Beautiful Birdsong...

Two jobs off the "to do" list around home.

Today, Monday is my weekly day off. I slept in a little then dug a patch of ground. It was meant to have some yams, but I think most have rotted. It was very wet, so each shovel load was quite heavy. As well as this, I chopped up a big branch that I had taken off a tree. It is now drying and part of next year's fire wood collection. It was a good day off apart from some phone calls to deal with. There is something about getting into my vegetable garden area. We are surrounded by bush and I feel like I am in a different world than my normal tension filled existence. The trees, the hens, the goats and the paddocks all transport me away from work issues. Even the repetitive physical digging seems a boost. I set myself goals... "Before morning tea I will have..." and just work slowly toward them.

Beautiful Bird song

My rhythm for digging is to first cut segments with a spade. Then dig a row with the shovel, pause to rest at the end of the row, then pick up the spade and cut the next row. During the pause at the end of each row, I look around and take in my surroundings. I had a pair of wood pigeons flying backward and forward among the trees. You could hear the beat of their wings. They are great, they seem to land on a twig that you are sure will break under their weight, but it just bends as they land and springs back to hold them. They never seem to get it wrong. The place was so quiet that I could hear our two goats (Mary and Joseph) biting the grass in the paddock beside me. You could hear the grass being torn. But the thing that hit me time and again was the lovely bird song. In New Zealand we don't have many interesting animals. (which makes it very safe to wander the bush) But we do seem to have lots of birds. I ran/walked by forests in Poland. I listened for birds where ever I went on our big trip overseas, but I did not hear birdsong like we have here. Having been overseas, I think I appreciated it all the more. It is delightful, and a bit like an orchestra. One bird will set up a tune in one tree. Another adds a higher note on the other side of the paddock. Then there's a shrill tweeting that comes from a little bird high in the air, flying frantically, seeming to be suspended in mid- air, but still noisily adding to the symphony. After my digging I went on a bike ride, beside the Otago Harbour and it's busy road. But even then, above the noise of the cars and trucks, I heard the birds singing their evening chorus. If you are in New Zealand, take time to enjoy the birds. They are a precious gift, making fantastic music that cheers the soul, if you stop and listen.

Getting old...

I dug this very wet patch of ground. It was heavy to turn over and break up. Before we went away I had a sore back, something had "gone out" in it. Fortunately it came right and never troubled me on our holiday, even though I was lugging two heavy bags. But today, about four rows of digging from the end of the patch, my back started to hurt, something had changed in it. It was not just overworked muscle pain, it was the pain I had before. I was so near to finishing that I kept going. What is it? I used to be able to dig all day without such trouble? Not that long ago I remember turning over two patches of ground the size of today's one, with no adverse impacts, apart from tired muscles. But today I ended up having to dig out the pain killers the doctor had given me. I must be getting old! Am I going to be bugged by this weakened back for the rest of my life? The Desiderata advises us to "gracefully surrender the things of youth". It is obvious I am surrendering things. It takes me all night to do what I used to do all night! I dig this one patch of ground and my back hurts! I am a frequent flier at the toilet! My hair is grey and thinning! "Gracefully surrender the things of youth"??? There is nothing "graceful" about the way I am surrendering these things. I don't like it! I hate the limitation. I have so much to do and experience! I am "raging against the dying of the light" and I will continue to do so... sorry... someone else will have to do the graceful bit! ... bugger my back hurts!

Photos:

- Some of the trees next door. The birds must be building nests in them.

- Two plum trees laden with blossom in our back yard.

- Part of our back paddock with the surrounding trees and bush. See why I could never live in London?

- The patch I turned over at the cost of a sore back.