bat-tered bendigo...

Good title for another post , wish i'd thought of it! It was the headline in the paper just after i my bat post.

This is what the sky looked like and i was hoping to catch late in the day last week. Isn't it amazing to see them swirling around the clocktower....Either they are on their way out for feed or something stirred them up.
these photos are from the Bendigo Advertiser staff....

cute little faces....


love the see through look and shape of their bodies...



Spoke to Di about the 'regurgitation' too at craft, there were quite few laughs to be had!

Its the long weekend, [Queens Birthday, even though its not!] always one of mixed emotions for hubby and me. On one hand its nice to have 3 days off and i wont go back to work til Thurs as i have meeting on Tues and my day off Wed. woohoo!

I have been painting the kitchen table and here are some peeks...hoping to mask it out tonight and start the fun stuff tomorrow...cant wait to start the actual painting!

And its 20 years ago today that our son Jack was stillborn. I don't know where that 20yrs as gone and i didn't think i would ever get through that first year but thanks to support from family, friends and the SANDS group, i think we both came out the other side pretty well.

Our midwife was fantastic , really ahead of her time and that helped so much with her kindness, validation, and the beautiful photos and clothes she had organised for our little one.
Sometimes i feel like it has happened to another person, it feels a bit surreal but I get his things out and the memories come flooding back.

i only have to look at Lucy to know what he would've looked like, same eyes, round face and dark hair :) no offence Luce!
One thing it has made me is stronger, be more compassionate and really appreciate the two beautiful girls i have now....

I thought long and hard about posting this and will probably still delay hitting the publish button but i need to get this off my chest today. I'm not looking for sympathy, but i think stillbirth is something not talked about much.
Enough said :)

Hubby and Lucy have just gotten back from Castlemaine and they picked these amazing hand carved stamps from the Gallery there.

arent they beautiful...

They are Indian, wooden and about 4-5 Cm's deep, unreal ))) They remind me of the twelve apostles

Might have to have play with them tonight!

bat love or not.....

For several months, our town Park has been invaded by fruit bats. I didn't realise how bad it was until we were in town one late afternoon and, no joke, there were gazillions of them flying around the park, it looked like something out of a vampire film, how i wish I'd had the camera then :(



The poor old park is quite infested and unfortunately its the main pathway for all the primary and secondary students to get into town. Its only a block from the main street.
I've heard the primary students wont even go out in the school yard to play because they are scared of them. They have destroyed two very old trees and there is scat everywhere..... Yuk..

It has quite divided the town and the council in its infinite wisdom came up with a plan to scare them off. They let off crackers and just succeeded in spreading them all over the Park, whereas at that stage they were contained to the fernery in the park.

Apparently this year and it happens every ten years or so, we have 3 types of trees in flower at once that they like to eat ...and you gotta go where the food is ! We are 6 kms out of town and they come out here at night and feed, breed and make a hell of racket. They stink to high heaven too.
They were supposed to go when the weather got colder but we are having frosts now and no signs of them leaving !



And....there was a big discussion in our house about how do bats poo when they hang upside down? This in turn led to a very interesting and funny discussion at craft and Di very knowledgeably set us straight!

* they regurgitate their poo.....even more YUK!!! [no poo hole!!!] Just thought you should all know ;)) *

EDITED!!! well after Melindas comment i thought maybe i'd better google how bats poo! guess what they do indeed poo normally , they hang by their wing claws and straghten up to poo!!

Wait till i see Di on Wednesday ;(

oh well it gave us a laugh!


I love how these four are hanging together...

and they do look rather lovely with the last of the sun on them...