Tag: laughter

Bushwalking, in autumn

via Daily Prompt: Laughter

It was 7 degrees Celsius in Narrogin, over 200 km south east of home.  I made a cup of coffee in the dark, pulled the curtains wide open and propped myself up in bed.  Sunrise was expected at 6:52 am.  It was worth the wait.

I wasn’t alone.  There was laughter high in the gum trees in nearby Foxes Lair.  The kookaburras were awake too.  I sat in bed and tried to identify the various birdsong.  The noisy Black Carnaby cockatoos, ringneck parrots, New Holland honeyeaters.  I’m getting good at this!  Or maybe the darkness heightened my listening skills.

DSCN7120The view from my hotel bed is always spectacular.  As soon as it was light enough I scrambled out of bed, bed hair tucked under beanie and headed to the Lair.

DSCN7195.jpgThe fog hung low as I walked alone, taking in every sensory experience.  The crunch of my footsteps, gum nuts showering around me (courtesy of the parrots), the birdsong, the honking of the Australian shelducks that chased each other above the trees, the smell of gum trees.  DSCN7168.jpgThere were boughs of delicate golden wattle, breaking up the grey green of winter that’s only weeks away.DSCN7173.jpgLichen painted limbs strewn carelessly.DSCN7163.jpgWhile other limbs were decorated with frills.DSCN7147.jpgThe occasional splash of colour at my feet.DSCN7200.jpgThen the parrot caught my eye.  It was probably watching me long before I saw it!  It was silent and blended in beautifully with foliage.DSCN7194Soon followed by a shower of red robins that descended on the trees and shrubs around me.  Curious about my presence, they were gorgeous!DSCN7237.jpgAs I was leaving I met a local who knows the reserve well.  He told me he found a bunny orchid the day before, so I followed him like a child.DSCN7251.jpgThe bunny orchids on the stem were tiny.  Each flower the size of a child’s pinky nail.  Exquisite!  My delight was so obvious, he left me alone with them!

Bush walking has taught me a valuable lesson:  Expect to find something beautiful.  It has become my mantra every day.

I know by living this kind of thinking, be it bush or city, my expectations are never set too high.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings

via Daily Prompt: Bestow

Today is the anniversary of my first date with someone.  It was decades ago but the memory as vivid as yesterday.  It was a hot day (40 degrees Celsius), unlike a cool 24 degrees today.  I was young and foolish.  I jumped on the back of his fast motorbike wearing just shorts, a tee shirt and sandals.  I had just had a pedicure and did not want my feet enclosed.  (Oh! the vanities of youth!)  We rode out of Perth to a small town less than 100 kms away.  We walked hand in hand and then stopped for scones and tea.  I spotted an antiques store and we lingered some more.  Soon the sun was waning, we decided it was time to get back to the city.  The area is teeming with kangaroos and we did not want to come across one at dusk.  Helmets on, we revved up and headed home.

As the sun slipped away lower into the horizon, the tree lined highway was dappled with sunlight.  He was doing the speed limit of 80 km/hour, when he failed to take a bend.  The bike slipped off the hard road into the soft gravel shoulder.  It bounced, twisted and danced in air.  I flew over his head like a stone from a catapult, skidding on bitumen like I was body surfing and then stopped with an almighty thud.  He held on to the bike for a fraction longer, before it bucked and threw him off, continuing for several hundred metres before a tree forced a stop.

He was also injured and could not reach me, but I could hear his urgent pleas, “Get off the road!”  Lying in the middle of a highway frequented by road trains that could not have stopped, his pleas became increasingly frantic.  My body moved in slow motion.  I lifted myself into a seated position and then bent over laughing at the slapstick comedy of it all.  I was obviously in shock.  Then I saw my right arm, or rather, what I could see.  The laughing stopped.

A nurse who lived on a farm nearby heard the crash and saw the smoke.  She raced across the paddock and approached the scene, all sombre, efficient and instructive.  She lay me down on the side of the road.  She fashioned support from the broken fairing and lay my shattered arm on it.  Being Anzac Day, a public holiday, the traffic, fortunately and unfortunately, was light.  Unable to leave me, the nurse waited for someone to come by.  A truckie finally did.  He was unable to call the local hospital.  This was the days before mobile phones.  He finally got someone in Sydney on the CB radio who phoned the hospital.  Being a holiday the staff were all on roster, enjoying a BBQ.  By the time the ambulance staff could be contacted, it was over two hours from the time of the accident.  By then the pain took over.  We headed into Perth with the ambulance wailing.  Still in shock, I complained bitterly about the nail polish being totally wiped off my nails on one foot that had dragged along the bitumen!

I spent months in hospital recovering from my numerous injuries and then another four surgeries and hours of therapy before my arm was functional.

Years later I married my date.  The father of my children.

Because of that day I have love and laughter in my life.  I have family.  I am mother.  I experience motherhood.  The best gift he could bestow.

As the years go by, I know one thing for sure.  I wouldn’t have missed that ride, for quids.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird