Conversations with Amelie

Amelie: I picked this flower for Bella my cousin. Can we send it to her in Australia?

Mummy: You probably can't send it to her.

Amelie: Why?

Mummy: Well they don't let plants into Australia.

Amelie: Why don't they like plants in Australia?

Mummy: Weeeellllll... they don't want the diseases from here to get into the plants over there?

Amelie: Don't they want plants there?

Mummy: Yes, they have their own plants.

Amelie: So, I can't send this plant to Bella?

Mummy: No, you can't send it to Bella.

Amelie: What do they do with the plants?

Mummy: Weeeeelllll, they would probably put it in the bin and burn it.

Amelie: What would happen to it in the bin?

Mummy: They would burn it up then it would be no more.

Amelie: But ....

... and this continues....

Wildlife

There are a number of little animals that come visiting. In the daytime we have little Chipmunk Willie (a character in one of Amelie's books) - actually a Bedmore's Squirrel but small and striped like an American Chipmunk. He has these cute little white tuffs on his ears and is mostly interested in the bananas we have hung up. In the nighttime, frequent visitors are the flying squirrels - Rosseals, as they are called here. They are quite tame now and can even be fed by hand if you approach them quietly. Friends of Ben's and Amelie's (and not mine) are a family of Golden/Flying Tree Snakes who live right above our deck in a hole in our Jombok Tree. They are harmless and admittedly pretty. They visit the house about once a year in the dry season (well twice this year). That is enough for me.