resting & reading at Terania Creek ... & loving every solitary minute of it!!

Bangalow Palm Tree silhoutette in a spectacular Terania Creek summer sunset

Hi everyone,

I am truly enjoying the peace & stillness throughout my stay here at Terania Creek. It's been fun tending to the chooks & visiting with the horses who I have been brushing every day as well as removing as many ticks that I can find! Tanzia is the elder of the two horses, somewhere around 30 years of age :) Solaan is quite a bit younger, ~12 although I don't fully remember ... here's a few pic's of my new, lanky friends:

Tanzia

Solaan

In looking back at these pic's from August, I am amazed at the difference a couple of months has made in the grass cover on the ground. I will take some pic's of my cloven-hoofed friends tomorrow to share with you so that you can see how splendid the horses look with their daily brushings & the green grass all around ;) I will also endeavour to get a few pic's of the persistent, swooping magpie who is quite pesky to say the least and one of "Houdini" for posterity's sake.

It's also been fun interacting with the cows, their calves, & the lone Brahman bull ... one morning, I was able to hang around the 6 calves long enough to get a few of the older ones to take grass out of my hand and for them to eventually let me pet their head & even brush their head & neck a wee bit.

This morning, more fun was to be had when "Houdini" as I am now calling him, the adventurous mocha brown calf escaped to join two rogue hefers who came by to create some bovine fun on the road by Nan & Hugh's paddock :)

"Houdini" or his twin brother back in August when I visited

It was the most amazing sight, when these two heiffers appeared from up the road ... N & H's 21 bovine friends were hanging out in two separate areas near the fence by the road but immediately after these 2 young cows got close to the fence, ALL of Nicholson cattle headed straight for the fence & started sniffing at the other two cows. This vigorous greeting was also accompanied by a grand bovine serenade that echoed through the valley :)

I headed up to the house to call Irma, Nan's mother, to inform her of the situation & once I got back to the road after not even 5 minutes, the whole herd had "high-tailed" it to the paddock furthest down the valley in an effort to keep up with the 2 rogue bandits. Somewhere in that excitement, "Houdini" decided he wanted to join in on the fun & somehow managed to get through the barbed wire fence & out onto the road with his two new female friends. With the help of a few of the neighbours who were alerted to the situation by Irma.

We eventually worked out a way to separate the calf from the other two, who by the end of things were already asserting their dominance & putting the little whipper-snapper in place with a few forecful nudges on the side! Nellie, the neighbour's daughter & I finally got little Houdini back in with his mob/herd and the rest is history. Well almost, Nellie had to relive a little childhood trauma back near the nicholson front gate when the diving magpie wanted to swoop down on her a few times as we were shepherding the little guy back to the gate :)

All in all, a very fun start to the day!

Terri, N & H's daughter, Terri's husband Donovan, & their adorable three and a half year old Tahlo and their Australian cattle dog Amber came by to take care of a few of their things. So I had another chance to play with Tahlo and visit with Terri & Donovan.

Terri is a naturopath & after I helped her a few days ago with her herbal collecting & preparing, she gave me a bottle of Tumeric Tincture to help reduce any inflammation in my toes ... not absolutely sure, but I think it may have helped settle things down a little with my tingly toes. But they are still acting up, be sure of that and the good news is that I have only 2 more sleeps until the day I get to finally see Hugh's podiatrist, Dr. Tom :)

So, on Wednesday, I will go into Lismore for this appointment, YIPPEE!! I will go in to town early so that I have time prior to this to finally go visit the Friends of the Koala Care Centre ... http://www.friendsofthekoala.org/fok/

I'll be sure to take a bunch of pic's & if I have the chance, I will definitely see if I can touch or hold one :)

Given that I have been continuing to awake with the first light (~ 5 a.m.), but dozing in & out of consciousness until at least 6:30 a.m., I need to sign-off for now & add a new posting, hopefully tomorrow ... here's a few primo pic's from those early morning times (~5:25 a.m.) that I took from the comfort of the bed in the front corner of the veranda ... this was one of the few overcast mornings that had the clouds still haning around from the evenings rain showers ...

looking up to the north end of the Terania Creek valley

Nicholson's pond (aka. dam) whre the platypus/platypi sometimes go

view to the SE, the chook house is just behind the tree fern in the lower left side of the photo & the cow/horse paddock is on the other side of the trees across the grassy field

... all 3 pic's from exactly where I am sleeping ... I just have to sit up, look around, & breathe in the captivating landscape :) ... truly splendid indeed!!

Until my next posting, I wish each & everyone of you a splendid day & evening wherever you are.

Be well,

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

p.s. early "Happy Anniversary" wishes Dad & Cecilia ... just in case I lose track of the dates & don't get a chance to call you at a decent hour of the day when I make a call your way ...