Country Life – Page 4 – June Paisa Perkins

Nature Diary: In the Country with the Perkins’s

I want to remember what it was like to live out near the cane, on the way to a waterfall, where the wallabies, goannas and bandicoots roam.

We have had wallabies come visiting in the back yard. They run around until they work their way to front gate and hop out again.

The other day we saw a massive goanna with two young ones. She was enormous! I wonder if they’ll be back and what they are eating.

At night the bandicoots keep finding their way under the house, and make a huge racket. Wish we would secure down there better so they would go somewhere else.

One of the saddest things was recently seeing two wagtails lose their baby which fell out of its nest.

We couldn’t take it away from them as they were so distressed and crying, but they also couldn’t take it back to the nest it had fallen from. They hung around for hours before they gave up. The baby bird tried to fly so hard! Not sure where it ended up.

We watched as they kept swooping down and feeding it.

Quandry save it and then release, or let the parents say goodbye to their baby.

We lost a quail to a cat, and its partner who was safe in another cage with a baby, didn’t see it dead, and therefore kept crying for the return of its partner.

We realised we should have just presented its dead partner to it on death’s door for parting goodbyes. Our surviving quail cried for months and months. It used to make me feel so sad for her.

Two of our other quails were eaten by a snake. We saw the bumps in its tummy as the snake collector came and took it away.

I think that’s why I left the baby in the garden for the parents to say goodbye too. The children imagine it was taken back to the nest by magic.
It’s very sad.

When the cane was burned, one side effect was flocks of rats, climbing the trees. Sounds like something for a fantasy novel doesn’t it. I hate rats!! Thankfully I think we’re on top of that issue. Imagine if we had a cat, I am not sure if it would be fat, or rat attacked!

The cruelty, tragedy and joy of natural life.

I am so glad we have guinea pigs! Although we have super proofed their cages to keep the snakes away and worry they might still find a way to get in they are very clever things.

The Farmer’s Wife: Piece 16

daily bread — ‘Daily Bread’- Wolfgang Foto- Flickr Creative Commons

She teaches me how to drive a car as if I was an extra sister or a daughter, so I can be free to leave my country home. She says St Christopher will keep me safe when travelling and on the day of my driving test.

Country places are shocking for public transport and not being able to drive is like being in your own personal prison. Especially when the big wet and sweltering heat come, and make you fade away with each step.

She’s much more than a farmer’s wife. Yet, she is a farmer’s wife.

She dedicates herself to family as if it’s her truest vocation and not once ever is there a sense of regret.

She’s at every recital, concert, sporting carnival, P and C event and her loyalty never wavers. She’s selling raffle tickets in the street. She’s organising reunions, and trips overseas. She’s not scared of seeing more of this world.

She’s found her fulfillment in others finding their dreams, like the best coaches who pull world records from people. Every milestone for her children is their own world record.

She appreciates good teachers, who see more than cane farms and banana picking as outcomes for rural students.

She appreciates the behind scenes people to good teachers, and takes them under her wing, so they can find their dreams – adding them to her task list.

She doesn’t expect her sons will come back and take over the family farm; they will build new lives, wherever they choose. But she’ll take every opportunity to build family connection spaces for them all to come together in the country way. She’ll build these wherever she has to, even if it’s away from the country.

I can never be her, but I can see all the backbone she gives her family, this community.

There are many like her, the deeper one looks beneath the surface of country towns.

Whether her spirit of service, sacrifice and love will live on in her children is something neither of us will ever really see.

She’s the soul and spirit of all that is best in small country towns.

One day she and hubby will retire from the land, and the family oasis she built will be their new home.

She’ll ease his pain as he misses his tractor and the cane burns. Like a wife of a solider returning from war, she will see his heart break as the farm goes to someone else’s son whose dreams lie in the land.

She’ll shake the soil off his clothes one more time. Counsel and laugh for them both.

She’ll remind him their daughter might be the country doctor one day.

She’s much more than a farmer’s wife. Yet, she is a farmer’s wife.

She’s shaped the way I see the country now. She’s given me the strength and some extra skills to be much more independent in my life.

to cut the bread — ‘To Cut the Bread’ Wolfgang Foto – Flickr Creative commons

Inspired by the Who Shaped Me project for ABC Open, this month’s Pearlz Dreaming blog theme will be about the people who inspire me and there are lots of them! Goal 19 pieces on Who Shaped Me.

A Hawks Family

Hawks Banner run through by Delbz
http://www.flickr.com/photos/delbz/3495052651/

Today the family will be watching the Hawks, their team, play the Swans – it’s Australian Rules Finals Time.

We live in League/Soccer Land but we have found a few locals who also support the Hawks. Our mate at the local fishing store and Justine.

Justine is coming to watch the game with us today, so she can be with people who appreciate footy.

No doubt my hubby’s family will ring him during the break of the first half. They do extra bonding at footy time.

Lots of facebooking will be going on, and the Hawks online people will share their views during the game. This is great for people living outside of Victoria, the home of AFL.

There’s a family footing tipping competition. Tipping against Hawthorn is not something most people in the family would consider, luckily this year they have made the finals and were top of the ladder. I am not so into the tipping part, but I do like to watch the finals.

Youngest however is a total fanatic, and to him it is not just a game, but the fate of the universe. He is the perfect watching companion for his Dad in most ways, although he still has to learn how to deal with what he sees as ‘poor umpiring decisions,’ and the moments where we get behind in the score for too long.

I am hoping the Hawks do well! It will make the family’s day, but most of all it will be something my youngest will treasure for a life time.

Morning Walk

Webs of dew in the damp grass

shadows shorter than us printed on

grass covered in sensitive weed

orange leaves sprinkled amongst the green

yellow buds opening

one by one

picking out the calls of distant bird

sighting a kookaburra on a branch

green finds its way back onto the broken trees

hearing Copper singing to the wild

sometimes a step behind with the camera

other times a step beside to chat

all too soon

the morning walk is over.

(c) June Perkins

Take Time to chase the Sunset

chasing sunset 034 (2) — Sunset chase – June Perkins

The thing is it’s not good to miss the sunsets too often. Sometimes one just has to leave the desk, project, chores and just take time to revel in its brilliance. However just lately I have been missing them! It’s not that I mean to, I’m just in the creative zone, and everything else is a bit hazy. I am definitely a bit vague at the moment.

So time to take a walk down memory lane with some photographs and remind myself take a few minutes to appreciate life. I’d like to chase sunsets around the globe. Give me a sunset over a storm or a slippery day that just goes too fast.

Tomorrow I have to go check out if those caterpillars are in their cocoons now.

It will just take a few moments and I can do it to catch a breath when doing the hard yakka of mounting the pictures. Maybe I’ll even take some time to bathe meditatively speaking in the sunset, if we’re headed for a good one. How about you?

smilewithinpostcard3_sunset — Sunset captured… by June Perkins

(c) June Perkins