Leaping Lizards

Well finally back from Sydney.  Good Friday today - and we were at my sister's house for Prawns, Chilli Tuna Bake and lots of wonderful salads.  What a beautiful day it was in Brisbane.  Sun shining, birds singing - good company, good food and wine and laid back music.  I realise I'm not writing nearly as much as I thought I would on this blog - funny thing is usually I've got lots to say, but once I set up this blog I seemed to get lost for words.  However, I am still taking lots of photographs, so will keep posting those.  Dalveen is beautiful at the moment.  The Autumn chill has arrived.  As soon as dusk arrives it settles in and we have to get under cover quick before it seeps into our bones.  Unlike others who visit us at Dalveen, I don't believe its cold enough yet for a roaring fire.  Give it a couple weeks more I say.  But being a good host, I have been stoking up the fireplace in the lounge.  Everyone sits close while I take up a chair almost in the next room to get away from heat.

The cooler weather has finally brought some respite from the ever growing grass.  Once mid-April arrives I can usually do a final mow and then settle back on my laurels late September or sometimes even mid October before I have to launch into the grass mowing activity once again.  But there's no rest just because the grass has stopped growing.  Once I've completed the final mow of Autumn, I have to start cutting into usable lengths all the fallen branches and trees that have accumulated since last winter.  The chain saw will run hot for a couple of weeks.  I also have to get the brush cutter out and slash back around the dam face and into the thickets in and around the trees.  This year the blackberry has reared its ugly head once more so that will mean lots of mean and nasty slashing and in some places a bit of blackberry poison to try to halt its progress.  I probably should have done it a lot sooner than this but the blackberry crop was great and I was just happy to snack on the berries during my afternoon walk around the property.