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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A poem and photo.
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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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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.
A return to light programming.
Owlet-nightjar at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
Kind Regards.
Tracy.
Summer ends in the national capital, Canberra (Australia) – Clean air, clean water, good nutrition, shelter and safety; the essentials of life in the national capital, the rest of Australia and globally. I do think about these issues quite a lot. February was no exception.
It has been a grey, often wet and windy end to summer in the national capital. The sun has shone too but it hasn’t really had any bite to it like it has in recent years. Thank goodness, I say. Who needs that howling inferno we had last year. However, we know the clement weather is temporary so we enjoy it while we can.
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Mid-summer, Canberra (Australia) – Incidents and grass aplenty, as well as much catatonic lounging.
I suppose if you want a quiet life you wouldn’t have pets, children or partners. You certainly wouldn’t have Covid and all the stress and interruption to life that involves. Thankfully there has been an absence of Covid in Canberra over January, otherwise how would we have dealt with all the medical appointments and emergencies. Carefully, I guess.
I don’t suppose my True Love (TL) and I would have gotten out of bed before noon during January if it weren’t for the week of doggy diarrhoea from the red dogs, followed by days of hospital visits to take our other dog (Makea) from the emergency vet (for nighttime care) to our regular vet (for daytime care) and back again, then repeat. Meanwhile, the vegetable garden continued to need tending despite the veggies refusal to grow. Rainy, grey days put a dampener on the veggie patch. Our pumpkin vines have not produced a single pumpkin and many tomatoes have split as a result of the last downpour. The most delicious looking tomatoes have been consumed by hungry rodents. However, the grass is green and nearby dams are full so that is something. As the month ends, all is well.
January was all about small pleasures and golden waves, and making photos when the sun finally shone.
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – It’s A Small World and Ragtag Daily Prompt – Assignment.
Guest host of this week’s Lens-Artists challenge, Anne Sandler, has invited photographers to focus on the small things and she has provided a number of useful tips for macro/micro and close-up photography. Thanks, Anne. Unfortunately, I got carried away and so I might not have stuck strictly to the brief, preferring once more to go with arty-farty rather than teeny weeny. Thankfully my True Love had something up his … oh, never mind!
I have redeemed myself though with some wee poetry – haiku, of course – and some vulgar photography humour. My friend has asked me to keep writing and who am I to refuse?
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Bird Weekly Challenge – Birds That Start With ‘C’
Gee, my post title is a bit punny, don’t you think? I amuse myself. This week I am dropping in a quick contribution to Lisa’s Bird Weekly Challenge. I’m too busy on my hols at the moment to sort through photos, so I will limit my contribution to just one bird, the Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) or crestie for short. It is an easy one for me since the cresties are regular visitors to my garden.
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December in Canberra (Australia) – So many babies; so much grass; a lot of cutting, over-committed and Christmas.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am so very tired this month. I bet you know the feeling. It has been a long year and December has been super busy. Apart from the usual mundane activities, furniture shopping and mosaic production, I did get out a couple of times into my local area for relaxation. I was surprised by how many babies I saw. Tis the season I guess. Let’s look at some.
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Reflections of An Untidy Mind 