Kaiki or reeds

These are the local reeds that are growing in the dam and I picked some on my walk and brought them home to draw. they look and sound fantastic en masse when the wind is blowing.
the local tribe here call them Kaiki but we just tend to call them reeds, John tells me thay are actually of the bamboo family.
I think I have a mark on the scanner as that blob is not on the paper.
Done with a pencil on a rougher paper than normal.
We are off early tomorrow so will be on the Gold Coast in Queensland by lunch time.
The cat has gone to the cattery, I am packed except for the last few bits and pieces.
I can get the blogs with the laptop but dont think I can scan so I will be reading, the photos I can unoad but they will go on the back valley seasons blog. That is if I have time!
Lots to go on I hope when I get home.

Knobby Club Rush and Euphorbia

John and I walked to Kings Beach this afternoon, a good hour or more of walking, a strong breeze and quite cool but a lovely walk, there were people fishing and snorkeling, more than one normally sees there so instead of the sea and as I only had my pen and small sketchpad I drew the rushes and the spurge that grow just back from the beach. I would have liked to have had time to add colour as some of the rocks have the most incredible orange on them.

Golden Ash

this Golden Ash is at the bottom of the garden and is sited so that you can see the hills beyond. the poor thing hasnt been watered much lately but has gone an incredible gold.
A cooler day with a south easterly breeze so my walk was quite pleasant for a change and no flies!
I have been cutting back my La Marque rose by the drive as she is leaning out and scratching the car, she managed to get thorns in me too.
John is grubbing melons, not a pleasant job.

Peachicks on the balustrade

I am afraid I am pretty tired this evening as I had a fairly big going over by the physio so this is a very quick Sketch of three of the six pea chicks who were sitting on the balustrade . They are devils to do as no sooner do you start one position than they move to another position and i cant cope when they put their heads under their wings!
Any way this morning we awoke to RAIN not a lot about 4 mm but it sounded and smelt wonderful and tonight the crickets are all singing.

Hot day

Much hotter than the weather beaureau predicted, for both Adelaide and here. We went up to Adelaide to see my mother (who looked and was tired and fragile), for John to have a beard trim and for me to deliver presents to both my sisters for their Birthdays a few days late but not badly so. We also took out my older sister for a sandwhich and coffee, my younger sister was wondering why she has just bought a new puppy!
Home and tired and the house like an oven.
So this is a branch of dying leaves on the ground just to round off my day.
I am not sure why but this blog has a wrong date on it, always a day late, but I am not going to try to fix it

More brown paddocks

More brown hills and paddocks, hot again today, we go from hot to cool with wind most of the time.
I was tryng out a small Indian made book I have which I quite like but it is very small and I am not sure about it, Instead of my good Winsor and Newton I was trying out the really nice little cotman set in a plastic travel box, it is tiny and fits in my camera bag. I like its size but will fill the pans with artist quality paint as they go down I think.
My metal paint tin is rather large and heavy, of course I still have the toothbrush case with about 8 bigger pans in it as well! No wonder my handbag gets heavy, now my camera, two paint containers, a small container of water, note/sketchbooks, pens, the mobile phone, a bit of make up, my purse and diary ,hanky, the odd band aid, and probably other things I have forgotten.

Japanese bantams

The big old cage I have these in is very shady and not easy to see into, and they move around a lot. I looked them up and they are a short legged, very upright little bird, to be seen in the Emporers gardens about 350 years ago and were used as trade gifts, so the first ones came to the UK in the 1870's ( I think).
They have one or two very long tail feathers, he seems to have lost one, and some funny upright ones all around the tail. He is of no recognised colour, although the hens are, I suppose you get all sorts, the ones I really like are the white ones with black tails. He has had a pure white daughter and a blue one and he has some dirty markings on his body. A soft crow and they cluck to each other a lot.
I went to the physio today and have another appointment for Friday, I thought we went next Wednesday but it is Tuesday.