Mid-Spring



The mulberry plant was nearly uprooted and a new nursery plant had half its branches and leaves snapped from gusty winds on the last Sunday of September 2009. I had got off relatively light, there were roofs blown off in nearby suburbs.

The air plunged into obvious cold temperatures after a rather warm day on the following day,September 28. Daylight savings was to begin on the first Sunday of October, when 2am became 3am. The sun had already risen by 530am, and this made me even easier to get to work early. Apart from the red dust storms of Wednesday dawn on 23 September 2009, sunlight was already intense by breakfast time.



Malaysian nasi lemak, Aussie cupcakes, Shanghai crispy chicken and Chinese dessert of white fungus with paw paw slices were the order of the day on the last weekend of September. Not being able to go away from the Sydney or Wollongong areas as planned that day, I plunged into a series of other appointments that were punctuated by hanging around in shopping centres, an unexpected friendly encounter and another late night coming home. The multi-coloured solar powered garden lights - alternating blue, green and pink - outside my home are a current welcome sight after having to drive so many kilometres to return. The three colours reflect my Aussie residency, Straits Chinese influences and Chinese roots.




I could not resist getting a pot of hardy ferns and a budding young muscat grape plant to add to my home garden. They are just a low bunch of green leaves now but promise to be more. Apparently this has been the hottest September on my side of the woods in 150 years.


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