The rain came down

We live in a very dry continent of Australia, and in a very dry corner of it, in Perth in Western Australia. This week, though, we have had lovely, soaking rain for days -the kind of rain I remember from when I was a teenager and the winters were a lot wetter than they are now. Perth has lost on average almost half of its average yearly rainfall in the last 50 years. 

DH and I took the opportunity to visit the lovely Lesmurdie Falls yesterday to see the waterfall. It was so good to see it in full spate. 

The little river was running, and all the trees were happily soaking up the rain.

Our bushland is incredibly well adapted to take advantage of good seasons -roots store rain, leaves are adapted to prevent transpiration on hot days, seed beds lie dormant for long periods of time to suddenly come to life after a rain shower or even a bushfire.

As we all adapt to our current pandemic and climate realities, we all need to learn to be as resilient as our bushland, and take advantage of each season and the opportunities they offer. 

The rain made it hard for me to get out and do things in the garden so I tried to make good use of my time in getting the walking foot on the sewing machine and doing some quilting on my garden quilt. This is the picture of the quilt I am currently working on, with my 1954 Singer 306K ready to go to work. She is a grand old machine. 

My garden is looking good though. There are a few asparagus spears poking their heads out, the rhubarb is growing again, the snow peas are ready for snacking on in the garden. I am very pleased with the speed of making compost, now that I have my garden shredder machine to pulverize everything. I am getting a bin of compost in about 5 weeks and so can spread all that lovely goodness around my favourite trees more frequently. We are eating our home grown pumpkin -I made a lovely Sri Lankan pumpkin curry from Annabelle Crab the other night to take to a dinner of friends. 

I have also been active with my local choir, as I am part of the committee, as we negotiate the path towards starting to sing together again -very carefully and with good medical advice.  

We can do these things because Western Australia has no community transmission of the virus at present -and so long as nothing goes wrong we can move about fairly freely. I do feel very much for the people of Melbourne, back on lock down as the virus has been spreading there. I hope they can get it back under control soon. We love Melbourne, and used to live there, and want to go back to visit...hopefully one day not too far away.

If your situation is difficult, I hope you can be like the plants of the South West, and take advantage of the season. 

Meanwhile, here are some good ideas for simple living. The author does not own their home, so they are particularly good for renters. Check out the resources for living simply even when renting