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A Small Detail

I need help, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to visit my mother in central Queensland (Australia) but between her and me is a plague of rampaging mice. It is my worst nightmare, or at least one of my worst nightmares. Who can blame me with reports of a farmer recently catching a rodent-borne disease and people being bitten by mice in their hospital beds? So, I need info. If I drive the inland route from Canberra to central Queensland, will I be confronted by a moving carpet of mice that will squelch under my tyres or will the wave of mice part in front of me as I drive at high speed through the chewed pastures, not even stopping for coffee or a bite? Also, forget sleep. Otherwise, biting. Let me know.

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The Changing Seasons – April 2021

Autumn in Canberra (the national capital of Australia) – A month of sunshine (La Nina ends). A walk in the park. It has been over 300 days since Canberra recorded a case of local transmission of the coronavirus.

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Leaving The Light On

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

I’m about to head off to my second medical appointment for the week. Not to worry, just routine stuff. Anyone who has had much interaction with the Australian medical system will appreciate how much the quality of that system depends on the health professionals from India who have made Australia their home. In the blogosphere, many of my readers are also from India or have extended family in India. One of my blogger friends from Delhi has told me that whatever we may be seeing about the Covid disaster there is only the tip of the iceberg. I am anxiously waiting an update.

I’m dedicating my song choice to all the people who have lost loved ones to Covid. The song, Edna’s Song, is written and sung by Ange Takats.

For Su’s Friday Flowers and song, see here.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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No Flight Risk

I really don’t like flying. I like being there, but not the getting there part. International friends should rest easy in the knowledge that if they invite me to their place, I am unlikely to visit. My reluctance to get on a plane is rather convenient because aviation contributes 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions. As aviation affects the concentration of gases and pollutants in the atmosphere, it contributes 3.5 percent to warming (see here). Nevertheless as an isolated country far from global markets, Australia is dependent on air transport.

In truth, I would like my children to travel, both for their own pleasure but also because you can learn much about the world and other cultures through travel. If my kids fly with Qantas in future, they won’t be travelling on one of the Boeing 747 400 series planes. These planes were retired in 2020. This is the last one leaving Australia for the plane graveyard in the Mojave desert, California. I watched that plane fly over my house. It flew low and slow and seemed to hang in the air. My True Love (TL) was at our local park with his camera and he snapped this photo as it passed overhead.

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Fly-Bye

One of my family’s favourite sayings is “There is no use prevaricating about the bush.” Can you guess which movie this saying came from or who said it?

Answer: Wallace from one of the Wallace & Gromit films. Wallace has a way with words.

Speaking of prevaricating about the bush, it is now 15c degrees here. No lie. This means that my glue might finally stick. I had better fly and try it out.

Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Coffee And Colour

It is that time of the month again when we are invited to join the lovely Su (aka Zimmerbitch) for an afternoon tea get-together and chat in the blogosphere. Pull up a chair wherever you are and join in some socially distant camaraderie. I am also participating in the Lens Artists Photo Challenge – Colorful April. I thought we should have some music with our coffee, so I have included a tune for my (early) Friday song day.

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To Me

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

I had picked a song for Friday but I decided to release it early (see here). So now I have had to come up with a song in a hurry. In that earlier post, for the first time I spoke about my age, kinda. But you probably had already guessed my approximate vintage because the clue is in my name. Tracies are of a certain era, aren’t they? In my experience, and I should know, they’re normally born in the 1960s.

Here is an old photo of my younger sister and me riding Lightning.

So back to us Tracies. We even have a song named after us. It is called Tracy and it is sung by The Cufflinks. Note the correct spelling. Shall we hear it?

Thanks for listening. But there’s more, Su from Zimmerbitch has also chimed in with one of my favourite songs (see here).

Take care, everyone.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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I Was Shot

Despite the safety issues around the AstraZeneca vaccine, I decided to go ahead and get my shot last Sunday, but I did have a good think for a few days about whether or not to proceed. My heart was aflutter like a small bird.

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Go Peacefully

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.

Normally around this time, I would be attending the National Folk Festival in Canberra (Australia). It has been cancelled for two years in a row due to Covid. It is a beautiful day today. 27c and the sun is glorious. My son commented how that was a bit warm for the folk festival which can range from freezing cold to boiling hot in our autumn weather. Yesterday, there was a last minute cancellation to the Byron Bay BluesFest due to an outbreak of community transmission of Covid. My heart goes out to all who worked tirelessly, and at great personal and financial cost, to put the festival on. It was a huge risk that didn’t pay off. Let’s hope that next year will be different for both these festivals and they will come back stronger than ever.

I am not religious, so today (being Good Friday), I reached back into my secular gospel singing days to choose a song for Friday song day. I was moved to tears by this performance. It is Doreen Ketchens and her band performing A Closer Walk With Thee on the streets of New Orleans. Why is this lady not a superstar? I hope this performance leaves you on a high note. Enjoy.

Peace to you all.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.