Cockatoos and Sunflowers

I like to plant sunflowers in the garden each year, they are easy to grow and the birds just love them, so there are always birds coming to visit as the sunflowers ripen. Here they are a few weeks ago just as they are in full bloom.

There are not to many sunflowers remaining, yesterday a sulphur crested cockatoo dropped by and I managed to sneak out and get a few photos.

I love the way they balance and hang upside down- it was there for ages and didn't seem to phased by me taking photos, as long as I didn't get too close!

Bill and His Stylish Headwear

Bill appears to have moved out of his study and now works at the kitchen table so he can have the birds around him. However Beau and Lyra like to attack his glasses so this is what Bill looks like working on his computer to stop the birds attacking his glasses!

Versailles

Amy, Bill and I went to the Versailles exhibition on Friday afternoon at the National Art Gallery. It was a good time to go, not too crowded. They had some amazing stuff including a gilded bird cage we thought we might bring home for Ziggy. The harp was pretty fancy too! This was a shot out the front- I love those pears- would like a set for my back yard!

This harp was just magnificent- lots of jewels and sparkly bits!

This is the bird cage we thought the birds might look pretty good in!

Ziggy and Luna

Luna was having an afternoon nap, looking very elegant! Amy put Ziggy on Luna and neither of them were particularly phased! Who would have believed you could put these two crazy creatures together!

Bright, Khancoban and Cabrumurra

We took and extra day off and drove home from Bright via the Alpine Way, We headed back through Tallangata and Corryong and then onto Khancoban where we stayed overnight at a B&B on a farm. I wanted to see one of the power stations on the Snowy Mountain Scheme, the main one was closed but we got to look through the one near Khancoban- it really gave you a understanding of the scheme and what an amazing feat of engineering and foresight it was.

 It was pretty hot- 35 degrees in Khancoban- I had thought it was going to be cooler out this way- I guess it was- not 40 degrees like it was in Albury! I couldn't remember if our B&B had air conditioning and fortunately it did. We retreated and just stayed in the cool and relaxed and enjoyed the peace and quiet and the view and the cows! About 8pm it really cooled down the lovely mountain air must have descended down, had to pull up the doona that night as we slept. As the sun set the stars started to come out and it was so clear, we had a wonderful view of the stars- Bill was very excited about the magnificent night sky!

 Monday morning we headed for home- Bill had his morning coffee at Khancoban then we began the climb up to Cabrumurra. It was about 70 km but it took us nearly two hours- it was narrow and windy but very pretty, we also stopped a couple of times along the way. It took us through Kosciusko National Park, through some lovely forests then up on the snow line, back down and up again, it really is beautiful country and we really enjoyed coming home this way for something different. We also passed some of the dams along the way that are part of the Snowy Mountain Scheme.

We stopped for lunch at Cabrumurra, it was 23 degrees and windy- felt quite cool- it was 37 degrees in Canberra so we enjoyed the cool while we could. Cabrumurra is a Snowy Mountain Scheme town, you cannot stay anywhere overnight as a tourist, the town is becoming  a drive in drive out town. We then headed back to Canberra, to the heat, via Adaminaby and Cooma- a lovely way to come home and another great trip to Bright.

Audax Classic Bright

Bill and I took our annual trip down to Bright over the Australia Day weekend and as usual had a lovely time with friends, eating and riding. On the way down Bill dropped me off at Beechworth and I rode down the rail trail to Bright. It was 75km so quite a ride on a warm day but I really enjoyed it. I had done parts of it but wanted to put that whole ride together and it is a lovely down hill from Beechworth to Everton.

 They have done a great job of the rail trails in Victoria! I had been struggling with a sore back over the last few weeks, this was a relatively flat ride so it was a good chance to test my back out before the big ride and all went well so that was good.

Saturday we did the big ride. I have normally done the 140km ride - Bright/Buffalo/Mt Beauty/ Bright or 130km- Bright/Mt Beauty/Falls Creek/Mt Beauty/ Bright. With my sore back this year I ended up just doing the climb up to Buffalo and back to Bright as I didn't want to over do things with my back. Had a really enjoyable climb up Buffalo- 25km in the cool of the morning. We had a great day and enjoyed a lovely bbq that night back at the motel with friends. Bill volunteered again this year and was driving all over the place with the transport team.

Bright has had plenty of rain over December and January so everthing was looking lovely and green, the whole region is such a pretty place.

Here I am half way down Mt Buffalo, as you can see it was a lovely morning- I am wearing my poppy shirt I got in Flanders, Belgium last year.

Catch Up- Have Been Slack

Have been very slack with my blog writing these days trying to do a bit of a catch up and get back on track!

Amy brought herself a Kitchen Aid- her latest obsession is cooking! I think Amy has a bit of an obsessive personality, but at least this cooking obsessions sees her cooking a few meals during week which is good! We had tried a cheap Aldi mixmaster but ended up taking it back- just was not up to the job, Amy did her research then figured if she brought her self a Kitchen Aid it would last her a long time- possibly for when she moves out of home!!!! She made some lavender and white chocolate chip sugar cookies and they were very nice!

 Kim and Filomena called into Canberra about a month back and came to visit us. They caught up with our menagerie ,  meet all the birds and the dogs. Lyra took quite a liking to Filomena. We had a lovely time catching up with them.

 Here are Bindi's geraniums they left behind when they headed to Dublin. When we inherited them they were brown and frost bitten but with not much attention from me, just a bit of trimming and the occasional water and weeding they have come back to life- lets see if I can continue that for the next 2 1/2 years!

 My sunflowers growing in the back yard- one head fell off the other day, not quite ripe, the birds had a great time tearing it up when I brought it inside!

 Just in case you have missed seeing Ziggy here is a picture of him- this photo mysteriously appeared as the screen saver on my phone- I didn't put it there, Amy tells me Ziggy is just a clever bird.

This is Bach, one of Bill's Alexandrine Parrots.Sadly Bach died this week and we are not quite sure why. It was before the real hot weather but not sure if it was that,the night before he died he had been cheeping away and active as normal. The Alexandrines were aviary birds and not hand raise and not very tame, Beau was the tamer of the two and would hope onto your hand when it was time to put him outside in the Aviary as he loved going outside and he would take a bite of an apple from Bill's hands and he would always cheep when we came home, or went outside or when Amy got up in the morning. They were much happier when we moved them out into the aviary, much more interactive and alert-so it is sad, and we feel sad for Lilly who is now on her own.