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Is Nothing Sacred?

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 recall vividly how horrified people were when the Notre Dame went up in flames. It was a tragedy and the world mourned with the French people. It is more than just a sacred place. It is history. If a developer is able to legally destroy sacred historical sites, there should be a huge uproar, don’t you think? Anyway, that’s what international mining company, Rio Tinto, has done this week. It destroyed two Aboriginal rock shelters in the Juukan Gorge. The rock shelters date back 46,000 years and are significant cultural heritage sites.

It was reported that one of the shelters was Australia’s only inland site showing human occupation continuing through the last Ice Age (see The Conversation and The Guardian). I’m completely at a loss as to why such wanton destruction of such a culturally significant site for First Australians, indeed all the people of the world, could have been permitted, and even if legal, how Rio Tinto could have thought it acceptable. I guess Rio Tinto don’t know their place.

As they say in the classics, “You’re welcome.”

Here’s national treasure, Archie Roach.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Blue Goodbyes

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 important to stop that second wave of Covid-19 infections, ladies and gentlemen.  Apparently we have to continue to give each other space, practise good hygiene and work from home if we can.  I know that is easier said than done, especially for those that must work to survive.  Harder still for those that must stay at home to survive and also attend work to survive.  As for me, I am not going to relax my guard.  I can’t.  Lives still depend on it.

Here’s a clip of Wendy Matthews singing The Day You Went Away.  It is probably the way many people are feeling right now.

Thank you for being careful.  Together we can minimise the second wave.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Ragtag Daily Prompt — The Blues

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/20/type-1-diabetics-type-2-coronavirus-nhs-study

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Real Work

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.

There has been justifiable angst within the Australian arts industry about the economic impact of Covid-19 on the viability of arts businesses and their employees.  The Australian arts sector employs 600,000 people and generates over $100 billion in economic activity in its own right, as well as being a significant generator of economic activity in other sectors such as hospitality and tourism.   Let’s face it, it’s a tough gig “working” in the arts sector, with work and income fluctuating depending on a whole range of factors. Read more

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Mother Knows Best

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 afraid none of my song choices have made it to the 21st Century yet.  Is that because there is nothing left to sing that hasn’t already been sung?  Let’s ask mother. Read more

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The Big T

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 shouldn’t be that hard, especially “in these difficult [Covid-19] times”.  Helping each other.  Working side by side.  It’s what we do, right?  For everyone?  You know.  The big T.  Together.

Help me out here.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

Ragtag Daily Prompt — Normal.

 

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Don’t Look Back

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.

pink moon

Like Orpheus, would you look back?

Now for the music.

Gluck-Sgambati: Melodie

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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Delivering or Deliverance?

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.  Today I’ve chosen a song for all those Australian public servants who, after being derided for years, are

“to be an essential service which needs to keep working in order to keep Australians safe, and ensure that services are delivered for the Australian people. We [the Australian Public Service] can provide the support our community needs, but it is going to require the contribution of the entire APS. Every public servant who can work, should work.” Australian Public Service Commission Response to ABC News Story, Last Reviewed 26 March 2020

Sounds more like conscription to me than working together.  To add insult to injury, repeat ad nauseam, “Delivering for Australians“, the government’s latest reform agenda to make public servants more responsive.  Like what on earth were public servants doing before?  Be careful, public servants, you’ll be getting a white feather if you don’t cooperate for reasons of sanity, poor health, protecting vulnerable family members, or staying at home to flatten the curve.  I’m sure it won’t come to the feather.  Commonsense and kindness will prevail, don’t you think?  Delivering for Australians means delivering for government employees too.  It’s a partnership.

I wish I had a magic tonic/vaccine to protect all those providing essential services.  It is a lot to ask of you.  It always has been.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

 

 

 

 

 

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Operatic

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 hear that singing is good for the lungs.  You can do it in the privacy of your own home, in a massed choir, or anywhere really.  It is multicultural and multi-generational.

Anonymous Doctor:

“Please don’t give in to fear, don’t amplify hatred or outrage or racism or disgust. Hold the line as a citizen of the moral community. Think of every tiny way that you can help others every day. And do it.”

Facts first.  Act.  Sing/Pray.

Anything else is inhumanity.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

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To Behave Or Not To Behave

Human behaviour is a funny thing, isn’t it?  I suppose that is because we are all different.  Some of us are naturally very organised.  Some of us aren’t.  Some of us are thin.  Some of us aren’t.  Some of us are old and some of us aren’t.  Some of us are fearful and some of us aren’t.  There is a spectrum, isn’t there?  Also, how you might feel on any given day might depend on whether you managed to buy a few toilet rolls before they all sold out.  It is all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?

Welcome to my regular Friday song day, ladies and gentlemen, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with you.  I am also combining my song day with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge — Change Your Perspective.  Let’s rock ‘n roll. Read more

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The Changing Seasons – February 2020

February (Australia) – another month of what Tracy does best.  Catastrophising.  Still, I’ve included a few nice photos.

After so much stress last month, it was not surprising that I seemed to have more than my fair share of illness.  I started the month with a terrible head cold and I am finishing the month the same way.  Lucky me.  Many of my fellow Canberrans have been similarly affected by the strain. Read more