My Bright Field

@ Monkey Creek, Bell How nice a bird that doesn't move when I want to photograph it :-) We went for a drive from Lawson to Lithgow last weekend and came back via Bell where we spotted the Monkey Creek gallery and cafe which we have not visited before.  Both were good and with spectacular views in every direction.

@ Lawson Park, Mudgee With the current hot weather it seems better to indulge in leisure rather than work. It's certainly too hot for me to progress my garden plans apart from mowing in the morning and evening when it is cool enough to give it a go. The recent rain has the grass growing very rapidly so I have to keep on top if it. A book I have read recently The Pleasures of Leisure by Robert Dessaix.  I enjoy personal essays in particular those by Kate Llewellyn and Helen Garner.  I find Robert Dessaix a bit pretentious but I liked the idea of this topic so gave it a go.  It was a fairly enjoyable to read through his meandering thoughts on doing nothing (hard to do); doing something and nothing at the same time (e.g. reading); doing more something than nothing (e.g going for a walk); nesting (e.g. housework and gardening, clearly he is a man to consider this leisure); grooming (e.g. taking a bath); competitive play (e.g. team sports), non competitive play (...

@ Burnbrae. Blue Mountains No not sad, glad.  This is the view from my bedroom window at Burnbrae at the moment.  Agapanthus can be a bit weedy but I love them.

@ Burnbrae, Blue Mountains We were on the veranda watching the languid gliding of the fish,  blue damselflies darting from flower to flower, frogs bopping (their spawn floating among the aquatic weeds),  skinks scurrying on the rocks then with a splash a skink decides to go for a swim -- the fish hide, the damselflies scatter and the frogs go silent. A poem for today The Pond by Amy Lowell

@ the road between Mudgee and Lue The drive to Mudgee is always lovely, at the moment enhanced by summer grasses and wildflowers. Reflection: Isaiah 40:8 New International Version (NIV) "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

There are little sparrows always hopping about in the garden at Kandos.  I like their cheerful presence. These little fellows are an introduced species. Like most of us in Australia they are descended from immigrants and have gone on to prosper in this land. To all of the Aussies I hope you have enjoyed Australia Day today.

I was sitting in the shade of the apple tree, once again trying to capture some cool from the intense heat. Lots of apples are falling and they are all wormy so there will be no apple harvest again this year. This particular apple, fallen with its twig intact reminded me of the old alphabet chart we had at school.  "A is like an apple on a twig a says a, B is like a bat and ball b says b, C is like a cake with a bit taken out c says c".  Below is the chart which I found in an article titled Going to School in the 1940s and '50s.   For anyone who went to school in Queensland in that era this is a great read.  I started in grade 1 in 1959 and everything was just about exactly as described, very little seemed to have changed for decades before the rapid transformation to the style of schools today.