Dereel Spokes Newsletter

By Mudguts

Well, Winter arrived with a vengeance. Freezing cold winds and rain… and rain.  Full tanks, full dam. It’s painful to see water running out of the overflows of the tanks. Should I have more? If I do, will they fill up? Depends on “El Nino”.   Well, the last two months, “El Nino” has ‘El Wento.”

The Maggies and Kooka’s must think it’s “Christmas in July.” All those worms sticking their heads up for air from the soggy ground. Bang, you’re gone!  Protein for the birds.

I don’t mind the cold. You can always put on another layer of clothing or put another log on the fire and I can creep into a warm bed thanks to “Mrs Sunbeam.”

Hey, it seemed not too long ago we were moaning how hot and how dry it was. If present conditions carry on we will be whinging that we’ve had too much rain. We are never happy with the weather.  The wind tho…hate it. Blows through you. Not only that, the last time it snowed – horizontally – the wind blew that hard I had one huge branch and two trees come down. It must be Murphy’s Law. On 5 acres of ground, they all managed to fall over a fence.  Oh well, compulsive fire wood.

Winter – trees, vines and shrubs have lost their leaves and stand stark and bare.  To offset that, Greviillea, Rosemary, Lavender and Violets bloom. It’s fascinating to watch the Eastern Spinebill hover above a flower, its wings a blur as it extracts the nectar. All the bulbs are pushing up from what looked like bare ground.  The Jonquils are blooming and the first of my Daffodils have bloomed like a burst of yellow sunshine against our black skies. Freesias and other bulbs whose names I know not are breaking out. In a few weeks, the once-bare garden will be a riot of colour and fragrances. The Daphne is blooming and will add to the heady aromas. The Boronia will follow on.

Hey, Winter in Dereel ain’t that bad. Especially if you see the snow drifting down. The cold is worth it. The planet, they say, “is warming”. Enjoy it. Though “the Boss” reckons they have moved Antarctica closer to Ballarat.

Rejoice! In amongst the cold and wet we have had  a couple of good days: clear skies, no wind and that funny yellow stuff. Sunshine! Temperatures above average.  At the same time, we had a full moon.  I walked out to the garage to get another tinny from the beer fridge and the moon shone through the branches of a tree. Its bare branches were like hands reaching towards the moon.  What were they saying?  “Embrace me!” or “I’m cold. Why aren’t you the sun?”

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