Today marks the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, and at Corner Cottage we are grateful that it marks the shortest day of the year. It's cold, it's overcast and dull, and the prospect of each day ahead being minutely longer is something to celebrate. There are two (2) ways to deal with the sub-zero …
Tag: braidwood
Monogamy monogo-you
Our recent meditation on the beauty of kestrels kicked off another down-the-rabbithole thought process -- this time into birds that mate for life . . . and those that don't. What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Not a lot, I'm afraid -- other than maybe distracting you from its rapid …
Things can only get bigger
It's been a good year for the biking -- so far, anyway. With the diminution of La Niña, which contrived to soak us over the span of two summers, we have finally had enough dryness to string together a decent series of rides. Your author's progress chart on Strava looks less like a close-up of …
(Nearly) everyday I write the blog
Easter came with heavy tidings for Corner Cottage. Nothing life-altering, I should say, but a smart blow to the goolies of certain dearly held hopes, that’s for sure. I think hope will recover; time heals all wounds and hope springs eternal. That sort of thing. The issue was that one of my very very fave …
Peace, love and understanding
It's ANZAC Day again and with it comes the annual stew of conflicting feelings you get when you have the kind of complicated background someone like me has. On the one hand, there's the sadness and loss you feel for young people, whatever army they found themselves in, for whatever reason, who died young, possibly …
Feathery fantasy
It's been a while and this piece has been sitting on my desktop awaiting this or that embellishment. And new things keep happening to interrupt the unfettered flow of creative juices. Long story short, it's out of date, overwrought, and lacking a real point. Sold? Then read on! I had a dream the other night …
Kestrels of summer
In our recent spellbinding Raptorwatch series, where yours truly assumed an Attenborough-esque attitude toward revealing intimate details in the lives of local birds of prey, mention was made of the small but voracious Nankeen Kestrel. During winter, a bit like the protagonist in The Peregrine, I took to driving the dirt roads around Gillamatong in …
Whip it good
Out here in the boondocks, all it takes is a couple of days' sunshine and we're assailed with massed lawnmowers, whippersnippers, and hedge trimmers roaring, revving and farting in glorious surround sound. Of course, the Corner Cottage versions of these tools are all electric -- if all of Braidwood went the same way, we'd reach …
Carpe birdem
Well, yesterday was the last day of spring, not that you'd know it from the chill and damp days behind us. It's been less the force that through the green fuse drives the flower, and more the muted chesty cough of a secret TB sufferer. Thank you climate change, and thank you La Niña. Three …
Weird jobs: crossing the bar
It's a phenomenon of the current global macroeconomic and geopolitical situation that Braidwood is suffering from a shortage of good staff for its various pubs and eateries. Our town is well-served by some excellent places to grab a bite, but one has already been forced to close due to a lack of a chef. Good …
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