From the Park Bench

There’s a tiny, tiny little cascade near the Big Old Tree Bench. It’s not rocks though, it’s a fallen tree. When the river flooded last year, the fallen tree’s branches got full of debris. And now the water bubbles and rushes over all this debris. It’s a little bit like a dam I guess. It […]

It’s been raining today. The river level is starting to rise for winter. The little causeway is still just above the water level though. Today, it’s about 10 degrees Celsius. The first truly cold day. It’s that kind of cold air that almost burns your nose when you breathe in.

Today I don’t feel quite as present as I often do on the bench. Having a really busy day just gets your mind all caught up in the busyness. There’s lots of birds around down at the river today. The little willy wagtail was right in the middle of the causeway, dancing around, having a […]

A gorgeous, gorgeous afternoon. It’s quite windy, and the wind is fresh, but the sun is warm and the sky is blue. And it’s that wonderful late season low afternoon sun. I took this photo from the other side of the Lily Pond. You can see Lily Pond Bench across the other side of the […]

I’m out here tonight. It’s very still and already the air feels icy. I think there’ll be a frost tonight. I can see Orion, the constellation, but mostly I’m just sitting out here trimming my indoor plants and dreaming of a wonderful new designer garden bench from my back deck. I particularly like the tiny […]

It’s the time of year when the little woody pods of the hakeas have split open and released the papery thin envelope that contained the seed. They released them out into the wind, the papery envelope acting as a wing for the seed to fly away on. You can see the smooth darker indentation in […]

It’s a windy day down at the Lily Pond. It’s been raining on and off. And the showers are coming and going, but right now there’s a little bit of weak winterish sun and this dusky moor hen standing proudly on top of a pile of rushes. He’s surveying the area while the other moor […]

Another a sunrise at Elliot Bench. The big red sun is literally just coming above the trees to the east. There’s a big group of kangaroos in the field behind, and in front of me is the lake with the little family of five grebes. Two adults and three kids. They’re very cautious and shy. […]

I’m going to call it Lake Island Bench even though there’s no bench here, but there’s a lot of fallen logs that you could sit on. There’s also a really soft, white sand beach. We’ve paddled across this big beautiful lake to reach the island. We’re the only ones here. It’s magnificent day. There’s barely […]

Sunrise at Elliot bench. The bird songs are so sweet. A fox came to the dam earlier. It’s colder this morning and there’s this wonderful gray smudge of cloud, stuck to the top of the hill to the east. The cloud’s a dark bluey grey, but the first light of dawn is this dusky pinky […]