a lifetime ago i lived in the desert near the Andamooka Opal Fields and while there lost my feline best friend to a marauding raptor.
and once while walking amongst the opal dumps my dog suddenly stopped and looked intently upwards. moments later there was a whistling sound and a rabbit's head came hurtling from the sky, missing me by a couple of paces. far above, two eagles had been disputing ownership of breakfast. their loss was the dog's gain. eagles nesting nearby will keep us on our toes and will certainly be welcome assistants in rabbit eradication.
more recently another recently animate object arrived from the sky, this one rather more unnerving in aspect... a passing heron had lost its grip on a reptile. fortunately i was 3 metres from the point of grounding - i imagine suddenly finding oneself wearing a small brownsnake (whether breathing or not) could be rather unsettling and considerably hasten one's own appointment with the Reaper, if only from overwhelming surprise.
omg, flying snakes! I thought ones on the ground were bad enough. At the beach I have been hit with pipi's as the gulls drop them on the beach to break their shells. Your photo at the bottom looks intriguing. Pray tell ... also finally got a decent piece of silk with eucalyptus print on it ... finally. Will post photos of post-dyeing efforts soon. Great to read new post.
ReplyDeleteimage at bottom is a collage i had made in those desert years...not much left on paper from those times as they were centred on my (then) two small children (now expanded to three young adults). creative work was limited to churning out hand-painted scarves (featuring - and i am cringing now - possums, opals and sturt desert peas...)
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