My Year of living not so dangerously

So it seems I got out of the habit of blogging. It’s been a year – a year of hanging around Rancho Relaxo and loving every moment of it.

There’s still been gardening to be done, an aging body to contend with and pets to pamper. But I’ve become more and more passionate about painting. I suggested to Ruprecht that I give up the website and he, wise beyond his decades, said I should include my paintings into “Mugrat’s Garden”. Not such a silly idea as my garden is my inspiration for my painting. So a revamp to my website is in order! (As I sit here in the sun on the deck I am watching the blackbird throw seed around as it eats off the feeder and fairy wrens exploring our morning tea spot for crumbs…..sorry squirrel moment.)

So paintings and my garden, intertwined like the weeds and plants I have just dealt with. My paintings are colourful – sometimes the right colour – and some are a bit abstract – purple lizard, blue kookaburra. The two I am sharing today are my blue and yellow frog and my green pademelon, both with a story behind them.

Amy Pond has flourished for a few years now. After the brief attempt to stock her with fish (the heron, hawk and shag were extremely grateful) the frogs have claimed her as their own. We know we have 3 different species from the three different croaks. It is thick with tadpoles at various times of the year, and some are little fatties. What we didn’t know was that the deep guttural burp calls and the tubby taddies were Green and Gold Growling Frogs until we saw one sunning itself on Rory Island.

They are beautiful big frogs (8-9 cm long) that can be found in Shearwater area but not as frequent here, just a few kilometres back from the beach. Seeing it on the rock, basking in the sun, enjoying our pond was one of the many magic moments here.

We have somehow attracted pademelons into the garden. We don’t know how they get in but get in they do, and one or two have stayed.

Initially it was a dangerous move for them to make. Karva, in his mission to save his designated human from destruction, mistook them for fur covered Daleks and chased them off. Fortunately Karva is more attached to treats than his designated human and after some fairly major training, the paddie and Karva co-habit nicely. Paddie will appear on the lawn and munch away on our obviously juicy grass. We can be on the deck and it doesn’t care. Karva just sleeps on the deck, not caring. Saxon just sleeps on the deck, not knowing. Sammi just sleeps on the deck, not caring.

We’ve even had 2 at once but that is extremely rare. We see (or rather hear bounding away) it in the strangest places. My favourite was when I went into the fenced veggie patch and Paddie was staring at me through the mesh on the other side of the fence. We had a moment as we both marvelled at our chance encounter, then he bounded off, the tell-tale thump of the tail as he heads for cover.

So Dear Reader, I’m back. More antics from Rancho Relaxo to come. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here for over 10 years. The work we did 10 years ago will never be replicated. An hour a day weeding and pruning is about all the body can manage now. Fortunately RR is behaving itself and regular maintenance is all that it needs. Ruprecht would love to more heavy pruning and culling, but life’s a bitch.

I can’t finish without commenting on how random the weather has been this year. Late May and I am on the deck in glorious sunshine. The autumn leaves have finally done their thing, leaving a beautiful blanket of leaves on the grass, but we also have Strelitzias flowering. The part of me that enjoys snuggling in front of the fire and dragging out the winter woollies is less than impressed!