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ardysez

~ surrender to yourself

ardysez

Tag Archives: Australia

one year ends, another begins…

09 Sunday Jan 2022

Posted by Ardys in Alice Springs, Australia

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, life, nature

January 1st, my traditional walk to see in the new year, and all was bright, dare I say, promising. And then I caught myself, not hoping for too much, just focusing on that moment of sunrise, welcoming in the day/month/year. So many of us are being reserved and not expecting much that is different and yet clinging to a small shred of hope that things will begin to ease somewhat this year. I can’t even imagine what it was like for the world to live with polio for 12 years before there was a vaccine for it. We are all pretty weary. I can hear it in people’s language and tone. Even for those of us who have not suffered severely, we have still been effected. In our case here in the Centre of Australia, the virus has really only just arrived to a great degree. We are living with a mask mandate, lockout and regulations too numerous to mention. Because things are so bad in the southern states our supply of food and other things have grown more inconsistent. But not desperate.

January 1, 2022

The last few months of 2021 I meant to write a kind of ‘catch up’ post for the year. I like for the blogs I follow to catch me up every now and then on what they have been doing and how their life has gone. But I didn’t. So here is a bit about my last year with a few suggestions for this year. My journey learning to paint with pastels continues, though the end of the year saw quite a few bumps and delays in the development of things, partly because I took a course for 6 weeks. Briefly, I learned a few things however mostly it was a refresher in basic colour theory, value and composition. These were valuable but I realised when I finished the course that the style of work the artist taught wasn’t taking me in the direction I wanted to go. Also, I realised all of the participation in the Facebook group (required) was just too time consuming and not productive for me. So I took myself off, back into my own direction and I can feel it is the right thing to do. But now I need time to be doing it without travel and without quarantines and PCR tests soaking up time.

Evolution of work…the first on the left done Feb-21, the middle one shortly thereafter, and the one on the right done mid December 21, 10 months after the first one.
‘Naked Ladies’ after a small rain shower.

Reading proved to be a handy diversion for all the liminal time presenting itself this year. I thought I’d share with you the titles of my favourites and a very brief explanation in case you are interested. There were a few books that were good but I hesitate to recommend in the current climate of disease and death, so I won’t, and a number of disappointments that I either finished and was disappointed in how they were resolved, or just didn’t finish at all. My feeling is, life is too short to read a book that just isn’t doing it for me. So I don’t. A couple of years ago I started to realise my favourite genre was memoirs. However, this year I refined my search to ‘well written memoirs that read like novels’, and then I got off on a little tangent of well-written-memoirs-about-hiking. Goodness knows I wasn’t expecting that. I’m not a hiker but as you know I do like a good walk, so perhaps I’m living vicariously with this type of book. Whatever the reason, I hoovered through the last three selections like nobody’s business. Here’s the list, commencing in Jan 21, finishing Dec 21:

  • The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards – this is an older book and reads like a memoir, though the author insisted it wasn’t – life on the island of Guernsey around WWII. It is not exciting but it is a good story and written in a way I could picture everything about the place and people and the voyeur in me enjoyed it.
  • Flesh Wounds by Richard Glover – makes a person look at their own family differently, I suspect.
  • The Dog Who Came to Stay by Hal Borland – a lovely dog story with a nice ending (trust me)
  • The Salt Path by Raynor Winn – I ate this up. Great story and very real people with very real struggles, hiking the Southwest Path in England.
  • The Silent Wild by Raynor Winn – The next chapter of life for the two people of The Salt Path. Almost as good, and still well worth reading.
  • A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – This made me chuckle and the story and factual information along the way was very interesting to me. It is about hiking The Appalachian Trail in the eastern USA. If you’ve seen the movie (and I don’t advise it) read the book, it is so much better.

I have kept up the garden I built in May 2021. Probably typical of most gardeners, whether novice or experienced, I tried a few new things—had some failures but a few successes. I’m sure I would have been more successful but I’m not a real gardener, to be honest. I think I might do more except for the heat. Working in the heat depletes me and consequently, I have no energy for other things. However…with fairly consistent, but minimal, effort I have become the Queen of Greens! My best efforts other than with herbs, have been with beets and chard/silverbeet. Also rocket/arugula grows like crazy, but a little of that goes a long way with me. As you can see in the photo, Don’s lime tree has filled in the espaliered branches nicely and we are hoping next season to see some limes on it. In a year when our grocery stores have not been able to keep up consistent supplies of fresh vegetables, the silverbeet has proved very handy. It has about finished now that we are into the very hottest part of summer and I will let things rest until March or April when the weather cools a bit again.

Greens are the thing…photos taken a couple of months back

Just over a week into the new year I walked the same path at the same time of the morning as on the first day, noting that the sun was already rising later, which augers well for those of you wishing for longer, warmer days in a few months, and those of us wanting cooler weather as well. Far in the distance I heard a human voice, calling out—loudly. I thought perhaps they called a dog as sometimes people let their dogs off leash to run about in the early hours when no one else is about. But the shouting continued, as if a one sided conversation was happening. I squinted into the dawn lit path ahead (see above photo for approximate lighting) and eventually a small figure appeared, shouting and gesticulating in the direction of the hills, and walking briskly. Being the only other human in sight I decided to err on the side of caution in case the person was drunk or unwell, and I quickly changed route. Reasonably certain I had avoided any possible problem, I walked briskly in the same direction as the other person was headed but on parallel paths, rather than the same path. About two thirds of the way home I had to cross over and again heard the shouting voice. When I turned she was only a few feet over my shoulder and suddenly quiet. It was a young, maybe 20 year old indigenous woman, not appearing drunk and in fact quite tidy and attractive looking. But so close… I wondered how, almost like an apparition, she had made up that distance and was just over my shoulder. As soon as I was passed her she veered onto a different path and began loudly talking again, but not shouting as before. I had seen enough to know she wasn’t wearing earphones or carrying a mobile phone, and then I realised…she had been talking to the spirits of the land. Some of the more traditionally raised indigenous are taught to talk to the spirits, especially if they are moving through someone else’s land. They are telling the spirits what their business is and telling them to behave, which was why she had seemed to shout at the hills and valleys along the path. Once I realised what was going on and she meant no harm, I thought ‘I want some of that!’ I want to shout at the spirits and tell them to ‘shape up, stop messing with us and let us live without all your tricks and surprises’. Maybe this should be added to our armoury in dealing with the pandemic. It might be a bit loud, but it wouldn’t hurt anyone and it might make us feel better.

Meanwhile, be well.

Talk to the hills…that ghost gum looks like a true survivor.

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green and gold*…

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

Posted by Ardys in Australia, Creativity, nature

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, inspiration, nature

Whoosh! chartreuse chatter

lifts into a golden evening.

Imagination did not prepare me for

the spectacle of wild budgies as they

heave and push through spent grasses

veering to and fro

as if one mind.

Such sights are rare in the flesh.

In videos transmitted by lines and pixels,

the living sound and colour cannot

be matched by our devices.

So let the earth dust your shoes

and the dew settle on your brow.

It is so worthwhile.

* Today, September 1 is the first day of Spring, also Wattle Day. The golden wattle are in blossom in the southern states but here I have captured our version of green and gold (our national colours), featuring wild budgerigars and the winter’s dried, golden grasses. I’ve been feeling a little poetic lately too…and by the way, a ‘chatter’ is what a large flock of budgies is called!

Wattle in the Mt. Lofty Botanic Gardens near Adelaide, South Australia.

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loving a sunburnt country…

04 Saturday Jan 2020

Posted by Ardys in Life, nature, sunburnt country

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

Australia, bushfires, sunburntcountry

This is not the return (again) to blogging that I imagined. I’m moved to write to whomever have hung on and to any others who might be hearing the plight of Australia’s drought, heat and bushfires that have raged for months.

There is a well loved poem here, called My Country, by Dorothea Mackellar. Perhaps its most famous line…

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains…

I think of these words each day as I dread turning on the news. Almost daily we hear of worsening fires and personal loss, as well as livestock, habitat and native animal losses. I watch it because it is uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable, I know, as for those who are living it.

We grew up in a small town. When almost anything happened, you would either know the person, the family, or know someone who knew them. That is how Australia feels to me. We are the same size as the contiguous USA, but only a tiny fraction of the population size. We have traveled all over Australia and it has always been our favourite kind of travel. So when something devastating happens, it feels like it is happening to someone we know. My heart is very heavy. I watch so I can understand the challenges and witness the triumph of humans during tragedy, as well as the horror when humans make bad decisions…like starting fires in a tinder dry country.

Parts of our country have been in drought for 5 or more years. Last year the Murray Darling River was so dry in spots that millions of fish died, towns ran out of water, farmers went out of business, entire regions suffered. Farmers have had to de-stock their stations because they are out of grazing land and feed is too expensive for them to buy when they have no income. Further, lands this dry are vulnerable to dust storms that carry topsoil thousands of kilometres, here to Alice Springs and beyond.

…Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When sick at heart around us, We see the cattle die…

Fires have spread like angry beasts to wine producing regions and fruit growing areas, previously moist enough to resist them. While it is true that people who live in the bush sometimes allow too much build up of fuel on their properties, it is also true that previous fires have been more manageable. We are witnessing unprecedented heat and winds on top of drought and the results are quite literally catastrophic.

barely visible Mt Gillen this morning

A few days ago the government deployed military personal and boats to assist in areas where the power, food and water were gone and to evacuate people. Some were taking refuge in and near the water, where possible, because the fires were still threatening, having already taken hundreds of properties and an unknown number of lives. Over a thousand people have been evacuated on navy ships, while many thousands more have vacated the fire threatened regions when and if they can get petrol to do so. This is not easily possible in some areas where fuel is scarce, though being transported in, and where there is only a single highway in and out of the areas. Fallen trees and fires that have jumped roadways have necessitated road closures, trapping people in some cases.

In fires back in September/October, a huge area of koala habitat was destroyed, as were hundreds of koalas. People began bringing Koalas to the Port MacQuarie Koala Hospital and their Go Fund Me page saw generous donations from everywhere, enabling their important work for now and the future. They will be using some of the money to establish wildlife drinking stations over a wide range of lands, but the loss has still been devastating. Estimates of losses at nearly half a billion animals have shocked all of us.

Now we are donating to the people who have lost everything. Most of these people were living in regional areas because they love it, but also it is less expensive. Many do not have insurance and cannot afford to rebuild. The government is working on helping them, but of course no government can afford to rebuild housing for so many lost properties. And no one can replace a lifetime of physical mementos. But with help many will be able to rebuild and move forward.

Here in Alice we have learned 2019 was our driest on record. We received only 67mm (2.6 inches) of rain where our normal is 289mm. This, after a particularly dry previous year. Our town basin water is at its lowest point ever. We have had many more dust storms than normal, and high winds much of the time in between, drying the land out further and creating poor air quality. Mostly it is not heavily laced with smoke, though sometimes it is. Areas around Alice have burned periodically over the last year. We live in a place where everything is brought from a distance where it can be grown, so we are quite vulnerable when large scale flooding, drought and fires happen. Unprecedented, sustained temperatures in excess of 40C up to 46C (114F) have taken a toll even on the native vegetation.

This morning as I write I can barely see the mountain for dust in the air. But I know the winds and heat we have had are moving south and will worsen their fires. I feel somehow complicit. There are dire warnings for this day in particular. There are still hundreds of fires burning, many out of control. If you are seeing these stories in your news, believe them. It is real, and much worse than most of us ever thought we would see. We know we are in this together, that Australians are resilient and compassionate people—even more so for the hardships suffered.

And finally, to the thousands of volunteer firefighters who make up most of the crews. I cannot imagine how exhausted you are, the horrors you have seen or the size of your hearts to protect your fellow beings. We are all enormously grateful.

An opal-hearted country, A wilful lavish land– All you who have not loved her, you will not understand–

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Travel theme: Hills

30 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by Ardys in Inspiration, nature, photography, Travel

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Australia, central australia, hills, landscape, photography, Travel

I often take photos for Instagram or EyeEm, but for some reason I don’t end up using them on the blog. This morning when I read Ailsa’s travel theme of ‘hills’ I wanted to play along and share some recent photos that you may not have seen, or maybe won’t mind too much seeing again, in a larger format.

This place is so beautiful, and especially so in the early morning light when all of these photos were taken. It is truly soul stirring every time I see the beauty of the light on this land.

Here, where the sky and land are so expansive, it is hard to appreciate one without the other.

img_2308

The hill, the tree, the moon and the sky

 

This very unusual cloud formed one morning, over the hills, and then in a few minutes was gone again. The hills often seem to influence cloud formation, so while this may seem like a cloud photo, it is also about the hills.

img_2357

dramatic cloud above the hills

 

It seems impossible to me to take a scene of the surrounding ranges for granted when the light is so insistent that you pay attention. On this particular cloudy morning, there was a hole in the cloud behind me, and through it came this tract of light in front of me, lasting only a short while, as if to say ‘look at me’.

img_2323

dramatic morning light on the hills

 

Sometimes the landscape speaks to me of olde world landscapes painted by the masters, and I can’t resist editing them to match my fantasy. The hills don’t really need me to intercede, of course, they are beautiful just as they are.

img_2554

morning light on the hill, edited using DistressedFX app

Thank you for viewing ‘my hills’ in Central Australia. If you would like to see more hills from around the world, click on over to Ailsa’s page where more beauty awaits you.

 

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reflections on tree day…

30 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by Ardys in nature, photography

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, nationaltreeday, photography, Planetark National Tree Day, Red Centre of Australia

IMG_9869Today is Planetark National Tree Day in Australia. As most of you know I love trees and photograph them often. It might even be genetic; my father grew Christmas Trees for a living! Here’s a little reflecting of some passed tree portraits:

Melaleuca leucadendra, Weeping paperbark
Melaleuca leucadendra, Weeping paperbark
Evening at Honeymoon Gap, Christmas Day (not a photo of the day)
Evening at Honeymoon Gap, Christmas Day (not a photo of the day)
Ghost Gum and friend.
Ghost Gum and friend.
Eucalyptus trees lining dry Todd River bed.
Eucalyptus trees lining dry Todd River bed.
Eucalyptus and MacDonnell Ranges in early morning
Eucalyptus and MacDonnell Ranges in early morning
Corkwood in late afternoon light
Corkwood in late afternoon light
Having an Ansel Adams moment
Having an Ansel Adams moment
eucalyptus-shedding-winter
(185) Eucalyptus tree shedding bark in winter

Go out and enjoy a tree or two today. xx

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in the grip of gidgee…

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Ardys in Alice Springs, nature, photography

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, nature, photography

Cue the dramatic theme from Jaws…da-dum, da-dum… Alice Springs has been in the grip of an invisible threat…the Gidgee. Friday morning we awoke to a smell of very strong LPG gas throughout the house. It was alarming at first, until we realised, outside it was worse. That was the clue. It was the annual invasion of the Gidgee, or Acacia Cambagei. Releasing their odours far and wide these trees always raise comments and pulled faces among the residents; but this particular day, when we had heavy cloud cover and rain to trap the smells close to the earth, it was extra special–as in awful.

Still shrouded in cloud Mt Gillen
Still shrouded in cloud Mt Gillen
Revived ferns in the rocks with cloud covered Mt Gillen behind
Revived ferns in the rocks with cloud covered Mt Gillen behind
IMG_5921

My plan to have eggs for breakfast was abandoned for something that didn’t require the gas cooker to prepare them. Ugh. In fact, eating itself was almost abandoned, except that I am a hungry girl in the mornings! After breakfast we went into town to buy groceries. There was no escaping the smell as it even permeated the processed air in the grocery store. But outside was worse. We returned home feeling quite bilious.

The local ABC radio announcer swears she left a note for her husband before going to work on the early shift to ‘have the gas bottle checked today’, due to the smell! She is new to town and has not experienced the joys of the Gidgee. Nor have most of us experienced it quite to this degree. I pity the poor tourist who has lobbed into town for a few days, wondering why the travel literature did not warn of the smell of Alice Springs!

I sacrificed myself to the challenge of locating a Gidgee tree to show you. Smelly though they are, finding one proved difficult, as they are fairly nondescript in appearance. Since they are an Australian native tree I thought my best chance to photograph one would be at Olive Pink Botanic Garden. If I could smell it, I could find it. But it was more difficult that it sounded; in fact, gave myself a headache sniffing it out. I tramped the trails and studied the tree names, pointing my nose skyward like an animal tracking its prey. Sniff, sniff. No Gidgee here.

As I searched– the Sturt Desert Pea…

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White Cypress Pine…

White Cedar with moisture and light

White Cypress Pine with moisture and light

Bush Tomato…

australia-bush-tomato

Bush Tomato blossoms with moisture

Eucalyptus…

Eucalyptus Orbifolia with moisture drops

Eucalyptus Orbifolia with moisture drops

  …revealed their droplets of adornment, remaining after the rain and cool temperatures. These were rare sights in our normally arid lands.

Acacia Cambagei, or Gidgee, or stinking tree!

Acacia Cambagei, or Gidgee, or stinking tree!

And then all at once ‘ugh’ there it was, that repugnant aroma at once a happy discovery, but also instantly making me sick again. I had sniffed it out–literally. Fortunately the intense smell that blanketed the town only lasted while the cloud cover was low. The now localised aroma was at least escapable. And so I did, escape home to warn you…beware the grip of the Gidgee!

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those three little words…

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Ardys in Darwin, photography, Travel

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Australia, Darwin, Travel

If you already know the meaning of ‘relative humidity’* you won’t need to refer to the paragraphs at the end of this post, either way I don’t think you will really need it, but it’s there just in case. All I know for certain is, everything is relative. My four days and five nights in Darwin were, relatively miserable, temperature-wise and humidity-wise–but otherwise, it was a good break, if by ‘good break’ you mean makes you really appreciate being home again.

I decided some weeks ago to accompany my mostly sensible husband to Darwin while he participated in the NT Golf Open. I think he would agree with me in saying he didn’t actually compete, because competing would be another relative thing, as compared to endure, I suppose. Let’s just say he was not in the hunt for top honours. He did finish in front of  a handful of players out of the 200+ field so I suppose that is something. And more’s the pity, he did not even enjoy it. But I’m sure the next time he considers going to Darwin to play golf, the experience will immediately bring him to his senses. If not, he will have me to remind him, for which I’m sure he will be, not so much grateful as, annoyed.

waterlily-darwin
Waterlily in garden, Darwin
frangipani-flower-darwin
Frangipani blossom, Darwin
Tropical garden
Tropical garden
Qantas-darwin-sunrise
Naturally occurring reflection/montage from Qantas lounge at sunrise, Darwin
view from Stokes Hill Wharf
view from Stokes Hill Wharf
Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin
Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin

My plan was to catch up with friends. That was all. We usually stay in the city (small though it is) of Darwin, but this trip we decided to try a ‘boutique motel’ and hire a car. It was small, very small, but perfectly formed, save the very hard mattress; but good air conditioning and that was most important. Wipe that romantic notion about ceiling fans and mosquito nets being adequate in the tropics from your mind’s eye. That is just wrong. 

The suburb of Parap offers several cafés, restaurants, a gourmet food shop, a couple of gift shops and a gallery and a couple of other options, and a Saturday morning market that has always been a favourite, going way back to our days of living in Darwin. We saw the very first few stalls begin to trade about 30 years ago and it has steadily grown into a Darwin institution. Sadly, there is little food from the market I am able to eat these days, but wandering through at 7.30am, humidity at 93% and temperature at 26C (79F) was still worth it to grab a few photos.

parap-market-darwin
Early preparations at Parap Markets
Laneway Café, Parap
Laneway Café, Parap
papaya-local-darwin
Papaya and bananas, locally grown
dumpling preparation Parap Market
dumpling preparation Parap Market
Cyclone Café, Darwin
Cyclone Café, Darwin
cyclone-cafe-breakfast
Cyclone Café breakfast

It was great to catch up with old friends and compare war stories. None of us escapes the ‘stuff’. Just as none of us will get out of this alive. We swap wisdom and compare treatments, catch up on our children and travels and before you know it the afternoon has slipped away. And at the end of the visit we always agree, we are relatively good. Lots of people we know are worse. Perhaps we are a tiny bit delusional too.

We managed to take in a wonderful exhibition by paper artist, Winsome Jobling; and also to fit in a walk along the East Point foreshore, looking back at the city through Poinciana trees that have yet to gain their leaves and flowers because they have yet to get the dry season weather needed for that. It was hard work for me in the morning humidity. Later in the day I was ‘at one’ with that aforementioned hard mattress in the air conditioned motel room.

Rocksitters point
Rocksitters point
Darwin through the Poinciana trees
Darwin through the Poinciana trees
East Point foreshore, Darwin
East Point foreshore, Darwin

To complain about the weather does nothing to improve it, but it was good to know it wasn’t only this desert dweller that was feeling the distress of extreme humidity where dry breezes should have been flowing. The locals were even feeling it.

I gave up drinking hot coffee in preference to iced coffees, had two showers a day and had to hand wash undies and clothes because I forgot the ‘sweat factor’ of the top end when packing for a time when the dry season is not yet in full swing.

We often remark that travel makes us appreciate home more, and this trip was especially true in that respect. But I wasn’t expecting what happened at the end. I arrived home and stepped off the plane onto the tarmac (there are no air bridges at Alice Springs airport) into a morning, post rain showers, where the humidity was exactly 93%, as it had been most of the mornings in Darwin, except that the temperature was 16C (60F), ten degrees below the Darwin temps in the early mornings. It felt glorious! And that, my friends, is the perfect illustration of relative humidity. As if blazoned on a neon sign atop the airport terminal it dawned on me, yet again, the wisdom of those three words ‘everything is relative’.

IMG_8687

home again, rain and all

(*Here is what Uncle Wikipedia says about relative humidity...“Humans are sensitive to humidity because the human body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration, as the primary mechanism to rid itself of waste heat. Perspiration evaporates from the skin more slowly under humid conditions than under arid conditions. Because humans perceive a low rate of heat transfer from the body to be equivalent to a higher air temperature,[3] the body experiences greater distress of waste heat burden at high humidity than at lower humidity, given equal temperatures.

For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C (75 °F) and the relative humidity is zero percent, then the air temperature feels like 21 °C (69 °F).[4] If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the same air temperature, then it feels like 27 °C (80 °F).[4] In other words, if the air is 24 °C (75 °F) and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the same rate as it would if it were 27 °C (80 °F) and dry.[4] The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the combined effect of temperature and humidity on the cooling effect of the atmosphere on the human body.”)

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the coming and going…

13 Friday May 2016

Posted by Ardys in Alice Springs, Food, gardening, Life

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Alice Springs, Australia, life, nature, photography

early morning sky after rains

early morning sky after rains

We are blessed with amazing natural beauty here. It is almost criminal to take it for granted. But we do. Sometimes. Take the clear blue skies we often have… I long for some cloud now and then, not to mention a little rain. Clear blue skies have an implied imperative that one must get out and make the most of it. But all I want some days is to curl up with a book and listen to some music mingled with the sound of drizzle on the metal roof. I got my chance last weekend, which included Mother’s Day. Since I couldn’t be with either our daughter or my Mother, listening to rain, reading and floating between cups of coffee, ginger tea and preparing one of our favourite meals (here) was a fine situation to have.

after the weekend of rain
after the weekend of rain
rain on the ponytail palm
rain on the ponytail palm
vestiges of a cicada summer
vestiges of a cicada summer

Rain brought the early signs of winter with it. The vestiges of summer are pretty depressing after the grasshoppers decimated our citrus trees. The lime is an early producer so we had ample limes, but the lemons, which I use much more often, don’t look like they will be able to mature with the lack of leaves for some photosynthesis. (don’t be confused by the photos, the lemon is the green fruit-left and the limes are the yellow ones–I know!) My herb garden is looking very sad, I won’t bore you with a photo, but suffice it to say, most of it will be dug out soon and the soil and irrigation replaced, along with a renewal of plants. I did have one victory, however. The bay tree I worked to save from scale infestation last summer has yielded a nearly perfect harvest this year and will certainly last me another year.

unripe lemon on denuded tree five months ago
unripe lemon on denuded tree five months ago
Waterlogue edit of home grown limes and bay leaves
Waterlogue edit of home grown limes and bay leaves

Baking weather has returned and my fourth ever loaf of homemade sourdough spelt bread has emerged miraculously from the oven this morning. Maybe I’m just easy to please after not being able to eat bread for years, but it is pretty much my dream loaf.

Loaf four.
Loaf four.
Sourdough spelt bread 'chips'-great for dipping or snacking
Sourdough spelt bread ‘chips’-great for dipping or snacking

Last night the heat bag reappeared and was warmed and woven around my feet. The little mug I save for warm milk and honey was again filled and slowly sipped, until I was warmed inside and out. Such is the change of seasons and our delight in their coming and going.

my comforts

my comforts

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is quality the casualty of a corporate world?

06 Friday May 2016

Posted by Ardys in Life

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

America, Australia, capitalism, choices, corporate paradigm, life, quality of life

As most of you know, I’m not an academic, and I’m certainly no expert on economics or government. However, with elections coming up in both Australia and the USA, I thought it might be a good time to say a few things.

Lately I’ve been noticing a trend, with an increasing number of articles referring to the compromise of quality due, largely, to capitalistic pursuits. A few days ago, yet another article arrived to my inbox about the adulteration of olive oil. Olive oil!! Is nothing sacred? The author made the comment that ‘capitalism is costing us quality’, inferring and relating to recent news articles about olive oil being tainted/cut with other products to increase profit margins. The blog originates in the USA, as did the research that revealed the tainting of olive oil. Recently when we were in the USA we made a number of similar observations ourselves, though not specifically about a single product, more about services. That is not to say that we don’t have problems in Australia, but it is sometimes easier to observe things when out of one’s own environment.

The American Corporate Medical model we experienced, while it was created to work well on paper, has huge chinks in a system that relies on human consistency while simultaneously does not acknowledge characteristics of the individual. A system that was ‘improved’ to offer freedom of choice to many, didn’t account for the fact that offering too many choices can actually diminish the individual’s experience. Our own Medicare system has its problems, and neither system is perfect, but I guess it’s the devil you know, so I was not unhappy to return to the Australian system.

Corporate style food production and consumption seems well out of control of the individual trying to eat healthily, certainly in Southern Ohio.

How did supermarket vegetables lose their palatability, with so many people right there watching? The Case of the Murdered Flavor was a contract killing, as it turns out, and long-distance travel lies at the heart of the plot. —Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Finding foods that have not travelled halfway across the country, or even the world, was rare. The quality of food served by many medium priced restaurants was barely adequate, and never mind the cheaper corporate franchise options which further diminish the eating experience. Finding vegetables, other than potatoes, on restaurant menus was, once again, a challenge. And sourcing something like organic, or local produce seems only available to a very, very small group of people who happen to have access or who grow their own. Many foods are sweetened to a degree that completely drowns the taste of the food itself, or is designed to make up for the fact that poor quality ingredients have little flavour. I could only conclude that most people do not even know any more what good quality food should look and taste like, let alone what it costs to produce. Sadly, this is partially replicated in Australia.

Walmart is well documented to target urban rural sites for its stores. They undercut the prices of local shops until the shops close, and then when Walmart closes it leaves the small towns with no local shopping or employment. Heavy subsidies of the corn industry have supported GM development that ever increases yield, not to mention the use of high fructose corn syrup to ridiculous levels. The end result in many rural areas is that the financial returns do not go to support the surrounding communities which continue to lose educational and medical resources, but to line the pockets of corporate owners and producers. (Rural communities: Legacy + Change by Cornelian Butler Flora, Jan L Flora, Stephen P Gasteyer)

IMG_7464If you are aged and can no longer live at home on your own, and don’t wish to live with family, or they cannot provide for you, there is the corporate style ‘assisted living’ option. Decades ago, our parents made it clear to us they had their own plans. The reality of that did not work and so they opted for the assisted living situation. During our recent stay we felt our Mum needed a higher level of care and we sought to use the ‘in house’ service to take her blood pressure and administer her medications on a daily basis. It was badly managed by aides with such low levels of skill that we cancelled the service less than two weeks after it started. And it wasn’t just the low skill, but in one case a very bad attitude that I could only say reflects badly on bovine-like behaviour. And what can you expect, when the minimum wage is half what it is in Australia and other countries?

Guess which airline served this option?

Guess which airline served this option?

Let me share with you a simple example. On our American Airlines return flight from Cincinnati to Dallas Fort Worth, we flew ‘first class’, which is the same as ‘business class’ in Australia. For this two and a half hour flight we were offered alcoholic beverages and a snack, free of charge. My husband ordered a gin and tonic and I requested water. Both drinks appeared in plastic cups, with no fruit garnish, making it difficult to tell which drink was which, save the bubbles. Potato crisps, sweetened popcorn and something else sweet were offered as a snack, no doubt to satisfy the well trained palate expecting HFCS or a high carbohydrate alternative. At the end of the flight the attendant walked the aisle with a large garbage bag, nodding (not speaking) to us to drop our trash into the bag ourselves. (We are not above picking up our own trash, but really, we had paid for first class service.) Hours later we were in business class seats on Qantas and we received drinks in real glasses, water garnished with lemon and nuts with pretzels as a snack, even serviettes. The attendant collected the trash by hand and returned it to the rubbish recycle receptacles in the galley. I could not have made up two more starkly contrasting examples of the same situation if I had tried, illustrating that not every corporate experience needs to be a low quality one.

A classier interpretation of water and soft drink

A classier interpretation of water and soft drink

These are not only things we have read and seen with our own eyes, but have been validated by various Americans we spoke with while there. In fact one of them encouraged me to write this article. The general population seems disillusioned and disappointed, evident in the anger and abhorrent behaviour in the current political race. Who can blame them?

Some of the benefits of capitalism are supposedly quality and choice. But if those have become the casualties, perhaps we are partly to blame for the choices we make. Perhaps we need to lower our expectations of having ‘stuff’ and having someone else look after us, and we need to educate ourselves and discover what is really important in life, so that we make better choices. There are other ways to ‘vote’ than at the ballot box. We can vote by shutting our wallets, we can vote by actions and we can vote with our feet, by walking away from unsatisfactory options. If we are not always trying to find the cheapest service or product, but look for value for money and understand what the real cost of living is, we will empower ourselves and our respective country.

When we aspire to a good quality of life, let’s not look to the corporate paradigms that show how cheaply things can be done, those that put growth and profit above all else. Let’s look to examples that preserve quality of life at every opportunity.

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eccentric or just uninhibited?

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Ardys in Life

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Australia, eccentricity, human behaviour, life, Melaleuca, Melaleuca leucadendra, nature, paperbark, photography

We all have our little eccentricities—peccadillos…oddball ways. When we are young most of us use up a lot of energy trying to hide these from our fellow humans. All the while we seek our true selves. These are part of our true selves, if only we could see. As we age and become more comfortable in the world and in our own skin, we let go of some of the smoke and mirrors and ease into the dreaminess of being who we are.

Someone saw me...

Someone saw me…

Many times I’ve written about my morning walks, and the treasures I carry home with me. It is with childlike delight I pick up these pieces of nature and spirit them away with me. Part of my experience is to photograph them, as you know. Photography helps me study and internalise the essence of the treasures, as well as hopefully make something beautiful to share. I am sure most of the inhabitants of our neighbourhood have seen me roaming the hills and paths, carrying things. I’m also sure some of them must wonder what I’m doing, or at least think ‘there goes that strange lady walking and carrying things, stooping to take photos and…’

…one morning about three quarters of the way through my walk, something beckoned me, saying

‘Look at me.’ 

It was a stunning piece of paperbark–quite long and intact (about 900mm x 200mm or 3ft x 8in), and must have only recently fallen from its tree*, since there was no sign it had been there long.

‘Come to me baby,’ I replied.

Carrying it home was a little like carrying a small limp, sleeping child but not as heavy. No doubt there were local eyes upon me, but I didn’t care. It was so worth it, whatever thoughts of my strangeness were sent into the ethers. I have used it for a few still life photos, but mostly I admire its multi-layered, velvety texture whenever I gaze into the corner of the room. The layers are really as light as paper but upon one another, as they are, strong and resilient.

sheet of paperbark
sheet of paperbark
Melaleuca leucadendra, Weeping paperbark
Melaleuca leucadendra, Weeping paperbark
layers upon layers
layers upon layers
grevillea blossom on paperbark
grevillea blossom on paperbark
dried blossoms and organza bag on paperbark
dried blossoms and organza bag on paperbark
Feather on paperbark
Feather on paperbark

AND…

Grass reverie...

Grass reverie…

Recently I was coming home along the street in the early morning. It was ‘bin day’, when the garbage is collected. In front of nearly every house on the street was a tall green wheelie bin holding the weekly refuse. It is sometimes a smelly walk on those mornings, but, undaunted, and in the home stretch, something caught my attention…

‘Here I am, come see me…’

Out of the top, from under the bin lid, was a distinctive trail of green texture. No, no, nothing slimy–grass, I thought. Falling in long graceful tendrils, it was not the usual grass from one’s yard.

‘Come closer.‘ it whispered.

I am a tactile person, often seeing with my hands, so I touched it, hoping for clues. I wondered how I might photograph it, or if it was of interest to anyone but me. Reluctantly, I decided it was not. I lingered, slipping into a grass reverie, stroking the pliable green filaments, partially dry but not quite limp. Remnants of a grass tree, I decided. And then I realised…

I was standing in the street,

stroking grass,

coming out of the top of someone’s garbage bin.

Back away from the bin, Ardys. Now. Slowly walk away. Home.

I think I’m hilarious, even if no one else does. I am harmless in my reveries. If I become the eccentric old walking woman of my neighbourhood, so be it. They could do worse.

Selfie with my own painting, in evening light

With my own painting, in evening light

(*Melaleuca leucadendra, Weeping Paperbark, is native to Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is widely distributed from the Kimberleys to Cape York and south to Bundaberg. It also occurs in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Although it will withstand some frost, it is not recommended for cold areas such as mountainous regions or Tasmania. It will grow well in most other areas, being very tolerant to wet or dry conditions. There are about 200 species of paperbark but the one I’ve depicted here is the leucadendra. Indigenous people used strips of bark from this tree and tied them to a frame of Dodonaea branches to build huts that were waterproof. The bark was used to wrap food before cooking in an underground oven called a kap mari. It was also used to wrap the bodies of their dead. The bark from trunks of very large trees was used to make bark canoes. The crushed leaves were used to treat respiratory infections and the flowers for making a sweet drink.)

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