February in the sub-tropics, and the sane amongst us are well and truly over humidity and surprise downpours, and already looking forward to those perfect, 23 degree-ish, blue sky days of autumn.
There are, however, many reasons to be cheerful. For a start, it's not Adelaide, where it's been 42 in the shade for the past couple of weeks. Some people have been keeping themselves amused by cooking eggs on various unplugged metal surfaces. Others are simply keeling over.
So no, it ain't that bad up here. And those sudden bursts of pelting rain every half hour or so really do cool things off a treat.
Another reason to be cheerful (wasn't that an Ian Dury song from the 80s?*) is the garden. The plants are deliriously happy about the sauna-like conditions, and growing like nobody's business. All the gingers and heliconias are bursting into a riot of colour, and you actually can watch the grass grow (okay, that's a negative). Just look at the photo left, and below - instant rainforest. Well, more like five years - but impressive nonetheless.
Such bizarre plants these, with those weird, alien shapes and rubbery textures ... but the best part is you just pop 'em in the dirt and stand back.
Another great thing about all this mad profusion of vegetation is the fun of tucking whimsical pieces of scrap amongst the undergrowth. Tip a junked outboard motor on its side and presto - alien praying mantis. Nice one Phil. And you can never have enough lengths of rusty concrete reinforcing - add wok for bird feeder, use as climbing frame for dragon fruit etc etc ...
In its youth, the barbie was a forge ... and the fish pond simply an old concrete planter that used to be white, but so much more attractive after a few lashings of Porter's Instant Rust. The bird bath (below) is the top off an old boiler found in a Ballarat scrapyard. Oh yes, and then there's the weathervane ...
Yep, it's a sperm - a hand-beaten, hollow form, patinated copper sperm. Phil made it some 14 years ago, when he had a house and studio in trendy downtown Unley (S.A.). Not long after installing it, he had a visit from the director of the neighbouring beauty therapy college:
"We've been having a discussion about that thing on the roof," she said, "Is it what we think it is?"
Phil: "It's an object of creation"
"Okay, that's what we thought it was."
And now, many years later, it swings proudly above the palm trees in Eumundi. It is rather cute, although as a piece of meteorological equipment it's next to useless, spending most of its time spinning aimlessly.
"Typical sperm," says Phil.
[*1979 - Reasons to be Cheerful: Part 3. Let's have a listen, shall we?]
2 comments:
That Phil is a surprising funny man.
So jealous of your heliconias and gingers... we do have a yukka in flower though that that big phallic catcus thing which I'm sure you can see from your place!
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