the nothing ,anything ,everything thread

[opmania]

This is a thread with no particular

Topic so no one can be off topic 🙂

So if anyone out there has something 

To say about anything you like now

Is your chance

Keep it clean 

And be nice 

See how long that lasts

Can we keep politics and religion out 

Of the conversation 

[ecar3483]

He made it through, and in the morning we shuffled around the garden like a pair of arthritic old men, muttering about the weather, the wind, the cold, and not getting enough sleep.

He said it it was better to be in some kind of sheltered spot than exposed in tree, as he hauled himself onto the lowest branch of a small tree in the middle of the garden and settled in for a sleep.This is a quiet spot, he said, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

Where I slept is good, or was, until just after dawn, when half a dozen varieties of bird life arrived to take noisy advantage of whatever breakfast they could find. It seems being relentlessly buffeted by strong winds for hours is good for the appetite, ha ha.

I lean over and look out the window.

The sky, is a perfect clear blue background through the branches of a tall gum tree, framed by a golden wattle just coming into bloom.

Above, and to the side, a light, white cloud softens the picture.

This is one of those beautiful things that I see today.

Somewhere in the garden an old man bird is sleeping.

Somewhere out there an old person sleeps, too.

I feel like I can do little enough for them

and they tell me I do more for them than they can describe

because I am there.

[ecar3483]

The blue wrens are taking advantage of the grape vine, and the fig tree, while they lie Winter dormant.

They dance in and out of the dry jumble of thin sticks, long branches, calling to each other, a sharp, high pitched twitter.

A week ago they were a pair of tiny, uniformly brown birds, but now he is starting to grow blue feathers in his tail.

The days are getting longer, the season is changing.

This is another beautiful thing that I have seen today.

🙂

[tasfleur]

So glad the beautiful cockatoo made it through the night ecar, especially when it's safe and secure to do so with you xxxx

Today is housecleaning day, a 'pre-Springer' you could say, and Wesley (the kitten/cat) is being tremendously 'helpful' ..... 

He is fearless, loves water, the vacuum cleaner, the steam cleaner, mops and generally anything that makes a noise or is wet .... 

Mr. Tas is vacuuming at the moment while I'm working in my study (so much for the whole week off) and then we'll wash the floors .. me up one end, he up the other and we'll meet in the middle for afternoon tea ... 

Tomorrow will be outside weeding, mowing and generally tidying up.

We've been seeing lots of noisy black cockatoos during the week, usually means they might be flying away from stormy weather coming this way.   How I love those birds, so intelligent and beautiful and they just chat away ... I didn't realise how big they were until a couple landed near the fence ...      Just love their personalities and the way they interact.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend ... 

[ecar3483]

I went out about 4, to check on him, and he wasn't where he had been.

He'd found a spot between two big stones, on the side of the garden bed where the young cockatoos are buried, and he'd fallen asleep there. Flowery prose aside, he was dead. I don't think he could have had better company, for his last hours.

Last night I was in the kitchen and I shouted a naughty word at the TV.

He came somewhere between scurrying and sliding down the ramp, out of his hidey hole, and looked at me through the kitchen window as if to say "Are you okay? I heard you raise your voice... Is everything alright??".

I told him it's okay, I shouted at the TV.

He sat and looked at me as if he was mentally processing that - You shout... at the TV... then he turned around and walked back up the ramp, quite probably shaking his head, ha ha.

He was a character.

I put him down where the other birds could see him, out in the open.

They made their alarm call, they wailed, they cried, they sang of his passing.

I gave them a few minutes then picked him up and they broke and flew from the trees, as one, then wheeled, and returned to sit, silent.

Two or three of them came down, close, and sat and watched me as I dug a grave for him, and sang him; commended him to his Ancestors. They waited until the final stones had been cast on the grave, then left.

Another little friend, another life that I have touched, another life that touched mine.

This is another beautiful thing that happened to me today.

🙂

[ecar3483]

Tas, I found what looked like a really great picture of a ginger kitten standing on it's hind legs, front legs raised, a "Graaah!!" pose, but once I enlarged it....

Curses and drat, I say, ha ha.

You'll just have to settle for a picture of a bird water dish, dangling by its' chain, sorry, that's the best I can do, funny picture-wise.

🙂

[ecar3483]

But what is it??

It's the end of a piece of grape vine stem.

Right at the top, that sort of feathery yellow bit is a new leaf.

The almost hemispherical dark bit at the bottom, with that little, round dot of sunlight glinting off it is a drop of water.

As the Spring approaches, the vine comes to life, and it weeps.

🙂

[tasfleur]

One of these days ecar, I shall have to write that book for you .... 

Although really, you should write it yourself, you are gifted xxx

[ecar3483]

[ecar3483]

As I went out flock one came in, a dozen, maybe, birds, followed moments later by flock two, perhaps twenty birds.

They settled in the trees and began a noisy chorus.

The drizzle started and I said to them that they were precious little petals if they were running from such big, bad weather.

I shouldn't have spoken so soon, as the drizzle, what would be the word be? Thickened? All too soon it wasn't light mist, but ice.

I went to see Buddha.

His new home is growing, slowly. I cheekily said that there seemed to be workmen wandering around the site, as though they were in a stupa.

He groaned at that.

Turn on the cold tap, then turn on the hot...

But nobody ever thought it through - what to do about that stream of icy water falling on my arm, hand as I reach for the hot tap, in an effort to make the flow a little more comfortable.

So I have had some creative time in the workshop, and the shower, and though it may be imperfect, I have fabricated a solution from two plastic spring loaded clips and a metal dustpan.

The device, for want of a better word, clips on where the shower head-pipe-thing (there's probably a technical term for that) leaves the wall, and the other clip (attached to the first clip), clips onto the handle of the dustpan.

The dustpan, being effectively a broad, shallow metal shovel, sits under the shower rose, at a slight angle.

Cold tap on... Cold water diverted by dustpan...

From there it's up to the conscience of the individual as to whether, and indeed when it should be moved.

I suppose I could have substituted a bucket, but what am I going to do with a bucket of tepid water?

Trot round the house draped in a towel, sprinkling the house plants? By the time I got back to the shower half the hot water would've run out. I'm not saying it's not a good idea, and the house plants would certainly appreciate it, but I think I like my idea better.

I had one of those ideas for a toy that I can only ever have just as I've got into bed, and it goes without saying that the sheer inconvenience far outweighs the desire to record even the sketchiest of detail for it.

"First draught" - it's basically a Bear and Blacksmith toy, but with dragons (I know someone who likes dragons and it's far easier to make dragon related things for them than to try and find something actually unique and beautiful in the wider marketplace).

Welsh flag dragons, as a basic template, though the actual toy would differ. It's the raised claw which is the detail I'd want to incorporate. The two figures move, raised claws, forward - backward. It's inspired by the way cockatoos fight.

And about now you're struggling to envisage what I'm talking about, ha ha.

Okay, picture time...

First off, the Welsh flag.

As a starting point goes, I couldn't ask for better.

Admittedly, what I end up drawing probably won't look anything like that, but at least I have somewhere to start.

A bear and blacksmith toy.

Okay, this is a two birds toy, one I made ages ago, it's an example toy - what it looks like and how it works - slide the sticks and the figures move... this way... that way...

It's a good example toy, without necessarily being a good example of a toy, ha ha.

And that may or may not clarify anything, but it has potential as an idea, as a toy, and I think I've probably got enough time between now and Christmas to get around to doing something with it, ha ha.

🙂

[imastawka]

I have one like this one Ecar.   It came from Poland

My daughter loved it when she was little