Canberra (Australia) – Silver, Silver, Silver! It’s been another chilly month of rain and silver hues. Dreadful weather for photography really.
One bracing morning, the Crested Pigeons were hunkered down in patches of weak sunlight. Everything about the photographic conditions was terrible, but you will get the general idea.
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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.
Can you guess the tune?
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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.
In July 2019, I participated in the Share Your Music Challenge – one song every day that month. At the end of the month, I breathed a sigh of relief that I had managed to make it through the challenge and was ready to hang up my air guitar. One of my Canadian readers urged me to keep going and so my Friday Song Day and a musical exchange began. This interaction brought me great joy.
These days I have fewer Canadian readers – death, old age, illness, pandemics, caring responsibilities, other commitments, etc, have intervened. For several weeks I have been concerned for my musical buddies, Sid and J. Today I have chosen a musical piece for them both and their loved ones. The piece is Ravel’s Miroirs III – Une Barque sur L’Ocean, performed by renowned Canadian pianist André Laplante.
This beautiful piece and performance is a gift to us all. I know Sid and J would approve. Enjoy.
Let kindness and compassion be your legacy, ladies and gentlemen.
Love to you all.
Tracy.
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.
Who is an essential worker? That is the question that the New South Wales Premier has refused to answer. Politics! Meanwhile, cases of the Delta variant grow in Sydney (Australia). The Premier is not personally to blame for the increase in cases, but it would be helpful if she could say who should stay at home under her government’s lockdown provisions. I am sure she will get around to it soon because she is a sensible woman. A few more people may have to die first before official advice is given.
I send all my love to family and friends in Sydney. Thinking of you. You can do this. My thoughts are also with all those in hospital at the moment and with the families who have lost loved ones to Covid.
Today, we need a big song. This is for everyone in Sydney and other parts of the world who are dealing with the horrors of Covid at the moment. The song is Hold The Line by Toto.
Stay safe, everyone.
Kind Regards.
Tracy.
Photo Credit: J Bar, Fairfield Railway Station, Wikimedia Commons
Needing a distraction, I have taken to Photoshop to bring you a couple of black and white thingys in response to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Black And White.
Our host, Anne, has asked us to explain how we’ve processed the photos. I’ve only got a couple of photos for this challenge because my aim is to stay off the computer as much as possible due to injury. Both photos were originally taken in colour. As I don’t have any fancy editing software, I used basic Photoshop to convert both to black and white. Let’s see how I went.
Read moreAs you do … on cheap electricity and a gas-led climate emergency.
The late, great John Clarke, together with fellow comedian, Bryan Dawe, explain Australia’s energy market. [Videos might only be available to Australian audiences.]
But don’t mention the planet.
You have to wonder if those companies with large long term contracts for electricity are paying proportionately much less than small users of electricity? It would make sense. Discounts for bulk purchases are pretty standard, aren’t they? I wonder if small users are thereby subsidising the big users? Do we know by how much? On top of that, the Australian government has committed $600 million to fund a new gas-fired power station to boost capacity when domestic demand and hence, gas prices. peak. As gas is expensive and government will want to reduce the budget deficit incurred from the pandemic (including clawing back the cost of its gas-led recovery investments), it doesn’t sound like future electricity prices will be minimised. Maybe this will just spur more businesses and individuals to go off-grid? That is likely to make it even more expensive for those who can’t afford to make that switch. It doesn’t seem to be a win for the hip pocket or the planet. Who does win then?
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.
It is NAIDOC Week in Australia. During NAIDOC week, celebrations are held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) peoples. There are around 500 First Nations groups, each with their own culture, language, beliefs and practices. I think we should celebrate NAIDOC week with a couple of songs, but before we do, I would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional custodians of the land where I live, the Ngunnawal people.
It was a difficult choice as there are so many wonderful performers from which to choose, but today I have decided to go with Emily Wurramara’s wonderful performance at TEDx, of three songs – Black Smoke, Hey Love and Ngerraberrakernama – from her first album. Since some of my fellow Aussies are in lockdown this weekend, I chose this longer video, rather than limiting my choice to just one song. Ms Wurramara takes inspiration from family and childhood home of Bickerton (Milyakburra in language) and Groote Eyelandt in the Top End. I think we all want to go there. I hope you enjoy.
Take care, everyone. For those Aussies stranded overseas, I hope you will soon be able to return home.
Kind Regards.
Tracy.
Photo credit: NASA astronaut image of Bickerton Island in Australia, Wiki Commons
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.
What a rocky week it has been. In North America, record breaking heatwave exacerbated by climate change is killing people, flora and fauna, as well as damaging infrastructure and disrupting economic activity. In Australia, the national government announced it will provide a loan to a private company, Pembroke Resources (established 2014), for a new metallurgical coal mining project. The mine will have an operating life of 80 years. Pembroke Resources is owned by US private equity firm, Denham Capital. No pesky shareholders or bankers to worry about, but who is going to insure a project like that? Do Australian governments (there is bipartisan support for coal projects) really not care about the damage that our addiction to coal is causing? I wonder if all our fire fighters are vaccinated now in case they are called to help fight fires overseas this year?
Let’s not go there. It is too depressing.
However, since we are chatting about rocks, I learnt from another blogger, Martha Kennedy, that Colorado town, Crestone, is known for its geology and for the discovery of a partially mummified body of a cult leader at the town (see here). I guess it is pretty dry in Crestone. The name of the cult group is called “Love Has Won”. So naturally, I thought of the song, Love On The Rocks, written by Neil Diamond and Gilbert Bécaud. You thought that too, didn’t you? Anyway, it is my choice for Friday song day. Enjoy.
Cheers.
Kind Regards.
Tracy.
Canberra (Australia) – I’m so cold, oh so cold!
I felt anxious and grey during June, perhaps mirroring the inclement winter weather and the times, but here I am, on the eve of July. Soon the wattle will be blooming gold and the landscape will extrude from its current camo coat of green and brown.
I barely managed to pick up the camera but spurred on by my supporters, the crested pigeons, I began. Fluffed up, a crested pigeon warms up in a pocket of sun.
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Reflections of An Untidy Mind 