Home at last, across the causeway lined on each side with bamboo. Luckily it isn’t underwater this time; we’ve had a lot of rain. On the edge of the dam our white duck is asleep with her beak under her wing. Instead of being white, she is now a muddy brown. She just turned up one day, I don’t know where she came from. Once out of the car I’m met by our golden cocker spaniel, Missy. She’s jumping up at me and making her sounds. I wonder what she’s telling me?

I open the front door and she runs past me into the kitchen. We call her The Chef’s Apprentice because she’s in the kitchen whenever we cook.  Charles, my husband, calls out from the patio. “Do you want cheese on toast, I’ve just had one?”

“Yes, I’d love one,” I call back. ”I see you’ve mowed the paddock, it looks good.”

I sit down at the outside table. I can smell the cheese and bread cooking and my mouth waters. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was. Missy’s there as the plate is put in front of me.  She’s head taster; I give her a piece of my toast. It’s gone in a second.

As I sit eating my oozy cheese toast, the butcherbird flies in and lands on top of an empty chair opposite me. He waits until I toss him a tiny piece of bread. I know I shouldn’t feed him bread, but I do. He flies down, picks up the bread in his beak and flies off. 

I’m going to miss this place with all its wonderful creatures. We have lived on five acres for thirty five years, but now it’s time for a change. The memories will stay in my heart forever.