fountain of strewth

  • Crickey! Plugging The Fountain Of Strewth

    One of the things that gardening has taught me is just how pleasing tiny little events can be, and few items have brought joy as great as the Fountain of Strewth has done. When first setting up the garden, I noticed many experts spoke about encouraging pollinators and how water features could achieve this. I bought a cheap bird bath and solar-powered water sprayer from a shonky Chinese e-commerce site, and the Fountain of Strewth was born. I’d never imagined the sheer joy it could bring as it attracted birds to our garden, who loved drinking and bathing in its waters, which I made sure to change daily to avoid…

  • Suburban Tokyo’s Little Slice Of The Godzone

    Aussies like to call our country the Godzone, a corruption of the phrase “God’s Own Country,” and we’ve been lucky enough to replicate a little bit of that zone in the suburbs of Tokyo. Thanks to the talents of the amazing Alex Endo, Japan’s premier author on Australian plants and designer of gardens using Aussie natives, we have an incredible Aussie garden. Late spring in the lead-up to the rainy season is when the garden puts on its finest show. Nearly everywhere is lush and green. But there is also an explosion of color and beauty as the flowers spring forth. We have the scarlet of the callistemon. The burning…

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    Beware The Creatures Of The Night

    Much to the chagrin or Mrs. Kangaeroo, our garden is filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful Australian creatures, and they’re designed to look nice nocturnally. We have all sorts of kangaroos. Their sizes range from life-sized to tiny. A similar story goes for koalas. We have a koala couple. And another pair climbing one of our wattles. And there is even a learned fellow who reads a book. Considering we are supposed to be a kangaroo-themed garden, you could possibly say we are a bit over koala-fied. Aside from the marsupials, we’ve also got a wombat, and a couple of monotremes. We have both an echidna and a…

  • Slanging Garden With Birdies On

    Wasn’t going to write anything today, but a delightfully sunny winter morning got me fawning over Kangaeroo Corner and feeling absolutely thrilled to have this little garden, especially when it’s attracting the local birds to our Fountain of Strewth. With a later than usual start to riding planned, I got to spend the early morning chatting with our dinosaur, devising more ideas to interfere with the garden’s process and gas-bagging with my sister. Our discussion was a deep one, and I appreciate her care and concern over so many decades. Today, though, we focused on my difficulties in dealing with happiness and coping with a supportive, encouraging environment. I’m now…

  • Back Attack

    Continuing a run of at least four new year seasons, I’m ailing yet again. After a cold, covid, the flu and another cold, this new year I’ll be welcoming in with a case of lumbago. Worse still, I owe it to a case of hubris, having twinged my back by bending too quickly to pet a neighbor’s dog because I fancied myself as having something of a magic touch with pooches. The immobilizing pain over the past few days has become a constant reminder to be a bit more thoughtful in my actions. One benefit has been slowing me down enough to enjoy playing with the dinosaur and gazing at…

  • Strewth, The Whole Strewth And Nothing But The Strewth

    An amphibious reptile has taken over the Fountain of Strewth, and that’s no crock. Well, it is, but more croc that crock. A large crocodile is occupying the rim of the Fountain of Strewth. Mrs. Kangaeroo bought it and placed it there, using it to replace a tiny replica crocodile she had initially attached to the new lettering on the fountain. We’ve always had lettering on the fountain, but it got a new, metallic upgrade over the summer, in addition to a Beware of Crocodiles replica road sign. Ironically, the solar-power fountain that worked so tremendously well and gave the water attraction its name has been rendered almost obselete by…

  • Many Happy Returns

    Don’t be fooled: This post has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays. It’s about doing things again for the first time in a while. The whole day was a series of events reminding me of the past. We started by cleaning the estate garden. We live in what is basically a retirement village that has cheap management fees, and they’re cheap because residents have to keep the common gardens and grounds maintained. When the cleaning was over, it was back on the bike. And I was back with a camera bag on my back for the first time in many years. I had a delightful ride up to the end…

  • Flock ‘N’ Roll

    It looks like the rainy season might have finally hit Tokyo (though only today within this week is currently forecast to rain all day) and the down side of being unable to do anything outdoors is being able to get the chance to delight in garden and the flocks of birds in Kangaeroo Corner. Although we legitimately get a lot of birds visit the garden over the winter, where the Fountain of Strewth provides a much-needed source of drinking water for our avian mates, it’s rarer to have birds in the garden other than the permanent flock on decoration. And another benefit of the rain is that it makes the…

  • Bees Knees

    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 now a hive of activity. As I’ve mentioned ad infinitum,…

  • Well, That Was A Surprise!

    Nature delighted me this morning when I went into the garden and found something I would never have expected: Our cherry tree was blooming! This came weeks after most cherry blossoms had flittered away in the Tokyo area and long after we had given up hope of our plant blooming. The little flowers were tremendously enchanting and gladdened my heart and soul. The garden overall is playing a pretty similar role as the April rains bring their nitrates and give the greenery a bit of extra sparkle. I’ve also been lucky enough to install an arch that I hope will play a number of roles in Kangaeroo Corner. I transplanted…