a dog ignores plague soldier beetles

Yesterday, as Penny swam at Willsmere, I was entranced by the clouds of golden beetles hovering in the sunshine beside the river. They were all around Penny as she was guarding her toys from the other dogs, but she didn't take any notice of them.

Today, a cooler day, they were there again, this time clustering on grasses and on the trunk of a tree.

I found out their name by asking a man who was spraying weeds in the park. (How much work goes into maintaining these parks that Penny enjoys!) I thought the name sounded scary, but he said they're harmless.

And he was correct. Here's an article about these beautiful but strangely-named creatures. They are nectar drinkers.

This one had the nerve to land on Penny's toy!

having heaps of fun on a hot morning

So, it's still hot in Melbourne. But that doesn't mean Penny can't have fun, as long as we go out early.
The shadows are long and the grass is burnt brown, but there are still patches of green to investigate. I wonder why this nice-smelling spot is green?

We hurry along to the swimming spot and Penny fetches her Whirl Wheels. The river's brown, but here's hoping it's not polluted. (The Yarra is always brown; that's why some people call it the upside-down river.)

But wait! Someone's coming. Penny is aware of the newcomers before her human notices.

So now she's not going to swim. She will sit at the top of the embankment and guard her toys.

But that doesn't mean the others can't have fun.

 We went for a walk and Penny raced around on the grass chasing her toys - who'd have thought, all those years ago when she had her cruciate repaired, that one day she'd be running free once again?

Then we headed back for a last swim. A lovely morning that her human would have spent lazing in bed if she didn't have a dog to get her out on a hot summer's morning.

Thank Dog for dogs!

we explore new places when we have a dog

Feeling excited that Penny's paws are fine now, I decided she could cope with a longer walk today. We stayed mainly on grass, at one of our favorite places, Willsmere Park in Kew.

However, it seemed a good idea to test Penny out on a hard surface, so we went in a new direction, out of the park and along the shared path towards Fairfield. We had to stay on lead. I tried to get Penny to mostly walk on the edge, on the soft soil there, but she insisted on walking on the concrete surface itself.

Penny walks along the edge of the shared path near Willsmere

When she was on the actual path, we had to keep our ears cocked for the sound of a speeding cyclist coming from behind. As the sign suggested, some warned us with a ringing of their bells, like this courteous guy who passed us so quickly I could hardly get a picture of him.

Sign for cyclists on shared path near Willsmere

But this rude fellow raced up behind us with no warning.

Discourteous cyclist on shared path near Kew

It was great to get back onto the nice soft walking path into Willsmere...

and back into the park itself.

trying out my iPhone hautik lens

Today Penny and I returned to Willsmere, a lovely park by the Yarra River. Penny had fun and so did I, trying out my new Hautik, 12X telephoto lens for my iPhone.

Here's a picture with the normal phone. Do you see the seat at the base of the tree in the distance?

And here's the same scene with the lens. It's a bit out of focus, because I had trouble holding it still. The kit comes with a tripod and I think I'll take it next time.

Here are another two photos for comparison.

Once again, I had trouble holding the iPhone still.

But I'm going to persist with the lens, because I think it will be good.

Unfortunately, all the other pictures were accidentally little movies, because I must have pressed the wrong button. I'll have to be more careful next time.

winter and spring in one day

Yesterday we thought spring had come to Melbourne, and I was eager to get a nice walk in the sun today with Penny. But winter came back!

After the icy rain and hail, Penny and I set off for Willsmere Park in Kew. I was all rugged up, but of course Penny jumped  into the Yarra for her usual swim.

She waited in vain for me to make my way down the slippery bank to throw sticks into the water.

We saw lots of other creatures also enjoying the park. (Please excuse the low quality of some of the pictures, but I want to show you the variety of park visitors today.)

The kookaburra kept an eye on us but wasn't too worried.

We walked past clouds of insects - maybe midges? They ignored Penny and she ignored them, because she was too busy cleaning her nether parts.

The grass parrots didn't care about us at all, unless we got very close, in which case they shot up into the nearest tree, waited for us to get a few metres away and landed once more nearby.

The ducks, however, were more wary of us, perhaps because they are slower to take flight. Or maybe dogs tend to chase them more often.

It's surprising to realise all this beauty and peace is right alongside a noisy, busy road. Thank goodness for the big wall that keeps most of the noise away.