I am not a curious person, ladies and gentlemen, so it is well that I ended up sharing my life with my True Love and that we had two lovely, inquisitive boys. It is a truism, but without them, I would be the lesser.
There is much to be learnt from the curiosity of children. Read more
Too many posts from me lately, ladies and gentlemen. Not sorry. Today’s Ragtag Daily Prompt is masterpiece. I thought I would join in, because I can. I’ve written some stories and very bad poetry in the past, and dabbled in mosaics. Not every piece has to be a masterpiece. In fact, most of my written pieces are full of grammatical and spelling errors, but you probably already know that. The moral of this story is go where your heart takes you (including to Yass to buy a raffle ticket). Take that logic!
Here’s my Finnish Lapponian Dog mosaic of which I’m very proud. That’s allowed, isn’t it? Months of work were involved so it was very satisfying when I finally got the last tile stuck down and the grouting (approx 5 different colours) finished. Read more
It’s summer in the southern hemisphere. In southeast Australia, it has been a shocker. In Canberra (the nation’s capital), we have had drought, a huge hailstorm and now fire in the Namadgi National Park to the south and west.
We also had a small colony of Little Red Flying Foxes take up residence in one of our town parks. When we first discovered the colony, we asked our son whether we should report it in. He told us that the ACT Government (that’s our local government) most likely already knew about it. They didn’t. Turns out the Little Reds haven’t been seen in Canberra for 23 years. Imagine that! Read more
Namadgi burning / Canberra burning / Australia burning
Sometimes sh*t happens, ladies and gentlemen. Or accidents happen, to be more polite. Canberra’s beloved Namadgi National Park is on fire and the fire is heading towards Canberra’s southern most rural settlement, located just beyond the city proper. It’s just been one day after wretched day for over a month now. Many Canberrans will spend an anxious night and next few days. Some southsiders in the path of the fire have already evacuated. My family lives on the other side of town to the fire. We are fine for now. Read more
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
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.
I wonder how anything could survive outside in that smoke. Read more
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
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. 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.
I don’t know whether the bushfire smoke is getting to me, or whether I’m just going a bit batty, or maybe both. Either way, I sure don’t feel well. Depending on the way the wind is blowing, my True Love and I will nip outside for a breath of fetid air. On one of our brief walks, we saw a tiny colony of flying foxes (fruit bats) with what looked like several babies clinging to them. Flying foxes have been having a tough time of it over the last few years. They have been dying in their thousands from heat stress during increasingly frequent heatwaves. I can relate. I think I might drop off my perch too if I don’t get air-conditioning. Seriously though, it is a real problem. Read more
Welcome to Canberra, ladies and gentlemen — the national capital of Australia, where the federal parliament convenes when it feels like it and policy is made on the hop in the rabbit warrens corridors of power. It is also home to many rabbits. Read more
Reflections of An Untidy Mind 