Dud Photos – Thursday Doors.

Welcome to Another Thursday Doors

Today, I’ve decided to turn posting conventions on their head. Instead of posting my best door photo this week, I’ve posted the dud I took last Sunday while our daughter was wrapping up her weekly dance rehearsal for Swan Lake. These rehearsals are about a 20 minutes drive away and the studio backs onto the Mt Penang Parklands, which aren’t spectacular, but are worth a stroll and the odd photo, especially around sunset which the sky comes to life in all its golden glory.

The Shape of this tree reminded me of a deciduous leaf where only its network of veins remains. 

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”
― William Blake

I absolutely love photographing trees…finding an angle and pointing my camera up through the branches and capturing whatever that something might be which has captured my eye.

Autumn Leaves

“Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,’ she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. ‘What nice dreams they must have!”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

In the months our daughter has been rehearsing for Swan Lake, the trees have been busy as well. Their leaves developed a orange crimson blush, dried up, detached themselves from the branches and floated down to earth leaving a row of naked tree skeletons behind. As much as I love their bright green foliage, especially at the very outset of Spring, there’s an almost mystical beauty in these stark, barren twigs especially when they’re back-dropped by a bright blue sky, as they were last Sunday.

However, just before I picked up our daughter, the sky turned gold and the brilliant golden tones of sunset flooded the stark branches with an inexplicable majesty. I was in awe. Hastily, I kept snapping away as I headed back to pick her up and captured the reflection of the tree in the backdoor of the studio. I didn’t expect it to be spectacular or even average shot. Indeed, I only took it to show my daughter what was going on outside while she was rehearsing, a variation of the concept of “while you were sleeping” which was graphically brought to life in  the Hollywood film. While she’s been rehearsing over the last few months, the trees outside have changed colour, lost their leaves and no doubt will have new leaves by the time they perform next month. Give it a few months, and we’ll even forget the tree was anything but green.

This photo also annoyed me. Looks magnificent from a distance and yet the sun wipes out the line of the twig. Grr!

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
― Khalil Gibran, Sand and Foam

Aren’t trees amazing?!!

I am absolutely in awe of trees and can’t understand why anyone could ever think you’re weird for hugging a tree. Why not?

Her eye fell everywhere on lawns and plantations of the freshest green; and the trees, though not fully clothed, were in that delightful state when farther beauty is known to be at hand, and when, while much is actually given to the sight, more yet remains for the imagination.”
― Jane Austen

This has been another contribution to Thursday Doors hosted by Norm 2.0 Please pop over and join us.

Best wishes,

Rowena

 

 

M- Meander River, Tasmania.

Welcome to the Meander River for Day 12 of our Alphabetical Tour of Tasmania during the Blogging A-Z April Challenge.

The Meander River is true to name as it flows from its source high up in Great Western Tiers Mountain Range via towns like Meander and Deloraine, until it flows into the South Esk River at Hadspen. From source to mouth, the Meander is joined by fourteen tributaries including the Liffey River and descends 930 metres (3,050 ft) over its 112-kilometre (70 mi) course.^[1]

The Meander River, Deloraine.

“Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.”

Mikhail Lermontov

As you may recall, we’ve spent the past few days hiding out in Launceston with friends. So, today we only have a short drive from Launceston to Deloraine where we’ll meet up with the Meander River. After all our driving, you’ll be pleased to hear this will be a quick 41 minute trip covering 52.3km (not that I’m being precise and hanging on each and every second. I promise that you won’t need to bring a stopwatch.)

As an alternative to driving, I did consult with my in-house, Tasmanian white-water kayaking expert about the possibilities of kayaking from Launceston to Deloraine. After all, we’ve been driving everywhere and it would be good to get out there on the water, especially when we were there in January (far too cold now heading into Winter!) While he didn’t discount kayaking completely, we agreed you’ll be reported to Missing Persons long before you reach Deloraine, and even the most intrepid adventurers will be offering their rescuers profuse thanks. “You’d be exhausted!!” Not only is there the not insignificant matter of the River’s never-ending twists and turns, there are also white water rapids to overcome.

Train Parked.

So, I guess that means we’ve all agreed to drive and we’ll meet up at the Train Park in West Parade, Deloraine.

Rivers intrigue me. Much of the time, they seem so benign and it’s only in times of drought or flood, that we generally stare beyond their obvious facades probing for answers to life’s imponderable questions. Rivers can run deep, and yet they’re so reflective in a purely superficial sense. I love taking photos of reflections dancing over the river’s facade, especially when there’s just the slightest ripple through the image just to remind you, that it is indeed a reflection and not the thing itself.

Indeed, reading through numerous newspaper headlines through the last 150 years or more, I’ve sandwiched together Meander’s ever-changing tides…

DELORAINE. The Meander River has overflowed its banks, causing a very heavy flood…MEANDER RIVER FROZEN OVER.DELORAINE. Wednesday. The Meander River at Deloraine was frozen over this morning from bank to bank. The frost was the severest ever known in the district…After it is taken in to the Deloraine water scheme, it is treated with chlorine to kill bacteria … to make it safe to drink. (Continued on P2) MEANDER RIVER POLLUTED Continued from Page 1. HIGH E COLI…The recent rises in the Meander River have greatly assisted anglers, and large catches have been reported. All Ash were In good condition, A number of platypuses have been seen near the Deloraine…DELORAINE FISHING STARTS – The river fishing season started yesterday, and the banks of the Meander River were lined with fishing enthusiasts, all endeavouring to catch the first fish of the season…LOBSTER IN TROUT. – Mr. L.D. Cameron, of Deloraine, caught a large brown trout weighing 2¾lbs. in the Meander river below the weir on Tuesday. Its stomach contained a 3-inch freshwater lobster. Lobsters have not been seen in the river at Deloraine for a number of years…

I guess this just confirms what Heraclitus said:

“You cannot step into the same river twice.”

Meanwhile, as we peer deep into the Meander our hopes are not dashed. Our son finally manages to spot a platypus with its bill sticking out of the water. Being a mammal, the Platypus must return to the surface to breathe but it still needs to get spotted and they’re notoriously shy.

Me being me, there is only one thing more important than seeing a platypus in the wild for the very first time in my life. That’s right. That’s taking THE photo.

This black swan made for a much better photograph than the elusive platypus.

 

Of course, we all know that if I was wanting to photograph a platypus, I’d be much better off going to the zoo. However, as you would appreciate, a photo taken out in the wild out trumps a zoo photo any day, even if you can’t see the subject.

Mind you, it seems that Geoff has seen quite a few platipus in the wild. Geoff’s aunt who used to live at North Scottsdale, used to have a resident No-Name platypus living in their creek. Geoff’s even seen this platypus walking across their gravel driveway around dusk heading off hunting downstream.

So, when I catch up with Mum and Dad for Easter lunch, I’ll definitely be adding: “No Platypus Encounters” to my list of childhood grievances. I’m still not sure whether not going camping as a family, counts as a minus or a plus.

The kids and I crossing the Meander River at Deloraine.

What do you think? Are you a camper, glamper or up there in your ivory hotel? And…does the presence or deadly snakes and spiders in Tasmania influence your decision at all?

I look forward to hearing from you!

xx Rowena

 

Autumn Leaf, Pittwater, Palm Beach, Sydney.

You don’t expect to see autumn leaves on a sunny Sydney beach.

Then again, you don’t expect autumn either…just perennial blue skies!

However, while out walking the dogs today, I found a smattering of autumn leaves along the sand, looking rather out of place…at least to me! Yet, they were so beautiful.

I wonder where their journey will take them as they’re pick up by the ocean currents and taken to other worlds!

Even though I’ve already posted Life Lessons as my L for the A-Z Challenge, I though I might just sneak in L for leaf.

xx Rowena

PS: This post received a shout out over in Spain…how exciting! Check it out here: http://howtofeellikecatalan.com/autumn-is-here/

The Sun Sets on Winter: Palm Beach, Sydney.

Goodbye Winter…Welcome Summer.

Last night, the sun set on Winter and this morning it rose into Summer. In other words, we put our clocks forward for daylight savings, gaining a precious extra hour of daylight. Regardless of what we all learn at school about the four seasons, for me putting the clocks forward signals the beginning of summer and being able to frollic on the beach after work or play. Conversely, turning the clocks back, is the death knoll to Summer and the beginning of Winter. Our climate is pretty fabulous most of the time so we don’t get real extremities but we do have a saying that in Sydney you can have “four seasons in one day”. It’s not wrong.

Lady at Sunset, Pittwater, Palm Beach

The annoying thing, however, about putting the clocks forward is that while we might ultimately gain that extra hour of sunlight, today we lost an hour and I’m expected to go to bed an hour earlier which doesn’t fit in with my writing ambitions for the night and I’m also down to the final 20 or so pages of a fabulous book: The Rosie Process, the sequel to the bestselling: The Rosie Project.

While I’m seriously tempted to rebel and stay up for the extra hour, especially as I had my usual “nanna nap” during the day and tomorrow is a public holiday, the kids go back to school on Tuesday and I somehow need to revert from “holiday time” to “term time”. This is going to require superhuman effort as suspect that I’ve relaxed too much on holidays and may not be able to find my way back.

I always knew too much meditation can be harmful.

You see, I recently discovered that all my looking out the window fixating at the ocean, is actually a subconscious form of meditation. I don’t know a lot about meditation but there is a relaxation technique where you fixate on a point. I had never thought about this before until I found myself feeling rather sleepy while looking out the window. To compound the hypnotic effect, as the swell rises and falls, it’s the equivalent of what we saw in cartoons as kids where they have the swinging pendulum: “you’re getting sleepy…very, very sleepy”. The waves are literally hypnotic. No wonder I’ve been having so much trouble getting with the program. I’ve been in a trance.

However, as I said before, the trance ends on Tuesday when the kids not only go back to school but all their activities go back as well. I also have to front up for my violin lesson on Wednesday night and I know I’m going to be spending the entire lesson in the confessional: “Forgive me teacher for I have sinned. It’s been two weeks since I last played my violin.” Yes, I’ve been very naughty and preoccupied elsewhere with new dogs, blogs and research projects not to mention kids home on school holidays.

Although the sun usually doesn’t set over the ocean on the East Coast of Australia, you can be lucky..especially if you are on a penninsula like we are at Palm Beach. We enjoy some beautiful sunsets and it’s just beautiful watching the sun set in slow motion through the gumtrees across the bay and watch the delicate palette of colours flicker across the water. The sound effects can be a bit questionable at times. Right on sunset, there is a deafening sunset screech as a mass exodus of sulphur-crested cockatoos takes off from the gumtrees and balconies on our side of the bay and heads for the national park. It’s their daily ritual.

Anyway, as much as I’d like to get ahead of time, yet again, it’s run ahead of me and I seriously need to get to bed.

Goodnight!

xx Rowena