Regent Park Tasmania - lifestyle of artist in country Tasmania

 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...

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.

 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, blackfis...

  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

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...

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 o...

  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 ...