Day #462 Comet Lovejoy

Dec 25, 2011 by Wayne England

From Australia to the stars. You see, we’re not really leaving Australia yet, because this story from NASA Science News contains a photo of Comet Lovejoy that was taken from -- would you believe it -- Poocher Swamp in South Australia.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/12jan_cometlovejoy/ 

As fascinated as I am with the story of the comet, I was equally intrigued by the name of the swamp, so I went online to find out about it and found this fascinating tidbit on Wikipedia:

Once owned by Dalton Staude, Poocher Swamp was sold to the Australian Parks and Wildlife Service for a recreation area and is now a favourite spot for pickincking, boating, fishing, yabbying and canoeing.

I get the part about pickincking (typos happen), but what, I ask you is yabbying?

If you find out …

Oh dear, that phrase reminds me of a gentleman I met in the London tube station long ago. I was trying to get from where I was to another subway station on  different line, and the map of the subway showed that there was an underground walkway between the two. I couldn’t find this end of it, though. I walked up to this man, who, in a gray three-piece suit, with a bowler hat in one hand and an umbrella over his arm, looked the epitome of London gentlemanliness. 

I explained what my problem was. “Could you tell me how I get from here to,” I pointed to the map, “to there?” He looked at my map, sighed, and said, “Madam, I have lived in London for all of my 63 years, and I have never known how to get from here to there. If you find the answer, do let me know.” At which point he stepped into a subway car and was swept away.

I finally found the way, but he was gone.

BEEattitude for Day #462:

       Blessed are those who ask, for they shall--eventually--get answers.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #461 Carnarvon Gorge

Here’s the last of the Australia photos that I plan to show you. Come to think of it -- it might not be the last one. It’s simply the last one I’ve saved so far, but who knows what’s around the corner?

This is Carnarvon Gorge. It’s part of a national park in central Queensland, Australia. I learned (from Wikipedia, of course) that the canyon is 30 kilometers long, and at the mouth of the gorge, it’s 600 meters deep. That’s pretty impressive.

As I read on, though, I found that there are concerns about the way tourists hand-feed the animals, causing a population explosion among them and then near-starvation when the humans leave at the end of the tourist season, and the over-populated animals are left to try to find enough food.

Doggone it, why can’t people play nicely?

In the meantime, I want to share with you that something wonderful happened yesterday, and I’ll be writing about it in a couple of days. I need to process it for a while before I’ll feel comfortable telling you about it. But I’ll give you a hint. It has to do with someone who weighs 1,200 pounds.

BEEattitude for Day #461:

       Blessed are those who leave us alone to live the way we were intended to live, so we can make all the honey we want to.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #459 Eli's Clouds Turned to Beauty

So, yesterday I talked about the necessity of clouds for beautiful sunsets.

Shortly after Eli arrived in Australia, while he was SCUBA diving, someone smashed the back window of his rental car and stole a great deal of specialized camera equipment.

The police officer who came to the scene found a torn woven bracelet, the kind worn by many of the native people of Australia. Eli was introduced rather vividly to the distrust and downright anger of the Aborigines.

He could have railed against his misfortune. He could have turned to hatred. Instead he wrote this haiku:

lives like shattered glass

harsh social truths create strife

why else would he rob?

--by Ei Reiman

and he turned anger into understanding, clouds into a sunset. A good lesson for all of us.

BEEattitude for Day #459:

       Blessed are those who focus on the sunset, for their lives shall reflect beauty.

Day #458 Clouds

While I’m sharing vicarious Australian journeyings, I simply have to show you this sunset Eli captured in Northern Australia. 

(c) 2012 Eli Reiman

Did you ever notice that in order to have a lovely sunset, 

you have to have some clouds? 

Without clouds, the sun just disappears below the horizon, and that’s it.

Next time I’m up against clouds in my life, I plan to look for the sunset in them. They have to be there. Mama Nature (and Eli Reiman) tell me so.

In tomorrow’s blog I’ll explain what Eli does with clouds in his life.

BEEattitude for Day #458:

       Blessed are those who love the wind, for they shall have music around them.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #456 Australian Adventure

For the next few days, I’d like to share a vicarious adventure. My son is in Australia, and his Facebook page is chock full of amazing photographs. He has that “photographer’s eye” that seems inborn, the results are so natural.

In my entire life I’ve taken only two really good photographs -- one in London, and one in Vermont. But Eli doesn’t have to work at it. The stunning pictures flow out of his camera like an aria out of the mouth of Beverly Sills.

In addition to the photos, he occasionally sums one up with a haiku. So, here’s one of his photos of a termite mound. Enjoy it!

Haiku on Australian outback mysteries (by Eli Reiman)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

miles of fire ravaged

sage brush, hawks, and termite towers:

yet green life bursts forth!

I’ll have another photo for you tomorrow.

BEEattitude for Day #456:

       Blessed are those who share beauty, for they shall radiate wonder.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #45 The Post Office

Yesterday I went to the post office to mail a package to a friend in Australia

and some books to the Bartram Trail Regional Library in Washington GA. They’d bought some of my books, and I told them I’d donate some others. I love libraries. Anyway, while I waited in line, one of my favorite postal workers, Debbie, told a man at the counter that the way to measure a box was along the longest side and then all around the shortest way. How on earth would anyone ever remember that? But then she added, “Head to toe and around the waist.” Don’t ya’ love it?

The bad news was that the postage for four books to Australia was over $40. On the other hand, what’s the cost of flying a really long way? I guess $40 is well worth it, since hand-delivery would be impractical.

Bees never have to worry about that sort of stuff. They gather their pollen and nectar within a five-mile radius of their home hive. Of course, large commercial beekeepers transport hives all around the country on huge flat-bed trucks to follow the large commercial crops, rather like my flying to Australia to deliver a present of books. Wouldn’t it be nicer if we encouraged bee tending all over the country?  Think of it. Every house with a hive or two. Every orchard or garden with dozens of them. Let the bees do their thing. Don’t worry about medicating them. Don’t use pesticides on the crops. Don’t try to force honey production.

I know – that’s a Mother Earth News kind of mentality – and there are plenty of folks who simply aren’t interested in keeping bees or eating pesticide-free food. But, just for a moment – imagine! Wonderful, isn’t it?

BEEattitude for Day # 45:

       Blessed are they who, like our field bees, deliver gifts, for they shall rest assured that their hive is safe.

One thing Fran is grateful for right now:

       The nice people at the Lawrenceville GA Post Office on Buford Drive.