Friends come to visit

I have had a visit to The Trad Pad this morning from my not-very-far away neighbour Bernadette and her family member, Danny Boy. As you can see Danny Boy does a lot of snuggling. What you can't do is hear him whistling, piping to Bernadetter. He is 57 years young - so he has been a part of Bernadette's life for a very long time

The Wisdom of Birds: their songs, their sex life...and us

When I walk up Leicester Street in Carlton from Victoria Street, before one reaches the Green Building there are terraced units. One of these has a postage stamp of a 'garden' with a lot happening in it.

Usually, I am walking up there to a meeting in the early evening. Yesterday, I walked up Leicester Street en route to a conference in Queensberry Streeet just before 10 am. The 'garden' was a hive of activity because of visitors - sparrows going to and fro. Reason? To greet other members of their species in aviaries on the front patio. Trees, birds, chatter. In spite, of the imprisonment of some, the whole scene was - to this member of a foreign species - quite joyful.

This provides my intro to this charming encounter arising from a Tweet by my desert blogging buddy, Robbo:

and here it is:

Make up your mind whether you would like

a bullfinch, a nightingale, a well-equipped male bird,

or even Professor Tim Birkhead himself.

Watch the birdie!

Will you pop over, dear Reader, to this post at Alice's blog, Growing Delight. Her Dearly Beloved built a bird house for a pair of visiting Crimson Rosellas. Then there were the eggs. Next the baby birds. But in this wonderful post, Alice has a photograph of the first hint of their glorious colour in the baby bird fluff. Charming!

Brighton, gossip and the Willy Wagtail

Photo: Canberra Ornithologists Group

The Willy Wagtail (pictured above) is an Australian bird with a bad reputation among Aboriginal people. You see, he is seen as a gossip. He listens in on conversations and flies off and spreads what he has heard. Not nice. Miss Eagle thought of the Willy Wagtail yesterday when she was walking down the shopping strip at the Middle Brighton shops.

I love to see people stopping to chat while shopping. As communities become large and impersonal such individual signs of community diminish. So I noticed when I saw two middle-aged women in conversation in the middle of the footpath. One woman spoke as the other looked at her intently with mouth agape. As I walked past I heard only the words "and he..."

From the aghast look on the listener's face, I could only imagine what horrible news might have been imparted:

...and he sent the family company to the wall because he gambled everything away in the Mahogany Room at Crown Casino and now the children have had to be pulled out of Brighton Grammar because there's no money for the school fees.

...and he cleared out with the nanny. They are now living in France and his wife has been left with STD - sexually transmitted debt.

...and he......(you can complete this one, dear Reader)

Nectar: nature's own party drug

People, including Gina, have been blogging about parrot visitations. This week Poppalina has been blogging about her daphne blossoming. So I thought I would chime in with both parrots and daphne.

Two weeks ago our daphne burst into bloom. As Herself said, you watch and watch the buds longing for the time when that beautiful scent will invade your life. But, little do you know, others are watching too: watching for just the right moment for blossom to open, nectar to peak, and a strike must be made before anyone else gets to it.

So it was that a visiting pair of Crimson Rosellas feasted and partied in a quite single-minded fashion on the shrub outside our living room window.

Buona notte in Lygon Street, Carlton.

Miss Eagle went to the movies in Lygon Street, Carlton on Monday night. You can read about the movie over at Desert. Miss E came out of Cinema Nova about 9.30pm. Now it was Monday night and the night was moving on and Tuesday would not be a rest day for all. But there was life in Lygon - even if it was not as busy as a Friday and Saturday. Miss E wandered across the road to her favourit-est place in Lygon Street which was still open: Readings. Miss Eagle's budget is very strict these days so-0-0 no purchases were made...but here's what took her fancy and if there had been spare cash and lotsa time to read these would have gone home to the aerie.
NYRB keeps one up with the latest. There is nothing quite like a quality critical magazine. As a teenager Miss E was addicted to Time and Tide, an English literary journal. Does it still exist?
Ah well...one can dream

...and, while Miss E has never been a fashionista, this is stuff to admire and inspire.
And then there is Miss E's feminist spirit...it always likes to be fed!
Then it was on down Lygon Street.
Window shopping when the shops are closed is always a good policy.
...the passions can be kept under control.

And, of course, almost the whole of Lygon Street is about food, restaurants, street cafes...but those sort of photographs can wait for another time.

Food is represented here by the Lygon Food Store, below.

And as the main shopping and dining precinct was left behind, there was the residential/office precinct. As readers of TTP are aware, Miss E loves a bit of architectural detail so...
the barley sugar window...
the frieze which is actually moulded but here looks like a painted or papered frieze...
and beautiful native birds flying high in a fanlight.

And BTW, Miss Eagle did have a nibble but that is talked about at Oz Tucker.

Sunday: a prelude

Went a-walkin' this morning - to the patisserie. Yesterday afternoon brought rain to Upper Gully. Miss Eagle was in bed early but presumes that it rained through the night too. This morning was fresh, there were dripping trees and bushes and the sun was trying hard to shine through the cloud. It did succeed.

At the moment, some eucalypts are in full flower - those with a red/pink flower.

This delights the birdlife who are noisy and partying.

Like this fellow

The patisserie is Arena Boys Bakehouse at 4/79 Glenfern Road, Upper Ferntree Gully.

It is open every day - except Good Friday and Christmas, methinks.

Above are some of their wide range of goodies.

Below are the goodies Miss Eagle purchased: one each for Miss E and Herself.

• Two ciabatta rolls
• Two cannoli
• Two rum baba

Home again.

Here is the creek in front of our place. Ferny Creek.

And this beautiful red parrot was feeding quietly in a neighbour's bush

while his partner fed in a tree above.
A lovely prelude to Sunday.

Can cockies count?

Can cockatoos count?
Monday there was one.
Tuesday there were two.
To-day, Wednesday, there were three.
How many to-morrow?
Cockatoos Upper Ferntree Gully

A regular visitor at our place

This person is a regular visitor at The Trad Pad lately.
He comes and crack the seeds of the stone fruit that drops on the ground.
He is on his own. Usually I see cockatoos in flocks around here.
So why is he on his own? A natural loner?

Cockatoos Upper Ferntree Gully

...and the drinking duck