THE LAST DAY OF WINTER 2010

Posted by nellibell49 on August 31, 2010 · 1 Comment

AN IDLE ROAM.

http://nellibellingen.wordpress.com/

NEIL WHITFIELD, my first real blogging encounter, is re-locating to West Wollongong. I had not ever been there till early this year with Izzy whose academic years were spent at UOW. NEIL’S SECOND DECADE.

Let’s take a look at this Winter. June, July and August. Hmm. This morning the mists were down and Bali the Brown Dog was out front early. All dogs were out and about during the night and Scoob the little dog is dirty and shamefaced.

THE WINTER OF 2010.

	Down here at the Coast, we had a July frost. I saw only the one although there might have been light ones for the early risers. Up in Armidale on the New England, it went as low as –12 degrees in July. The garlic had been taken in by the time of the frost and the citrus fruits were sweet and abundant. Next door they have lemonade trees and I have been drinking them with new life water. Seems to be a catbird in there as well and I know there is a Jabiru.
	I took a trip to Macksville, one Wednesday. 34.4 kms, so they tell me, from Raleigh to Macksville.
	My winter has featured BIRDS. A lot of birds. A lot of different kinds of birds. Its had me posting photographs and asking about the species. This black one is a Satin Bowerbird. Now, I was under the illusion that they were elusive and timid but here there are masses of them. At least 3 males and 10 or more females – all aggressive and squabbling and shrieking. So much for my delusions of the romantic bower bird secreting pieces of blue in some hidden nest.
	Much of the Winter has been taken up in Bellingen Shopping with my daughter and her little lady. Bellingen is a one street shopping centre. Up one side and down the other, with one side street of cafes. Its almost a meditation walk for me with the Maclaren Pusher. Up one side and down the other. 3 generations of women from one family. On this last day of Winter, 2010, a Winter which has certainly blued with the chilled winds of our own personal ice floes, I have a hose out and am washing the concrete verandahs where the chooks and horses have been and am waiting for visitors to come.
	I have , of course, been sharing a child’s first Winter and now Springtime is coming. Dresses and sand and lagoons – for the very first time. I have other little girls to show things to, as well. Haven’t had much chance this year and I miss them. I do believe that only one of them has seen a flathead. We need poncho towels and thongs. We also need a caravan as spare room. We have tents but – the caravan would be a far, far better thing to do than anything I have done before. Better, even, than the Main House at Bilambil. Possibly. Its going to be a hard act to follow. There we had our own Old Gentleman, large heart shaped pool and tennis court.
	Here, we have the things of the Valley, the Beach, the River and the Towns. We have verandahs all around and flat land where children can play. We have gardens to plant and trees where we can hang swings. The nearest shop is at the Raleigh Tip – the Ecohouse. When the Spring time comes, we can go there and look for things we need. Books and Toys and planks of wood. Me, I want a claw bathtub out the back, near the laundry tubs. They say there’s a black snake living out there at the moment, just behind the big shed. They saw it sunning itself.
	It has been a Winter of horses. My own favourite is this one. He comes a-visiting from time to time and stays a week or two eating coastal grasses. I know little about horses but a recent trip to the now almost defunct Brigalow caravan park reminded me of Old Tom who lived there when I did in the 1990s. He still does, so I am told, down in his little corner of the world on the riverbank. I saw him once with a horse. I think he was the original Horse Whisperer. It was a beautiful thing to watch. He carved from bone and rode a big white motorbike.
	We did one trip to Armidale during the Winter. I waited until I was hearing no whispers of –12degrees or ice on the inside of the windows. Then we went a-visiting for a couple of days. We went to the movies and laughed and talked, and talked and laughed- about it all again. There seems to be a new coach service doing the Bello-Armidale run and I will be looking at taking a ride on it. After years of travelling on public transport, I am now often a Starwagon passenger. Each method of locomotion has its points – but I do like my coaches and trains and planes. I wonder whether they will still have a movie on the journey.
	Winter saw us at the Bellingen Markets. A new normal is forming. 2nd and 4th Saturdays are Growers’ markets in North Bello. They are small and communal and friendly. 3rd Saturday is Bellingen Community Markets. They are HUGE. We meet up with the Maclaren Girls and do our Saturday mornings. Clothes and books and food and music and people. Seem to be rather a lot of little fairy people as well and a wonderful face painter. And my favourite young band HEART TRIBE. http://www.myspace.com/heartribe
	The Bellingen Winter. Well its almost done and we begin the Springtime. The magnolias are in flower. My mind is turning to the Urunga Sea Lido and the beaches. I don’t know what Springtime is going to bring. I know there is one sad element in it. Two, indeed. It seems to be enabling me to walk within each day and grasp sanity. Someplace in this Return is a ferocity of purpose. A gnarly ancient tree ferocity. A deep rooting sturdiness. I watched a grandmother slowly building a rock garden yesterday. One rock at a time. She could be crazy or she could be granitically wise. Wise, so methinks.