Cool Friday Evening

I will miss our trees and the birdlife here.  I love hearing the birds come down to roost every evening.  They screech and squawk and flap their feathers till they're comfy on whatever branch they've chosen for the night, and then it falls quiet.  Not silent, because every so often you will hear little squeaks and cheeps from those who may still be jostling for the best possy in the tree.

We have friendly magpies who come into the yard aren't scared of us at all, which in turn scares me because not everyone they may encounter will be animal lovers like we are.  Strangely, they're all named Errol and they look at you when you call them that.  Scout is funny.  He will spot one and get down into stalking position, but then not know quite what to do after that, he just kind of freezes in pre pounce till the bird gets bored and flies off.  Harley is another matter, she is a great huntress, although not so keen or energetic now she is desexed and a bit older.  She'll be four in August!
The leaves are all falling now of course, we're six weeks into Autumn, and the little tree outside my bedroom window here is becoming more bare every day.  I am looking forward to improving the garden in the new house, it won't take much to make it look nice.  I drove by today and there is a fairly big rose bush by the front entrance, I might plant some more below the verandah wall along the front. 
My herb garden here is reviving after the Summer heat, I have new parsley growing and my coriander which is in a long pot.  The basil is growing really well now, but I'm not sad to leave it behind, it's good karma I reckon, we leave every house better than we found it and this one is no exception.  I'll plant new gardens up there and we'll have the chooks in an enclosed yard this time, still plenty of room for them, we're only getting three this time, but they won't be able to demolish the garden like our six girls did in Junee.  We were on a huge block there and they had the run of the back and front yards.  They were very happy, contented hens and we had so many eggs we had trouble even giving them away sometimes.  And they were such characters, we loved them a lot and they gave us a lot of fun.  We gave them away to a good home when I decided I wanted to have a garden again, but we missed them.  The lady we gave them to used to come and bring us their eggs sometimes.
Yesterday, I drove to Wagga, I wanted to get my sister a little something for her birthday next week.  I also had to get Josh a navy blue hoodie for school, something you'd think was easy to find but not so here or in Young.  I got him one at K Mart and he loves it, might get anothery next time I go up there.  Got my hair cut at JustCuts, I've never had a bad haircut from there and I think I will stick to them now that my hairdresser has sold her salon.  Not sure about the colouring for me and Em but we'll figure it out.
I lay byed Kate's birthday present.  I wanted to get her a birthstone ring.  I love to give my girls jewellery, and while Emily loves it, Kate is less keen, although she really liked the K pendant I got her for Christmas year before last and the simple gold bracelet I got her for her birthday.  The ring is a heart shaped sapphire with two little diamonds on each side, very simple and pretty, I hope she likes it.
After the Christmas debacle I'm all for planning WAY ahead these days, just like I used to.  Phill leaves everything to the last minute with not so pleasant results.
Today we went for lunch to the Thai restaurant which we thought had closed along with the pub it's attached to.  But the pub is being rejuvenated and the restaurant is operating as in the old days.  The food was okay, I hate to say that I can make better chicken satay sticks and fried rice, but Phill ordered salt and pepper tentacles (????) and they were pub standard.  I got lemon grass chicken and it was very good, very good.  Again we were the only ones there for our whole meal, but as we left other people started coming in.  I'm glad I thought it was us after the same thing happened at the Country Club last week.
I could smell smoke, so I went out onto the front verandah.  It's so quiet, and still and cool out there.  Phills says it's the farmers burning off their stubble at night when the air is still.  I hope that doesn't mean the stubble on their faces or there could be a few red faces in the morning!