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Sunshine From Pure Desire

In the presence of royalty and Friday song day.

Dear Readers, can you guess from which song the title of this post comes?  It is the song that I have chosen as my Friday song day pick.  Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.  This week my mood is decidedly buoyant.  After being down in the dumps over the past month, there was only one way to go, right?  Yep, chasing pure, unadulterated sunshine from pure desire.  In other words, a bird.  And not just any bird. Read more

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In The Firing Line

Australia burning — Dear Readers, one of my favourite poets and all round nice person, Frank Prem, is currently writing a series of poems on the bushfire crisis that is underway in Australia.  Frank is the author of Devil In The Wind, a collection of poems about the personal accounts of those who experienced and survived the horrendous Black Saturday bushfires that swept across Victoria (Australia) in 2009.  That book was published last year.  Needless to say, I won’t be reading it until the smoke has cleared.

For those of you who may not know, Frank lives in an area that is currently sandwiched between two enormous out-of-control bushfires.  This brings a poignancy and emotion to his poems that will touch any reader.  These poems are laments for what is, what was, what could have been.  Frank writes for all of us who are caught up in this situation.  Check out his poems on his website at https://frankprem.wordpress.com/blog/ .

I want to share with you a couple of photos that my husband took in Namadgi National Park a couple of days before Christmas. Read more

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Busily Chillin’

Still here.  Going strong.

Dear readers, the temperature is blessedly cool today in the national capital (Canberra, Australia) and the bushfire smoke has cleared somewhat.  We expect the smoke to return this evening when the wind changes.  In the meantime, the terrible gloom that descended on the city has lifted and people are in good spirits.  So are the animals.  A flock of silvereyes visited our garden.  One was lucky to enough to find a small praying mantis but its best efforts to dispatch it were defeated. Read more

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G’day

Australia burning —Brian from Bushboy’s World wants to see the last photo on your SD card.  Here’s mine, taken at 6.30am this morning from my back window.

outside.JPG

I wonder how anything could survive outside in that smoke. Read more

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The Changing Seasons – December 2019

December (Canberra summer) — Caught in transition.

I feel compelled to take photos, both of the mundane and the unusual, as if to bear witness that these places, things, people and creatures, once existed and that they mattered. Read more

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Christmas Time In The City

A little Aussie satirical poem because, well, life vapes and then you die.  This is not the happiest poem so you may want to skip it.

It’s Christmas Time In the City

no joy no joy no
air no air no air none

kirribilli smokin’
white men jokin’

it’s Christmas time in the city

make haste to land of the smoke-free

blow smoke up ya
are we having fun yet?

not me not me not
happy mo-mo

no joy no joy no
air no air no air no

Christmas barbie in the city

Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen.  It happens when you’re starved of oxygen.  I will resume my normal calm programming as soon as we can breathe again.  Maybe in a few months time.  Or maybe when we meet our Paris emission target through accounting loophole.  Not happy mo-mo.

Regards.
Tracy

Australia.  Perfect one day.  Bushfires the next.

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A Vow Softly Spoken

What is life without hope?  Amidst the ashes and broken dreams wrought by the bushfires in Australia, life goes on.

A Vow Softly Spoken

smoke in the distance
lights a wildfire in our heart
hope for the future
heart, mind, body, soul
we shall overcome

wedding

My nephew and his lovely lady got married recently.   I wish them all the very best.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt — Wedding.

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Stir The Mountain Pygmy Possum

In Australia, the expression ‘to stir the possum’ means to stir up trouble, controversy, or interest in an issue.  So I thought I would use that expression to generate awareness of the critically endangered mountain pygmy possum.  There are less than 2000 mountain pygmy possums left in the wild and their survival is on a knife’s edge.  What a tragedy it would be if they were lost to us forever.  I have just completed my mountain pygmy possum mosaic and am excited to share it with you.  Then, one thing led to another, and I had to write a poem for them too.  There is always hope and as usual, good people are working hard to save them.  Find out more about these incredible little marsupials and how you can help them here.  Now for the poem. Read more

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Beneath The Surface

This is my response to the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge — Creepy.  It is a dark and mournful story (hopefully).  The events, places and people described are purely fictional.  Illustrative photos made to fit, were taken on my recent short break.  Alrighty, let’s get on with it. Read more