Tag: Orbea

Where’s the Whist Amid the Wisteria?

Being greeted by the sublimely serene sight of fully blooming wisteria in the outer suburban wonderland of Yakushiike Park only to have the calmness crushed by the piercing squeal of a little prick abusing and haranguing me for riding a bicycle in the park wasn’t really what I had been expecting at 5 a.m.

As the angry man hurled invective at me, I felt my blood boil and the urge to smash him in the face was becoming almost uncontrollable.

He screamed loudly, fiercely and incessantly as I tried to take photos of La Cangura amid the flowers.

I envisaged punching him and using my mountain bike shoes to kick him in the face while he lay on the ground. I was utterly infuriated and the prospect of clobbering this bloke was made even juicier by the fact that he was only about half my size and at least close to my age, so he was not immediately apparent physical threat, attracting the bully boy in me. Add in the self-righteousness of having done nothing to this person other than strenuously avoided coming into close contact.

Thankfully, my life is enough of a mess at the moment to not need to add charges or jail time, let alone endure starting over again from scratch and, most importantly, having to live with having severely hurt someone, so I took my bicycle and walked away.

Honestly, though, rather than those quixotic ideals, the little prick’s saving grace was that he appeared to be carrying what I thought was a small dachshund unable to walk for itself, and I didn’t want to do anything that might lead to harming the pooch.

Anyway, I strolled around the park, trying not to get too mad and focusing on getting some good shots in the rain before I would have to rush home in time for a 7 a.m. meeting.

As the gallery shows, my efforts were resoundingly successful and I was blessed. The spitting rain that stopped me going on a real ride was proving a blessing as it accentuated the greenery of the park.

And it was as I came to this realization that I made another discovery: the bloody dachshund the angry little prick was carrying wasn’t a dog; it was a bloody telephoto lens. He had been screaming at me because the bike had given me the speed I needed to get to the best photo spots ahead of him. For some reason, that made his anger a little understandable and I soothed significantly. Knowing I had a camera full of good shots also helped.

Today promises to have some more wonderful moments. I’ll meet my brother and sister-in-law for the first time in several years, albeit briefly as they are flying out. And get to be joined by my youngest daughter! It has already been a magical day and will get better, too.

Golden Girl

La Cangura is the name of my bike, a beautiful gunmetal and gold-trimmed machine from Orbea, a manufacturer from Spain, hence the name (which means The Kangaroo in English).

She looks delightful in among the canola, the yellow hues of the bike and the flowers a wonderful match.

Just wish I was having as much luck with my flowers and other plants in the Kangaeroo Corner garden.

I’m relatively new to the gardening caper, only having really taken a great interest in it since Amazing Alex made the Aussie garden for us in March 2022.

While the garden is, for the most part, thriving, as I noted a while back, the plants I really wanted to flourish–kangaroo paw, tree fern and jacaranda– all died.

A grevillea we picked up from a local supermarket was our first-year miracle, blooming six times and looking absolutely wonderful before suddenly taking a turn for the worst about a month ago.

With the onset of spring, I expected the existing plants in the garden and the new seedlings I have been growing since around Christmas last year to all thrive and create a lusciously colorful slice of paradise.

Yeah, good luck with that one.

Anyway, we got back in touch with Alex and received some advice on fertilizer that we hope will give the trees a bit of a lift.

Fertilizers designed for Australian native plants are also on the way and should arrive today.

My seedlings are looking sickly, so I took the feeblest of the lot back inside and reinstalled them in the humidity pods under the growth lights.

The great seed experiment has not really paid off well at all, but it is still far from over.

Patience, never something I have been overly endowed with, is now being required.

The weather is not being a great friend, either. This week has been alarmingly windy and I am sure it is not making things easy for the plants, either.

A few delightful success stories from the spring so far have been the blossoming wattle, the cherry blossom plant and the wisteria, which is now verging on full bloom if the wind doesn’t blow away all her petals.

None of these plants bloomed last year, so they are clearly enjoying the conditions at Kangaeroo Corner.

Let’s hope other plants will end up doing the same.