A Magician of Metal

"Creativity is a Spiritual essence that can operate in any and all areas of life." 

- Julia Cameron

By AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

SOLD!

Yes, my gorgeous husband is sold on clearing sales and this is the smile of a happy hunter gatherer.

I never quite know what to expect on the back of the ute but judging from the elated smile this weekend I could tell something special was lurking in amongst that pile of stuff.

Where I yawn and look for somewhere to quietly nap and people watch, he yarns to fellow fossickers and uncovers fabulous bargains for our farm that I don't see amongst what look like piles of rubbish.

One man's trash and all that. But at the weekend seriously he did nab some pretty great things.

Even if you need a little - or a lot - of imagination to picture what all these little scrolls and flowers and bits and bobs can be. 

A clearning sale featured wrought iron and other assorted flotsam and jetsam of metal magic just waiting to be transformed.

Where I quietly dabble in paint, my gorgeous husband likes to grind, weld and hammer away to create beauty. We are all creative and I love seeing creativity expressed through different areas of life.

I have been banished from the Big Shed from now until Christmas on the proviso that I will be pleasantly surprised.

There have been murmurings of paddock sculpture and whimsical metal creations appearing around the place.

Looking forward to a highly creative 2014 on the farm.

Beach, Bubbles & Lizards of Lennox

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD © 

TAKE A SEAT.

I love the beach and this seat is one of my favourite spots to sit and watch the ocean.

After the past few years as a FIFO-Farmer's wife, I'm enjoying having a husband home and a more regular routine.

Which for me means we get to the beach more often. 

We're rich in choices for gorgeous beaches around here. 

This week's pick was Lennox Head - just down the road from beautiful Byron Bay and home of a world-famous surfing break.

It's also home to the uber-cool Lizards of Lennox who inhabit the black rocks on the beachfront. They hang out with their friends the gulls.

This one was literally hanging out on a rail, basking in the sunshine, licking the sea air and looking out to sea.

Then there are Lennox's high-fliers who do their grooming in public.

It was a good effort grooming with the wind ruffling your feathers at your high rise home.

There's a lovely selection of shops to keep me happy and rumour has it a champagne bar opening soon.

Beach & Bubbles. Perfect balance for Cows and Country Creative.

Happy Weekend to you all.

Hail - Impromptu Winter Wonderland

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

AUSTRALIA

HAIL HAIL HAIL - and it's getting bigger.

Our third day of hail this week.

Calves cowered, cats howled and cows charged through the odd fence seeking refuge.

One pampered sheep safely contained in the outside shower and one new roof put to serious  test.

Inside the noise grew louder as the hail grew larger, gathering in piles on the lawn.

We seemed to be spared the worst but looking at our neighbor's place looked a white wonder from a distance.

This is not winter in the US, it's spring in the Northern Rivers.On closer inspection, the mist from the ice gave it a wintery atmosphere.

It's only about two kilometres in distance, but the difference was obvious from the piles of hail washed into a nearby crossing.

The hail was in a narrow band. Cows and calves were standing a little stunned in their new white wonderland.

Just over the rise you can see the heavy hail ends.

It is obvious from the highly accurate toe-nail test that the hail is getting bigger.

Looking forward to the amazing pasture boost this will provide now.

Morning Glory

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

SPRING rain has arrived in our beautiful part of the world this week.

Almost nightly we have had storms skirt around us to the south and largely missed the wind and hail, receiving just beautiful, soaking rain every night.

The cracks in our soil have soaked up this week's almost 100mls of rain and are gently closing as the soil fills with moisture again.

The rampant march of green around the house has taken on an almost flourescent hue.

This morning's sunrise was pure golden glory.

Sheep Chasie & Creature Comforts

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

THROUGH the years I've had an assortment of companion creatures.

Birds, lizards, echidnas, native rats, goats, bandicoots, horses, cats, wallabies - a lively squirrel glider that seemed near death at bedtime and woke me during with night with ear-piercing screams whilst rattling the window screens.

Such memorable moments.

I've always wanted a sheep though. Perhaps the Aries in me thought we'd communicate on a different level.

Some lovely neighbors up the road a bit have a wonderful little mob of sheep and we were fortunate to adopt an orphan lamb several months ago.

Bartholomew was so little, it was winter and he was so cute in his hand-knitted warmie devouring the geraniums.

He's now a fine wether and one of the gentlest animals I've known. 

Bartie has become our guard sheep and alerts me to happenings about the farm and does the occasional spot of mowing and fertilising of the lawn. Mostly he likes to hang out with the big-boy farm cats and have water play with the hose in the backyard in the afternoons. 

Recently, he graduated to the outside world with a grand new enclosure just for him. He's still pretty keen on the back veranda though and will take any opportunity to sneak 

back to the outside laundry and his original home - the outside shower - plonking down with a huge sigh of relief on the tiled concrete. 

Now he's getting to be full size it's hard to argue and move him.

He's a bit like me though - very susceptible to food treats, so bribery works. And he loves a game of sheep chasie in the shade of the fig tree in the cool of the afternoon. He even sulks a little when he doesn't win. 

And he's a creature of comfort. He loves to curl up for a daytime nap with his favorite sausage pillow tucked neatly under his head and one leg out. Ah the similarities...

Happy six months little Bartie! 

Stormy night rescue

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD © 

RAIN glorious rain has arrived in our little piece of paradise this week.

We've been blessed with a couple of storms that have delivered about 57mls so far.

Last night's storm was quite windy and this morning I found a couple of small, fluffy victims huddled in the grass.

We have an active population of owls living in the swamp bloodwood forest close to our house.

I rarely see them though often hear them hooting at night. Today though these two gorgeous littlies were huddled in the grass perhaps blown from the tree during last night's wind. 

They were being minded by a parent own which I disturbed when I rode past and which watched proceedings keenly from closeby.

The owlets were quite easy to catch and I placed them back into a tree on branches as high as I could manage balancing on gumboot tippy-toe on the seat of the four-wheeler.

One can almost fly and fluttered off but didn't make it to another tree, instead coming to rest against the base. 

A second quick rescue later, and after unceremoniously thanking me in its own little warm and watery owlie way, the two were perched back in the tree with the parent owl keeping close watch.

Good Luck little ones - look forward to hearing you having a hoot on midnight rodent patrol soon.