I hear that there will be a review of the Heart of the Mirage in the Brisbane Courier-Mail this weekend. Fingers crossed it will be a good one.

My grandson and I are pals at last. It’s taken a week!! We are going to set up a live computer link when I go home so that he doesn’t forget me again…

And today, when we went to a plant nursery to choose some flowers for planting, while I was looking at some Exotic Impatiens, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird came and fed on the flowers, then hovered a bare foot or so away. Eyeball to eyeball. Ah. To a birdwatcher from a non-hummingbird part of the world, that was a pretty good moment. To add to the pleasure, several pairs of Purple Finches were nesting in the plant shed (at least, that’s what I assumed they were, although I didn’t have my binoculars with me), with the males warbling their hearts out. Perfect.

I am actually a bit frustrated, I will admit – my telescope and bins have gone to Austria to be cleaned and serviced, and I am doing without. I have thus gone cold turkey on birdwatching, and that is incredibly tough, especially when there are all these exciting things about.