Pelican

My entry for a couple of photo challenges: My Place in the world and Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge — Pelican.

Pelecanus conspicillatus splash landing

Pelicans have lived along the Cooks River since at least the Dreaming, I learned from a book I’m reading about the river: River Dreaming. They are called Goolay’yari by the local Aboriginal people and feature in creation stories.

The Cooks River is an important place to me. I live a ten minute walk from these pelicans. I have been picnicking, bird-watching, riding bikes and walking along the river for twenty years. I’ve hosted and been to birthday parties and attended kid’s soccer matches and training in the parks along the riverbanks. I’ve blogged about it numerous times. I even wrote an essay about it for uni.

I love the river, imperfect as it is, so that’s why this post is also a contribution to this week’s WordPress photo challenge: My place in the world.

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Six degrees of separation – in books

I’ve just stumbled across a blogging meme called 6 degrees of separation. Once a month a book is proposed as the starting point for a chain of six more books – each linked in some way to the one preceding it.

I decided I should seize the opportunity to have a go at this because:

1. I feel like getting back into blogging and this is a good excuse
2. This month I’ve actually read the starting book, which will probably not often happen. It’s Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible
3. It’s a fun way to avoid study (reading about risk assessment!)

A wife at Gorge River

A Wife On Gorge River by Catherine Stewart

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Catherine Stewart has had an interesting life, but the telling of it is not so interesting. The book conveyed very little of Catherine’s motivations or philosophy – which is surely what you most want to read about, when a person has made the decision to raise a family in such a remote area: in the early 1990s Catherine moved in with her new partner, Robert Long, who was already living in a shack at the mouth of Gorge River in south west New Zealand that is only accessible by air, or a 2 day walk.

Surprise!

I’m back. Well, briefly back. Just like mushrooms, I’m not sure how long I’ll last. The past 7 months I’ve been studying (Environmental Management) and it hasn’t left much time for blogging. 

Mushrooms are often a surprise, appearing out of nowhere, vanishing within days.
Find more surprises at the Weekly Photo Challenge.

Rare birds of the Inner West

Flamingo of Newtown.

Cranky bird of Enmore (now extinct).

Owl or eagle? And are those eyes really cameras?

Camouflage bird of Erskineville. Cos on this particular wall, you are an endangered species.

Saw the no stopping sign just a leetle too late.

See more rare things.

July’s People

July’s People by Nadine Gordimer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In July’s People, Nadine Gordimer imagines a violent, chaotic end to South Africa’s apartheid system: all-out war between black and white, with other nations getting involved (like Russia, Cuba, the US), mainly to support their own self-interest.

The narrow view

Yesterday I was a tourist in my own city. I blame Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Narrow boards, girders and gaps: Sydney Harbour Bridge, seen from below.