SPRING IS IN THE AIR

The last few days have been sunny and warm and flowers are blooming, so its nearly Spring. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. It was so nice that I encouraged Bill to go for a walk. We went to one of our favourite places for a short walk, Underwood Lagoon. Hoping not to bore you with more photos of this place. It is a five minute drive from home.

We were met in the carpark by a goose and some moorhens.

We walked along the path, which encircles the lagoon. There has been some new plantings on the right with the muddy lagoon on the left. We have had a lot of rain, which washes silt into the lagoon.

You know spring is close when bright, yellow, wattle is blooming. It is our national flower.

Sit for a rest and a peaceful interlude.

A white ibis. Their nickname is "Bin Chicken". Can you guess why?

Melaleuca, (Paperbark or Tea-trees) love having their roots in water.

On the move again.

A water dragon sunning itself.

It runs away with an amusing gait.

Australian Black Duck

Back where we started.

PRIEST GULLY WALK

 When it has been raining my walking buddies and I take a different walk from that in the Daisy Hill Forest. We do the Priest Gully walk because it is a concrete path and a lot safer underfoot than the muddy slippery trails in the forest. We have had more rain than usual for this time of the year so we have mostly been walking in this park. I'm just happy that I can walk with them again after being in pain most of last year. Now dosed up on pain killers I am pain free.

We turn right when leaving the village and walk along the street for about 200 metres and then turn into the bushland following a little creek , which is discoloured due to all the rain.

Joan and Maureen

Joan and Helen (they hate me taking their photo.

Noisy Miner

Wattle 

We love the weekends when Sonya and family come to visit and make us lunch.We had rosti, egg, sauerkraut and salmon while the others had salmon, cream cheese, capers and dill bagels.

Fox and Banjo

SWITZERLAND'S NATIONAL DAY

 All the family were here for Swiss National Day on August 1. So we decided to celebrate with a traditional cheese fondu and apple flan. Bill migrated from Switzerland in 1967. The girls are proud of their Swiss heritage and have visited Switzerland many times. The grandsons haven't been yet and Sonya is hoping to get them there soon but their house has to get finished first. Anyway Bernie made a fondu with a variety of cheeses. We had chunks of bread to dip in and pop in your mouth. He also added some fruits and vegetables to dip in but Bill didn't like that idea. He said we didn't do that in Switzerland.

Bill and Carol make an Apfelkuchen (open apple flan).

Bernie prepares the cheese.

Carol and Fox enjoying the cheese fondu.

Sonya and Bill have a dip. If the bread falls off the fork and drops into the melted cheese they have to kiss all the boys or girls around the table. Sonya is trying hard not to drop it.

Carol bought me flowers before she returned to Melbourne.

In August a lot of wattle blooms. It is Australia's national flower. This is in the village front garden.

A LITTLE BIT OF CULTURE

 Our eldest daughter, Carol-Ann, lives and works in Melbourne, a two day drive away or two and a half hour flight. She was going to come to visit us when it was my birthday in June. Unfortunately, she and David had colds at that time so they didn't come. Then she had to have an operation on her hand to ease the pain caused by using a mouse for work everyday. She had tried everything to right it but eventually she had to give in to an operation. She had three weeks off work to help it heal. So she took 4 days of the last week to come and visit us. She still had a brace and a sling. She has had to learn to use her left hand for everything. Anyway it was lovely to have her here for a few days. David came too but he spends time with his parents who also live in Brisbane.

During her visit I took her and Bill to the local Art Gallery to see a small painting that I had hung in the gallery together with lots of other locals who participated in an activity to celebrate 30 years of the Logan Art Gallery. We were given a small canvas and we had to make a picture of something that depicts Logan City. We actually live in Logan City which borders Brisbane City, but people often don't know where Logan City is so we always say we are from Brisbane. They are like twin cities. Some members of the village art group participated in the activity.

Louise, Dot A, Lynne, are in the back row. Me, Dot M in front. We had finished our pics ready for Logan  Art Gallery.

They were displayed in blocks on different walls. I have circled the ones from our art group. I did a water colour of part of Daisy Hill Forest.

Dot A. also did the forest.

Dot M. did one of our local birds and Louise did a scene from a popular restaurant in our area.

Lynne did the Red Bridge which is an old bridge which is no longer used for vehicles but has been painted bright red and has become a walk way to a lovely park by the river.

While we were in the Gallery we checked out other works on display. I rather liked the ones by local artist Wu Zhipeng.

Self portrait 2025

That night Carol wanted to visit her sister, Sonya and see how the renovations are going on their house. Afterwards, Sonya and Bernie took us out for an Italian dinner.

EMU FARM

OOPS! I just found this post which was still in draft mode but it happened last year.

 Margaret, one of the residents in our village organises bus trips for us. Last week we went into the country to visit an Emu Farm at Marburg, Afterwards we would go to another country town, Boonah, for lunch and a browse through the main street. As we drove through the lovely countryside I wondered why anyone would farm emus.

The Emu is Australia's tallest native, flightless bird, reaching between 1.6 m and 1.9 m when standing erect. Adult Emus are covered with shaggy grey-brown feathers except for the neck and head, which are largely naked and bluish-black. The wings are greatly reduced, but the legs are long and powerful.

It appears on our country's coat of arms with the kangaroo. They were chosen to represent a forward moving country because these animals cannot move backwards easily. 

After an hour we were at the entrance to the farm. The paddocks on the left had many emus.

The bus pulled up near a pen full of teenage emus. They were shy but also a bit curious.

Stephen Schmidt, the farmer gave us a talk about how he became an emu farmer and what they make from the emu. He used to be a truck driver but developed a painful shoulder and knee. He was told to rub in Emu Oil and within five days the pains disappeared. He was so impressed he changed his business to emu farming. He did a lot of of research into the Eskimos who eat seal and whale fat and they have high levels of cholesterol but do not suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer or a build up of cholesterol in their arteries. he then studied the omegas in emu oil and found they were similar to those in whale oil.

He then decided to injest the oil and it lowered his cholesterol. It is the good cholesterol and dissolves the plaque on the walls of the arteries. He makes capsules of the oil. He has had many satisfied customers. 

Personally, I was a bit dubious about his claims. (If it sounds too good to be true..........). But that's me I'm a bit of a skeptic. 

The emu eggs are green and very large. The male and female work together to make a nest but after the eggs are laid the male chases the female off the eggs and he incubates them. He sits on them for seven days without moving or eating. He lives off his fat. he then rears the chicks while the female has gone off with another male. (floozie)

Naturally, we were invited into the shop to see all the products made from the oil. Besides the capsules they sell the oil to rub onto sore joints and heat rub as well as a range of beauty products. I bought some oil to rub into my arthritic hands.

Then it was back in the bus for a short drive to Boonah for lunch.

We passed the paddocks full of mature emus.

I was very disappointed with my blurry photos. I have the latest phone so don't know why this happened. Most likely the operator.

We drove through more lush farming areas to Boonah where we were dropped at the Tavern for lunch. It was typical "Pub Grub".

Brave Gary was the only male who joined our trip so he sat at the head of the table.

After lunch we had a stroll through the town. They have interesting stores in country towns. Some visited the art gallery. I bought a nice top.

It was lovely watching the peaceful country pass by on the way home.

My new top.