Changing perspectives ....

One of the best parts of the job of being an academic was the supervision of doctoral students. Sure there are a few that are brilliant and require little input and others that struggle and require a lot of remedial work.  For the majority, however, there is a sense of a shared journey of discovery and the forging of a strong bond that very often lasts a lifetime. If you performed your supervisory role properly there always came a time when your charge stepped up to take the lead on the project. Instead of driving the research, your role as supervisor then became one of prompting and probing, of offering suggestions and perspectives about where the research fitted into the greater scheme of things. I had a somewhat similar epiphany on our recent family holiday to Japan. Rather than having the parents in charge of all decision making, our three adult sons ran the show for us. It was an extremely good feeling and made for a very relaxing holiday. The next stage will be to persuade said offspring that 'all-expenses paid for parents' is the right and proper way to go.

Japan was a revelation. I was just as impressed by the cleanliness of the cities and the culture of politeness and good manners as I was by the cuisine, the temples and the palaces. Of course there were moments of indescribable beauty, probably the most memorable of these happened on the Hakone-Tozan ropeway. You traverse the desolate mountainside of Owakudani with its plumes of smoke and sulphurous fumes and then as you crest the ridge of the mountain your senses are assaulted by the breathtaking view of Mt Fuji. We were incredibly lucky because seeing Mt. Fuji is relatively uncommon due to cloud cover and, true to form, by the time we made our return journey the clouds had descended.

Mt. Fuji taken from a cable car on the Hakone-Tozan ropeway

We had scrupulously planned  the trip to coincide with the cherry blossom season in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Needless to say, the sakura was late this year and we were greeted by bare blossom trees as we strode out on our first morning in Tokyo. The pattern was then repeated in Osaka and Kyoto with only a tree or two here and there treating us to glimpse of what might have been. By the time we returned to Tokyo for our last day, the sakura had officially started and although there was a noticeable uptick in the amount of blossom,  full bloom was still some way off. Despite the disappointment of missing out on the full sakura experience, it was a sublime family holiday - one of the best.

Gathering around a blossom tree in Uena Park, Tokyo

On our return we were happy to find that the farm had survived our absence thanks to the efforts of our farm sitters. The dogs were relieved to see us and even Gracie decided to forgo her usual two week period of turning her back on us. The sheep and goats looked contented and well fed and the chickens and guinea fowl were all present and correct.  Although there had been no significant rain over the 10 days we had been away, the garden was glowing with autumn colour, as personified by the euonymus alatus, also known as the `burning bush'.

Euonymus alatus in full autumn colour

The fact that autumn had started in earnest was heralded by our sighting of the 'long white cloud' formation soon after our return. A tendril of white cloud (sometimes more substantial) hanging over the Huon River is one of the characteristics of autumn and winter mornings in the valley.

The long white cloud

We celebrated Anzac Day by opening our first ever bottle of homemade cider made from the juice of Vista Bella apples (see 'Vista Bella Day ...', posted on 15 January 2024). We shared it with the folk that had helped press the juice and all pronounced it to be more than satisfactory! Just for additional quality control we opened another bottle the other day at home and were once again pleased with the result. We currently have three more demijohns fermenting away all containing different kinds of apple juice.

 

Tasting the Vista Bella apple cider

 

Apple cider in the making

There is one sad event to recount. Following our return from Japan, the youngest of our three female guinea fowl started to sit on a nest containing 18 or so eggs. The nest was beautifully concealed and we occasionally walked up to check on her progress and make sure she was okay. Early last week instead of only the three older guinea fowl waiting for the morning feed all four were present and the youngest one was limping. We immediately went over the nest only to discover that the eggs were gone and all that remained was a scattering of egg shell here and there. We don't really know what happened but surmise that quoll must have found the nest, thus explaining both the eggs and the limp. We were saddened by this ending to what might have a been a happy story for our guinea fowl.  If there is a next time we will collect a few of the eggs and try to hatch them in our egg incubator ...