Up and Down

I remember many ups and downs in my childhood. The walk to school started with a quick trip down the back hill and around the dam, followed by the much slower and longer uphill journey into the town. Shopping was “up the street”. We climbed “up” trees. Visits to our great uncle Harold meant a long steep walk “up” John’s Hill. At night, the chooks had to be “locked up” and younger members of the family were “tucked up”.

One year we even saw an echidna crossing the carrot paddock, up the side of one raised bed, across the top, then down into the wheel track, then up, across and down again and again and again. It took a very long while, but the echidna was obviously determined to head back to the cover of the bush in that particular direction!

The photo below is of another visiting echidna climbing “up” a heap of mulch on my nature strip just a few years ago.