Progress

I am determined to have this cat keeping me proper company soon. S/he runs away when I come near, but used to only sleep at the very back of the garden. I take this as a sign of progress. I think I may have to break out the cream bribes.

(Note the change in weed density from below)

Not your friendly northern hemisphere weeds

Look at the thorns on this baby.

(Note: I recommend clicking on this on the picture for full effect)

It's a jungle out there!

(I've got a bit of a backlog with the photos, so this is a bit out of date)

It rained a lot while I was gone and this was my backyard when I got back. The grass roots were very tenacious and it is really a vine, so the effect of my weeding is rapidly fading.

I also need to start composting...

Spelling

One scary aspect of this move is that Aussies follow British spelling conventions. Many of you who read this may not know this about me, but spelling is VERY hard for me. It devastated my grades in elementary school and I have traumatic memories of NEVER getting words right. I remember a time in 5th grade (Mrs Rose's class) where we were studying ei vs ie and had "their" on our spelling test. I actually managed to spell it correctly that first test, but many other people didn't. So Mrs Rose announced that it would appear on every spelling test until the entire class got it correct. I spelled it incorrectly many, many more times than anyone else in the class.... To make matters worse, spelling quizzes were graded by passing them on to our peers, so each time, someone in the class knew it was me that was the one to keep it on our test... Mortifying!

With the help of spell check (I still study carefully where I went wrong as the computer offers the correct solution), I have learned to spell well, but it takes intense concentration and I can't always be sure that I am correct. Having all of these "misspelled" words around me is eroding my confidence in my eye! In the same way that I have a far more flexible attitude about time (I carry multiple hours, days and seasons around in my head simultaneously) I have to have a flexible stance towards spelling. And that is NOT GOOD.

Effin' Sydney drivers!

I almost got hit twice today on my short walk to work. I was never in any real danger, but it was scary. Both times drivers of utes (a pickup truck with no sides--never hear of the name in the US but are popular here) were driving erratically because they were clearly changing their mind about how to respond to whatever traffic pattern they were facing. Both totally ignored the fact that I was crossing in front of their path as they accelerated suddenly towards me.

Now, in my mind, no matter what the formal right of way conventions are, when you are driving in such a way that it is not easy to read, it is incumbent upon you to give way to everyone and everything, since people around you cannot be expected to stay out of your way since your way is difficult/impossible to predict. But this is obviously not so in the Sydney driver's mind! In general it is scary how little right of way the pedestrian has here, but both of these cases seemed really beyond the pale.

UPDATE: I corrected the misspelling. Sigh. At least I was able to figure out the correct spelling without looking it up.....

Skinks

While I have my mind on the local fauna, the lizards in my backyard are skinks, a very common type of lizard. They eat bugs and are good to have around.

Spider update

I've decided that the spider in my mailbox is a Huntsman spider, whose bite is not a big deal (at least by Australian standards). It was certainly not a funnel web, which are the ones that can kill you. I feel much better.