It's Fine, But It's Not

Stephen and I spent a little time in the city - partly because we wanted to, but also partly to get away from the mountain on days when the fire danger was, well, somewhat upsetting.

On mornings we'd get up and go walking. On one of those mornings we walked around part of Princes Park - a lovely green space filled with gorgeous mature trees (most European trees), grassy playing fields and joggers. We walked in the mornings, trying to get our exercise in before 9:30 or so, when the heat became oppressive. Here's a photo I took as we walked down along the western side of the park, moving toward the CBD:

Lovely and green. That grass you see has been watered - without city watering, there'd be dormant grass there (or just dirt).

And here's another taken along a path which more-or-less cuts through the center of the park, moving from the western edge toward the east. Notice the gorgeous trees:

Then, as we continue east, leaving the park, a lane of green space bordering the Melbourne Cemetery (the same one which is home to the Elvis memorial):

But what's this? Look at the photo above again and notice the ground. And here - have a look at this:

This tree (below) is deciduous - but it shouldn't be dropping it's leaves in February (northern hemisphere folks... think "August").  It's a smallish tree - it wouldn't yet have a deep root system tapping into water well below the surface, as the much larger trees have.

A lot of trees, stressed by the heat and lack of moisture, are dropping their leaves early, desperately clinging to life - trying to survive what has been a really difficult summer. In recent weeks I've noticed more and more sections of the western face of Mount Dandenong seem to have sections of clearly dead trees - maybe they were there before, but I just don't think so...

There will have been a LOT of casualties this year - plants which had been doing fine, but will fall victim to another record-setting summer.

Don't believe in global warming? Move to Australia, live here for a few years (as I have) and then look me in the eye and tell me so.

The View From My Window

We're still concerned about the lack of rain, but oh... how glorious the forest was this morning. On mornings like this, when it's cool and sunny - with just a bare whisp of breeze. The forest is sparkling green, it's so beautiful, seductive. There was hardly a sound this morning other than the soft twitters of birds here on the mountain. The air is fresh and sparkling, pure and healthy to breathe, with the faintest trace of scent from the gums.

The kind of morning that makes you just glad you are alive.

Spiny Norman

I discovered Monty Python's Flying Circus as a teenager. The program was broadcast weekly on the local station "WOSU" (OSU being Ohio State University). I adored the humor, even when I didn't totally "get it". One of my favorite sketches involved a story about the "Piranah Brothers" - gangsters who terrorized their neighborhood. Doug and Dinsdale Pirhana used "violence and sarcasm" as their main weapons - and wreaked general havoc.

Dinsdale, as bad as he was, had an Achilles' heal - he was terrified of an imaginary hedgehog named "Spiny Norman", who apparently grew to enormous proportions whenever Dindsdale was depressed.

OK.

I'm not going to try and explain about the Pirhana Brothers or Dinsdale any more... this post will get too long and you'll either get bored or confused or both (after all... who can really explain a Monty Python sketch in writing?).

Why am I talking about it at all? Just to explain where I got the name "Spiny Norman".

We have an echidna on our property. An echidna is not a hedgehog - but they do have spines. There's the connection: the spines.

Night before last, our neighbor rang to say her cat (recently acquired) had bolted out the door and, she was sure, was wandering our property. It was getting dark, so Stephen went out with her to have a look around and see if we could find Miss "Willow". They didn't find the cat, but did come across the echidna - and here's a photo:

 Probably a foot from end-to-end, this little guy is NOT happy. We saw one before, a couple of years ago, and that little fellow was pretty bold - completely ignoring the two excited humans snapping photos. But this one has his head pulled in and spines out.

I wouldn't call that "the welcome mat" at all - more a "Get Lost!" gesture.

So Stephen snapped these two photos and came away, leaving "Spiny" unmolested.

We sincerely hope that Miss Willow hasn't been overly curious and has, like Stephen, given Spiny a wide berth.

Miss Willow is still "at large", but we expect to corral her soon.

Finally...

... Last night the much-longed-for quenching rain came through.

A mild thunderstorm rolled over us and torrents of rain fell. There was flooding in some places and a lot of rain came down all at once, but oh... it was simply divine to lay in bed and listen to the much-missed sound of rain hitting our metal roof.

Music.

This morning the trunks of the gums (which are exposed when the bark peels away like unwanted wallpaper strips) went from chalky brown to vibrant green - as they do after a good rain. And from 6AM until just after midday a soft drizzle continued, pattering through the trees and onto the ground.

I had to stop in the post office to mail a small parcel and was greeted by Peter who weighed my package and smiled more easily than I've seen him do in some time. We smiled at each other and said "Rain!" - almost in unison.

All of us on Mount Dandenong are breathing more easily. It's been a very scary summer.

We all hope that the weather patterns will turn now - and the temperatures will be more moderate, and the rain more regular.