Words of Life – Love – and all the rest

The White-browed Babbler is one of only two local bird species that live a sociable life, that is, they live in family groups. The other larger and more common bird is the White-winged Chough. Watching a flock of White-browed Babblers is a most entertaining experience but only readers living on properties on, or close to the edge of town, or outside the town and in or close to a eucalypt forest containing shrubby understorey, or rough land that is less timbered but with dense low cover, will get to enjoy them at home. Pomatostomus superciliosus measures around 20cm, just slightly bigger than our most common honeyeater the New Holland Honeyeater. It has a strong down-curved beak. Colouring is mostly brown with white throat, breast and eyebrows. It has a distinctive long fanned tail, black with white tips. My favourite viewing areas are the parkland surrounding the South German dam, and that land which abuts the Castlemaine side of the Tarrangower Creek before it becomes Sandy Creek....

A sudden whoosh and a gentle wind just above my head and the familiar clackety clack of a Red Wattle Bird rings through the cold early morning air from high up in the big tree at the corner of Frances and Dolphin Streets. But that is not the sound that grabs my attention. A grinding, gravelly, whirring bird song on a low branch and only metres away demands an audience. Oblivious to the sweeping attacks of the aggressive Wattle Bird and to the bleak grey winter sky, a Restless Flycatcher Myiagra inquieta goes about it’s business catching insects both in the air and from the cracks in the tree bark. Black above and pure white below, and with a feathered top-knot or crown that is both regal and expressive, the bird is never still and rarely silent. It hovers and darts and even drops to the ground. How self-contained it seems. One can imagine it saying to itself “I think I’ll just pop into Maldon for breakfast this morning before it gets too busy.” Golden Whistler How wonderful i...

“Sheila is coming over tomorrow. We are going to see some friends of hers, then we’re heading on over to a house in Wauchope that she’s thinking of buying. “Colin is bringing over the stock we bought on Thursday so you will need to be here to help him unload. Keep them in the yard until I get back and they’ve settled down. Make sure they have fresh water but don’t feed them any hay. They won’t need it. “Oh, and by the way, Sheila will drop off her daughter Cynthia here so you will have company for the day. There’s plenty of food in the cupboard so the two of you won’t starve. We should be back late afternoon.” Paul’s uncle Rodney was ironing a shirt. As the ladies of the town were known to remark, “… he might not have a woman in the house but he manages to keep himself looking smart.” “How come I haven’t met her daughter before?” Paul enquired. “She lives on a property north of the river with her father and his sister and family. He manages the place. She goes to school in Al...

I was working as a nursing aide at a large country hospital before I enrolled at university. I mostly worked night shift, and enjoyed the quietness and the lack of hustle and bustle. The work was easy, just checking on patients through the night. Some patients were in just overnight, for minor surgery, while other more serious cases where often heavily sedated and only required their life support equipment to be monitored.
 This particular night was very quiet. Only half the beds were occupied, and only one of the special care rooms contained a serious case. 
Christine, the aide I was to replace, met me as usual. It was two o’clock in the morning and she said everything was under control and the patients were all sleeping comfortably. 
 Then Christine took me to the special care room, and we stood outside while she gave me the details of the case, and what we were expected to do. She said that Matron had indicated that, at the moment, it was unclear whether the special care pat...