Month: February 2020

The first glimpse of …

It was the first trip of the year and little time for anything except work.  My plans of walking around town with camera, taking pictures of the magnificent heritage architecture in the Goldfields region, were scrapped.  The small mining town felt like it was bursting at the seams with people.  An atmosphere reminiscent of the wild, wild, West.  I just didn’t feel comfortable walking around on my own.  I drove to the sister town of Boulder and it was the same, so I returned to the hotel without taking a single picture.

The next day at lunchtime, as is my habit, I went to the park for a quick lunch and hoped for a longer time with camera photographing the gum flowers and birds.  It was nearly 40 degrees C and no shade.  I had to return to the office, dejected, without a single photograph of my trip!

As I approached the entrance to the building, it caught my eye.  I had seen it the previous day in the garden.  It looked like it was some kind of plastic toy wedged against another plant.  The next day when I returned from lunch, it was still there.  I decided to walk closer to inspect it.thumb_IMG_0983_1024
Echeveria ‘Domingo’

It took my breath away!  In the harshest sun in harsher country, this bloomed with such delicacy.  I have a desk plaque on a table in my foyer, a reminder to self, each time I enter my home or leave it – “Bloom where God plants you”.  When away from home, I needed this to touch base.

I showed the picture to the office staff.  They loved it.  “Where did you find this?” they asked, thinking it was from one of my travels.  “Outside, in the garden, by the front door”.  They looked confused and surprised.  One staff member’s window opened to this and she never noticed it before!  I had no idea succulents are so beautiful.  I learnt something new that day.  It will definitely have a presence in my new garden.

On my return home, the flight was full.  I was seated at the back.  Never a good seat on a Friday night when miners are going home and have had too much down time at the bar.  I averted my body, away from the odour of stale beer, and towards a succulent sky.thumb_IMG_0986_1024My trip, fraught as it was with work, taught me to look beyond the desk and when plans don’t work out, respond to curiosity and look beyond.

I brought the vision home, to share with you.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge

In response to A Photo a Week Challenge – Work

 

 

I could turn vegan for this …

Eggplant!  One of my favourite vegetables!  Believe it or not, there was a time I looked forward to my trips to Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields region because dinner on the first night was an eggplant stack.  True!  Three pieces of eggplant stacked, fresh tomato sauce topped with cashew nut cream and a sprinkle of pine nuts.  I didn’t regard it as such then, but a truly delicious vegan meal.  But it took only a couple of trips to undo my enjoyment.  The first time, my order was obviously sitting around waiting to be delivered to my room.  It came cold.  I sent it back.  The young waiter who picked it up was insolent when I complained, did not apologise but said, “everyone has off days”.  Maybe.  But when I arrived tired and hungry, and paid $34 for the meal, I expected someone to be on pointe.  The second time, after a change in management, my ‘stack’ arrived horizontal in a fancy spread on a smear of processed sauce and cashew nut cream nowhere to be seen.  It didn’t look or taste the same.  Sigh!

Things happen for a reason.  This I know to be true.

Instead of staying in the hotel with room service I started to go into town for my meals and ventured further.  Kalgoorlie, a gold mining town, has gorgeous buildings.  The streets are wide from the days of wagons.  At dusk the light catches the old buildings.  I’m looking forward to experiencing that again as my plan in 2020 is to focus on architecture in the regions I visit.  But there was a time when I woke really early and before I got to work, went out with camera.DSCN8839
Mt Charlotte, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia
The sunrise over the gold mine viewed from Mt Charlotte is stunning.  I would often be in the car park of the lookout by myself.  I’ve not done this in a while and need to experience this again.DSCN8818
Freight train from the gold mine, Kalgoorlie
I grew up in a town of trains.  The sound of clickety-clack  is synonymous with childhood.  It is a sound I often hear in the Wheatbelt or mining towns.  It is soothing and reassuring as a heartbeat.

Perhaps this is why I was an indulgent mother to a young son and bought him over 100 Thomas the Tank trains!  When he was very little I remember taking him to toy train exhibitions and was enthralled by the exquisite train sets grown men obviously enjoyed putting together.  I’ve moved on from there.  I now enjoy watching grown men.  🙂DSCN8827
Mt Charlotte
This is obviously lush for the Goldfields regions.  It is a memory from one winter.  In winter the temperature drops suddenly around 4 pm and being open country, the extremes are harsh.  I’m headed to the Goldfields today.  The temperature is expected to be in the high 30sC.  It will be uncomfortable.  But I have other things to look forward to … perhaps eggplant will be one of them!  What I do know is that I am drawn to the parks with my camera …DSCN8853
Book-leaf mallee (eucalyptus kruseana)
I love photographing the untidy shrub that is the book-leaf mallee.  The honey eaters love this shrub.  Their birdsong is sharp and sweet and only overshadowed by the perfection I see when the shrub is looked at closely.DSCN8806
The leaves are perfectly placed and symmetrical.  DSCN8562
And from such an untidy shrub, the most delicate and beautiful gum blossoms.  What’s not to love about this!

So I’m back to where I started this post … I’ve been mostly vegan since November.  I thought I would miss eating cheese, red meat and bacon.  Oddly enough my body has adjusted really quickly.  I no longer crave it.  When I do eat those foods, my body screams in protest.

In this frenetic lifestyle that is of my own making, I love order and predictability.  I try and seek it in different ways.  So as this is my first trip for the year to the region, it’s quite possible I’ll go full circle and order eggplant again!

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Tuesday – Eggplant

The love of a seagull

DSCN9747
In that blip of time
when all stood still
at the edge of uncertainty
I felt a seismic shift
that left me reflecting on where I came from
and where I had been
and in that shattered space
there were no options left
but the watery path before me

In the ebb and flow that followed
the tides rolled in and out
and as they filled the void
I reached deep within and found
this briny water
despite the ferocity of the sun
is powered by the pale moon
with a strength that crushes stone to sand
so child-like I reached for it
I’m here to tell you,
this earth mother, took my hand

But it wasn’t enough
I rebelled again and again
I floated free,
tethered lightly to life and love
when I met a seagull,
just like me

“Reach deeper”, said the seagull
there’s more to memory, than debris
walk on any beach, you’ll find
on each grain of sand
a tome
where life’s script is re-written.

In my youth I grew old by the sea
now I am young in years
I know now what I didn’t know then
life starts where you want it to begin

and when the winds howl
at the edge,
I stand my ground, strong again
with sea for friend,
and the devoted seagull beside me.

a dawn bird

In response to Your Daily Word Prompt – Devote – February 1 2020