p.s.

On a side note, the birds here must go to sleep every night with their little beaks tucked under their wings EXHAUSTED. The noise, noise, noise, noise! They wake up just before the sun comes up, and they do not stop until it is dark outside.

They fly, they chirp, they sing, they call, they twitter, they hop, they go on and on! The other morning I thought the smoke alarm was going off - it was a bird. They are beautiful and darling, and the whole thing is very endearing!

One of the magpies, a huge black and white thing, comes into the yard when Pat is hanging out the washing (yes, I wrote that right!). He wanders around right up close like a neighborhood cat!

Rainbow Lorikeets make a crowd in the trees out the back, particularly at dusk. They sing/squawk/squeal until each one has made it's own place in the tree. The Kookaburras "go off" regularly throughout the day, but particularly at dusk. They claim their territory, and this seems to be a long and important process that takes quite the discussion outside! The Galahs are in the fields pulling worms at school or on the roadside. The Rosellas! They're beautiful.

Mind you, before coming here, I did not like birds. Did not. Now I do.

And today was the best! At school, I'd sent two boys on an errand, and when they returned they were in stitches laughing. "Mrs. Mollahan! We have a funny story to tell the class!" (pronounced 'clahhss') Apparently two Ibis were flying (or running? It was hard to understand through their laughter) and they both banged into a pole out in the patio!