The Leaning Tree, Greenough, Western Australia
As graceful as a ballerina.
a dawn bird
In response to Six Word Saturday
Tag: photography
Among grass trees …
I’m reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben at the moment and I cannot believe how moved I am by the book. It should be mandatory reading for every leader and politician. Excerpts of the book are also worth reading to children as a bedtime story so they can make dreams come true some day.
I am always comforted in the presence of trees. I never feel alone when I am in a grove and seek this companionship when ever I can. For example, my work in Esperance is always pretty full on and so on my way to the airport I invariably stop off at the Arboretum and I instantly feel a sense of being nurtured. From the book, I now I know why.
The picture I share today is a landscape of grass trees along the Ocean Beach Road between Lancelin and Jurien Bay in Western Australia, north of home. I love stopping here. Early one morning there were hundreds if not thousands of kangaroo lounging about blended in the grass. It is a serene place. It is usually filled with silence. It never fails to generate a sense of wonder and respect for ancient land. I love that this space humbles me in the best way.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Emotional
Still Life by Nature
Weekly Prompt’s Challenge – Magenta Rose
The morning after …
Sturt Desert Pea, roadside, Pilbara mining region, Western Australia
It’s Sunday morning, five am
he’s alone in bed
remembering her feet
tangled in sheets
soft, supple,
nails painted shiny, Sturt Pea red
a dawn bird
The wildflowers are blooming!
It’s about a two hour drive between Geraldton and Morawa through farming country and a drive I always enjoy. This time, being wildflower season, it was awesome. It would have been more awesome if I prepared for being covered in pollen and dust. I was cavalier, “Oh! I’ve never suffered from hayfever!” was my dismissive response. But I’ve returned home with bigger bags under my eyes than in my hands and feeling totally dehydrated.
This was a bucket list item and worth every discomfort.
We left Geraldton and the vivid, fluoro yellow canola fields behind to enter wildflower country.
There were acres of yellow, white and pink pom poms, millions of them.
Egg yolk paper everlastings, too.
Just carpets of flowers as far as the eye could see.
These flowers were on shrubs, native, no doubt.
And entwined around small tree limbs, the gorgeous, delicate, fringed lily.
I chased this little one from tree to tree. His call, beautiful and melodic and so strong, for a tiny bird. My first photograph of a black honey eater.
I’m home for a couple of days resting before another round of travel next week. And, then, the Murchison region, the Midwest outback. I’ll heed advice and remember to pack some anti-histamine!
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Advice
Zen
that moment of stillness
suspended nothingness
mindful mindlessness
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge : Zen
Yay!
It’s the first day of spring tomorrow and I feel a sense of urgency for today to end. I have filled my month of September with wonderful things to do before I am housebound to recover from the scheduled surgery. I feel I want to do it all … just in case.
One of the things I plan to do in September is visit the Murchison Region. I had gone there on a work trip last year and promised myself I would return in spring. The Midwest Outback is awesome country. Wide open spaces, ranges, old gold mining country. I’m hoping to see lots of wildflowers at this time of year. The trip will be basic. We have to take our own food, and accommodation will be even more basic. But there will be a canopy of stars at night that I have never seen before, so I’m up for it! 
I know for sure there will not be any beautiful beaches.
No cosy four poster bed in a rammed earth cottage to keep warm on chilly nights.
No avocado on toast and fresh orange juice for brekky.
No chocolates and wine at the end of the day unless we take some of our own (reminder to self).
As we will be in the Nowhere, there will be a dress code though, so I’m taking my best sunhat with me, veiled of course, to keep the flies off my face.
And there may be a road train or two for company.
I’m ready for September! I feel like it’s the home run I need before October rolls in like a storm cloud. Right now all I can think of is the open spaces, red dust and blue sky and there will be a generous serve of that waiting for us.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Saturday – Enthusiasm
A gilt-edged shore …
Water’s edge, Carnarvon, Western Australia
a dawn bird
In response to A Photo A Week Challenge – Texture
Procrastination
Like the tide that returns to the sea
unhurriedly
in his arms,
she stretches languidly
with tomorrow in her smile
a dawn bird
In response to Your Daily Word Prompt – Languid
Oneness
Sunset at the Fascine, Carnarvon, Western Australia
A moment of stillness
so exquisite
our hearts beat as one
a dawn bird
In response to Sheryl’s Your Daily Word Prompt – Exquisite
Carte Blanche
Somewhere over mining country, Western Australia
Fill my heart
with impossible dreams
spin your web, with words
Mesmerise me.
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Tuesday – Web
The Sandgroper*
Sand dunes, Pelican Point, Carnarvon
Seduced, I return
time and time again
running my fingers over your pale skin
the attraction, inexplicable
our narrative is linear
you are magnetic
I, a devotee.
In response to RDP Saturday – Charisma
*Given our love for the beach, sandgroper is a nick name for West Australians.
6WS: When clouds acquiesce to the sun …
Wildflowers in the Midwest
I flew into Geraldton (some 400+ km north of Perth) late evening the other week. I got into the hire car and took the highway into town. I drove mindlessly, like I was home and realised, it has become another home for me.
I love Geraldton for lots of reasons. When I have time between work and flights, I spend my time in a small restaurant that overlooks the marina because the airport only opens when there is a flight. The restaurant staff know me well now and take me to my favourite table without me requesting it. They chat to me with familiarity that I enjoy. I am no longer a stranger there. I also love a couple of shops where I invariably end up buying clothes or accessories. And, I love my walk through town and back again. This is what Geraldton means to me.
This trip I had to drive about two hours east of Geraldton, through wildflower country. It was magical. Long solitary drives on back roads flanked by flowers. It uplifted my spirit and I was in my zone!
The purple flannel flowers with their soft grey foliage were scattered about in the thousands.
There were carpets of tiny yellow paper everlastings.
There were a few of these bushes, a type of hakea, I think.
Oh! those glorious skies and towering flowering trees filled with birdsong.
These were low growing bushes, blooming, km after km.
And these beautiful flowers that looked ordinary from afar but each flower within the flower, was so perfect.
There were literally millions of everlastings as far as the eye could see. I didn’t have my hiking boots and didn’t want to risk walking in the grass in an isolated place. We are coming up to snake season!
It’s difficult to describe to others what is means to be ‘in the zone’. I’m so lucky I get to experience it where ever I am in this large State. I’ve got trips coming up to the north and then south west next month and looking forward to seeing more flowers on my travels. I know the wild orchids are blooming in the south west Wheatbelt and no doubt in the Bunbury area too. I can’t wait to find them!
I’ve been home all week mostly running around for medical appointments. I’m headed out again over the weekend and although I’ve enjoyed my time at home with loved ones and family, it will be nice to be back doing what I love to do.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Zone
A Shared Space 
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