Money, money, money

Blogging has taken a bit of a backseat lately, because of some financial woes, which take up a lot of my time through worrying about it (too much). Anyway I haven't really found a time to really rest and blog, and I think I'll only get to that again when everything calms down a bit.

I hope that'll be soon!!

Close but no thunder

According to the weather forecast, there would be a thunderstorm yesterday. I wasn't sure at what time it would be hitting which part of our little country. I was just hoping it wouldn't hit in the afternoon, since I had to travel by bus from 12:45 pm till 14:15 pm, and by train from 14:30 pm till 15:30 pm. I don't like a thunderstorm too much while travelling, I'm too afraid something might happen or that busses and trains might even not leave for their destination, and that I would be stranded somewhere. - Maybe I worry too much :-D

Weather was superb however. Very sunny, maybe even a little too "sweat-creating" for my tastes. I like warm weather, but not hot weather, which we mostly get over here when it's sunny.
Off course with this hot weather, thunderstorms are a lot more likely than with just nice warm weather. But I arrived at my destination safely and sweaty :-)

Come yesterday evening it was still nice weather, albeit somewhat less sunny. Which was nice, since we don't have shades in our apartment anymore. So usually when I get home, the sun is shining happily in our living room, making it near impossible to be there, since it gets boiling hot behind our single paned window. Also I like to watch some telly around that time, since there are mostly some nice TV series or cooking programmes on, and I'm dog tired from travelling and attending class and I just wanna sit on the couch and unwind. Unfortunately, if I could ignore the heat, I certainly could not ignore the sunshine, bathing our television screen in white yellow light. I'm still able to HEAR what they're saying however LOL.

But yesterday it was actually possible to see something as well, so I watched some TV series round dinner time, and a nice movie(Mystic Pizza) in the evening.
Did feel a little lonely however, since my roomie wasn't home and I mostly just miss my parents when I'm gone during the week. I'm such a momma's girl, I know...

Stayed up WAY too late again. Need to work on that.
As I was getting getting ready for bed though, I saw some lighting. I got excited, the thunderstorm was finally happening! Cause contrary to my feelings about a thunderstorm during the day, I love a thunderstorm at night! I like to listen to the sound of the rain and thunder while lying in bed. I find it to be relaxing and soothing.
So I actually went to bed a little earlier than usual, waiting for the thunderstorm to happen. BUT nothing happened... Bummer.
It did rain though, albeit a little later, when I was aready asleep. Hmm, close but no cigar, or I should say thunder in this case?

As for today, the weather is looking less promising of sunshine than yesterday.
I have no class on Tuesdays, and so my Tuesdays are mostly spent wandering around the apartment, "working" on the computer and watching telly again. VERY productive.
I might be going to the shopping centre later today, to visit the local charity shop and some other shops. Merely to look, not to buy, hehe.
But first I'm off for a bite to eat and a rerun of Murder, she wrote.

G'day!

The blackbird's nest

There's the sweetest couple of blackbirds nesting in our garden. They have been working on building a nest in our ivy for quite some time now. I believe they have made another nest just before this one, because I found a nest lying on the ground next to the ivy a few weeks ago and I think it were the same blackbirds working on that nest as it are the ones nesting in their new home right now. I don't know what happened to their first nest, as there were no eggs or young yet. Maybe it just wasn't stable enough? They're building against a wooden fence, so that might prove to be difficult.

Anyway we discovered the prettiest little blue-green eggs 2 days ago. The blackbird parents had temporarily left the nest. And somewhere between yesterday and the day before that the eggs hatched. The parents have been flying off and on since then, to feed their cute offspring. I believe there are five of them. The picture above I took this afternoon when the parents had temporarily left the nest again. I've been wanting to take a picture since yesterday, but I was afraid I might scare the parents into abandoning their young. But today I couldn't control myself anymore. I looked around real hard to see if the parents were watching and guarding their nest, and when I made sure they weren't I took one picture real quick. I think it turned out really well for a quick snapshot, but it doesn't take an incredible photographer to make baby blackbirds look cute, now does it?

I really hope this young family makes it! I read on the internet that 9 out of 10 blackbird's nests end in failure.
I think the same blackbirds had a go last year in an acacia tree in our garden and that nest ended up being raided by a magpie. And to make matters worse - my mother had to get up early for work this morning and left a note saying she saw the blackbird parents scaring away a magpie from our garden, so she was afraid the young might be gone later today. Fortunately, the magpie has given up, as the young were still there for the rest of the day, but I really hope that magpie or another one won't come back! I think magpies will be be the only reason the young might not survive since there aren't any cats in our neighbourhood.

I have to leave my parents' house tomorrow to go to my student apartment in another city and won't be coming back 'till friday and I really hope I will see the baby blackbirds again that day! But I guess I will learn about their progress throughout the course of the week, since my mother and I will probably e-mail and phone eachother, so if anything terrible happens to them during this week, I'm bound to find out before friday!
To end this post I'm leaving you with a poem by William Henley, which I found while looking for information on blackbird's nests on the internet.
It's a simple poem, but it really rings true, as for me too blackbirds are a symbol of spring, new life and finding joy and happiness in the little things.

'The nightingale has a lyre of gold,
The lark's is a clarion call,
And the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute,
But I love him best of all.

For his song is all of the joy of life,
And we in the mad, spring weather,
We two have listened till he sang
Our hearts and lips together.'