Save Our Rivers

Love Is About...

Inspired by Spring

Lines Written in Early Spring

By William Wordsworth (1798)

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:--

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

Freesias (and other flowers) in our front garden - near the Silver Birch tree.

SPRING - IT'S HERE

DAFFODILS

I wandered lonely as a cloud


That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine


And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line


Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.




The waves beside them danced, but they


Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought


What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie


In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye


Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils. [& Magnolias]

.....by William Wordsworth

Thought For Today

There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to

accept,things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and

people (&pets) we can’t live without but have to let go.

…Author Unknown …

First meeting in 2001

FAREWELL OUR FAITHFUL PET

MUFFETT b. 2000 - d. 25 Aug 2010 7.15pm

Sadly last night we had to say goodbye to our dear little Shitzhu-Maltese X dog who has been a big part of our family since 2000.

Muffett has now been reunited with his best mate of 7 years, Rusky (in all of the following photos with him).

I know he is now romping around in heaven with Rusky, Boots & Squizzy and suffering no more pain.

RIP Our Muffy-Man.

TWO HECTIC WEEKS - DRAMAS GALORE

Today some normality returned to our household, my son Mark went back to his piano lessons with my cousin Jack.

This has been after a rather scary, disjointed and hectic couple of weeks.

Five days after Mark got out of hospital he was driving in Wantirna Rd, Ringwood when a woman driving in the opposite direction decided to make a right hand turn, ostensibly in front of him, but instead she collided with my car (which Mark was driving). She wiped out the entire driver’s side of my car and because Mark had, at a seconds notice, tried to avoid her he had also collided with the gutter and then a light pole on the left hand side of the road. Mark was trapped in the car for some time until the ambulance officers checked him out and found that, though sore and a little bruised, he was okay – thank you God!

The woman, who had two small children in her car, was screaming at Mark that he had hit her but the Police, who also attended the accident, after investigation, told Mark he was totally in the clear because he was going straight ahead and the woman was supposed to give way to him. It must have been very scary for her children though and I was very happy to hear that they were not harmed.

Of course, as is usual after having your car written off there is all the drama of getting everything out of my poor battered “Nellie” the next day at the towing company’s yard. First though we had to make our way to Budget Car Hire, Croydon (courtesy of our wonderful friends at Budget who picked us up) to get a hire car so we could get around. Payment for this is covered in my comprehensive insurance thank goodness.

Then it was time to spend hours and hours trawling through Car Sale websites on the computer and then to visit used car yards in our area to try and find a replacement car for our family.

On the second or third day we found another car, a Ford Fairmont again, of course, and a year younger than my lovely “Nellie” had been. But this was not the end of the drama, how could I ever have thought it would be that easy?? Our insurance company had a few problems, one of which was misplacing “Nellie” at their yard, so an assessment couldn’t be done. After many (some rather terse) phone calls and almost two weeks later they found “Nellie”, did the assessment and I finally got my money to pay for my new car which Kilsyth Kars had very kindly held on to for me whilst the RACV got their act together.

Below: "Nellie" in Oct 2009

A few days after the accident Mark developed a really bad dose of the flu, poor darling, he was pretty miserable for about a week. They say these things happen in threes, so there was No.3!

That’s not the end of our dramas though – last Saturday our 10 year old dog, Muffett, had some severe, painful problems with his legs again and my middle daughter, Diane, had to take him to the vets. Long story short is that he has now moved in with Diane & her cats, as we didn’t have anywhere here to confine him for two weeks as the vet said had to be done. He will probably now live out the rest of his life with Diane and her cats, Marmalade & Tiger for company.

Above: Tiger & Marmalade

Below: Muffett

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE FOR TODAY

MY VERY SPECIAL POPPA -

Leslie Frankland STRINGER

b. 16 Aug 1896 at Ballarat East, Victoria, Australia

d. 21 Feb 1985 at Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia

BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS

To celebrate the homecoming yesterday evening of my darling son from hospital I thought I would share some of our glorious camellias, (and a pretty little geranium flower) with you. Enjoy !