jmgoyder

wings and things

Mar 14

Time travel

by jmgoyder

This morning I was about to run into the bedroom and wake Husband up to ask him a question about the flame trees, then remembered he wasn’t here. That hasn’t happened to me before and he has been at the nursing lodge for nearly two months. Missing his presence here is a bit of a mixed bag because my nostalgia tends to yoyo back and forth in time to when Husband was well, to when became ill, to when he was well, to when his condition worsened – and so on….

Anyway, I rang him instead and after our usual catching up chatter, and telling him I’d be in later to see him, our conversation went like this:

Me: I’m writing a little blog on the flame trees. How old do you think they are?

Husband: Well over 100 years.

Me: So did you plant them or were they here when your family bought the farm?

There was a rather long pause

Husband: Jules?

Me: Yes?

Husband: I’m not that old.

Well, that gave us both a laugh.

Husband: You’re not very bright in the mornings are you.

Me: Shut up!

Well, here are the flame trees! They are bright red in the winter months and bright green in the summer months. The reason I took this picture was because, during one of my searches for the emus, I thought one of the flame tree branches was an emu. That was probably in the morning too!

Family Wings

29 Comments »
Mar 13

Avian antics

by jmgoyder

I didn’t mean to chop this turkey’s head off in the photo, however yesterday evening I wanted to do it literally because Bubble got trapped behind a fence and Son and I had to herd him into our garden and back to the yard. Okay, to explain – both of our original turkeys are named Bubble. This one is obviously a male because he is much bigger than the other Bubble who, at the time of this ridiculous incident, was already in the yard with Baby Turkey and the gang. Now the reason I describe this situation as ‘ridiculous’ is because I don’t understand why this Bubble had to be herded when he can fly!

It’s as if he wanted to do it the hard way, rather than the easy way – or perhaps he just lacks commonsense. I understand both, I guess, as I often choose the more difficult route unintentionally due to an innate (it would seem) inability to see the commonsense solution.

The most ironic thing is that, once Bubble was in the yard with the gang, he flew straight into the adjacent emu yard anyway! The Emerys love him because he stops Baby Turkey from giving them nightmares.

And then Tapper did her evening indecision dance. She perches on top of the fence between the gang’s yard and the Indian Runner’s yard, as if to say, “Which one of you guys wants me most?” This flirtatiousness has given her a rather bad reputation so, in the end, she usually just flies out of all of the yards and goes back to the bath to meditate.

And poor King peacock now hides in the avocado tree because he is (I assume) so embarrassed that his feather aren’t growing back as quickly as was expected, so now all of the adolescent peacocks are surpassing him.

Husband’s nursing lodge is in ‘lockdown’ at the moment due to a virus outbreak so, even though I have snuck in a couple of times, I’ve been told not to visit, or bring him home, until it is safe. Apparently tomorrow it will be ‘all clear’ again. In the meantime, Son’s post-surgery convalescence is having its ups and downs.

Last night I dreamed I was a bird – just a tiny bird, the size of a sparrow – and I was flying over this farm and our house trying to shed my little leftover feathers onto all of the things that needed fixing, but I couldn’t because my feathers were made of steel. My wings got more and more cement-like and, eventually, I fell to the ground.

Perhaps I need to get a non-Avian hobby – hehe!

Family Wings

13 Comments »
Mar 12

‘blogetiquette’

by jmgoyder

Blogging about blogging is, yes, a little strange perhaps, however, as a relative newcomer to this form of communication and writing, I have decided to coin the term ‘blogetiquette’ because I think it needs to be one word – a neologism if you like! (I’m hoping that the annual dictionary re-writers will pick this up and make me famous!)

So, the blogetiquette rules I’ve decided on for myself include:

  • have respect for the parents of the blog (in my case, wordpress.com)
  • only subscribe to other blogs if you are genuinely interested (not because you want them to subscribe to yours)
  • read all of the posts written by your fellow bloggers before publishing your own
  • reply, or at least, acknowledge all comments made to you on your blog – again, before you publish your own
  • get permission before you reblog someone else’s post (this is only because reblogging has recently become fraught)
  • limit yourself to less than 5 posts per day or you might annoy people with the email build-up (the most I do is 4 and that’s not often because I’ve had some negative feedback about overposting!)
  • be grateful for any awards or nominations you receive (whether you accept them or not)
  • respect your readers and subscribers
  • never hit the ‘like’ button unless you really do like the post
  • always be honest in your own posts
  • never criticise other people’s posts

I’m sure I could think of more but those are the ones I usually adhere to now that I have made the transition from novice to fledgling.

Speaking of fledglings, these two peacocks have nearly grown their ‘King’ feathers …

… whereas poor old King is still mourning the loss of his own (don’t worry, he’ll grow them back soon!)

Of all the birds who live here, it is the peacocks and peahens who have the best etiquette skills in terms of their respect for each other and for us too. When they take bread from my hand, instead of nearly swallowing my arm (as the geese do), they make a soft clicky noise as if they are saying ‘thank you’.

They have birdetiquette down to a much finer art than we will ever get blogetiquette!

If you have any blogetiquette tips, please share them….

Politely yours

Julie

Animal Family Wings

46 Comments »
Mar 9

Emu adventures

by jmgoyder

Yesterday’s emu fiasco went like this:

  • 6pm: Joyous discovery that the three Emerys were still in that paddock adjacent to our paddock (on the corner of two roads)
  • 6.10pm: Son and I cancel dinner with my mum and make a plan to herd emus back into our paddock
  • 6.15pm: We drive down our road and turn right into the other road and park near the gate to the paddock
  • 6.16pm: Son walks into the paddock to herd emus to the gate and out onto the road. The plan is to herd them, with me in the car, and Son on foot, up the road and around the corner into our road and up to our driveway and into our property
  • 6.40pm: Son gets the emus out of the paddock and into the road and, with my car lights flashing, I follow as Son walks them to the corner
  • 6.45pm: Two cars going in opposite directions on the road are forced to stop to allow us our slow journey. I have to jump in and out of the car to stop the Emerys from coming back. This is difficult as emus can run backwards!
  • 6.55pm: We eventually reach the corner and the people in both cars get out and help us to get the emus to turn into our road. Hilarity and thank yous are exchanged, then they all drive off
  • 7pm: With Son walking in front of the emus, and me driving behind, we gradually get them close to our driveway. Dusk is falling.
  • 7.10pm: The emus get to a little bridge and won’t cross it, so begin to run back towards my car. I leap out and shoo them back up
  • 7.12: The situation repeats itself
  • 7.14: And again. They will not cross the bridge
  • 7.15: Again – back and forth, back and forth. By now I have abandoned the car and I, too, am on foot
  • 7.30: Success at last; I have them running towards Son who is right next to our paddock. We decide to open a gate into our paddock instead of trying to get them all the way to our driveway, which is just past the stupid bridge
  • 7.31: Just before they get to our gate, they all push through into the same paddock (adjacent to ours) where they were in the first place
  • 7.32: Son begins to yell in frustration when I follow them (getting a nasty shock from the electric fence – I’m not quite sure why this didn’t deter the emus)
  • 7.33: I try herding them but, because it is now getting dark, they go all skittish and run in all directions. I have the vague hope of herding them through the fence into our paddock, but it doesn’t work
  • 7.40: Son screams ‘give up, Mum – it’s not worth it!’
  • 7.41: I walk back to the road and get into the car with Son who is exhausted in his back brace and in a rage
  • 7.42: We drive the tiny distance home in a frenzy of frustration
  • 8pm: The howling begins and ends
  • 8.30pm: Son and I agree that one day, in the far-off future, this might be a funny story….
  • 9pm: I find photos taken previously, during emu-walking, that illustrate this post
  • 9.05pm: Son tells me I am crazy and I tell him he is right
  • 9.10pm: We exchange a reluctant hug and begin to plan tomorrow’s emu adventure

Family Wings

10 Comments »
Mar 8

Howling at the moon

by jmgoyder

Tonight, Son and I both howled at the moon. I don’t think we have ever done this before and it is not something I would recommend!

We hadn’t planned on howling at the moon together, but our mutual differences (yeah, one of those paradoxes), the emu fiasco, and the absence of Husband, reduced us both to such grief that the howling just happened.

Perhaps it was cathartic; perhaps not. Neither of us have ever been caught up in the net of self-pity, but tonight we were caught off-guard by a moonlit view of everything and it was overwhelming. So we howled. We howled at each other, with each other, and with the moon, until our voices were hoarse and the dogs became frightened.

Luckily we don’t have neighbours living closeby or they might have called the police!

Animal Family

8 Comments »
Mar 8

Geese, glorious geese (and a few humans!)

by jmgoyder

Family Wings

2 Comments »
Mar 7

Footsteps

by jmgoyder

Sometimes you have to collide with a corner before turning it and yesterday Son and I had one such collision. Don’t worry, we weren’t in a car or anything; we were just in the kitchen verbalizing a fair bit of angst with each other. Much later in the day, having extricated each other from the crash scene, we both realized that we were not angry with each other, but angry with ourselves, so we sat outside in the dusk and managed to turn the corner.

This morning, knowing that today we would be running in the same direction, I sipped my first coffee with a feeling of anticipation and waited for Son to wake up. It wasn’t until I was into my second coffee that I heard his footsteps in the house so I went into the kitchen and, thinking he was in his bedroom, I called out, “Good morning! I’m so glad we had that talk yesterday because I think it’s just that we’ve both been in a kind of rut so a bit later, when you feel up to it, we’ll get out of the house and go to town. We should go to a restaurant for lunch – do you want to go to that one on the beach?”

When there was no answer, I was a bit mystified until I went into the bedroom to find Son still fast asleep. Then I heard the footsteps again and realised it was King peacock on the roof!

You gotta laugh!

Family Wings

13 Comments »
Mar 6

Smiling, sighing and starting again!

by jmgoyder

Today, I started again with Husband.

I took Husband back to the nursing lodge and, after the usual teary farewell, I walked from his room down the long hallway and then thought that was getting to be a really stupid, repetitive ritual. So I ran back up the hallway, startling a couple of nurses, and yippeed back into Husband’s room, startling him even more, and pounced on him, wiped the tears away from his cheeks and yelled “One more hug for the road!” I left him laughing his head off. Yes!

Today, I started again with Son.

Me: (washing dishes with Son) Sigh

Son: You sighed again

Me: No I didn’t

Son: Yes you did – you just sighed as if you wanted me to go away

Me: I didn’t sigh and I don’t want you to go away. Sigh

Son: See – you did it again!

Me: (holding breath) Okay, so I’ll try not to sigh

Son: I don’t understand your sighs – you do it all the time.

Me: If I sigh, it usually just means I’m tired.

Son: Tired of me or of Dad?

Me: What answer would you prefer?

Son: The truth

Me: Okay, I’m a bit tired from the busy weekend with Dad and everything else

Son: I’m so sorry about the emus, Mum

Me: It’s okay – let’s not talk about it. Sigh

Son: Mum, can we have a talk later on about stuff?

Me: Why can’t we have a talk now?

Son: Because I’m busy resting – seeya. Oh, do you want more help with the dishes?

Me: No thanks, darling. Sigh

Son: Are you sure? You just sighed again.

Me: Sorry. Sigh

Son: I’m actually just watching the Harry Potter series because I missed most of it in my youth

Me: I think that’s great!

Son: Okay, love you, Mum

Me: Love you too. Sigh

Son: (from his room) I heard that sigh

Me: (thundering down the hallway into his room with a teatowel as a weapon) It was a happy sigh, okay!

Son: (terrified) Okay, okay! Sigh

He’ll be back!

Today, I started again with the dogs-versus-birds dilemma

And I was rewarded by a small miracle – Doc and one of the Bubbles together. I was utterly amazed because Doc has attacked cattle, sheep, other dogs, rabbits, and plenty of birds, over the years. He is a real little killer, literally! So to see these two guys simply curious about each other made all the starting overs today worth it!

Today, I started again with the vegetable garden

No I didn’t – hehe!

Animal Family Wings

23 Comments »
Mar 5

Chasing Joy

by jmgoyder

You can’t chase joy and, if you try, it tends to get away.

and you can’t just sit there and wait for it to return either because joy doesn’t like lassitude.

You have to create joy in order to entice its proliferation

and you have to embrace it when it does accidentally bump into you on its way somewhere else.

There is a bird here called Joy and it flutters around in my hair, smoodges into the inside of my elbows, perches on the toes of my boots, sits comfortably in my pockets, and comes and goes as it pleases.

It isn’t real, this Joy – it’s more than real.

Yeah, I know, abstract poetry doesn’t work but what the hell!

Okay, so today is Husband’s third day home and two out of three of his nights here were good. During the second night he got that leg pain thing and the painkillers didn’t work so that was a bit horrible, but last night was peaceful for all of us. Today I can sense a strange restlessness in him, almost as if he wants to go back to the nursing lodge where the care is definitely far superior to mine (and the meals he said – hrmpph!)

It’s been a mixed long weekend – the three of us together but separate. A mixed weekend too because of unexpected traumas, expected tensions, mutual avoidance, remembered adoration.

Chasing joy is a futile exercise and you know why?

Because it’s often just around the corner waiting to say ‘BOO!’

Oh yeah, and Joy doesn’t like having its photo taken – sorry!

Family Uncategorized Wings

6 Comments »
Mar 4

Lost, found, gone

by jmgoyder

I almost can’t write this because the Emerys (emus) have gone. Long story short, Son put the hose into their water trough last night and didn’t clip the gate shut properly. I was devastated until I found them (the relief!) in the paddock next to ours. But herding them back didn’t work and I spent a few hours trying, in the car and on foot. It’s not that they didn’t want to go back home; they just couldn’t figure out how to get through the barbed wire fences and electric fences surrounding the farm block. They were cheeping with relief when I walked up to them and I patted them all and tried to coerce them into going through the fence space. Eventually, I picked one of my Emerys up and tossed him into our paddock, thinking the others would follow but, when he didn’t get up, the other three ran away again. The congregation of crows didn’t help; they were everywhere. I clambered through the fence to get Emery up but, no matter how many times I got him to his feet again, he just kept falling back down….

The story doesn’t have a happy ending and, once again, I have lost out. Husband (staying home for an extra night) just gave me a hug and said he’d get me some more emus but that just made me sob more. I am stupid, stupid, stupid and the emus are gone, gone, gone.

And I had just gotten the emu walking routine down to a fine art.

And they’d stopped wandering so far.

And everything was great with Husband home and Son getting better.

And I’d cooked a great dinner.

I can’t quite get my head around the fact that I found the Emerys but lost them again – that just seems too cruel. Maybe they will come back?

Family Wings

16 Comments »
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