When you wish upon a star

The lyrics of this well-known song date back to the 1940s for the film adaptation of “Pinocchio” and begin…….
”When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you”
By Ned Washington, Leigh Harline.

Here are the emerging, delicate white star flowers on the garlic chives. They look good enough to make a wish on.

My wishes for more native birds appearing in my garden have continued to come true this week. Another slight thud on a window heralded the sight of another (or the same) Shining Cuckoo that I blogged about here.

This time the wee bird was ready to fly away very quickly. These Cuckoos migrate in autumn to various Pacific Islands such as New Caledonia and the Solomon’s. The navigation skills they possess to achieve that journey are impressive. Their ability to avoid window panes in New Zealand is not so good.

Earlier today I heard a bird noise that sounded foreign to me. It was a high pitched squeaking sound that was rather persistent. Then late this afternoon the sound was much closer and I discovered a mature Tui and its very newly fledged youngster in the Tulip Magnolia near the sugar water feeder.

By the time I came outside with the camera the birds had flown. However the insistent squeaking noise was not far away and I found the fledgling again in the Mahoe tree in the tall tree area of our garden.

It is a splash of light near the throat of this young bird not its wattles.

The parent bird flew off as I crept closer but my eye was caught by another fledgling bumbling about in the variegated Griselinia.

It would seem that the adult birds have bought their twins to my garden to feast on the Mahoe berries and with the sugar feeder not far away. Or better still they have nested here and raised these young.
It is almost impossible to gain clear images as the wee birds wisely remain amongst the thick foliage up high in the trees. Neither of these fledglings have wattles and their yellow edged beaks were still visible to my eye as they moved about the branches. Their agility has yet to develop and some of their feathers had a downy look still. They are very newly out of the nest.

And in further exciting bird news please link here to Toya’s blog where she has posted about her amazing successes at Zealandia over the past two days. Her photos of the Stitchbirds and today the Eastern Rosella feeding its four hungry babies are simply stunning and very informative and special.

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Autumn scatterings

I planned a day at home, taking it easy and the autumn weather has meant it was a good decision and an easy option. It has been dark, cloudy, very gusty and the autumn leaves have been scattering.

So what have been the scattering of activities of my day?

A prayer and good wishes to the people of Christchurch early this morning as I learnt that two nasty aftershocks had rocked that ravaged city early this morning. One shock was large enough to cause a brief power outage. I wish those tired, stressed people so much peace.

Humming Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi” which we learnt at singing last night.

Monitoring PG, the cat to determine his intake and output. The vet was happy today to let him track on in the hope that the extra fluid interventions he has had on Monday and Tuesday this week had helped him regain his appetite. More monitoring is required just in case he needs another sub-cutaneous bolus of fluid tomorrow.

Watching more tree felling happening in our neighbour’s backyard.

Finishing a small knitted toy and trying to embroider a face on said toy……more practice needed on that skill, but the end result is good enough.

Hearing on the radio that it is 25 years since Paul Simons’ “Graceland” album was released and singing along to some of the familiar tracks off that.

More synchronicities found in the blogosphere as I find links between several blogs that I enjoy reading and one written by a woman who taught me my first computer skills way back in the late 80’s. The course was called “Computer Confidence for Women” and was nothing short of brilliant.

Collecting two books from the library which look particularly interesting for where I find myself these days.

And I took a few photos in my garden this afternoon but for some reason WordPress is not playing the upload game right now and I need to go and prepare some dinner…..

Nice day……

Happy Birthday Bob and some nostalgia

I see by the news that it is Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday today and also that a friend on Facebook asked the question today: “What was the first piece of music that you bought for yourself?”

I think I bought a 45rpm record of Bobby Vee singing “The Night has a Thousand Eyes”……some time in 1967 when I had enough money to pay for it myself.   I recall the Big girls at primary school dancing to the early Beatles hits and Bob Dylan’s “Blow’in in the Wind” was around too.

I also remember more vividly my younger brother buying “On the Road again”, by Canned Heat in 1967 or ’68.  He used some money he had been given for his birthday.  Our mother was horrified at his purchase and marched him and the record back to the shop and insisted that it be returned.  She very obviously felt that a 10 year old did not need “pop” music at that age!  We were so disappointed as we loved that song.

I also recall listening on my small transistor radio at night to Pirate Radio station, Radio Hauraki which was the one place we could hear all the latest music off the Pop Charts.

What songs did you grow up listening to?  And do you recall the first piece of music that you bought for yoursef?