Checking my email at 5.30 am this morning I received news from Rick that he and Mon had explored Crete by motorbike the previous day and the temperature is 35-40C every day and he's not seen one cloud in the sky the whole time. They are now looking for a place to rest for a few days and swim and drink retsina. I had emailed him yesterday informing him that I'd had a bad round in the footy tipping and he is now the new leader, two ahead of me. With only two rounds to go it's not looking good for me and I really do want to win the free lunch at his expense. He is finding internet cafes and accessing his hotmail address back, because that's where I send the progressive scores. Amazing ain't it!
Today is Lib's 50th birthday. I have bought her a Pentax digital camera, some Samsari perfume, hand lotion, and a good supply of toothpicks, amongst other bits and pieces. She hasn't opened her presents yet as the boys left at 6.00am and she at 6.30. We'll have a little present opening ceremony with some champagne this evening. Her 'order' for dinner is carpetbag steak. The fillet steak is no problem but I'm having trouble sourcing a dozen shell oysters on a Tuesday. I rang the supermarket in Emerald that has them sometimes but not today. I'll ring Safeway at Pakenham and I hope they have some.
I asked Jod about the grey thrush and he said yes, that's what it would have been, except it's really a shrike thrush. I said I couldn't recall seeing one around Gembrook before so it must be an uncommon bird but he said no, they are around this area and he sees them at the farm now and again, but they're a shy bird, so are not seen often. He said they lay a white egg with brown and black spots at the fat end which he remembers from his bird egging days in his youth. His memory is almost unbelievable. He went on to say that the speckled thrush which used to be around Mt. Waverley when we were young in the 1960's lays sky blue eggs with similar spots on the fat end. Also called song thrush it is an introduced English bird which makes a similar nest to the native grey shrike thrush but it lines it with mud. He said Song thrush are rare now and were only ever around Melbourne, in the hills, and a few other places like Ballarat and Warragul. He added that I should look after them if I see them because they are almost extinct in England. Wow! What you can learn unexpectedly on any given day, just by looking and talking! I do see the odd song thrush here at Gembrook and I have elevated them to my 'treasured' list of things.
