My Bright Field

Unlike at Burnbrae (our Blue Mountains garden) the rain is taking its time reaching further west. I have been watching this newly dug dam beside the road between our home at Kandos and our bush block at Clandulla.  Some light rain last week started its first puddle of water, I wonder how long it will be before it fills right up. Here is the current state of Whistlers Rest, our bush block - very dry and cleaned up of bark and undergrowth in preparation for the bushfires. We have been seeing rain storms skirt around us.   Yesterday at Mudgee we experienced a big downpour so were watching these grey clouds on our way home hoping they would deliver. The result was a very short sharp storm.  Maybe today will be our day. Windamere Dam is currently 26.9% full which isn't too bad and the good thing is many parts of Australia are now getting welcome rain - we are optimistic for good rainfall sometime soon.

Throughout this very hot dry summer our Kandos garden has been stressed but the mountain garden was doing OK (it still had greenish grass). But when we returned  a week or so ago I was shocked to find many of the plants suddenly in a bad state -- big trees and shrubs were going brown, had their leaves turned down or were dropping their leaves. With tight water restrictions only allowing watering with a watering can or bucket it was going to be impractical to get around our large garden. Then this week everything changed.  The heavens opened. And the puddles danced with joy - our prayers answered.  The rain is also helping to put out the fires. P.S. I am going to try and post to this blog and visit your blogs on Sundays.

Like most people living near native forests we have been kept on our toes this summer wondering if the horrible widespread fires will reach our homes.  Fortunately, the nearest I have actually been to the fires thus far is sitting in the Katoomba Library watching the billow of smoke rising from the Ruined Castle fire. For me there have been surprises. 1. How a tiny fire many miles away can creep (or speed) in closer and closer. Take this one for instance I would never have thought a fire as far away as Palmers Oakey would end up at Brogans Creek and within the 10km zone for Clandulla.   2. Becoming obsessed with the Fires Near Me app, checking regularly to see if any of our properties are at risk. Here is how things currently look in the mountains.  Again there are now fires within a 10 km radius of our home in Lawson but the weather is being nice this week giving the firefighters a chance to manage things. 3. Checking the Weather App to see what directio

New path I laid beside our desk at Rose Orchard Haus Happy New Year. I hope have had a lovely Christmas, are safe from the fires and the New Year finds you eager to enjoy all that is in store. Here the grass is as  dry as it was in winter/spring  so there has been no mowing and no fruit either (the fruit shrivelled and dropped). This has meant a very relaxed, hot, dry summer because even the weeds are not growing.  The bushfires have been keeping their distance thus far. The closest is to our bush block at Clandulla where we have put in a lot of effort cleaning up the dry grass, leaves and sticks in case things get close. During my blog break I have been thinking about what to do and have decided to take a new path this year.  Instead of this traditional blog I will be posting regularly to Instagram with perhaps an occasional post here.  Maybe I will see you over Instagram at  https://www.instagram.com/mybrightfield/