We are so blessed to live here, where our walks are so filled with wild gifts:-)

Last week, on Thursday morning in Kings Park, we heard a flock of rainbow bee-eaters. Somehow, during their annual gathering around Perth as they feed up before flying north to Asia for the winter, they call their bell-like calls as they fly and catch insects! Rob and I always respond to their calls, their shimmering little green bodies and bronze wings, with a joy, a happiness that rises from deep within.

On Sunday we were taking a rare cycle ride along the river and there was an even larger flock, ducking and diving in the air with the agility of dolphins in the water. And they were calling that same happy call that we’ve come to know so well. Soon they will be gone, and we won’t hear them again until next spring…

This morning, as we walked in Kings Park, I spied two large birds sitting on the top branches of a dead tree, gazing out across the river. They were too big to be crows or cockies – they were ospreys – Rob’s favourite birds (as well as sea eagles)! I touched him on the shoulder, gently so he wouldn’t make a noise, and pointed at the birds which we hadn’t seen for a couple of years in that spot. His response to them was the same as mine to albatrosses, especially wandering albatrosses – that intense happiness that eclipses all else.

What amazing wild gifts!

Our family is away this week – Jeanette and Christopher are holidaying in our south west; Elwyn and her boss are in India checking out some technologies for their work in London; Tristan, Blaine, Tom and Alythea are in New Zealand for a long-planned holiday (including some snow for Tom to throw as snow balls, hopefully).

Last week we made the most of everyone being in town, sharing fish and chips for tea on the foreshore at Matilda Bay with them all and my mother, then Rob and I babysitting Tom and Thea while Tris and Blaine had some much-needed time together before coming back for the night to our place. After breakfast on Saturday morning at our favourite cafe in Kings Park, Tris and Blaine took their children home to prepare for the birthday party that night – Tris’s 27th and Tom’s 2nd.

The party began with Rob and I, Jeanette and Christopher, Penny and Jo (Blaine’s parents), Peggy (Blaine’s grandmother), Nick and Dale (Blaines uncle and aunt), Taree and Zac (Blaine’s cousins) joining Tris, Blaine, Tom and Thea at the local park for a game of cricket. The rules were made up as we went along, especially when Tris hit the ball into the lake! Mostly the fun was interacting – a great way to meld the families:-) Then it was back to Tris and Blaine’s place for tea and birthday cake. Although we tried to include Elwyn via Jeanette’s laptop and the internet, the connection was flaky. So Rob and I left and headed back to our place where we were able to have a good chat with Elly – she showed us the dress she’s bought for the wedding party the following weekend, and chatted about her plans for India (one of her very favourite places).

And tonight they’ve all flown the coup!

Today is the 27th anniversary of Tristan surviving his birth. With me in danger of dying from pre-eclampsia and so finishing off the threat of death that Tristan was already under, 13th February 1980 was a very worrying day for Rob. But all’s well that ends well, and the emergency caesarean saved both our lives as well as delivering a very small (less than 2kg) but delightful little boy into Rob’s waiting arms!

Tristan soon learned to smile, and his signature laugh which we all love emerged loud and clear soon afterwards

So Happy Birthday Tristan!!!

Wendy (aka proud Mum)

To help us recover from a busy few weeks Rob and I moved onto Dusky Dolphin on Saturday and sailed to Rottnest, to one of our favourite bays, Porpoise Bay. The nice forecast was replaced with strong winds and seas from the northwest, giving us a grey, bumpy, difficult ride. But as we entered the bay all was peaceful and calm.

The first thing was a rest – me on the couch for a sleep and Rob in the cockpit for a quiet read. This included browsing through his log book. With the aid of a calculator he worked out:

    He has sailed 10,200 miles in Dusky Dolphin and our charter boat Blade Runner in Tassie;

    We have owned Dusky Dolphin for 2,400 days;

    In that time he has spent 530 days on board.

We were treated to one of most magic nights, sitting in the cockpit under the brilliant arc of the Milky Way. No swell so a beautiful sleep.

Friends (fellow sailors also moored in the bay) over for morning tea the next morning, lazy lunch, then a quiet motor sail back to the club over flat, sparkly seas.

Just what the doctor ordered (so to speak!).

This morning Jeanette and I sat with her drawing pad, talking about the work she’s doing on the Glastonbury website. True to her professional yet creative style, she’d drawn a flow chart of the way the site would work for the new section we are adding.

As she guided me through it, referring to her list of items we needed to discuss, I remembered the little girl she used to be. She’d always had such a clear idea of how things should be, a great sense of fairness underpinning all that she did. And she would always go to great lengths to make sure that things were done the right way by and for all those around her. So people have always trusted her.

She’s hasn’t changed, not one bit.

Thank heavens:-)

Wendy (aka Proud Mum)

I drove with precious cargo tonight. With Tristan away, working in the Abrolhos (using his geophysical gear to search for mass graves from the mutiny there), Blaine has been left in total care of Tom and Alythea. She had to work tonight so I drove my car over to their place, waited until the kids had woken from their sleeps, and drove them back to our place in Blaine’s car (because that had their car seats all set up).

Tom thought that it was most out of order that I came to pick him up and he wasn’t allowed to get in my car. However he finally worked out what I meant when I said “Mummy’s going to drive Grandma’s car and Grandma’s going to drive Mummy’s car.” So, with Blaine sitting in my car waving to her two lovely little ones, I gingerly drove off…They were very good. Tom pointing out cars, trucks, trains and lights, Alythea chewing her toys. It took an hour to get through rush hour traffic back to our place, so I was glad they were good!

It was a strange experience, sitting in that space that Tristan holds with such love and care. I got a strong sense of his world during that drive – the love and care we have all always showered on him is very much here. It’s very much like the love and care my father showered on me and my sisters…

At the gym today my trainer Sandie finished my session with a posture exercise – we’ve realised that I have work to do here. She stood me up against the wall, tummy tucked, shoulders back and head upright.

“Stay like that the rest of the day,” she instructed with a smile.

Suddenly I was 12 years old again. Standing against a wall with a book on my head that Grandpa was holding.

“Pull your tummy in, hold your shoulders back and your head high. Don’t let that book fall,” my grandfather was saying as he let go the book.

Had I always hidden from the world by keeping my head down and shoulders rounded? Did he see that? It dawned on me then that he had seen a lot about me even in my tender years that I was only just seeing now…

“Thanks Grandpa.” Sandie wondered at my grin of understanding.

It began on Friday 26th January – Elwyn’s 30th birthday. Tristan, Blaine, Alythea and Tom arrived for breakfast, filling the house with chatter and burbles including Tom’s increasingly coherent vocabulary. As well as Rob and I enjoying these unexpected gatherings, this house, which has seen our children grow up, seems more fulfilled too.

Rob and I gave Tom some breakfast while Tristan and Blaine walked around to the shops to buy theirs. Now that Alythea has finally settled into sleeping most nights so that the rest of them can sleep too, the whole family is much calmer and busy planning their year’s travels. This will include Tristan and Blaine having a long weekend in Melbourne…guess who will be taking care of Tom and Alythea? I’m thinking we might have to call for reinforcements…

Tristan and Tom gathered the wood they wanted from the back yard with help from Rob, Blaine and I chatted while Alythea had her sleep.

By mid morning I’d packed for Rob’s and my weekend sailing trip and we farewelled Tristan and his family before setting off for Fremantle Sailing Club. It was hot on the boat, so good to get moving on the water.

Rockingham was windy, but a hot eastlerly. We called Elwyn for her birthday. She sounded a bit lonely, but was going to Cambridge that day to look at some technology for her work, then having a birthday-cum-Australia-Day party with friends and fellow Aussies at a steak-house. So it was shaping up to be a good day. The snow had melted, although it was still dark.

After drinks on a friends boat we had sailing friends Kim and Annette over to Dusky Dolphin for a cold dinner (it was too hot to coock anything!). We watched the fireworks over Fremantle and Perth – very pretty – but they were nothing compared with “God’s” fireworks – lightening developing in the north and moving our way! We fired up the laptop and checked the radar web site – the lightening was moving southwest and would miss us, and the forecast was for nasty squalls around the lightening…Just in case we put out more anchor chain and set the anchor buddy (a heavy block of lead that weighs down the anchor chain). Kim and Annette went back to their boat to do the same. Fitful sleep with the wind and heat…

Saturday was still windy by cooler to start with. We took the dinghy ashore and met family friend Challis. She’s known the children for most of their lives, and has babysat them quite a bit. So we had lots to chat about over a slow breakfast. Back to the dinghy and waves were breaking on the shore by now with the increasing wind. A wet start to the trip back turned worse as waves broke over the dinghy. By the time we reached Dusky Dolphin we were soaked, much to the amusement of a fellow sailor!

Dry clothes on, fresh water to wash out the saltwater taste, and we left that bouncy anchorage for Woodman Point. This was hot but flat, so some boat tidying could be done – hang out the dripping clothes, have some lunch and a quiet read, then watch the other yachts arrive late in the day. The last was our cruising leader, Rob Hills. His propellor was not working properly, so he sailed in and anchored under sail in the dusk. We were most impressed, as we had taken an hour to anchor in broad daylight – actually that was 4 or 5 goes at anchoring till we found a spot where the anchor would hold!

The evening was cooler so we enjoyed a barbecue while watching an amazing sunset out to the west, around a huge thunder cloud. Just in case a thunderstorm came our way Rob went forward to set the anchor buddy while I stayed at the wheel. This time he somehow caught his finger in the chain as it paid out, the heavy weight pulling it. “Wendy bring some bandaids!” he called back, holding a ahnkie to his hand. I jumped below, grabbed the first aid bag then rushed forward, my mouth dry as I thought of what injury I might find. Rob held out a finger, dripping red. I dried it then wrapped a bandaid around it, tight. “I’ll do the rest,” I told him. So Rob instructed me how to tie off the anchor buddy and make it ship shape.

He managed to cook the meat on the barbecue but I did the dishes.

After all that it was a quiet evening – the thunder storms went elsewhere. It even looked as if we might get some sleep until a party started up ashore about 11pm. The music was deafening! It finished at 2am, by which time I had suggested we might up anchor and sail back to the club just to get some peace.

So quiet start on Sunday, our 36th wedding anniversary, then morning tea on Frank and Lucinda’s boat. Now that they are both retired they are really enjoying the time together – nice to see. Cold lunch to try to beat the heat. It had been at least this hot on our wedding day, when Rob wore a tuxedo and I a crystal nylon wedding dress. At least we could just wear shorts and tee shorts today!

Motored the boat back to the club, did minimal cleanup (Rob being very careful not to further damage his very sore finger) then off home to the airconditioning. It had been great to catch up with friends and live under the sky, but we were both suffering from heat sickness so glad to be in the cool.

Sailing north to the tropics does not appeal…our forthcoming sailing trip in Scotland does!

PS Elwyn sent us an award-winnable photo from England…

– Fireworks,  Lightning, Sunset, a Comet, and the greatest of Aussie icons, the Beach all in one image.

In addition to the obvious features in the photo, look between the two displays of lighting up the sky to see the third – McNaught’s Comet. The photo was taken just north of Hillary’s Marina, which you can see the harbour wall on the left with fireworks being launched.

Tonight Rob and I finally saw the Comet McNaught!

Last Wednesday Rob suggested we go out for dinner at a cafe at Cottesloe Beach. “What a wonderful idea,” I replied.

We enjoyed a meal together, watching the sun dip towards the horizon and making a simmering pathway across the sea towards us. Rob said we needed to be outside by sunset as he had arranged a surprise…what could that be?

At sunset we were standing on the deck, along with growing numbers of other people, gazing towards the horizon. It was a magic sunset, the colours reflected in the clouds streaming from the western sky. Once the colour had gone and Rob still seemed to be waiting, I asked if it was time to go. Then he asked me if I had noticed all the other people there. Well, sort of, but I had thought they were just enjoying the sunset as I was. Then he asked if I had seen anything in the paper that morning that would give me a clue about this “surprise”. I often don’t see the paper so “No…”

“The Comet McNaught is in the southwest sky at sunset. It won’t be this close for another 42 million years!” he explained. So we stayed for a while, but the clouds on the horizon must have been blocking our view. We went home…

Two nights later, we were babysitting Tom and Alythea while Tristan and Blaine had some much-needed time to themselves, and Christopher called after we had finally put the 2 little people to bed. “The Comet’s really clear in the southwest sky!” Rob was doing the dishes so suggested I go and see where I could see it from then come back and tell him so he could go and have a look. So I raced around the corner but there were too many buildings; I raced over the nearby Rosalie Oval but there were too many trees (not a common sentiment for me). I raced home, sad that I could not find it for Rob to enjoy. As soon as I came in the door Rob was a little terse – within 10 seconds of me leaving both children had woken. He had had to make up a bottle to try to give Alythea, and had to calm Tom down as well. Of course once I got back all was quiet. So no comet that night. I went to bed thinking that it just was not to be.

During the next day I thought that we could climb the DNA tower in Kings park that evening, as we wouldn’t be babysitting. We HAD to be able to see it from there! So after dinner we duly drove up the hill and parked, along with lots of other people. As we climbed towards the top of the tower we heard “Hi Mum and Dad!” from…Jeanette! She and Christopher were watching a Shakespeare play over the road and had come to see the comet again during the interval. We kept on going up and from the top of the tower we gazed at the western sky, the sunlight still a golden glow although the sun was long set. Against a backdrop of the dusk sky above was…

* The Comet McNaught – a bright star with the long tail drifting upwards into the twilight, and created by the solar winds because the comet was heading towards the sun.

* The new moon, a goldy-silvery crescent in the mauve of the sky.

* The planet Venus, a brilliant star just above the moon.

Pure, absolute joy!!!

This morning we heard a group of rainbow bee-eaters in Bold Park – the groups are getting bigger… And a hawk was keeping a very close eye on them as the small birds of prey do each year around the Gathering time…