My Bright Field

It these times when travel is difficult the governments are encouraging us to be tourists at home.  We are having a staycation in Sydney.   Let me be very quick to admit that little would persuade me to camp out in a city hotel, no matter how posh.  The reason is my husband is having an eye operation and it is just easier to stay near the hospital.   To get some nature in this post here are some lovely pinky purply things currently in Burnbrae garden.  

It's perhaps an odd habit but I like to count things. I don't know if my sister usually counts but I do know she has been counting lately too.   So what have we been counting? I have been out in the garden at Burnbrae which is as its spring best at this time of year. Remember the big pile of mulch  from the felled weed tree. Well I have been counting how many shovels of mulch it takes to fill the wheelbarrow (30) and how many wheelbarrow loads it takes to mulch the garden bed (lost count). I am very pleased with the tidy result. Later in the week at Rose Orchard Haus garden I was thrilled to count a dozen tulips all in flower at the same time like a mini floriade.  They have never done that for me before. As for my sister, she has been in Queensland counting down 14 days of self-paid hotel quarantine to get home after spending most of the year in Victoria. She was released today - hooray.

I am so glad it's spring, as I can be delighted even within the chaos caused by the virus.  Here is a selection of the Australian native flowers I found out at our bush block today. I have been pondering, what does it mean to be Australian right now?  We seem to be splintering back into colonies.  The closed borders and lockdowns are making some people feel safe but at a significant cost to others.   Surely this far into the pandemic there has been time to understand the real risks, to develop more nuanced and kinder approaches as this is something we are in for the long hall.   Today in the cathedral church service we prayed. "Our Heavenly Father we thank you for governments in Australia .... please give great wisdom to Commonwealth and State governments during the COVID-19 pandemic, may they make wise decisions that restrict the spread of the virus while allowing people personal freedoms and opportunities to work."

Spring has arrived and there is a lot blue-purple stuff going on in the garden at Rose Orchard Haus. I am feeling sad for the people of Melbourne, their roadmap to COVID-normal announced today is nothing short of depressing.  They are in my prayers, especially family members living through this.