in a container just beneath the shelf. The other is the large netted structure out on the front paddock - it had to go ... well 12 months later it is filled with vegetables growing madly. cabbage, squash, tomatoes, lettuce, brussel sprouts ... we had corn that was my 'epic fail'. And so it was revealed with everything on my list.

Being our 1 year anniversary here, I am musing at how 'place' is lifestyle, at least for us at present, and how it has improved many of those things on our list that is considered 'lifestyle'.

And to walk across acres of a mix of native forest, pasture (green changing to beige during summer) with a creek (Claytons Rivulet) running through the whole is just magic. 12 months of the landscape captured, below.

update on dropping my phone in the creek #pixel2

I wrote a post about dropping my phone in the creek here

I go down to the creek daily many times a day to spend time with a platypus and the birds.

Anyway I dropped my phone in the creek a Pixel … its a Pixel 2XL (I know I know, its old) but I love the phone for its camera and reliability - I don't use it for email or fb or anything other than phone, camera, sound recorder, a chat program, the weather bureau, maps/gps to get me somewhere and very occasional checking of fb posts. I was looking to get another phone this past six months and have settled on the Pixel7pro but let me tell you the story ….

I dropped the pixel2 in the creek while standing on the bridge; it has a black rubber backing and fell face down and sank to the bottom - the creek is very clear but where it went in is dark so I couldn’t see it at all. I went down to the creek often at different times of day for a couple of days and saw it exactly where it had fallen - straight down - I could just see a hard edge of black. So my partner and I - like 2 older persons helped each other down a 3 metre high bank to a concrete plinth under the bridge - with a rake, a long pole and a long handled spade. One hanging onto the other spread eagled across the divide to poke the phone - the creek is running and as the pole pushed the phone it flipped over and moved a little further away … BUT IT LIT UP !!! Fully underwater.

We felt like the dear thing was calling out (so to speak) … so we were newly determined to get it out. Ok, so we did - 1.5 hours it took with both of us having one or other sore part of a body - knee, shoulder - you get the point.

When retrieved it was ON and had 15% left in battery … NOW HERE IS THE DEAL - it had been submerged for FORTY-FIVE hours (it went in 4pm on a Friday and we retrieved it 1pm on the Sunday.

Now not only that … I took its rubber back off and there was some water (not a lot) between the rubber and the back of the phone. I held it up and some (not a lot) of water came out of the charging port - I hung it up and left it for a night and a day … I then tried to charge it as it was now down to 5% … it would not charge ! It just didnt connect. So we left it to air dry inside some more for a day and night. The charge still would not grab - we vacuumed the charge port and used a hair dryer a distance from it.

The charge would still not work - and the phone now would not come on at all being in need of a charge. My partner said just leave it for a few more days and let’s see - but leave it with the charge in the port. Next morning I got up and it was at 100% !!!! The sound the charge makes does not happen when I put it in the phone … but it charged overnight. This is how it is at present, the charge doesnt chime that it is connected but when its wiggled a message shows its charging.

I am so pleased … so happy …and we are both amazed. Looks like it will still be a while before I get a Pixel Pro upgrade.

Musing at the spot I dropped my phone and talking about how we managed to retrieve it.

ANZAC DAY - reflections on my herstory

 

I have this photo and frame hanging in my bedroom -as is, sitting slightly crooked within the gilt brass frame it originally came in.

My Mum and Dad on their wedding day, 1955 at age 18 and 19. It was 18months later they escaped Hungary, their home and family having experienced terrible times during the '56 Revolution and the loss of their baby boy, our elder brother.

Having endured the Soviet invasion of Budapest (and all the horrors that brings) for months, they opted to escape, with other young people, in the middle of the night, moving between guard points to find the right moment to get on a raft to cross the Danube into Austria.

30 years ago, living in Western Australia, I spent every Thursday night for 2 years taping my mother's stories of this experience and learned about my grandparents on both sides and what happened to them, my mother's older sisters and brother during the invasion. I have typed out what we talked about and it sits in a large pile of single sheets in a box waiting.

Today, Anzac Day, as the radio fills with stories and remembrance, I came to this remembrance of my own. My parents, so young, left their homeland, under horror circumstances, to find a better future for my sister and I.

I am filled with gratitude as I sit here in country Tasmania as I look to going to visit my Mum in the near future.

I dropped my phone in the creek !

yesterday, last thing as I left the studio, as I usually do,  I went to the creek to see if I could see the platypus. I didnt see her/him although I did film the turbo chooks as they swam across the creek ! first time I have seen that and as I was watching to see what they may do, having reached the bank on the other side, I dropped my phone in the water. aaaargh ... (a momentary lapse in concentration).

I cannot even retrieve it because that part of the creek is about 4m down from the top of a steep bank. I went to look this morning but I cant see it in the water as there is very little light on the water at that particular point. And now, no video of the turbo chooks swimming!

It is midday right now and I must admit I am feeling a little 'all at sea' - I used my phone to stay in touch with V who is out and about with car rentals and he only does old fashioned kinda phone thing and no fb or messenger, etc.

I do have my iPad so took a few photos this morning using that (as far from the edge of the creek as I could be) !

Tis true I have been occasionally 'mentioning' in my videos that I am in need of an Iphone as my phone was a Pixel2. Considering we are now up to Pixel7 that tells you how old it was - however it had a great camera on it and worked fine !

So, for now, back into sorting through my reject pile to gesso before an afternoon of painting.

My Pixel2 worked fine after this for another 2 years - 2025 I now have a Pixel8!

ONE YEAR anniversary of our move to #countrytasmania

 

this one got away from me ... our 1 year anniversary - musing at the bridge ... in the moment

we did make the date  ... our anniversary dinner.

and this is what it makes us feel like !

images from our first year here #countryliving #tasmania

D.I.Y. CAT RUN to RIVAL THE HILTON

 

THEN ... (at 6 weeks old) Archie on the left, Kimba on the right in both photos. and NOW ... (at 2 years old)

Having moved out to the country 10 months ago, we determined the cats would not run free on the property for a lot of reasons with protecting the wildlife on the top of the list.

The wildlife here consists of a myriad of birds (redbreast robin, swallows, crows, fairy wrens, european goldfinch, parrots, eagles, kookaburras, spotted pardolot and more for us to still discover and name), small brown frog, blackfish, protected species turbo chooks, a platypus, a resident tiger snake, wallabies, blue tongue lizard and again, so much more to discover. my you-tube channel is a hold-all place for the many videos i am taking rather than posting 3 times a day here. 

you can see the platypus video here - wait for it at the 1.09, 221 and 3.03-3.15 minute mark. 

and the gorgeous little echidna is here.

So, the cat run - due to a variety of reasons it took 9 months before we got started and during that time we walked around the house discussing where and how large it may be and how the cats access it to and from the house. We were cognisant of the aesthetics of the structure and how it may affect the look of the house and the yard. Once time had opened itself up it got put up quite quickly - for us it was about 3 weeks but certainly could have gone up in a weekend - say 30 hours.

The cat run was videoed (a lot) mainly with the cats using it and their early forays into the outdoors plus the escape run Archie made. He is our resident Houdini and has always escaped his confinement areas. We finally had to resort to electricity .... poor thing got a zap on the nose and all is well now - he is not trying to get out any longer. I accidentally 'tested' the electric fencing as i backed into it whilst planting a plant - it zapped my bum and although it was unpleasant and i moved quickly ! it was not as bad as i imagined it could be. 

here you can find the Video playlist of the outdoor cat run being used.

THE Gallery of images below shows as follows :

image 1 - the run to go down the side of the house/garage across the gravel drive to the trees on the other side.

image 2 - shows where the run has to come out of the bedroom window to reach the section of the run down the side of the house/garage.

image 3 - trials in setting up the panels and how they may be attached to each other.

image 4, 5 & 6 - the putting together of panels with V making a big statement on how they may work.

Materials used were:

• 16 sheets of Rapid Mesh

• 6 sheets of silver wire mesh panel something like this with around 4cm square holes

• 6 x long planks

• a large diameter poly pipe and the hiring of a mini digger (similar to this one) to create the underground tunnel

• heavy duty rubber matting

• heaps of cable ties

• lots of cups of tea or coffee

Our you-tube channel has a Video playlist of the outdoor cat run being used. Lots of short movies by this amateur trying to capture #lifestyle in country #Tasmania whilst working fulltime as an #artist. Millie got the use of the outdoor pen for 2 weeks on her own as Archie kept escaping and on the fourth time we could see how he did it. the ratbag. we did solve it and they are all out in the outdoor cat pen these days.

A few milestone videos include :

1. earliest days - a walk through showing the run created out the window, down the side of the garage and the polypipe laid down under the gravel road going into the outdoor cat run.

2. Millie coming out the bedroom window into the run for the first time.

3. V&I in conversation in the evening discussing the outdoor cat run and its building still in progress.

4. A wallaby feeding on cabbage leaves in front of Millie in her outdoor pen.

5. the final cat run good to go March 2023

6. V explaining the top section as a barrier to keep the cats in (did not work for Archie)

7. 2 gingers coming out take2

8. the day we saw Archie get out for the fourth time.

As i say, the whole thing can be put together in a weekend and without too much trouble (apart from digging up the drive and getting a huge poly pipe in place) ... overall the building of it came together very nicely and quite quickly without too much hassle. The fiddly bits were the actual run out of the window to create it out of the silver mesh, cut to size and holes drilled in the planks to fit the mesh. Most of the whole structure and run through to the polypipe is held together with cable ties.

And now we head into winter so we begin the whole thing of getting the cats out into the pen in Spring. Each beautiful day we get we send them out into the pen - getting them out the window all together and into the pen is a whole other story! frustrating fun.

SILENT MUSING BY THE CREEK

 studio break - a coffee and i am east side of the creek again, on the bridge ... enjoying lovely abstract imagery across my camera as i film, silently with just the sounds around me at the time.

MUSING BY THE CREEK - Baby Platypus comes out

 i take regular daily walks to the creek as its so close to the studio and its just a marvellous time out. In this video i begin by talking about the tiger snake we saw in the cat pen today and it was the day i realised we did actually have a platypus living in the creek - east side of the bridge. i had seen it once before for a split second, surfing under the bridge on a high tide. (truly). it was so many weeks later i saw him (or her) again ... and had my camera going.

wait for it ... a glimpse at mine 1.09, then again at 2.21 and then from 3.03 to 3.15 minutes on this recording. makes me smile and i go regularly to the bridge on the lookout. 

another one here. 

more about the platypus on our youtube channel - search platypus.

Relatives of the Koi - living in their outdoor tank

 Three goldfish have been living in this outdoor tank for around 15 years.

A lovely big concrete thing which was made for plants so i had to plug the hole on the bottom and for fish you need to coat the inside of the concrete which is porous. The coating is a waterproof membrane made specifically for this situation.  

They have provided years of enjoyment and some lovely photographs - like this triptych that was featured on the front page at one stage

The water gets mucky over time and i need to clean it out every 6-8 weeks in summer and around 10 weeks in winter. 

This image above is halfway through a cleanup - it takes hours - catch fish and remove, place in a bucket of water - half out of the dirty tank and half tap water.

1. catch the fish and remove, placing them in a bucket of water - half water from the mucky bowl and half tap water

2. remove potted plants and toys

3. bucket out the dirty water until there is very little left in the bottom

4. using the hose with a dribble of clean water coming out start scrubbing with a pot scrubber

5. beginning at the top, round and round slowly working my way down

6. the hose dribbling clean water in is used to clean up the scrubbed area as i go along

7. bucket out the water time and time again in between the scrubbing

8. once its clean, begin to hose in clean water up to the halfway mark

9. fish, still in bucket are lowered along the side using a large hook so they can stay in the bucket whilst the water in both areas comes to the same temperature

10. replace potted plants and toys

11. let them out into the tank using a third of the mucky water in the bucket and leave them overnight

12. next day i top up the tank for some happy fish

the tank is due for a clean again (now) ... this video is musing about the barley straw i put in the tank which seems to be keeping the water clear even though there is grime built up on the sides of the tank and of the barley straw.

enjoying life in country #tasmania #lifestyle #artistlifestyle