Now you see it … now you don’t …

I tried to leave home earlier than my scheduled departure to the Wheatbelt.  The roadworks are a nuisance, as are the monster harvesters that slow traffic.  I dislike driving in this region at dusk, so I drove with a sense of urgency.  As I headed East, just past Muchea I noticed a big swathe of pine trees have been levelled and the new highway that will join Brand Highway is taking shape.  It saddened me.  The trees are disappearing before my eyes.  I can do nothing about it except avert my gaze.DSCN7182
Candy Bush Reserve, Moora, Western Australia
When not at home I seek the company of trees if inland, as much of the Wheatbelt is.  The trees here have a delicate elegance to them.  Tall, slender limbs and the brown bark is smooth and glows in the sun.  This is the main road I take from out of Moora, a good 20+ kms before I get to the main highway.  I often park in the shade and eat a hurried lunch before heading back to the clinic.  This is farmland country.  The paddocks were summer beige and speckled with hundreds of sheep.  There were clouds of white cockatoos everywhere.  There is something very calming about this journey.DSCN7180
It won’t be long before these trees will be earmarked for destruction, to widen the road, no doubt.  In these regions, due to the roadworks everywhere, I seem to have road workers for company, rather than miners.  These folks work hard in heat.  At dusk, they are on their front porch of the chalets, downing a few cold ones and talking about their day.  Much like me, these folks are away from home and family.  They create their own community.  I’ve learnt to do the same.thumb_IMG_1004_1024
Sunrise, Moora, Western Australia
Like me, they wake early, coffee in hand, some with cigarette in the other and watch the sunrise.  It’s an easy feeling, waking among strangers and feeling completely at ease. Or perhaps, it is a feeling that comes from being among trees.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to RDP – Monday – Evanescent

Among grass trees …

DSCN7127.jpgI’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

Among trees, I breathe …

 

I love being in timber country.  I find something spiritual among trees, a healing presence.  I love being silent when walking or seated among tall trees.  My earliest memory of childhood is being draped over a low hanging branch of a guava tree and pretending I was a leopard and watched the activity down below me at the water tank.  I believe one is never alone or lonely in the company of trees.   DSCN0742.jpg
This is in the timber country of Collie, in the south west of Western Australia, one of my favourite places to visit in winter/spring.DSCN0757.jpg
I just love this region with eruptions of flowers.DSCN7575.jpg
Have you ever seen ducks in a tree!  Yes, ducks!  (middle of the pic).  I was walking through Foxes Lair early morning when I heard the nasally honking of the Australian shelduck.  I know a pair to live here and often watch them do a circuit over the tall gum trees.  This morning I thought there were more and could not believe my eyes!DSCN7578.jpg
How cool is this?!DSCN7598.jpg
I love the colours of the shelduck.  On a dismal day, they were vibrant.DSCN7592.jpg
I love how a fallen tree offers a place to rest.DSCN7593.jpg
And, gives one a moment to consider a fall can be graceful, too.DSCN7676.jpg
This is one of my favourite trees between Moora and New Norcia in the north east Wheatbelt.

I had gone further north on my recent trip and found myself in beautiful beige country, almost painted in water colours. It felt like I was driving live through Hans Heysen’s art.  Heysen was an Australian artist.  I absolutely love his work.  He knew the bush by heart.  I’m learning how to do this, too.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Lens Artists Photo Challenge – Trees

 

 

In the presence of trees, one is never alone

DSCN6495.jpg

I love this boab tree at Town Beach in Broome, Western Australia.  I’ve photographed it many times and captured many moods here.

I love boab tress.  Each graceful, unique and beautiful.  I believe in the presence of trees, we are never alone.

Happy to share my part of the world, with the wider blogging community.

a dawn bird

Every 2nd and 4th Thursday Parul at Happiness and Food, asks that we share pictures of Trees.

#ThursdayTreeLove-62

Bark

I work with a colleague intermittently and observed she loves trees, especially ancient ones, like boabs.  She reaches out to them and palm on tree, stands silently as if in reverence.  The moment is always so sacred, it forces me to look away to give her privacy.

This post is for her.  She taught me, a tree is more than canopy.

DSCN9451.jpgDimpled.DSCN7918.jpgFlaky.DSCN7728.jpgFrilled.DSCN7873.jpgUndressed.DSCN9882.jpgStripped.DSCN9916.jpgStriped.DSCN9917.jpgPainted.DSCN7910Peeled.DSCN7050Bejewelled.

Until next time

As always

a dawn bird