Stormy tawnies

Last week I visited Coffs Harbour for a few days. The weather was cyclonic, pouring with rain and high winds. This storm was moving down the entire coast of NSW so that most beaches were closed, including Sydney beaches.
Here is the usually calm Coffs Harbour (shot last year), a lovely, long sheltered beach:

...and here it is last week:

Driving back was a nightmare, with downpours, slippery roads and traffic. Some poor guy ran into the back of us in Kempsey. But we're all fine, including the other guy, only minor car damage. Took us 7 hours instead of the usual 5 1/2.

It was nice to get away from Sydney for a few days. In Coffs, we were lucky to meet some feathered friends, just outside the dining room. Here's one, a tawny frogmouth chick, one of three birds, one adult and two chicks, roosting there. They are quite drowsy during the day as they're nocturnal hunters, but they were very wary of me and my camera, also a couple of pet dogs (including Frankie) who were unaware of their presence.

They remind me of the family of Tawny Frogmouths who nested in a gum tree outside our own house a few years ago. As the weeks went by, we enjoyed watching the chicks hatch, grow, and learn to fly, under the careful watch of their parents. One baby fell out of the tree, and DH rescued him and put him back in the tree. They camouflage by assuming a pose which makes them look like a tree branch. PS Tawnies aren't actually owls - they're nightjars, whatever they are!

I finished another "bouquet"scarf - this time in bright colours - while away, and also finished a custom order scarf.