• Daily Life

    Kangaroo Pause

    June 5, 2024

    So much is going on at the moment, it’s been hard to take the time to stop and smell the roses, or at least some kind of flower, but I’ve been able to take a bit of a pause this morning. It seems almost certain that my current career path is over, but where it leads to remains a mystery. Prospects are not exactly hot, but who knows what fate has in store? There’s plenty to love about life at the moment as the glorious weather continues in the ominous lead-up to the rainy season. This morning’s ride was clockwise…

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  • Daily Life

    Get Your ‘Thinking’ Paws From Me, A Damned, Dirty Mate!

    May 27, 2024

    One of my great delights over the past few years has become gardening, and unaccustomedly I’ve taken on numerous challenges, including growing plants from seeds, and the kangaroo paws I wanted to bloom and flourish more than any other plant have started to flower. I picked up dozens of different types of seeds when I last visited Australia in September-October 2022. I started growing them in February 2023. I’ve now got about half-a-dozen blooming in the garden, either in pots or planted in the ground. All but one is orange. Many of the seeds germinated and propagated, but of the…

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  • Daily Life

    A Pheasant Makes Things Pleasant

    May 24, 2024

    Late May is nearly always an idyllic time with the glorious weather hiding the impending onset of the rainy season. This morning’s ride was made even pleasanter by getting to spend time looking at a glorious Japanese green pheasant reigning over its territory near the Asakawa River. Pretty much every weekday (when the weather is halfway decent), I get to ride my bike, mostly along the Tama River, and I love it. Returning home today was a delight, though as the grevillea are in full bloom. A row of the gorgeous flowers is simply breathtaking. Only one of the three…

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  • Daily Life

    Feast of Flowers

    May 23, 2024

    There’s much to love about Tokyo in May–long, warm days with little rain (for the most part), lots of greenery and things settle down after the hectic early months of spring when much of the country starts and ends the business year. Little, though, can beat the delight that the month’s flowers bring. For me, at least. Of course, the real stars of the Japanese spring flora are the cherry blossoms, wisteria and azaleas as the main players, but they’re usually gone by the time May hits its straps in the middle of the month (and there are plenty of…

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  • Daily Life

    Fantastic Flora

    May 20, 2024

    Slowly but surely the flowers in Kangaeroo Corner are putting on an increasingly delightful show. It was a sodden start to what is likely to be a demanding week or so as the company’s sole native English speaker in the office and the busy season well underway. But the flowers made a beautiful start as our bottlebrush continued to thrive and the grevillea starting to move into full bloom. Kangaroo paw buds are also evident, but the full flower is still some time away. And the other plants are enjoying the growing season by reaching skyward and looking great. I…

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  • Daily Life

    Bees Knees

    May 18, 2024

    One of the most striking aspects of my last visit to Oz (in the early southern spring of 2022) was seeing how honey bees swarmed around bottlebrush trees, clearly enjoying their presence and making me wonder if Japanese bees would like the callistemon in our garden. We got the flowers, but didn’t see too many bees until last week. Bees are great for gardens because they pollinate flowers and play a crucial role in diversifying the environment and attracting other creatures, such as birds. And the rumor mill must have been abuzz as the bottle brush in our garden is…

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  • Daily Life

    Brush With Death

    May 18, 2024

    I got to have a brush with death this morning. Nothing serious, of course, as I’m referring to a log-awaited photo opportunity with our bottlebrush in full bloom and the Death Machine as we refer to the rickety old recumbent bike which seems to offer the opportunity of terminating life every time it is mounted. As a pun lover, I’ve been waiting for the chance to use this headline for a while, but preparing the Death Machine for a ride takes time as I have to uncover it, set up the lights and flagpole to make sure drivers can see…

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  • Daily Life

    Brush Aside

    May 16, 2024

    It’s a sodden May morning, so rather than risk my luck and hoping I’ll be able to brake properly, I’ve spent the morning enjoying the blooming bottlebrush flowers in our garden and being played with by my dinosaur. It used to be my habit to wake and immediately set off on a bicycle ride pretty much every morning of every day unless it was snowing or the roads were icy. Weather barely came into play, but over the past year, rheumatoid arthritis has played an increasingly dominating role in deciding when I can or can’t go out. Because it has…

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  • Daily Life

    Just A Bit Longer!

    May 9, 2024

    The hand-wringing wait for spring blooms is slowly starting to draw to a close as more and more sections of the Kangaeroo Corner garden burst into flower. Our callistemon is literally packed with buds that are bursting into blossom in what is actually quick succession, but feels to be interminably long. The yearned-for kangaroo paw are also showing tremendous progress, as are the banksia and grevillea. Another week or two and the garden will be at its peak! Sadly, the cute little bugs that were enjoying our garden through to this morning appear to have met their demise, judging by…

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  • Daily Life

    So Close…

    May 8, 2024

    Mid May, now basically, has become a tantalizing time of the year for me, with most of the spectacular blooming of the gorgeous Japanese flowers like cherry blossom, wisteria and azaleas (to name a few) having ended, but the Aussie plants in my garden not quite ready to spring forth. Plants are budding and growing, but flowers are few and far between now. Our garden superstar, the grevillea, has finally started to show a bit of flower growth with lots apparently still to come. I need to learn about deadheading to make the bloom a bountiful one. Kangaroo paw are…

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