Being A Member Of The Community Matters!

This is a little piece about my community, the community of Mallala, a tiny town in rural South Australia. I have lived in the Mallala region, in an even tinier place, the township of Redbanks, since 1988, when my husband and I moved from inner city suburbia, to the country.

We’ve both retired from the paid workforce since then, and now live better, and quieter, still working, but unpaid work now, being volunteers to help others, and also to enjoy our lives, developing a greater sense of purpose in live …

This rosemary bush grows near the Mallala Museum, a much awarded museum that gives pleasure to both visitors and the the wonderful volunteers who work there. (writer’s photograph)

I often walk, almost every day, in fact, and today this is what I did when I drove into Mallala (an easy six kilometre drive from my place in Redbanks. I took Lenny with me, because as a retired Greyhound, he appreciates a walk every day, but he especially likes walks that start with a drive in the car, Lenny loves going for a drive!

“I drove to Mallala with Lenny and we walked around town a bit. Saw Sharon S. across the road from the stock feed store on the corner across the road from the Museum and walked with her back to her place. I admired the flowers of one of her geraniums, and she gave me a cutting!

It’s a sweet one, with pale pink and white flowers we don’t have already. The collection grows, community strengthens! The cutting is a way off flowering, but hopefully we might see the flowers by the end of spring. When I finished my walk, I delivered some copies of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, a monthly newletter I edit, and print out and distribute for the people of Mallala.”

Once Lenny and I were back home again, I went out to the back yard, and popped that geranium into a pot, with the hope it will ‘take’ and thrive! It’s the beginning of Spring here in the southern hemisphere, and the flowers and birds are showing all of the signs of Spring, for sure!

My walk around Mallala was with a light but constant ‘Spring shower’, and I’m glad Lenny’s coat he was wearing kept his body dry. Greyhounds are sensitive to the cold, because they only have a single coat, where most dogs grow a double coat of hair, fine hair underneath coarser hairs on top.