Last year we planted Roger’s memorial garden. No he hasn’t succumbed and is well and truly alive and kicking but he wanted a say in what and where was going to be his final resting place and what plants would surround him. Hibiscus featured strongly. Not the reds, although we have since bought two that are in pots and just divine, but he wanted yellows. The colour of the sun. We were delighted by this flower as I think was the fly.
I made a decision on my return to blogging that I was not going to get involved with the writing and photo challenges that are there in abundance but after two weeks my resolve is weakening so today I am including this in Cee’s Flower of the Day. It would be easy, I thought, to perhaps choose three a week – a writing and a couple of photo challenges, that somehow fit in with what my week has been and include them in my weekly review. My post on autographs also resurrected the thought of My Times Past Challenge. I’ve always been interested in the generational differences and those caused by geography. I will mull that one over for a little longer.
This week has revolved around cars. Now that our garage is nice and tidy we could fit two cars in it. We have been living with one car for a couple of years now and coping nicely however there is just that odd time when having a second car would have made life easier. I also hate relying on friends to pick me up and take me places and now Roger is recovering from the second round of chemo he is more likely to want to use the car more often so we bought a cheap Subaru Forester. Not only did we get this car we got Roger’s nephew’s campervan which now sits outside my office window. The van had been put into storage Jan 2020 with the plan being that it would be driven back to WA the following Christmas and then sold in WA where it was registered. Due to COVID our nephew has not been able to get into Australia (I’m sure you’ve all heard about our boarder restrictions). We have now paid more storage fees than the van was worth so we decided that we would bring it here and park it in our front garden until such time as he can return. In a matter of days we have gone from 1 car to 3.
We had a little bit of excitement one day in the dog park. I am always aware that snakes are around. I saw a red belly black a couple of weeks ago and so I am wary of the long grass. Wednesday Monty knew this one was there and went up to investigate. Being a python it wouldn’t have hurt him but I’d much prefer he left snakes alone and I certainly didn’t want him to hurt it. Luckily he responded to my Banshee scream and I got both dogs on a lead and then took some photos.
I took the dogs back to the car and when Roger didn’t turn up I returned to find Roger attempting to fight off a crow that saw the snake as supper. He told me that the crow had had the snake tail a couple of times but Roger had managed to get it off. Apparently they take them by the tail and drop them from a height onto rocks or something hard then flip them over for their meal. Roger eventually shepherded the snake to some dense bush where he thought he would be safe. I wonder if the snake will remember Roger’s good deed or whether indeed it even realised how close it had come to being dinner.
I also joined in a zoom call with some other bloggers. It would have been a lot of fun except that I joined as they were leaving. I hadn’t realised that the 10am was daylight saving time which Queenslanders refuse to have, keeping the same time year round. It meant that I was an hour late. Still I got to meet some fellow bloggers in the flesh so to speak. Nice putting a face and a voice to those you chat with in comments and we are going to try again which I look forward to joining at the right time.
You can probably gather it was a quiet week for us but I have to say that I appreciate not having any drama occurring. It gives me time to recharge my batteries. That’s about it for me. How was your week?
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
I think the snake provided all the drama you needed this week, Irene. I, too, appreciate snakes and am fascinated with their anatomy and life cycle. I have a healthy respect for them but don’t run off screaming when I see one. My son once had about ten of them as pets!
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I don’t know that I would have one as a pet let alone 10 of them but if you don’t do the wrong thing on the whole you are quite safe. I am more worried about the dogs as they are both quite inquisitive and I fear damage to snake and the dogs also.
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We also had three dogs at the time – but they were limited to the ground floor, all snakes on the second. My son’s two lizards lived on the ground floor! His biggest snake, a ball python named Anna, was a sweet snake. We often cuddled with her and when we lost power during a prolonged ice storm, with the resulting no heat, we put her in a pillowcase and she slept with us!
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what a wonderful story Noelle. I love that vision of you sleeping with the snake. We have a lot of water dragons that I consider pets of a kind but they are wild and they do live outside and are constantly running for their lives from the dogs (unfortunately) but when cornered they just dive in the pool where they know they are safe. I fish them out later.
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I made the same decision as well, when I returned to myself blogging, in regards to writing prompts and photo challenges. Beautiful flower.
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Thanks Tena. Did you keep up that resolve?
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Yes, so far I’ve managed to stay away from those kind of challenges😃. Mainly just been doing regular blog challenges.
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I’ll be selective but I can see them weaving their way in. I just won’t increase the frequency of blogging until I know I can manage this amount. 😀
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Ha-Ha…Now that I haven’t been so successful with😅. Started out (upon return) saying I wasn’t going to blog as much as before – just sort of here & there, then turned around a short time later with intention of doing a “daily thoughts” blog -yeah that didn’t work out for me (either one). I am putting less pressure on myself for blogging, or trying to – Yes I’m blogging more than expected but take it day by day, blog by blog or rather blog challenge by blog challenge…or at least I try to.
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LOL. That’ll be me for sure.
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I adore your yellow hibiscus. 😀 I’m so glad to have met you “in person” so to speak. I know it was a highlight in my week as well.
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Thanks Cee. Yes it is glorious. Lovely meeting you also. I’ll be on time next time. LOL
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Not much drama here, either, which is always a relief!
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That’s good Becky. It is nice to have a a week where there isn’t drama.
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Yes, really!
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Snakes are high drama in most places, but I love that Roger is the Snake Whisperer.
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He’ll like that.
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