What Can I Say?

What can I say that I have not said before?

So I’ll say it again.

The leaf has a song in it.

Stone is the face of patience.

Inside the river there is an unfinishable story

and you are somewhere in it

and it will never end until all ends.

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the

chamber of commerce

but take it also to the forest.

The song you heard singing in the leaf when you

were a child

is singing still.

I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,

and the leaf is singing still.

Mary Oliver

Back at Scottsdale

 Our first day back at Scottsdale for 2025 had us watering some of the 8000 trees planted in the latter quarter of last year. Despite the clouds in the background, it's been very dry in these parts, so a drink for the new saplings was much appreciated.

Later in the afternoon, we did a bit of a reconnoiter of the property, including the higher wooded hills, checking on weed levels and feral fauna. Below is a scribbly gum grove overlooking the Murrumbidgee River which skirts the western boundary of the property and the eastern edge of Namadgee National Park.

Looking east across Scottsdale.

Looking south west.

Looking east again.

If you look closely you can see patches of tree guards from recent plantings.