I have been busy converting much of our dried up old lawn to a vegie patch and today I was able to harvest nearly a whole meal - basil, 3 sorts of squash, radishes and shallots. I made pesto, briefly stir-fried the vegies, tossed in some cooked chickpeas and then slathered on the pesto - dinner - so delicious!

A while ago, I did this sketch of sulphur-crested cockatoos which congregate in their hundreds at this time of year in Canberra to eat acorns. Today, on another bike ride, the unbelievable happened. A cockatoo left its busy gang and flew into my front bikewheel where it got entangled and stuck as I was flying along. I stopped, quite shocked at the sight of the squawking, flapping bird. A woman rode past, saying she couldn't possibly stop to help. Then two guys stopped and after covering the bird's head with a jacket, were able to disentangle it.
It had lost a lot of feathers but no parts seemed to be broken, so they let it go and it flew messily away, feathers awry - poor creature - I don't suppose it will do that again. I sketched this when I got home.

My sister is visiting for a month with her baby and so I get to have a turn of Shula, aged 7 1/2 months. Swaddle her firmly, put on some peaceful music and within minutes, she is ready for her modelling work and I am in right-brain mode.
An hour later, we have one un-grumpy baby and two sketches.

After this nap, Shula scavenged for 'droppings' on the kitchen floor and then we read Where is Spot?