Yesterday we woke to find a huge limb had fallen down from the ancient gum tree up by our
front fence. We will have to get our tree man to come and fix it up for us, its too
big a job for Dick & Sam. Feel sad for the animals and birds who live in the tree,
there's a bee hive up there too, been there for as long as I can remember.
Occasionally they fly off, perhaps a 2nd Queen evolves - they're not native bees, but imports back in
the days when Australia was settled by the Europeans. The bees are a big asset here now,
we all love their honey... but we have other imports that have become a weed or pest.

We're not sure of the age of this old tree, at least 400 years and maybe more! A
gardening lady is coming today to help with dead-heading the roses, she will have a big
job ahead of her when she arrives, and the day is warming up.

We had a smoky night and there is a layer of soot on the furniture, and pillows as I
discovered when I hit the sack last night. Many wineries were lost in the fires, some
areas are still alight and the fireys are still working on them, luckily the winds have dropped.