Another spring walk with my cat Otto

The sun came out at last, in between squally Spring showers, so I took the chance to go for a walk with my cat Otto, in the fresh air, while I could.

Otto is very much like my shadow, he likes to follow me wherever I go. He is now 2 and a half years old and acts like a kitten still, always leaping about and climbing up trees. 

You can see Otto in the photo above, near the top of a very tall eucalyptus tree. This is the highest that I have ever seen him climb. 

My heart was in my mouth when I saw him rush up the tree trunk at lightning speed. He has only just learnt to climb down backwards, instead of just leaping down from any height, or trying to run down the tree trunk head first! 

The ground was very wet and muddy and the grass was long, so I had to wear my gumboots to keep my feet dry. We are waiting for the land to dry out before we can mow the grass. It is quite overgrown at the moment.

This cabbage tree (cordyline australis) is Otto's favourite tree to climb at the beginning and end of each walk. He also uses it as a scratching post, then rushes up the trunk until his head is in the leaves which he plays with. 

Occasionally Otto will bring long cabbage tree leaves into the house as presents for me, or to play with. 😄

The blue wisteria is in full flower now and smells wonderful. This one grows just outside my bedroom window, so I can enjoy the scent when I have the window open.

Above is the view through our orchard and across one of our fields to the nature reserve. 

You can see the lemons, which are ready to pick, on the small tree at the bottom right of the photo. The buds on the rest of the fruit trees are just starting to open.

Our pond has filled up with water now, after all the rain that we have had. The pond is frequently visited by Mallard ducks, Canada geese and Paradise ducks. Although there were none to be seen on this walk. 

I love the Canada geese with their honking call, but they are very shy here and fly away as soon as they see us.

In the middle of the photo above is where the daffodil patch is. The daffodils finished flowering a month ago and we are waiting for the leaves to die off before we can mow over that area again.

The bright green tree on the left is our persimmon tree. It puts on a lovely show of fresh green leaves in the Spring. Then in Autumn the leaves turn a bright rusty orange colour and the tree is then full of bright orange persimmons.

Otto and I very much enjoyed our walk 😊

It is time now for me to have my afternoon tea. Twining's English breakfast tea, no milk, 2 sugars and a slice of lemon with a couple of shortbread biscuits today. Yummy.

I hope that you are having an enjoyable week.

See you again soon.

Hugs, Rose x