Live Every Day as if it Were Your Last

Having cancelled today’s walk, for fear of my entire party being struck down with sunstroke, I also remembered the advice of my dear, recently recovered friend, Teresa, who told me that “At our age to keep busy is best way to live, enjoy what we can do, I have a friend age 75 had 5 strokes since Covid, she cannot move the left side of her body. Enjoy each day because we do not know what’s round the corner.” Now I read that as saying “you might die tomorrow” so I still had to escape into the bush, even if I retreated inside by 9.30am. By then the forecast temperature was a distinct possibility. At 9.00am it was already 27 degrees!

There was a temptation, I should note. Within a short walk of our unit, inside Royal National Park, along the Engadine Lakes Fire Trail, I had heard that there were orchids and I was determined to find them.

Searching for orchids, especially the Midge Orchids (Corunastylis) lends itself to slow walking. They are small and easily overlooked. When I crossed over the railway into the park, I dropped to a slow crawl and kept my eyes alert by the sides of the path and my ears tuned in to the sounds from above.

Those sounds included Fantail Cuckoo, Red Wattlebird, Crimson Rosella, Striated Thornbills and Grey Butcherbirds but by the time I returned home they faced serious competition from cicadas!

At eye level the first attraction was this Garden Orb Spider (Eriophora sp.), its little eyes looking out at me from its web!

My first Midge orchids were, shall I say, past it! I trust they had lived life like they might die tomorrow. But they were producing their seed, to create the next generation!