Enjoy the Nature of Robertson

I concluded yesterday's posting with with a little item about the call of the Lyrebird. I then added: "Enjoy! It is part of the Nature of Robertson". I think that point warrants being fleshed out.

There is so much about the nature of life in Robertson which is enjoyable. The people are decent, caring individuals, for a start. What - all of them, you ask? All the time?

Who knows? But most of them, most of the time, I will attest.

Unlike city dwellers (and I include local towns of Bowral and Moss Vale in that generalisation), the people of Robertson are very closely attuned to Nature. The farmers work the soil or their animals. In the Village, gardeners work the soil, but they know they have to compete with the Bowerbirds to harvest their crop of fruit, or berries, or even flowers like Roses.

As with Anni's recent trip away, when you get back, you have things to deal with in the garden, like overgrown lawns, and swollen Zucchinis. When I was away last year, for medical reasons, I was constantly aware of what might be happening in the garden - the weeds swamping the Peonies, or new flowers coming into bloom.

Very often we see Wombats standing, or walking slowly, beside the roads. Property-owners just on the edge of town live with them burrowing under fences, or even under houses. If you leave a shovel out in the garden a Wombat will poo on the blade over night - to mark it as his territory, not yours. How lucky are we to have the animals to remind us of that bold fact?

There are people who take their dogs for a walk down to the Cemetery, every day. In so doing they hear the Whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus) "cracking" from the shrubbery, or hear the Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) wailing like "Banshees" out from the trees overhead. I wake to the sounds of bird calls, every morning. How sweet is that?

Every time I look out the window, I see trees, greenery, flowers (and yes weeds, of course). But Nature is there - in my face, every day. If you live on a hill, as I do, you will have a view of distant mountains. Or, if you are lucky, out to the coast. How good must that be? (Take a bow, you McGuinness Drive residents, especially).

Alternatively, on foggy days, you are yearning for the fog to break, so you can see where your place is, in the world, again. You know you are "grounded". But without being able to see it, you know something is missing. It is such a lovely feeling to see the surrounding environment again, after a fog.

The weather in Robertson does not allow you to ignore it. It is such a dominant force. If you live here, you know you are part of Nature. That is what gives us all the "edge" - in being able to enjoy what is happening around us - the awareness that we are part of a system, something far greater than mere human endeavour.

We are part of the Nature of Robertson. And we enjoy it.