Purrly Loves rolling in the Vegetable Garden…really, really LOVES it…

There once was a Cat called Purrly

who was something of a Garden Loving Gurrly

She waits all winter long

For the Sun to shine strong

to  dry up the soil so she can turn Flip and Whurrly!

Purrly and the Plastic Sleeves…..

I have been sorting out my artwork and had dozens of A3 plastic sleeves in various piles around the room. I went out for a coffee and when I returned, noticed that some of the sleeves had tiny little razor marks on them and were not in the same place.

I placed the hidden camera in my hands and found the culprit.  Purrly  playing “Enemy”….

 

The Winter of content…

It was raining yesterday afternoon and after the months of drought and over 10 days where the temperature reached 100oF a few months ago, the winter rains and green-sheen everywhere are very welcome in this desert state.

I was sitting under the back verandah with the two semi-homeless garden cats, Gabrielle- [Gabi] and her daughter Shima. You can see how gorgeous they are:

The garden was humming with rain drops and birds and leaves blowing down from the Cedar Trees
late autumn fall:

…and I remembered back to when I first moved in here and all I could see was a barren, dry patch of soil…

…..and how this piece of Mother Earths blank canvas taught me more about process, time, holding a vision, weeding and seeding, than I could ever have imagined when I first moved here during a trials-and-tribulations winter of discontent….

In our ‘outcomes’ driven, western society I learnt that the answers we are seeking about sustainable change and growth are to be found in Mother Nature’s process of Time, cycles and seasons….

……and how wonderful it is to create a room with out walls and a fireplace whose only chimney is the sky….

Adelaide in South Australia is traditionally named ‘Tandanya’ , home of the Red Kangaroo.

Living and growing and learning and sharing on traditional Aboriginal Land, Kaurna Country has its own special strand of environmental magic and possibility….As my good buddy Nungala reminds me:

“It can happen so much better and so much faster if you acknowledge the Ancestors and remember the Dreaming”…..

An Engineers Guide to Cats…very informative and too true!

This one is for cat lovers only……and engineers of course!

Tandanya (Adelaide) is a beautiful City that sits on the traditional Aboriginal (Kaurna) Land…

Tandanya is the Kaurna Aboriginal name for the Adelaide city area and was for many, many thousands of years, a place for special ceremonies connected with Red Kangaroo Dreaming. Adelaide is built on Kaurna (pronounced Garn-na) land.
Source -Tandanya Web Page

The older I get the more I am able to appreciate the simple things in life…like living in a city that has a river flowing through its center…and many black swans, pelicans, ducks, galahs, cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets swimming, flying and nesting along the river banks…

i took some photos today as we walked a few kilometers from Bonython Park into Elder Park (cappaccino break)…and back again. (Just realised I can’t spell cappaccino properly!)

Beautiful day out in the city that recently endured over 2 weeks of 100oF + wether, months of no rain…but is now green and moist again, true to the elemental cycle of a City in the desert.

They say that eventually we begin to act like the people we spend most of the time with…

Is this true or does it just relate to the animal kingdom I wonder?

These two Pelicans give food for thought……we met them whilst enjoying a walk along the river that winds through this beautiful city we live in….

The other day my partner and I set out to go for a walk and I noticed we were……Dressed the same!!
Too weird…kahki trousers, light, long sleeved top, black sleeveless jacket over the top.

Quick wardrobe change!!!…….

Snooze Snooze

Yawn yawn

Stand stand

Purrl creates new feline fashion…

I came home today and Purrl~the~wonder~Girl cat was peering at me in what looked to be a body suit for burns victims.

Seems she had spent the morning enlarging a small hole in the shade cloth to Purrly size and spent the rest of the day asleep with her head through the hole…

Love the part where the hole is a bit too small for her head so she has a half Siamese look…..;-)

Magpies Singing in the Spring…

It is Spring and my front garden was blooming Magpies today…. a family of 10 or so are out there singing and scratching for Cootamundra Wattle Seeds.

This gorgeous little guy was one of the main singers in the group and he allowed me to get quite close to him…and that was when I noticed he did not have a tail!

Have a listen to his song…and how he lets us know that just cause a part is missing, doesn’t mean you can no longer sing or fly…

Fathers Day 2007

All Dad really wanted was to play….so he went to his wig and fluffy slippers collection and here’s how the Fathers Day lunch turned out.

Even Sam and Mulda, the much loved, Samoyed and Retriever cousin dogs wagged their little tails off wearing wigs and big feet.
They jostled for the wig and we had to restrain them with biscuits as they lunged into the wig collection with gusto.

I am ever gratetful that laughter and silly play was one of the core ingredients of our childhood and as Mum and Dad prepare to celebrate 50 years of marriage later this month, I am so appreciative that they are still here, still together and above all , have their health and sense of humour in abundance….

Ken and Maureen…my Ma and Pa…

Grandad and Ben and Louise- our much loved twins and only grandchildren…

Their Mum and Dad, my Sister Jacqui and her husband Wayne…I think….

Sams feet are bigger than his belly!

Mulda has hair like Grandad now….

Sam has a new wig to go with his big new feet…

Then he spotted an enemy in the camp:

And he decided to go in for the kill…unaware that it was his Mum under there…

We had to leave by 4 pm because as soon as the sun goes down Dad turns into a Were-Gorillawolf…

Does Sal think my Family is a bit strange…

‘Don’t tell me that we are higher than the Animals’….

I was born anthropomorphic…it wasn’t until I came across the word that I realised this is ‘what I had’ as a child that sometimes separated me from those around me.

I used to feel their emotions of fear and terror when a truck passed loaded with distressed sheep heading to the abbattoirs….and when the Mother cows mooed and moaned when the ‘poddy’ calves were taken away…I understood that they were expereincing grief and heartache equal to that which humans experience.

“Too sensitive” I was often told…what a blessing it has become over time…..

It was very difficult to be anthropomorphic in my younger years. I wrote the following poem several years ago when I was overwhelmed by the injustice inflicted on the animals who share the Earth with us.

‘DON’T TELL ME THAT WE ARE HIGHER THAN THE ANIMALS…’

When I see Mother Koala snoozing in the tree and clutch her baby as he stirs in his sleep…
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the animals!
And when the Big Red Kangaroo rises to his full height and
blinks with long lashed eyes that survey each member of his tribe
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the Animals!

When the Dingo puppies frolic and roll and tumble
Whilst their Mother eyes me suspiciously and
nudges them back to their home made cave…
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the Animals!

And don’t use terms like Pig in a way that intends to offend
Because I have witnessed their cleanly ways and
I have delighted in the way they roll and
grunt in ecstasy in the company of their own kin

And don’t say “you fat cow” in an insulting way when I have seen
a Mother Cow calling out to her calf whilst running behind the farmers ute
as he took her Baby away.
I saw the pain and the fear and the grief in the Mother and Babies eyes
Until she was left standing…staring
as the ute disappeared down a dusty track
Her baby calling out to her in terror
and She responded with a deep and mournful cry

When I see the Red-Bellied black snake glide protectively over her young
I know that her nurturing is as equally important as our own.
Because She is serpent do we assume that She is
cold blooded and without feeling?

When I see Bilyara the Wedge Tail Eagle stand flightless
with shattered wing
Is his pain any less than yours or mine?
And that he will never ever again be King of the Sky
Doesn’t that pierce his heart and make his Soul cry?

Don’t tell me that we fly higher than the Animals!

When the Pelicans waddle and their fluffy off-spring follow
Is their day any less important than yours or mine?
When Rocky the Poodle (in his hand knitted winter coat)
runs circles around his owner, yapping with delight
Is his Love inferior to yours or mine?
Indeed His Love propels him to perform a dance of delight
Never taking his eyes from the elderly woman he adores.

When Minerva my Cat sends me a soundless image
that tells me she is being held hostage by Libby the Dog
Isn’t Her imagery more powerful than mine?

When I see a flock of sparrows gather around one of their babies
who has been skittled by a car
Is their chittering and nudging and fluttering and flittering
any less significant than a death to you or I?

When I see a Chimpanzee interned in a cramped cage in Bangkok
being subjected to the inane mimicry of tourists who prod him and call him names
Am I imagining the dull sheen of tears that long ago sealed over his eyes?

Don’t tell me that we are higher evolved than the Primates!

When Alice Walker speaks of Christmas as a time of the ritual killing
of sappling trees and the bludgeoning of Turkeys,
slaughtering of Lambs and
butchering of Pigs…
A time of gluttony and gorging and greed…
Is she wrong?
Are we truly deserving of the Sacred task we have
to Honour Mother Earth and ALL Her Children
Those who fly, walk, swim, crawl and climb!

Don’t tell me… Don’t try to convince me
That we are higher than the Animals!