lovely photo Annette and very apt:)

HeatherB – hugs from me too, and as others have said, do remember we are here for each other – and that means you right now.

Sweet Peas from my garden (2004) for you - hope you can smell them!!

OG, good luck with the appointment tomorrow.

OG & Annette - Not guilty! It’s not my ironing in your baskets! Mine is still here. <sigh> I shall have do some ironing soon as the weather is going to warm up again gradually over the next week to 32 C. I was so pleased – yesterday was our coldest day for months – a max of 19.8 C. (Eat your heart out Auntie.) Great pics of cactus & sweet peas. First time I looked, nothing. I wandered off to read Forums, came back and there they were!!!

DjoanS - Thanks for posting your RM pic on your home page – the other is still missing. Wow! How long was that train?

HeatherB - Best wishes to you and your family until your son returns.

George - Glad SA has made it into the Scotsman mag. Most people head for the Great Barrier Reef (QLD) or the cities of Sydney or Melbourne. Yet it is a nice place, even if I say so myself! SA is the top wine-producing state in areas such as the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley, Morphett Vale & Coonawarra. The Flinders Ranges in the far north have spectacular scenery. Then there is the wildlife. Kangaroo Island is popular. Closer to the city we have Cleland & Warrawong wildlife sanctuaries. There are dolphins in the Port River. And of course in Mad March we have lots of festivals & a car race. The latter starts tomorrow. Something called a V8 Supercar. All I know is that they make a lot of noise. The circuit takes in the eastern parklands and some city streets. Which means road closures and horrendous traffic delays. Because of disputes about permanent grandstands on the parklands, there are only temporary stands – which seem to take 6 months to put up and take down.

Our TV is currently showing Griff Rhys Jones checking out the rivers of Britain. So far we have seen Scotland & northern England. Both had me jumping up and down muttering "been there". Not the parts where he goes swimming or white water boating!!! Another program is Megastructures. Stupid programming has it on at 6 pm but I’ve discovered I can watch it on my computer. Episodes available for 2 weeks. So far the Alhambra, St Pauls & Petra. I do wish they wouldn’t keep repeating themselves though. "I heard you the first time". Perhaps otherwise the program would only last 30 mins instead of 50 mins. LOL

Continuing SA history . . . Every town had its blacksmith who made & repaired tools, wheels, ploughs, etc. Large engineering works were located in Gawler were producing farming and mining equipment. A number of inventions were designed by South Australians, often to cope with the tough conditions. In 1840s there was a stripper which harvested wheat. Pushed from the rear by 2 horses, it collected the heads of grain. In the mallee country clearing mallee scrub with its low multi-stemmed eucalyptus was difficult. Charles Mullen devised a method of knocking down the trees with a heavy rollers. The scrub was burnt, the soil scratched with log with spikes driven into it and the grain sowed. The mallee roots remained, so the invention of the "stump-jump plough" was a boon.

In the early years most schools were private ventures. In 1875 it became compulsory for children aged 7-13 years to attend school, if they lived within 2 miles of a school. Fees were 4-6 pence a week. Free schooling was introduced in 1892. In SA state-run schools are known as public schools.

Sidney Kidman left home in 1870 aged 13 with 5/- in his pocket and riding a one-eyed horse he had bought with his savings. He learnt bush skills. He worked as a stockman. He saved enough to buy a bullock team. Soon he employed others. He had a coaching business. He provided horses for the British Army in India. He grew richer buying and selling cattle. He bought his first station. Eventually he had two chains of stations from Queensland to SA so he could move the cattle from drought-stricken areas and sell them in markets when prices were high. By World War II he controlled cattle stations with a total area of more than 3% of Australia. Greater in area than England or Finland. Or about the size of California.

Evening all:    Well, where is Margobird?  Is she languishing in a jail cell after chaining herself to the railings outside No.10 or was she just too tired to let us know how things went?  :-)

OG: Pretty sweet peas; AQ: That's funny, my ironing is still here too. Thanks for the additional history - it so parallels the U.S. Western migration - fascinating.

Went to rose garden today where bushes are bursting with new growth. Do hope our spring is kinder than last year's, when we had very odd weather and most of the bushes got mildew, black spot, and rust - all on the same plant - and the city had to spray (with some fairly benign stuff but something they don't like to do at all) in time for Mother's Day so weekend visitors and everyone's Mom wouldn't be wondering what had gone wrong.  Then arrived at gym an hour behind schedule without membership card, towel, computerized "key" that has all my weight machine info on it, or my MP3 player. Did, however, have blood on my tee-shirt from toppling into a rosebush when I leaned too far over. Decided maybe a sign to just go home, which I did and poured two glasses of wine before cooking an easy dinner.

Hope all is well with everyone and that the weather continues spring-like. Heard of snow in southern France and hope that isn't impeding our birds on their way north.

Hi, all. Really tired tonight so can't be an owl. Will catch up with everyone tomorrow. Take a look at this extremely rare, "one in a zillion", all-black penguin.  http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/24/all-black-penguin-discovered.html Isn't he gorgeous? Love his feet. Very happy Thursday to everyone!

Had to edit to say: Annette, you fell into a rosebush?!? OUCH!!!!! Hope you didn't scratch yourself up too bad.   Really warm for this early in March here today: 72 F / 22 C . Thunderstorms tomorrow.

Oh Annette Falling into a rose bush - and before you had any wine!  Don't blame you for pouring some after your rose and gym experiences.

 All with piles of ironing - watch out! I think my pile has a life of its own and is growing (breeding?)

Good Morning All,  I have just returned from a walk to the village and I met a lady, who described the very cold wind, we have had for some days, as a lazy wind. The wind is too cold to go around you, and so it goes right through you.  I have finished my ironong, but there is more washing in the washing machine so that means more ironing again!

Gary and Annette, I was able to see your lovely photographs for Heather last night,  but can't see your's or OG's this morning. It has been pointed out by people on the Technical Page that this problem has been getting worse since last October. Tech. people still say they are looking at it.

Annette, Sorry about your rose injuries and then being unable to use the gym. Sounded like one of 'those days' when you are safer at home. We have all experienced them.

AQ, Thanks once again for your interesting history updates.

Enjoy today.