Welcome home …

The colour of yellow is sometimes used to welcome loved ones home.  The colour has given me a new way of looking at current circumstances.

As a frequent traveller in this large State that covers a third of the continent, the whole of Western Australia has been my home for some years now.  Although my work continues with technology, I’m feeling the sudden cessation of being isolated from nature as I knew it.
Pacific gull, Esperance, Western Australia
In Esperance, south east of Perth, I would spend my three mornings a month at the Bay with birds, dolphins and seals.
Miner, Kununurra, Western Australia
In the far north, East Kimberley region, I was alone in Hidden Valley (Mirima National Park), just outside Kununurra one afternoon, enjoying a quiet moment in the car when this miner bird buzzed my car so aggressively I had to move.  It taught me to respect territory and space.
In the eastern Wheatbelt town of Merredin, my mornings were among the tall gum trees at a reserve where red tailed cockatoos were raucous enough to silence the usually vocal wattle bird.  The lesson here, perhaps, there are times for some to speak and others to listen.
From my Midwest hotel window I enjoyed my coffee with a white plumed honey eater with a delightful yolk yellow head.  I think this one was still a young one as it waited patiently for a feed to be brought to it.  Patience is key!
What I miss the most is the soft butter yellow spinifex of the Pilbara outback, where in the harshest environment, my heart is receptive and vulnerable.  That hasn’t changed.  I found I can also experience this in a city, encased in bricks and glass.
Waking to the scent of frangipani outdoors on always warm mornings in the mining towns of the Pilbara, will be a memory.  The scent may fade, not the memory.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my work is being with children.  This was outside a child care centre in the South West.  A Dummy Fairy Tree.  Children can always make us smile.  It is their gift.
Although I’m not a cat person, I found this street art striking.  Not far from my neighbourhood, in the days leading to self-isolation a reminder, for a wanderer like me, the yellow brick does lead to home.
Meal with loved ones, March 2020
Little did I know at my last meal with loved ones, what brought us together would lead to a new tyranny of distance, be it less than six feet or thousands of kms.

I am home.  And my wish for those who read this post, is the same.  May you feel you are home where ever you may be.  The world will still be there.  When we emerge we will see and experience it again.  We will gain new perspectives.  That’s a place to hope for, and anticipate.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Yellow