Home in Adelaide
The reading chair in the lounge looking out onto the pool.
it has been a while since I visited my Father in Adelaide so during November my wife and I took a long weekend and flew back to spend some time with him. I can picture many family members sitting in that reading chair looking out to the pool over the years.
My Father’s shoes are pointing to what I think was my late Mother’s favourite spot in the garden. She would often retreat to that area under the vines where the chairs are with a coffee.
From inside my Mother`s little spot you can look back out to the pool. As you sit there the birds fly in and out of the garden.
I am pretty amazed at how well Dad is keeping the house and garden despite his age and living on his own. Personally anything I try to grow dies :(
My sister still lives in Adelaide and according to her I am a “birdie”. However I did not know the name of this bird which you see a lot off all over Adelaide. She has informed me that the correct name for this animal is a “rat with wings”. Think you might be a birdie in denial sis!
Up in a tall Palm tree that overhangs the pool some Rainbow Lorikeets played as I sat and drank a morning coffee. These two were there for quite a while that morning.
It was not long before I was joined at the side of the pool by a Mudlark. There were always a few around the pool and I wondered why.
They circle around the pool edge looking in and I thought it might be the same as birds fascinated by their reflection in glass.
They would often peck at the water surface as you see birds do to windows from time to time. I was wrong however.
The mudlark was feeding on insects that were either dead or moving on the waters surface. If you look closely you can see an insect in this birds mouth. Which reminds me of the one thing I hate about pools.
Cleaning a pool is something I find very boring. Dad now has one of those machines that roams the bottom of the pool automatically to clean so this vacuum looks like it has not been used in a while.
Once some of his grandchildren arrived later that day for a swim with him, I understood why he still maintains the pool despite the weather only really being suitable for swimming for a small part of the year in Adelaide.