Clare's Spot

Some photos I took the other morning.

Last Sunday we had 3 baptisms out at Lake St Clair. Lots of people came, and after the baptisms we got to go tubing. Two people from church had brought their boats out. I really enjoyed it, but for the next few days I was very sore, my arms felt like someone had tried to pull them off. That was probably from having a go on the biscuit, which 2 people lie on (on not in) and hold on tight (or else you go flying). I got my mouth, eyes and nose full of water. But I enjoyed it, and would do it again.

Had a lot of rain recently, with three days where it was seemingly just raining, we had 115mm all together. The plants and lawn are very happy though and need mowing again (the lawn that is). We went up to the High Hills yesterday and watched the masses of brown water and branches being swept down. The river must of been more than twice as big as it usually is. Earlier we had been at Rose Point Park and had seen large mats of debris being hurried along by the flood waters. Lots of it was piled up against trees that looked, like they were growing in the middle of the river. The power of all that water was amazing to see.

Castles may have bricks, or grains of sand

Some by the sea, or on hills on land

Castles with bridges, castles with flags

Halls and passageways all zigzags

Castles of dirt, to keep out the rain

Piled high by ants, a queens domain

Castles on hills surrounded by trees

Or perched precariously, lashed by stormy seas

Castles made by children, topped with a stone

A castle for a king, who sits on his throne

Castles have turrets, castles have towers

The bee’s castles are the flowers

Castles reflected in pond and river

A cold dungeon, windy tops, makes one shiver

Castles of ants they build again and again

But people couldn't bother to take so much pain

Castles are ruins, swept by the weather

Away by the sea, or covered in heather

Castles in England, China and Spain

But of many castles, now not a ruin remain

Castles that did tower to the sky

Lonely castles that the wind around does sigh

C L Farrelly

Little yellow flower faces

White seeds fly

Spreading like fire races

After settled in the grass

Scattering as days pass

Flat body and round

Yellow petals thin

Seed lying on the ground

Until the earth

Spins thirty years’ worth

Hanging, all leaf trailing

Growing as part of the branch

Seeds down to lower limbs sailing

See it in the gum trees swing

For the tree a sad song it does sing

13/1/2013

C L Farrelly

Among the trees as I walk

Am I imagining it, or can I hear them talk?

Softly together, whispering as they sway

But as hard as I listen, I can’t catch what they say

What do they speak of, is it of now or long ago?

I've never heard properly, so I do not know.

12/1/2013

Tin Chickens

Clare L Farrelly

You will need. Gloves, safety glasses, wavy tin, flat tin, a pencil, chicken pattern, tin snips, a file, a drill, pop rivets, a pop rivet gun, paint and a very small paintbrush. and maybe some other stuff.

I never realized you needed so many things till I started to write them all out.

Start with a piece of tin. Careful it may (will) be sharp in places. Lay the chicken pattern on the tin and trace around it. Next cut out a square around the chicken, being careful to not bend the tin too much (or else you will have a deformed chicken). With the tin snips cut off bits around the outline. Now it should look more like a chicken.

Careful the tin is sharp and cuts deep.

To make the stick that you will put into the ground, cut a rectangle out of some flat tin that is fairly easy to bend. Hammer a little over a third of the long edge over on top of itself towards the middle and then the other long side in too so the edges are not sharp. It should be stronger now too, because it is double layered.

Drill two holes in the chicken.

Remember the pop rivets fat end should just fit through them. File away the bits of tin that stick up around the holes. Now position the metal stick behind the chicken and draw a dot, through the holes you just drilled, so that when you try to match the holes up they fit!

Next drill the holes in the stick using the pencilled dots you just drew. Then you must fit the pop rivets in the holes (push them through from the front). It is a good idea to do one a little then the other a little before you make them firm and pop you have a chicken.

For the eye you could just drill a hole, if this is how you want it then do that before you paint it. Or you could drill a hole (now) and put a pop rivet in after the chicken is painted, or you could just paint the eye on.

Lastly paint: spray the chicken all over in a few light coats (to prevent the paint running) of your desired colour. Using a different colour, paint little wings, eyes, beak and if you want little splodges. If you want to spray paint things like the beak, wrap the chicken-only when it’s completely dry-in a rag, leaving the beak uncovered. This is to avoid accidentally spraying the chicken’s whole head. Both sides can be painted.

Make sure that the different sorts of paint are all compatible with each other and oil based, then they won’t weather so easily. I use enamel oil based paints.

Now you can give it a home in your garden and make some more.