Well, not as such – no one is in danger or trouble – although I don’t know about trouble. Most of the posts that are arriving in my inbox are being deleted, sent to trash or sent to spam – mostly spam. I do not know why this is happening but I have lost much of the posts that have been sent. I thought you had just stopped writing – at least to me – and I didn’t know the posts were being hived off elsewhere. I have sent messages to WordPress.com, but no reply as yet. So please understand that if I don’t comment or reply, I am not ignoring you – I may not have your post.
Having had lunch at the Tin Man, we had a bit of a walk before going back to the car and heading off to Port Augusta. He did his usual – curl up on the front seat and go to sleep – whilst I concentrated on the driving. On arrival at the Port I managed to complete the remainder of the shopping and we had a small snack and a good long walk along the Esplanade, sat down and had a bit of a break. Oddly enough, although it was quite warm in Port Pirie, Augusta was not quite so warm and instead of the A/C I put the heater on for a bit. The drive back was uneventful and as we neared the town, I noticed a cloud of dust. As I drew near to the source of the dust I discovered that it was caused by several of the Army Tanks heading towards the live-fire area. (more on this later) The boy and I had been away since about 8am and it was now approaching 4pm, so all in we had a good day out together, The Shopping Center at Pirie was really interesting and I would liked some time to explore it. I have a ‘thing’about shopping malls and centers and find them fascinating places. It probably comes from the fact that when we were growing up in Scotland there were no shopping malls or shopping centers. In fact there weren’t supermarkets until the mid 1970s – and they were few and far between. Most shopping was done in individual shops – Fishmongers – Fruit and Veg at the Green Grocer – Grocers,( butter, milk, cheese, bread ) Butcher, Baker and yes, we did have a Candlemaker. (Shearer of Govan) We had two big grocer shops close to us, Galbraith and the Co-op. There were probably others that I don’t remember. All-in-all, we had a really good day out – well I did, he just curled up on the front seat.
Flowers along the pathway at the Wetlands
On Friday, Annabell had medical appointments so not much doing. Saturday I spent the day working in the garden sweeping up leaves and doing a general tidy up. I bought two new plants and will attend to them on Monday. On Sunday (today), after church and lunch the boy and I got in
The Black Swans
the car and drove down to the Wetlands. Lovely day with a nice temperature of 25c, just the job for a circuit and a half together. Flowers out and to add to the day, the Black Swans were back again. The Kiosk is still not open. It was supposed to be open this week but there you are – perhaps next week.
This morning (Monday) was a bit on the cool side for our morning walk. Still it is supposed to be around 28c during the course of the day. A nice day in the Arid Lands. On the subject of Arid Lands, the Arid Lands Botanic Garden is under a cloud – re. funding. The ALBG was started many years ago as an initiative of the Port Augusta City Council, but with budget being “tight” the Port might not be able to keep the funding going for much longer. However, having read that I have to say the recent trip to Pirie showed me the amount of redevelopment going on in the port. The Feds and the State Government will start construction on the new major bridge soon. so there will be a fair amount of work at
Not too bad looking – but who minds as long as the coffee is good and it sells scones.
Port Augusta. I have started extra work in the back garden and have planted three new plants – two in the front garden and one (so far) in the back. The soil here is poor and thin so I do have three raised flower beds – two front and one back. They contain 280 ltrs of potting mix rather than soil. In the front I have a Plumbago and a Coleonema and at the back I have a second Coleonema. I also have a growing Sturt Desert Rose which I will plant in a different area. I have
Native Bush from the Arid Lands B.G.
a lot of hope for this because the native plants are growing well. I would like to get time this week to drive out to the ALBG but in order to do that I would have to leave Benji at home – and he wont like that. He does not like getting left – not at all. It’s bad enough when I have to go to away for days at a time.
Thursday and the wind died down at 10:30 only to start up again a short few hours later. The second stage was short lived and all was quite until the rain started and that has been going ever since. Because of the high winds battering the state with the resulting dust storms again, a health advice was issued, re asthma, Hay Fever and people with other respiratory concerns to be careful and stay indoors if possible. I’m still getting over my being sick. It took a fair whack out of me. I hate coughing and spluttering. runny eyes and nose – the coughing is irritating. The rain finally stopped at 7:40 last night, so about 6 hours of rain. I do hope this will help break the drought here in South Australia and perhaps give some relief to New South Wales and Queensland. Amazing – has been no rain to speak of in NSW for three years and four years ago we were all fighting floods.
5th Sept. Spring has sprung – the last two days have been lovely – warm with bright blue skies and white clouds – cool to cold in the early morning and evening. I think most people have a similar feeling, that whilst we welcome the warm weather, we are so glad to be over the constant high winds that have been a feature of the last few weeks. I believe that more than heat, the constant high winds of the last weeks have depressed a lot of people. Yesterday, when I went to the Shopping Mall, the place was very busy with lots of young(ish) mums, prams, pushers and babies, so perhaps we are leaving it all behind.
We’re Back!!! Did you miss us??
As of yesterday 4th. the 3000 strong 1st Brigade arrived back for Exercise Predator’s Run, 2018, which begins today. We have
The Wetland Kiosk
been pre-warned that live fire will be from 9am to midnight each day. They will be here until mid October, then there will be a break before the arrival of the Officer Cadets from the Royal Military Collage at Duntroon to complete their last exercise before the final exam and their Commission into the Australian Army. That should keep us on our toes for a while.
Went down the Wetlands this afternoon. One moment it was quiet next there were people and dogs everywhere. Decided to head for the beach instead. Good move as the place was deserted. We had a good walk along the beach for a fair bit, then turned and came back again. By then is was just about 4pm, so time to head for home The Kiosk at the Wetlands is looking fairly good and should be ready for business shortly.
Today (Thursday) the Boy and I left home at 7:45 and header for Port Pirie. Generally I would stop for coffee on the way through but not today. Although we did stop to have a break and stretch the legs for a bit, but otherwise -170 klms right through to PP. Once there and parked the car, I checked the time, set my timer , locked the car and set off to get the things I had come for. I got half of my shopping and headed back to the car just as my alarm went off. I stick the things in the boot, closed the windows and turned on the A/C for a bit to re-cool the car. After a while I reset my alarm for 15 minutes and went back into the mall to get the rest of the things I wanted. Back to the car. I was intending to go back again and get some food but although Benji was fine, he felt a bit on the warm side for my liking, so I decided that was it. and we drove back to the main highway. We did stop at the Tin Man Roadhouse and he was cool enough for lunch ( what am I saying — he’s always “cool enough” for lunch) so we stayed there for a bit to cool down and have some food.
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