Had a lovely evening last night with family – drank far too much wine, laughed a great deal, talked and listened and basked in that feeling you get only with special people. Something I miss too often, living in another country.
Margaret and I went birdwatching this morning at Bibra Lake.
A sad sight. People over the years have sunk bores to obtain water for their gardens without any thought for the state of Perth’s wetlands. Some of the urban wetlands remain dry even during the winter rains. There can be no sorrier sight than what we saw today – a long-necked tortoise trudging its way through the mud of the lake to, I would think, certain death (see pix No.3)
Enjoy those silly green lawns, unused, and think of the price that was paid for them.
Some of the Banksias – one of my favourite flowers – were out in bloom.
The birding was good – everything from Splendid Wrens to raptors.
And these plants in the last pix have always to be been a symbol of Australia and home. We used to call them Black Boys (they tend to have a black “trunk”) and never gave a thought to any racial slur. Now political correctness tells us we were in fact denigrating a whole people.
That was news to me, actually. All it ever was, as far as we were concerned, was the name of a plant, as neutral as white-ants, the White-faced Heron and the white cliffs of Dover.
Ok, so here are some Xanthorrhoea, or grass trees.
So maybe you are denigrating grass snakes LOL. I don’t see anything wrong with black trees if their trunks are black. Great pix but how sad that the lake is drained like that, poor turtle. Glad you are having fun with the family.
Grass trees were actually called black boys because their profile, with the long stalk coming out the top, is reminiscent of the aborigine standing on one leg, leaning on his spear, nothing to do with the colour at all. Personally I like the name Xanthorea better, although it does sound like a character from Doctor Who.
Interesting how Joanna and Glenda have different ideas about the name. I’m the same vintage as Glenda and a Western Australian. I was brought up believing that the black part came from the usually fire blackened trunks and given their appearance I find any other explanation hard to believe. There certainly doesn’t seem to be any resemblance to a person.
Plus I spelled it wrong… *grin*. I did a quick internet search, but the only source I could find to back up my story was Wikipedia, although I also didn’t find anything to refute it either!