In Isolation

Hello out there from isolation here on Bribie Island, Australia.

So here we are in late April, and like most in the world, I’m staying at home to protect myself and others in the community. In reality, my lifestyle hasn’t changed much. Before the virus arrived, I worked from home and live alone. I don’t go out much, apart from walking along the local beach. But I do miss being able to go to my local cafe for some R & R, catching up with a friend, or reading etc. That old saying “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” comes to mind.

Australia has not been hit as hard as most of the world’s countries. A lot of the reason, in my opinion, is that our Federal government stepped up and acted quickly. I know some Aussies would disagree, but compared to other countries we are so far ahead of coming through.  Just as are our cousins across the pond, New Zealand. We’re not out of the mess just yet, but I am glad that when the virus arrived, I was home in Australia, not the USA which as we know is having a horrible time of it. 

So at the start, I planned for achieving much. Some things I have achieved and I’m happy about that.  Finally sorted out thousands of never to be read again emails, dating back many years (2010 to be exact).  UGH!  I also have been working though my Dropbox files where many important documents live.  Many have gone to the virtual shredder, and my storage is grateful for that.

 

As a photographer, I have umpteen duplicates of photos — some great, others not so.  My virtual cutting room floor is awash with hundreds of sunrise and sunset shots.  There are really only so many one needs. In this exercise, I’ve come across shots that I loved at the time and they still do have an impact upon me.  Like this fellow, found at a farm on the highway to my hometown one day.  He was looking at me through a wire fence and I had a brief window of time to capture him. 

I’ve also got back to reading. Just as I have been battling a writer’s block (hence this being the first post in a long time), I’ve also had trouble maintaining my attention to books.  But I’ve read 2 books in the past month.  First was a small, but interesting read called Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell.  The other I just finished today: The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn. Both non-fiction and both really interesting.

So, tonight I’m pretty happy.  I’ve finally got back to my blog. I hope for it to be a part of my routine now.

Best wishes!

 

 

 

All creatures great and small are precious

As you most likely know, I live in Australia.  Like every place on this earth, we have creatures of all shapes and sizes. There are some that are not found elsewhere, except for in zoos and wildlife parks elsewhere in the world.  I am reminded every day when I drive that there are kangaroos and koalas in the area and that I should slow down in case one has wandered onto the roadway.  This is especially so when it comes to koalas, as they are somewhat slower than a kangaroo.

When I was a kid, I had the lovely experience of raising a joey kangaroo (baby) — my dad found it’s mother along the roadway; she had been hit by a car, and dad stopped to see if there was a joey in the pouch — which there was.  So “Skippy” came to live with us for a few years, until he got too large for us to look after him any longer.  As sad as it was, we had to give him to a wildlife park which would take good care of him.  That would have been about 50 years ago, when I was 10.  I often think of those years, of bottle feeding him until he could feed himself; of going with my dad out to a dam where there was a lot of tall grass, and bringing bags and bags of it back, so that we had enough for a growing kangaroo to eat.

The video below just melts my heart every time I see it.  It is from an Australian wildlife park, and Imogen is the star of many videos.  She’s been raised there from very young times, and this video shows the loving care that she and all the other residents receive on a daily basis.

Enjoy!

Seasons Greetings

Well, this will be my last post of  the year.  My blog posts have been absent for a few months and I hope to get back to normal in the new year.

It’s Christmas Eve (morning) here in Brisbane, Australia.  Already the temperature is high, with a forecast for a hot steamy day for Santa’s arrival tomorrow.  It’s times like this that I really miss a nth American Christmas. A Christmas day of cold weather (especially if associated with snow) can’t be beaten, in my opinion. Instead here we suffer the heat, and often times head to the beach — even Santa involves himself.

So to my blogging friends, I wish you Season’s Greetings — a safe Christmas and New Year.

 

Summer breeze….

Here in Australia it is winter. Some friends scoff at that, and I guess, having experienced a north American winter, I can understand why.  But the major difference here is that our homes aren’t set up for cold weather.  No such thing as furnaces, instead we exist with various types of heaters, and if lucky, a wood heater. Anyway, I digress.

I’ve been going through my photos in a bid to decrease the total (currently sits at about 7000). I came across one that reminded me of days gone by, back when I was a teenager and enjoying the Christmas holidays, and the visits to the beach that my parents always made.  At some point my best friend’s father offered to teach us to surf the waves. We were clumsy and fell off a lot, which I guess is pretty common for newbies.  But in the end we got a handle on it and started to enjoy the experience of being in the water.  One place I love here is Caloundra, which back in the 70’s was somewhat smaller and a place with little shanties and workers cottages, a place to come and experience peace and quiet.  These days there are pockets of that kind of place, but they are fast being lost to high-rise apartments to satisfy the tourist trade.

I had a brief stay at Caloundra in 2015, and took this photo from the balcony.  What struck me was that this view hasn’t changed all that much.  There were still those magnificent Norfolk Island Pines, and out in the water were the surfies.  However there were also people trying their skills with the new fad, stand up paddleboarding.  You can see a few of them in this photo. Caloundra is also situated close to the deep-sea nautical passage that scoots down the east coast of Australia, as evidenced by the large oil tanker further out to sea. I’ve always been drawn to the sea, not so much for the beach, but for the peace that I seem to feel from sitting by the water.

When I saw this photo, I also remembered a song that was in the charts in 1975, the year I started working, and shared that time with surfing. So long ago, but this song really highlighted the 70’s for me.  Ahh memories!  🙂