Audio Video Disco.. I hear..I see.. I Learn.

2009-12-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Kiss The Earth
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

I am in LOVE

2009-12-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

...and it is based upon most respectful Sienna lust:-):

Peter Joback and Cookie's'n Beans-Sing

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/elders/transcripts/s2757522.htm

I can't stop singing this, and I most certainly cannot get this guy and his hips and jeans out of my dirty little mind.

Oops I mean this:

I want to be a Peter Joback backup singer, I want to be a Cookie or a bean.

2009-12-21T03:51:00.000-08:00

Beyond speech and Mind

Beyond speech and mind,

Into the river of ever - effulgent Light

My heart dives

Today thousands of doors, closed for millennia

Are opened wide.

~Sri Chinmoy

Rockers...

2009-12-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

My brother's favorite xmas song :-):

Slade: Merry Xmas Everyone

Happy Xmas (War is Over)

2009-12-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

Late and GREAT John Lennon:

Who's gonna make the gravy now?

2009-12-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Oh praise the Baby Jesus, have a Merry Christmas,
I'm really gonna miss it, all the treasure and the trash
And later in the evening, I can just imagine,
You'll put on Junior Murvin and push the tables back
And you'll dance with Rita, I know you really like her,
Just don't hold her too close, oh brother please don't stab me in the
back

I didn't mean to say that, it's just my mind it plays up,
Multiplies each matter, turns imagination into fact
You know I love her badly, she's the one to save me,
I'm gonna make some gravy, I'm gonna taste the fat
Tell her that I'm sorry, yeah I love her badly, tell 'em all I'm
sorry,
And kiss the sleepy children for me
You know one of these days, I'll be making gravy,
I'll be making plenty, I'm gonna pay 'em all back

2009-12-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

The Pogues & Kirsty McColl - Fairytale Of New York (Xmas Song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCr30OVMjHA

All Our Children..

2009-05-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

My Life

My life began with duty's pride,
My life shall live with beauty's light.
My life shall sport with reality's soul,
My life shall end with Divinity's height
(sri Chinmoy)
------------------------------------------------------
There is, (among many), a part of the world that everyday sees another sunrise bring with it pain, suffering, death-far too soon....but, along with this is the courage, love, strength and determination to survive and help others live with as much dignity and wellbeing as possible.
http://www.swazichild.com/
Quote:
Swaziland has the world's highest AIDS infection rate. Of the country's
population of 1.1 million, there are more than 200,000 people living with HIV.
The number of children orphaned by this disease now exceeds 78,000. 10% of Swazi
households are run by children. These children often lack food and are cut off
from basic health services and education. Many children wind up living with
their extended families, whose resources are increasingly stretched to the
breaking point.How best to care for these many children and poor families has
become a huge challenge.
My dear friend Maithri from:
http://soaringimpulse.blogspot.com/
is there at the moment, he, along with many others, care for and try to make it a better world for these beautiful children and adults.
All Our Children.
Soul receives from soul that knowledge,therefore not by book nor from tongue. If knowledge of mysteries come after emptiness of mind, that is illumination of heart.
(Rumi)
"Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

Kiss The Earth
~
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe when we feel safe in ourselves.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Sometimes

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

- (Thich Nhat Hhan)
Peace, love, strength and support to all our children and people in Siteki, Swaziland.

The Importance Of Love...

2008-12-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Fortunate enough to hear one of the last speeches of Justice Michael Kirby, Australia's (retiring Feb 2009), High Court Judge...he spoke not of law, the economy, but love.

Here in some edited reprint from: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-truth-about-life-20081216-6zro.html?page=-1

The Truth about Life:
17/12/08
(by Michael Kirby).

"THERE is nothing like the prospect of a radical life change to concentrate the mind on the things that really matter.
I want to identify, if I can, the most important thing that I have discovered.

I refer to love.

Love for one another.
Love for our community.
Love for others everywhere in the world.
Love transcends even scholarship, cleverness and university degrees.
It is greater than pride and wealth.
It endures when worldly vanities fade.

Love exists at different levels.

Last week, in Australia and the world, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It was brought into effect by an Australian, Dr H. V. Evatt (a past justice of the High Court of Australia) and president of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 when the declaration was adopted.

Over the ensuing six decades, it became the foundation for the worldwide movement to express the fundamental freedoms that inhere in all human beings, simply because they are human.

Of course, there are people and interests with unchecked power who hate such notions. These are ideas to put limits on their power. To uphold the dignity of the powerless. To put a brake on the hegemony of the rich and influential.

The essential underpinning of fundamental human rights is love.
Love for one another.
Empathy for fellow human beings.
Feeling pain for the refugee; for the victim of war; for the prisoner deprived of the vote; for the child dying of cholera in Zimbabwe.

We can imagine what it must be like to be a victim because, as human beings, we too feel, and yearn for, life, freedom and justice.

Australians must be voices for the voiceless and protectors of the weak and vulnerable. With our privileges and gifts go duties and obligations.
Australian democracy is not merely a rule of majorities. Don't believe it when public figures say otherwise or when sections of the media, revelling in their power, say that everything can be safely left to parliament, which will quickly fix things up. Majorities can certainly err. They have done so in the past. They will do so again.

Basic human rights afford the means to remind majorities of the love they owe to all human beings, both at home and abroad.

We need to love our communities.
In Australia, we did not always love our indigenous people. Some still don't. In law, we rejected their land rights. We consigned them to the outskirts of our civilisation. Many are still there.

So too with Asian people in the decades of White Australia. We did not love them either. We feared their numbers and their different ways.

So also for women and for gays. Here, too, there was an absence of love and empathy. Now we Australians are getting better.

I believe that this is because of knowledge, acquaintance and love."

........and

"When we take time to think about what our lives actually mean, we surely know how lucky we are if we still enjoy consciousness, rationality and love.

But the greatest of these is love."

------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, indeed Justice Michael Kirby-yes.

"Love is not a thing to understand.

Love is not a thing to feel.

Love is not a thing to give and receive.

Love is a thing only to become And eternally be. "

- Sri Chinmoy

Kiss The Earth
~
Walk and touch peace every moment.

Walk and touch happiness every moment.

Each step brings a fresh breeze.

Each step makes a flower bloom.

Kiss the Earth with your feet.

Bring the Earth your love and happiness.

The Earth will be safewhen we feel safe in ourselves.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Some see Your form as red like the sun,

with rays that are redder still than the red of minium or red lac;

Others, as beautiful intense blue like a powder of splintered fragments on the precious stone, sapphire;

Others again as shining like gold, or dazzling white, surpassing the milk when the Ocean of Milk is churned.

It is a universal form, varied like crystal, since it changes according to circumstance.

- Sarvajnamitra

Don't look at your form, however ugly or beautiful.

Look at love and at the aim of your quest. ...

O you whose lips are parched, keep looking for water.

Those parched lips are proof that eventually you will reach the source.

by: Rumi

Thanks so much to Thannhausen for the link to www.writespirit.net much appreciated.

I hope to get and visit everyone this week, that will be me ratting around, trying to be quiet, catching up....if not have a wonderful xmas time. 2008 was very interesting, some good, some beautiful, some just plain wacky and some a little sad..but heck, let's do it again.

White Ribbon Day...25th November

2008-11-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

To be a woman, independent, free, healthy, happy, and alive on the 25th of November 2008, is something I personally feel very appreciative of. Many of my sisters do not share this.Today is White Ribbon Day.

"White Ribbon Day was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991 on the second anniversary of one man's massacre of fourteen women in Montreal. They began the White Ribbon Campaign to urge men to speak out against violence against women.

"http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/About-WRD-34.aspx

"In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) and the White Ribbon has become the symbol for the day."

"Violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world"
(Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General)

"At least one out of every three women worldwide are beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, with rates reaching 70% in some countries."
(Amnesty USA)

"Today hundreds of thousands of white ribbons are worn by men and women across Australia - men at work; men and women in all Australian police forces; men in national and local sporting matches and organisations; men in the media; men and women in politics; men in the defence forces; men and women in capital cities and in rural and regional Australia.

The campaign continues to go from strength to strength and now boasts more than 230 white ribbon Ambassadors Australia wide, as well as more events across the country and more organisations and individuals participating year upon year.

(all from):http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/About-WRD-34.aspx

The following nations participate in White Ribbon Day: Africa: Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda

East Asia: Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Tonga, Vietnam

Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru

Middle East / Former USSR: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel, Russia South

Asia:Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka"

(from White Ribbon Site..) http://www.whiteribbonday.org.au/Welcome-64.aspx

"Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom and justice should understand that it is not terrifically important to us that they learn to cry; it is important to us that they stop the crimes of violence against us. "
Andrea Dworkin

"Women are the worst affected from any kind of violence - be it domestic, development-related or that caused by corporate polluters like Union Carbide. It is up to us, the women, to join hands across the world and keep the fight for justice and against violence alive and unwavering."
Rashida Bee, Bhopal Gas Affected Women's Stationery Union, and winner of the Goldman Environment Prize 2004

I think of, pray for, and celebrate life for my sisters today... (Me).

O world-ignorance,
Although You have shackled my feet,
I am free.
Although You have chained my hands,
I am free.
Although You have enslaved my body,
I am free.
I am free because I am not of the body.
I am free because I am not the body,
I am free because I am the soul-bird
That flies in Infinity- Sky.
I am the soul-child that dreams
On the Lap of the immortal King Supreme.

(The Soul Bird~ Sri Chinmoy).

...and a little poetry celebration of some of my favorite female poets...

Still I Rise

(by Maya Angelou)

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?'
Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard'
Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Touched by An Angel

by Maya Angelou

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love which sets us free.

Understand Old One

by Oodgeroo Noonuccal

What if you came back now
To our new world, the city roaring
There on the old peaceful camping place
Of your red fires along the quiet water,
How you would wonder
At towering stone gunyas high in air
Immense, incredible;
Planes in the sky over,
swarms of cars
Like things frantic in flight.

Risk

by Anais Nin

And then the day came,
when the risk to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took to Blossom.

Autumn Song

by Sarojini Naidu

Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow,
The sunset hangs on a cloud;
A golden storm of glittering sheaves,
Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves,
The wild wind blows in a cloud.
Hark to a voice that is calling
To my heart in the voice of the wind:
My heart is weary and sad and alone,
For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone,
And why should I stay behind?

The Longing

by Nimah Nawwab

Freedom.
How her spiritHaunts,Hooks,Entices us all!
Freedom,
Will the time come
For my ideas to roam
Across this vast land’s deserts,
Through the caverns of the Empty Quarter?
For my voice to be sent forth,
Crying out in the stillness of a quiet people,
A voice among the voiceless?
For my thoughts, that hurl around
In a never-ending spiral,
To settle
Mature, grow and flourish
In a barren wasteland of shackled minds?
Will my spirit be set free—To soar above the undulating palm fronds?
Will my essence and heart be unfettered,
ForeverFreed,
Of man-made Thou Shall Nots?

Girl

by Lisa Zaran

She said she collects pieces of sky,
cuts holes out of it with silver scissors,
bits of heaven she calls them.
Every day a bevy of birds flies rings around her fingers,
my chorus of wives, she calls them.
Every day she reads poetry from dusty books she borrows from the library,
sitting in the park,
she smiles at passing strangers,
yet can not seem to shake her own sad feelings.
She said that night reminds her of a cool hand placed gently across her fevered brow,
said she likes to fall asleep beneath the stars,
that their streaks of light make her believe that she too is going somewhere.
Infinity,
she whispers as she closes her eyes,
descending into thin air,
where no arms outstretch to catch her.

Glimpses of Spring...

2008-10-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

I am heading interstate again, will back soon, sorry haven't had a chance to visit anyone, miss you.... but I will return .

Death is Not the End
~
Death is not the end
Death can never be the end.
Death is the road.
Life is the traveller.
The Soul is the Guide
...
Our mind thinks of death.
Our heart thinks of life
Our soul thinks of Immortality.

- Sri Chinmoy

Just some images from over the last few weeks-ish...

In Memory of You

I find an old photographand see your smile.

As I feel your presence anew,

I am filled with warmth

and my heart remembers love...

Kirsti A. Dyer.

This beautiful black swan has landed on our house dam, I quietly walked down and took some photos, it spotted me and started to call out, it has the softest call, so, naturally I called back, we had a great chat. :)

O world-ignorance,

AlthoughYou have shackled my feet,

I am free.
AlthoughYou have chained my hands,

I am free.
AlthoughYou have enslaved my body,

I am free.
I am free because I am not of the body.

I am free because I am not the body,

I am free because I am the soul-bird

That flies in Infinity- Sky.

I am the soul-child that dreams

On the Lap of the immortal King Supreme.

(The Soul Bird~ Sri Chinmoy).

There are three horses in this picture...

A brief film of our guest, the swan, if you listen carefully it calls (very softly), at the end of the film..

My Secret and Sacred Bird

My secret and sacred bird now flies

To meet the Spirit's vacancy.

All chaos of life today dissolved;

In me a surge of ecstasy.

Gold flames within my longing heart

Invoke the cosmos' Parent-Sun.

A tapestry of Truth unseen

Bursts forth within; the Play is begun.

(Excerpt from My First Friendship With The Muse by Sri Chinmoy).

Faces In The Street...Part 1

2008-10-21T02:43:00.001-07:00

A few days in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

"When you look at a city, it's like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it."

(Hugh Newell Jacobsen)

Sydney Harbor, picture taken from a ferry ride around the harbor, yes! that cruise ship fits under the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

In hours before the dawning dims the starlight in the sky

The wan and weary faces first begin to trickle by,

Increasing as the moments hurry on with morning feet,

Till like a pallid river flow the faces in the street

Flowing in, flowing in,

To the beat of hurried feet

Ah! I sorrow for the owners of those faces in the street.

(Henry Lawson)

City life and it's existence just reminds me of how strong my local small town community is, walking down my small town streets and greeted by smiles and hellos and questions....and then there are cities, I don't think I will ever get used to it...a very hollow feeling, fun, exciting and a beautiful city, but such a hollow feeling?

Sydney Opera House roof tiles close up..I would have loved to have scrambled up and slid down the slippery slope...

The lighting and ambience of the Sydney Opera House toilets. :)

So beautiful.

RAAF planes doing some kind of fly over maneuvers..

Loneliness.. (by Rainer Maria Rilke)

Being apart and lonely is like rain.

It climbs toward evening from the ocean plains;

from flat places, rolling and remote,

it climbs to heaven,

which is its old abode.

And only when leaving heaven drops upon the city.

A monorail scoots around the main part of CBD, you can get a day pass for a few dollars and do the loop. Not a bad view, either.

Astral restaurant lighting...

A sunset...

Falling Stars.. (by Rainer Maria Rilke)

Do you remember still the falling stars

that like swift horses through the heavens raced

and suddenly leaped across the hurdlesof our wishes--do you recall?

And we did make so many!

For there were countless numbersof stars:

each time we looked above we were astounded by the swiftness of their daring play,

while in our hearts we felt safe and secure watching these brilliant bodies disintegrate,

knowing somehow we had survived their fall.

Ideation....

2008-10-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have started on a new journey which, I know, will take me further than before towards the perfect life I was instinctively seeking.
I began this journey by exploring the unmapped territory of my own mind...
This endeavour is as vast as life itself because it requires the analysis of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being...

--Ella Maillart, explorer-traveler-writer, Cruises and Caravans.

The traits of the solitary bird are five:

first, it seeks the highest place;

second, it withstands no company;

third, it holds its beak in the air;

fourth, it has no definite color;

fifth, it sings sweetly.

These traits must be possessed by the contemplative soul.

It must rise above passing things, paying no more heed to them than if they did not exist.

It must likewise be so fond of silence and solitude that it does not tolerate the company of another creature.

It must hold its beak in the air of the Holy Spirit, responding to his inspirations, that by so doing it may become worthy of his company.

It must have no definite color, desiring to do nothing definite other than the will of God.

It must sing sweetly in the contemplation and love of its Bridegroom.

--St. John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love.

To drift like a dead leaf fallen from the tree and taken up by the wind, knowing not if the wind carries you or if you are carrying the wind

...-- Michel Jourdan (French hermit writer)

You do not need to leave your room.

Remain sitting at your table and listen.

Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary.

The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

--Franz Kafka, Senses.

Outwardly go with the flow, while inwardly keeping your true nature.

Then your eyes and ears will not be dazzled, and your thoughts will not be confused, while the secret within you will expand greatly to roam in the realms of absolute parity.

-- Huainan-tzi

In solitude we are in the presence of mere matter:

the sky, the stars, the moon, blossoming trees, things of less value,

perhaps, than the human spirit.

The value of solitude lies in the greater possibility of attention.

--Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace.

Everyone says Tushita Heaven is fine,

but how can it match this old hut of mine?

-- Stonehouse (Ching-hung), from his Mountain Poems.

Solitude and nature are absolutely necessary for the proper development of a human being.

It is an admixture of natural life, lived in solitude, amid beautiful surroundings of nature and what we call an arboreal life, which is absolutely necessary for the poise and harmony of the human mind.

--Gopi Krishna

Genuine tranquility of the heart and perfect peace of mind,

the highest blessings on earth after health,

are to be found only in solitude and, as a permanent disposition,

only in the deepest seclusion.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer, World As Will and Representation

Every time you feel lost, alienated, or cut off from life, or from the world, every time you feel despair, anger, or instability, practice going home.

Mindful breathing is the vehicle that you use to go back to your true home.

--Thich Nhat Hanh, Going Home

(Thanks so much to Wendy..The sage who wanders alone is like the wind that is not caught in a net, like the lotus not soiled by water, leading others but not led by them.-- Sutta-Nipata... Pali)

Birds and Bees

2008-10-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

The light for this photo was incredible... there was a very light breeze, so I wasn't able to get the clear cloud reflection, but it is an accurate record of that days light and color.

Monty! Because I praised him for jumping when he was young he has become a bit of a showoff, now he has one of our kelpies, (working dogs), doing the vertical lift off...they are simply a hoot. It is so fun hanging out with my canine friends.

The year is well into a decade of below average rainfall, however the rain fell more evenly over this year than past years. For some reason the bees are back, I think it is (part) because of the flowering red Ironbark trees so much in blossom..(this is a lavendar bush).

Ah! this year we have two Red Wattlebirds with us, they are quite friendly and inquisitive. The more I follow them around taking their photos, the more they follow me around...:)

Our flowering red Ironbarks, has red and white flower.

A pair of Black Ducks nested in an old hollow tree trunk just near the farmhouse, Monty the jumping dog stood up on hind legs and was trying to peer in...24 eggs and this picture actually shows the day they began hatching. (See top egg starting to crack up).

I never dreamt in a million years wild ducks had so many offspring-the reason for this becomes obvious over next few days..

"Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell

Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,

And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth

To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree

The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee."

The Spring

( Thomas Carew ).

So, of the 24 ducklings, 5 have survived, I walked around the dams to get some photos and saw a couple of hawks circling up high, wasn't able to get any pictures of the hawks, too illusive, but soon realised these babies had a less than 23% ? chance of survival. Only the five left so far...at last they are growing rapidly and look quick, and strong enough.

Just Stuff...

2008-09-21T05:53:00.000-07:00

*Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.*

Ralph Waldo Emerson

*Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes.
Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly.
Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.
What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind.
Every moment is a golden one for him [or her] who has the vision to recognize it as such.*

Henry Miller

*Every action of our lives touches some chord that will vibrate in eternity.*

Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Beautiful Creatures...

2008-09-21T03:21:00.000-07:00

It's a warm wind, the west wind, full of birds' cries;
I never hear the west wind but tears are in my eyes.
For it comes from the west lands, the old brown hills,
And April's in the west wind, and daffodils.

(The West Wind-John Masefield).

Twilight.
Red in the West.
Dimness.
A glow on the wood.
The teams plod home to rest.
The wild duck come to glean.
O souls not understood,
What a wild cry in the pool;
What things have the farm ducks seen
That they cry so--huddle and cry?
Only the soul that goes.
Eager. Eager. Flying.
Over the globe of the moon,
Over the wood that glows.
Wings linked.
Necks a-strain,
A rush and a wild crying.
A cry of the long pain
In the reeds of a steel lagoon,
In a land that no man knows.

(The Wild Duck-John Masefield).

What is this creature, Music, save the Art,

The Rhythm that the planets journey by?

The living Sun-Ray entering the heart,

Touching the Life with that which cannot die?

(Where does the Uttered Music Go?-John Masefield).

Just some photos from backpacking around the East Coast of Australia...and some of the wonderful poetry of John Edward Masefield, an English Poet and Writer: 01/06/1878-12/05/1967.

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

(Sea Fever- John Masefield.)

Out beyond the sunset, could I but find the way,

Is a sleepy blue laguna which widens to a bay,

And there's the Blessed City -- so the sailors say --

The Golden City of St. Mary.

(The Golden City of St. Mary-John Masefield).

Room at the top...

2008-09-18T01:48:00.002-07:00

"Don't look now, but there's one too many in this room, and i think it's you.."

(Groucho Marx)

Our crested pigeons......one camps at the base of the tree while one little one and a parent camp up the top..

Under the Sea...

2008-09-18T01:48:00.001-07:00

Experimenting a bit here, have downsized all my photos to try and load better with dial up internet, they load much quicker.

Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, near Port Douglas, Magnetic Island and the Whitsundays ..

Butterflies....

2008-09-18T01:48:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I was privileged enough to make my way, (via this train), to Kuranda, near Cairns, Far North Queensland.

I went to this butterfly sanctuary:

http://www.australianbutterflies.com/

I had dearly hoped to get some pictures of this, the Ulysses butterfly, but they are tricky little things to photo...they fly around quite a lot, nervous and agile, then, when they do land, the underside of their wings isn't the beautiful blue at all....there is an art and touch of luck to the photo of the elusive Ulysses....oh well...

To get to the rainforest you can either rail or skyrail..I went up rail and skyrailed back.

"But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:

And now from having ridden out desire

They lie closed over in the wind and cling

Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire."

~Robert Frost, "Blue-Butterfly Day"

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine."

~Jeffrey Glassberg

"With the rose the butterfly's deep in love,

A thousand times hovering round;

But round himself, all tender like gold,

The sun's sweet ray is hovering found."

~Heinrich Heine, "New Spring"

"I've watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly!

Indeed I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! - not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!"

~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

~Maya Angelou

Edge of Paradise...

2008-09-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

Mossman Gorge

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.

~Henry David Thoreau

The subtle magnetism is working overtime, my thoughts are still upon The Great Barrier Reef and the oldest rainforest in the world, The Daintree National Park...I actually got the opportunity to visit Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland. It is the point where World Heritage Rainforest meets World Heritage Great Barrier Reef.

I swam in this, one of the oldest rockpools in the oldest rainforest, (Daintree), on earth, and I swam in it. (It was bloody cold too).

It actually is much deeper than it looks too, especially over by the trees.

"The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man."

~Author Unknown

"Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."

~Alfred Billings Street

A picture of up inside the tree..just stuck my camera inside and click.

"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain."

~Henry David Thoreau

Rainforest canopy..

Mangrove trees on the Daintree River...

Daintree River..

Crocodile in the Daintree River..(I didn't swim here :) )

I think these are frog mouth owls (which are not technically owls at all). Again Daintree River.

Green tree snake, still on the river.

Cape Tribulation.

"Every time we walk along a beach some ancient urge disturbs us so that we find ourselves shedding shoes and garments or scavenging among seaweed and whitened timbers like the homesick refugees of a long war."

~Loren Eiseley

"The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out. "

~Annie Dillard

I Can Hear Music......

2008-09-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more.

~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

(Climbing the sandhills of Moreton Island off the coast near Scarborough, Brisbane, QLD).

Random Snaps of Digital Camera Gratification...

2008-08-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

I am heading off on a bit of business and part fun sojourn...Queensland, Great Barrier Reef and her associated towns and islands. The sea. Storylines, animals, music and the sea.

You never know what can happen if you don't try.

I think photography for me is like a moving meditation, an opportunity to wander off, capturing, in time, the wonders of our world, immediate environment and nature.

The picture two above is our ghost gumtrees, (eucalyptus), the bark never fails to remind me of a sort of skin.

The bird, I think is a White Ibis. (We have them living on our big house dam).

Honeyeaters, would have to be one of my favorite birds, their calls are so musical and cheeky.

I have a feeling there wont be any dust storms where I'm headed. :) Sharks, maybe, but no dust.

Sweet Juliet..

Ciao for now, but I'll be back and bring my impressions and pictures of one of the world's seven natural wonders. ...

Latro! Fremo!

Extended Family..

2008-07-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

Our crested pigeons are back..

Actually they never went away, and they seem to have increased in numbers, as have the honey eaters, ducks, galahs, magpies and the ibis.

The crested pigeons are breeding two months earlier this year, (compared to last year). In the same little tree, just near our dog kennels and the side of the house. They have built another small nest, near their last year's nest.

This is the 2008 nest up above, if you look close near the bird's head you may make out last year's nest.

2007 nest, and the tree, minus it's foliage..

The result of the hatched eggs, such friendly, calm birds...and so big! It's amazing how quickly they hatch and grow, and accept us and the dogs.

2 Bee........

2008-07-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the last time I saw bees.

September, 2007.

We used to have heaps of bees, some in the peppercorn tree near the horses, we all got on just fine, horses never bothered the bees and they all shared the water trough.

A gumtree that is up the back paddock, used to have a hive in it every year. Snakes shared it with the bees, and all got along as sweet as could bee.

Now for years, there has been less and less of the little critters.

The dogs and I found this walking along a back road, I sent the dogs off ahead to get away and snuck in for closer pictures.

Very quietly.

Then I ran. :)

Was all fine though, no harm to them, or me and some interesting snaps.

This spider has been living in one of the rain gauges. Sometimes it gets tipped out when I empty the gauge, (ha! not often, not much rain falls), but it makes its way back in.

A Life Passion..

2008-07-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

You can tell a horse owner by the interior of their car. Boots, mud, pony nuts, straw, items of tack and a screwed-up waxed jacket of incredible antiquity. There is normally a top layer of children and dogs.

~Helen Thompson

A horse is a thing of such beauty...(Xenophon)

Filled with fury, rapt, inspir'd. (William Collins)

Horse thou art truly a creature without equal, for thou fliest without wings and conquerest without sword.

~The Koran

A horse gallops with his lungs, Perseveres with his heart, And wins with his character.

~Tesio

In riding a horse we borrow freedom.

~Helen Thomson

The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and fire.

(Sharon Ralls Lemon)

To me, horses and freedom are synonymous

~Veryl Goodnight

The horse through all its trials has preserved the sweetness of paradise in its blood.

~Johannes Jensen

...tireless, swift as the flowing wind. Shadowfax they called him. By day his coat glistens like silver; and by night it is like a shade, and he passes unseen. Light is his footfall!

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Lost Lunar Thoughts...

2008-07-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

The starting point of the human and the end, That in which space itself is contained, the gate To the enclosure, day, the things illumined By day, night and that which night illumines, Night and its midnight-minting fragrances, Night's hymn of the rock, as in a vivid sleep.

(Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), U.S. poet. "The Rock.")

As long as skies are blue, and fields are green Evening must usher night, night urge the morrow, Month follow month with woe, and year wake year to sorrow.

(Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

He found in the world without as actual what was in his world within as possible.

(James Joyce (1882-1941)

Getting Excited Over Rain Again..

2008-06-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Rain... showers my spirit and waters my soul.

~Emily Logan Decens

Tell me how many beads there are

In a silver chain Of evening rain,

Unravelled from the tumbling main...

~Thomas Lovell Beddoes

First Week in June...

2008-06-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

I have found these three Australian poems, had never heard them before and yet one of them is by Dorothea MacKellar...feel like I've been walking around with my head in the sand. :)

THE COLOURS OF LIGHT

This is not easy to understand
For you that come from a distant land
Where all the COLOURS are low in pitch -
Deep purples, emeralds deep and rich,
Where autumn's flaming and summer's green -
Here is a beauty you have not seen.

All is pitched in a higher key,
Lilac, topaz, and ivory,
Palest jade-green and pale clear blue
Like aquamarines that the sun shines through,
Golds and silvers, we have at will -
Silver and gold on each plain and hill,
Silver-green of the myall leaves,
Tawny gold of the garnered sheaves,
Silver rivers that silent slide,
Golden sands by the water-side,

Golden wattle, and golden broom,
Silver stars of the rosewood bloom;
Amber sunshine, and smoke-blue shade:
Opal colours that glow and fade;
On the gold of the upland grass
Blue cloud-shadows that swiftly pass;
Wood-smoke blown in an azure mist;
Hills of tenuous amethyst. . .

Oft the colours are pitched so high
The deepest note is the cobalt sky;
We have to wait till the sunset comes
For shades that feel like the beat of drums -
Or like organ notes in their rise and fall -
Purple and orange and cardinal,
Or the peacock-green that turns soft and slow
To peacock-blue as the great stars show . . .

Sugar-gum boles flushed to peach-blow pink;
Blue-gums, tall at the clearing's brink;
Ivory pillars, their smooth fine slope
Dappled with delicate heliotrope;
Grey of the twisted mulga-roots;
Golden-bronze of the budding shoots;
Tints of the lichens that cling and spread,
Nile-green, primrose, and palest red . . .

Sheen of the bronze-wing; blue of the crane;
Fawn and pearl of the lyrebird's train;
Cream of the plover; grey of the dove -
These are the hues of the land I love.

Dorothea MacKellar

SUMMER

I am weary,
Weary of bracing myself against the sun’s hot hand;
I am weary, and I dream of cool places . . . .

I see a grassy couch
Under a canopy of leaves;
A reedy river murmers by,
Crooning an old, old melody
Tuned to a long-forgotten scale,
Made when the world was young.

Rolled to the river’s edge the hills lie fast asleep;
Pale stars slip o’er their ledge and sink into the deep:
Down in the deep they sink to slumbrous peace,
Down in the deep they drink the water of peace;
In the quiet deep they quench their fires in sleep
And drown in a cool green dream.

The sun insists his burning hand upon my head;
I am weary, and I dream of cool places.

Louis Lavater
1867 - 1953

THE MALLEE

Her spell enfolds us. We can never thrust
Aside the bonds which hold to us the grey,
Wind haunted mallee; Satyr-like she may
Crush out the blood of life to slake the lust
That burns within her. Circe-wise she must
Fling curses where her lovers kneel to pray,
And souls that worshipped her in youth’s glad day
Are hurled before her in bitter dust.
In vain we leave her in our goading fear
To bathe where Lethe’s darkling waters flow,
‘Twere idle boast to say we could forget.
Her lone wind-music calls, and ever near
Her grim, stark beauty haunts us till we know
In sudden wonder that she claims us yet.

Alice M. Lapthorne.

End of Autumn..

2008-05-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

Aaarh, another autumn gone, my favorite time of the year....I think it's the earthiness of the colors, the yellows and browns, the light that just glows. Spring is breathtaking with the spectacular, but autumn just has this fading kind of golden glow.

My red flowering ironbarks! 25mm of rain bought these babies to life...the birds just go crazy in all the ironbark plantations where I planted them, you can hear the birds all over the farm.

Zorba the foal, who is about to be weaned from his mother spends lazy old days chasing birds around his paddock, this galah (which isn't real obvious in the photo), is almost teasing the foal, it flutters a few metres ahead and then waits for him to catch up chasing it..

Zorba and Rosie, and about the tenth photo of the foal poking his tongue out at me while taking his picture....I swear they know cheeky.

A paddock sown with wheat..

Late afternoon sunlight on native gumtrees down the road..

Ducks circling the house dam...

The ewes haven't had the easiest of times delivering lambs this year, but here are some healthy and playful lambs gamboling up and around an old empty dam in the corner of a paddock, (with their mothers watching closeby)..

The Dam Olympics..

2008-05-12T03:16:00.000-07:00

Forgot the weightlifting...

Ya know it's that time again, adrenalin begins to pump, the balls come out, the blessings are made....

Athletes begin warming up...

The word is out gymnastics maybe a curly one this year...

But we can always enjoy the watersports, the swimming in particular is a big splash.

Yellowcard...

...and the judge who issues yellowcards, although she is a little colorblind.

Some of the high jumping...

Give everything you've got babe, it's bound to be exhausting.

More of the officials...

High jumping on hold, while boy spots girl...

Track and field

Dont look back. Something might be gaining on you. -Satchel Paige

The Australian Team...

It's just the quiet contentment that you know you gave all.

Hope..and Believing...

2008-05-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

On the way to a meeting yesterday I heard an interview with a man named Geoff Sewell.

He also sang a song dedicated to his daughter,"Sienna"...it is called, "Sienna's Song".. and it had me in tears, not a good look to walk into the meeting with :)

The rest of the interview was the most touching and heartfelt story about believing and love and not giving up...and...(this from his biography from his site):

"Geoff is also committed to community service - he has first hand experience of dealing with Autism and Epilepsy and continues to raise awareness and funds for these conditions using his profile.

The proceeds from 'Sienna's Song' on his debut solo album will go to families affected by Autism in NZ to provide hope and early intervention. Geoff through Amici forever raised over $30,000 NZD for Autism NZ in February 2006 and over $50,000 AUD for Autism Australia. He and his Incognito triathlon team raised over £2,000 for the UK National Autistic Society in August 2006 and for UK charity Treating Autism in 2007.

He supports various Autism charities and trusts in NZ and the UK.

He is a contributor/fundraiser for the National Society of Epilepsy in the UK and raised over £60,000 through his 'Stars for Epilepsy' concert series over three years. He is an ambassador for the IM Health initiative promoting wellbeing for all New Zealanders to match the country's 'pure' image. And Geoff is Patron of the Havelock North High School (NZ) new auditorium project (his old high school) and one of the first indicted into their Hall of Fame in 2007.
Geoff and Simone have two beautiful daughters, Sienna and Olivia, and live in London, UK.

Life is a daring adventure or nothing..."

http://www.geoffsewell.co.uk/

...and this:

07/05/08 - Songs of Tragedy and Triumph Over Autism

THERE have been a few pivotal moments in the life of Kiwi singer Geoff Sewell.

Eleven years ago, following the death of his older sister Julie, he quit his job as a chartered accountant to become a professional singer.

Within five years he was part of one of the world's most successful pop opera acts, Amici Forever.

In 2006, however, Sewell quit the group when he and his wife, Simone Lanham, discovered their daughter Sienna had autism spectrum disorder.

The discovery led them to reassess their lives and concentrate on caring for their daughter. Today that commitment has led Sewell to use his musical talent to help other families cope with and learn more about the illness. To read the full article click here

I can't find the podcast for the interview I heard, but I have a feeling this following, may contain the crux: (again from Geoff's site):

News Story - Close Up, TV ONE, New Zealand
Geoff's new solo album has just been released. And today is a very special one for the Sewell family as his daughter Sienna celebrates her 5th birthday. Sienna has autism and one of the songs written by Geoff's wife is dedicated to her.
Click Here To Watch The Story

What I am trying to get up on my blog is the song he and wife, (Simone) have written, it is so beautiful. Sienna's Song, about his daughter.

It's not going to happen though, can't even find a copy of the beautiful lyrics she has written.

Later.

Josie's Mellow Yellow Questions...

2008-05-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

Being the free world that it is...and always up for a bit of a challenge I am doing Josie's question thing..answering these questions with just one word:

Where is your mobile phone? ..Car

Your significant other? ..Ego?

Your hair? ..Wild

Your mother? ..Many

Your father? ..Died

Your favorite thing? ..Life

Your dream last night? ..Forgotten?

Your favorite drink?..Life

Your dream/goal? ..Achieving

The room you’re in? ..Books!

Your ex? ..Don

Your fear? ..No'fear

Where do you want to be in six years? ..Climbing

Where were you last night? ..Celebrating

What you’re not? ..Mathematical

Muffins? ..Sultanas

One of your wish list items? ..Rain

Where you grew up? ..Country

The last thing you did? ..Breathe

What are you wearing? ..Honor

Your TV? ..Others

Your pets? ..Beautiful

Your computer? ..Research

Your life? ..Learning

Your mood? ..Passion

Missing someone? ..Yearh!

Your car? ..Washed

Something you’re not wearing? ..Glasses

Favorite Store?.. Books

Your summer? ..Burning

Like someone? ..Always!

Your favorite color? ..Blue

When is the last time you laughed? ..Today

Last time you cried? ..S'okay

Autumn lambing...a little dry, but we cut plenty of hay over spring and they have that, and grain and mineral supplement blocks...just looks barren the country. The alpacas are the guardians of the lambs, protect them from foxes, noble creatures and very inquisitive..

Last spring...

Daddyo's....

We three rams .....

If you knew, what I knew...

Headless rams...

You're beautiful to me...

.....and remember:

"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must, above all, be a sheep."

Albert Einstein.

Pea Soup..

2008-04-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

“Whatever it is that pulls the pin, that hurls you past the boundaries of your own life into a brief and total beauty, it is enough. Completely.”......( Jeanette Winterson).

photos are from (almost) the most southern part of Victoria, Australia...Warrnambool, Port Fairy region. So beautiful.

This scenery pic is an old dormant (I hope!) volcano area...Tower Hill, near Warrnambool, normally it's filled with little lakes, not a drop of water to be seen....very dry for this area too.

The whole 100% state of Victoria has been declared a drought zone, 90-something percent for South Australia....and different degrees for other states, yet some parts of Queensland have not long had floods!

"A land of drought and flooding rains"....

"Let the beauty we love be what we do."....Rumi.

"Oh, my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways, And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low, I'm at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know"......( Henry Lawson).

"Even if you slipped beneath the waves, the adhan may still reach you.".... (Abdal Hakim Murad)

Port Fairy Wharf, where they make the best fish and chips and catch crayfish out on their fishing boats.

"Only from the heart can you touch the sky."....Rumi.

Pea Soup is the name given to the South Beach at Port Fairy, there is another beach which is mainly for surfing, but at the south (Pea Soup) you can snorkell around the rocks and chase crabs, fish and little stingrays.

"I am one of the people who love the why of things.." (Catherine the Great).

This guy was just at the traffic lights, I was talking to him, he wants a bigger car :)

Amor est vitae essentia...Love is the essence of life...Robert B MacKay.

"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non essentials. Lin Yu Tang.

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspace of the universe.

A thought, in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created. I think this is Wallace D Wattles.

Purpose Ease and Flow...."When you are on a purpose -life will be easy and the opportunities and resources you need to be fulfilled will present themselves, then it is just up to you to act."

I thought this was from William James, it isn't, and I haven't found where I've scribbled this down from. I think it might be W D Wattles too, come to think of it.

So much happening.

Life...Living...

2008-03-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

**Live every moment of your life as if it were precious and irreplaceable, as indeed it is, with goodwill and love in your heart, and good works as your guiding light and aim. Face fears with the light heartedness of a child, and chase rainbows for no reason but joy; take delight when you discover the pot of gold meant just for you. Live thusly and your life's journey will be as a sweet dream, cherished and most dear.**

Stefan Ingannamorte

Petit Chat..

2008-01-14T03:18:00.000-08:00

I love Juliet. Juliet is the new kitten to be adopted at my local vet clinic. She met me at the door and introduced herself, purring her little heart out and nestled into my arms like she had done it a thousand times.

Are we really sure the purring is coming from the kitty and not from our very own hearts? ~Emme Woodhull-Bäche, translated

Then she took me on a tour of her home...showed me where all the good-bugs-to-chase-lived...

There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten. ~Jules Champfleury

...Where you can catch the morning sun; even though she explained it was afternoon now and I had missed the best part of the day..

There has never been a cat
Who couldn't calm me down
By walking slowly
Past my chair.
~Rod McKuen

...Where to hide and pounce on people walking in and out of the door..

Everything I know I learned from my cat: When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet's, pee on your owner. ~Gary Smith

The best place to nap..

Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

...To hide...

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes. ~Indian Proverb

..To watch the mudlarks across the yard..

She clawed her way into my heart and wouldn't let go. ~Missy Altijd

Oops..

An ordinary kitten will ask more questions than any five year old. ~Carl Van Vechten

I love Juliet very much.

A beating heart and an angel's soul, covered in fur. ~Lexie Saige

The Smokey and Nanny Show...

2007-12-21T01:05:00.000-08:00

"His name is not wild dog anymore, but the first friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always." ~~Rudyard Kipling

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace." ~~ Milan Kundera

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." ~~ Unknown

"My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind; So flew'd, so sanded; their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew... "~~William Shakespeare, a MidsSummer Night's Dream

"I used to look at [my dog] Smokey and think, 'If you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking,' and he'd look at me like he was saying, 'If you were a little smarter, I wouldn't have to.'" -~ Fred Jungclaus

"Tis sweet to hear the watch dog's honest bark Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home; 'tis sweet to know there is an eye will markOur coming and look brighter when we come."
~~Lord Byron

Dogs are miracles with paws. ~~Attributed to Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy

If you don't let go, you can't fall off! (Jerry Moffat)

2007-09-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

In the Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park (5060 hectares) there are these rocks that just jut out of the ground....there are many, and they offer rock climbers over 2000 different climbs-some of the best climbing in Australia. (I have done 4-the easiest ones :) )

To get there I go through a small country town; "Natimuk"...which is Aboriginal for "Little Creek". I think the population is around the 500 mark, but obviously gets it's fair share of climbing-sightseeing tourists.

The old jail lock up, Natimuk.

"Why ? Why, why, why do I do this ???" — Chuck Pratt

I don't know why it is, but I just love to climb...I don't even particularly like heights, it isn't really about the height...it's something in the climb and the quiet...

"I think you love rocks so much that they've replaced your brain." — Rex Pieper

Your legs can actually feel on fire and all air goes from the lungs..

"I have never turned back in my life ; I shall not do so today". Emile Rey

"The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun." ...Alex Lowe.

"Come live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountains yields".-- Christopher Marlowe

Aaaah some sheep of undetermined intelligence :)

Look what someone (no, not me!) has written on bottom right hand corner rock...

Each time I come here I see something different in the rock sculptures...today this looked like a foot-toes poking up through the ground..

A face with no eyes or nose, just an open mouth?

This climb winds around and up through undergrowth first, then gets more difficult...

"They say miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear '. -- William Shakespeare All's Well that Ends Well, Act II Scene III

Is it just my mind, or does actually look a little vulva-rish?...........

"Rocks make no compromise for sex... rock climbing is not like some sports, where it is made easier for women; or sports like, say, softball, which is only baseball for soft people. On a rock, everything is equal."
Beverly Johnson

"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle." Walt Whitman.

"Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God". Kurt Vonnegut

As high as I could get...

"If you're ever killed mountain climbing, then all that you've worked for is gone." Jim Whittaker

The backpack got left under the old dead tree....was getting pretty steep and needing balance by this time....camera strap in between teeth with camera tucked down front of shirt.

"Many years ago, I climbed the mountains, even though it is forbidden. Things are not as they teach us; the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky". from Startrek

Camp site....at the base among pine trees birds and animals..

"Short is the little time which remains to thee of life. Live as on a mountain". Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

"Mountains viewed from a distance seem to be unscalable, but they can be climbed. The slopes that seem so steep seem to level off as we near them."-- Anonymous

*Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.."

John Muir.

If, Do, Are and What..

2007-08-05T03:33:00.000-07:00

Questions and Answers..

If you could change one thing about your past, what would it be?

I would not change....I am now the sum total of what has all gone on before...if I were to pull or swap one of the bricks on this pyramid it might just topple down...;)

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Aaah but I plan on getting to finish seeing the world....am two thirds the way there...

Do you get along better with the same sex or opposite sex?

Why all sex is good.

Are you a homebody or social butterfly?

Home is my haven, but I can do a poor imitation of a furry moth.

What do you enjoy doing on the weekends?

Anything that takes my fancy............

What is your idea of the perfect romantic getaway?

Anything uninterrupted. All alone, just the two of us...always great for 20 minutes.

Do you think you can love someone, without trusting them?

Two separate things entirely. Yes, I can love someone without trusting them..

Do you believe it is possible to be in love with someone you have never actually spent time with?

Oh strewth, ummm, yes.

Do you believe in soul mates?

Yes

If you believe in soul mates, have you found yours?

Several times.

What is your biggest weakness, or flaw?

Keeping in mind I am a work in progress...stubborness, I can be a stubborn coot.

If you could have any job what would your top three career choices be?

1. A Nurse...(I am)

2. Photographer...(Well I sort of get to do this...)

3. Work with animals..(I do) A blessed life.

Moonshine..

2007-03-31T04:30:00.000-07:00

A Moon-dawg

Moon-stick

The moon like a flower In heaven's high bower, With silent delight

Sits and smiles on the night.. (William Blake)

Moon-rams

I've done it again, haven't I, put up the same pic twice...where is the eject button Scotty?

"There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery." Lord Jim..Joseph Conrad

"Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth.." Joseph Addison

"The moving moon went up to the sky, And nowhere did abide; Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside." ..Samuel Taylor Coleridge (The Ancient Mariner).