Tag: new beginnings

A month of rainbows – May 2020

It’s been a month of firsts. The first time of staying home for weeks on end and self imposed isolation, so the thrill of gaining essential worker status was genuine. I was needed in the Midwest and my ‘pass’ to move between restricted regions due to the COVID 19 lockdown meant I could travel again.

With limited flights I had to drive over 400 kms to Geraldton. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive with loud playlist for company. When stopped by the cops at checkpoint their laughter was genuine when I beamed and said I was travelling for work.

As we had to travel further north we had to fly in a small chartered plane. I was with two other colleagues and I was dreading it, but it turned out to be one of the best flights I have ever been on.

The first sight of Carnarvon is always wonderful. I never miss a chance to drive from town to Pelican Point. The sand dunes here are beautiful.
River gums trees are now synonymous with Carnarvon. I love the textured trunk and colours of the bark.
We drove past wonderful landscaped agricultural fields, just waiting to be seeded.
Our early morning starts were spectacular. Coffee, good company, laughter and an eagerness to get back to work, the perfect elixir.
Oh! those wide open spaces!
And the threat of the worst storm Western Australia experienced in a decade loomed. The dust from the fields added to the ambience when the storm hit. I was without power for ten hours in the hotel room. So I watched nature unleash fury. Oddly enough, it made me calmer.
No trip to Geraldton is complete without a stop at St Georges Beach at Champion Bay.
I also spent some time in Northampton, an old agricultural town.
I love these old buildings.
One of my colleagues grew up here and I had to laugh when she told me behind this building is Lavender Lane. Apparently every old town had a Lavender Lane. It is a euphemism as the lane was intended for the cart to come and collect the waste from outdoor toilets, before the days of modern toilets.
I drove under the arc of rainbows several times.
And found them in my suburb too on my return home.
But the most beautiful rainbow was the one over my home, and the rainbeau I found at the foot of my driveway. As they say, when you are least expecting it, ‘it’ happens.

With autumn behind, all I can say is, move over winter … I’m ready for spring.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to The Changing Seasons – May 2020

When Dawn breaks …

DSCN0998.jpgThis year
your forever birthday is remembered again
So this morning I woke treading memories
Of where I’ve been
It’s been years
Yet sometimes it feels
I’ve moved on, a day

I wake most mornings alone
While others come and go
Where you once had been
Their warmth is now comforting,
It shouldn’t be, but it is
I’m learning to live guilt free

I recall wrestling with demons was exhausting
they came dressed in well meaning words from friends
in this journey,
life goes on, they said

I’ve found life is not a journey
just as well,
it would had ended long before now
but it didn’t,
somewhere my footsteps faltered
I’m glad they did

I found my home, a new home
to house my body and soul
It has no doors, no gates or windows
The breeze flows
I shut nothing out, nothing in
That’s where, each day, I begin

I reframed the journey,
that common metaphor, into a mirror
it had to be done for me to stand still, and face face
I seek joy in each day
Sometimes in moments like this
finding I now sit comfortably,
in that precarious place
side by side, with pain

And in that moment,
reality takes hold, with each passing day
Grief does not crush
to self, I am true
I am healed, open again
to be loved and to love deeply

Could I have been this brave
Had I not lost you?

a dawn bird

In response RDP – Monday – Daylight

Eyes like stars …

This has been one of the happiest decades of my life so why write about the year, when there is more to celebrate!

My work is a labour of love.  No ifs and buts about it.  It feels I have emerged from automatic mode.  A huge gamble to give up tenured government work for the unknown of working for self has paid off dividends in the most unexpected ways.

I travel extensively, never tiring, always anticipating, never knowing what the day will bring me professionally.  I love the excitement of this.  I do know what it brings me spiritually consistently and that’s what I’d like to share with you.DSC_0502
Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I discovered, depending where you stand, sand can glitter like gold.thumb_IMG_0515_1024
And gold can be beige like sand.
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Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I accepted sometimes in the most beautiful place, people can walk into the picture for a moment and when they leave, it is still the most beautiful place.
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Featherflower (verticordia grandis), Lesueur National Park, Jurien Bay, Western Australia
I found Nature is filled with fountains of vivid colour.
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No more in muted clothing, I wear colours to remind me what keeps me alive inside.DSC_0597
Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
A sunset is not the end of the day, it is a sunrise elsewhere.DSC_0221.jpg
Benedictine Monastery, New Norcia, Western Australia
No longer captive, I look through windows because I am captivated.DSC_0846.jpg
Oyster Harbour, King George Sound, Albany, Western Australia
I discovered sometimes the light shines brightest on what is not there, to illuminate this truth.DSC_0987.jpg
HMAS Sydney II Memorial, Geraldton, Western Australia
That when we pause to remember, family, friend or stranger, we may be left behind but we are never alone.  There is companionship in memories.
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Wedge-tailed eagle, Midwest outback, Western Australia
Although mesmerised, to be wary of the magnificence of a predator.
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Splendid Fairywren, Bunbury, Western Australia
Blue is the colour of sheer joy, not a state of being.DSCN8430.jpg
Boab Tree family, Eastern Kimberley region, Western Australia
I found my ‘voice’ this decade, at the foot of the Mother Boab tree where the ancient wisdom of trees healed my grief.DSCN8789.jpg
Karijini National Park, Pilbara, Western Australia
In the harshest country, I accepted the gift of peace.DSCN8531.jpg
On the way to Diggers’ Rest, East Kimberley region, Western Australia
In the company of strangers, I found family.thumb_IMG_0698_1024.jpg
Twilight Beach, Esperance, Western Australia
In a moment of silence I found clouds are there to balance a perfect picture.DSCN8328.jpg
Frangipani, Karratha, Western Australia
Once an impossible dream, I now awaken to the scent of frangipani, symbol of love and devotion, and also the symbol of new life and renewal.  Oh! the irony to find this in mining country!

Thank you for your presence in my life.  May the next year and next decade fill you with hope for a better world.  Look closer, not in the distance or in someone else, and you’ll find it, like I did.

Happy New Year!

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Labor

In response to RDP – Tuesday – Stellar

Moon madness

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I woke at dawn the other morning
the kitchen was flooded with light
I stood at the window and watched
a sequin, embellish the velvet night

There was no coffee in hand to remind me
of the distant past
when we stood conversing silently,
no questions asked

In those moments,
we owned eternity
life was larger than life itself
oh! the unbridled audacity

how young we were!

we said so much more in silence,
than words could ever say
I know now, always is but a moment
that moment, is today

When

I stood still at the window and waited
and so what if it took years and a day?
for the the wan moon to brighten
and for the supermoon to take her place.

a dawn bird

Sea birth

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I had a dream,

I was in the middle of the ocean

Free as I can be

When I saw people in sand castles shouting,

“Away from the sea!”

I laughed and frolicked on

Played tag with the shore

explored forests of sea weed on my own

did a pirouette or two on the ocean floor

As the breakers took me further

Their cries faded in the wind

That’s when the realisation set in

I could not swim.

I bobbed in the briny water

Afloat on the scream within

Placed my trust in the mother

Whose womb, the sea became.

 

a dawn bird

What a difference a week makes

Before I left for a trip, I walked around my garden, coffee in hand.  The ornamental almond was just starting to bud.  I looked at the tree fondly.  The flowers have been late to arrive this year.DSCN8418.jpgI stopped a moment and took a picture.DSCN8416.jpgAnd then anotherDSCN8417.jpgAnd one more …  I felt like a new mother, inspecting every nub, like counting toes on newborn feet.

I thought by the time I returned from my trip today, the tree would be frosted as it does every year.  I was so wrong.

When I was away a storm came through the area.  It destroyed my fence.  The giant Tahitian lemon tree, the mulberry tree and the ornamental almond tree bore the brunt of fierce winds.  The honeysuckle vine is shredded.  I came home to wreckage.  In a week my landscaping plans have been brought forward by a year.  To say I am saddened to lose what has been familiar for the last three years, is an understatement.  The garden, planted by others, grew on me.  What is sadder to watch is the birds.  They fly around confused, nothing is where it used to be.

Perhaps the buds photographed before I left were a premonition.  New life awaits.  I can do nothing else, but embrace this thought.  I will create a new eden.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

 

 

Spring, at last!

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Today is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere.  A time synonymous with memories of love and laughter.

When I was married, on this day, I could count on my husband giving me a bunch of flowers with a funny poem he had written.  This was our tradition, every year.  I’m not sure what I looked forward to more, the flowers or the corny poem.

The father of my children may be absent from my life but the memory of many happier times is inescapable, on the first day of spring.

I am also reminded each year at spring, even the infinitesimally small can push through gravel and clay, to bloom again.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird