There goes another summer.

Stanley Kunitz describes the arrival of autumn in his poem, End of Summer as …

‘An agitation of the air,
A perturbation of the light…‘

How right he is. Summer officially ended on the 29th of February and today it feels like autumn, there’s a definite chill on the wind and The Man of the House is eyeing the firewood pile, measuring it against other years.

It sounds like autumn too. The air is alive with bird song, youngsters trying out their new voices while they make the most of the bounty of fruit, insects and greenery and gorge themselves before winter arrives. Ginny the goat is tired of old grass. ‘Bring on the fresh stuff,’ she baas.

On Wednesday, the drought broke in spectacular fashion with 40 mm (1 1/2 inches) of rain in just a few minutes, sending torrents of water washing down the hills, the driveway and the garden steps, flattening the grass and flooding the car port. The mouse traps we’d just put out were all swept under the laundry and when the water receded, a thin layer of black silt covered the cobble stones in the carport.

There was no time for photos. Weighing the risk of being struck by lightning against the threat of flood, I armed myself with my garden spade and tried to divert the water away but the baked earth was like concrete and in the end I could only stand in the rain and watch nature do what nature does.

It passed, with only minor damage and we’ve discussed a new storm water plan. 🙂

It’s blue flower time of the year.

The rain dropped peaches off the trees but didn’t soak into the ground much, it was moving much too fast. The garden and the bush have been looking autumnal for a wee while now. Stressed by the lack of water, leaves have begun to turn from green to yellow, flowers have lost their vitality and an abundance of seeds are blowing into the house to cover every surface.

I snapped this video of a resident kokako having it’s breakfast. They’re usually secretive but this bird wasn’t the slightest bit worried about me watching. I’m feeling very chuffed with myself for capturing this video.