Wallowing...

You may - or may not - have heard about the rain in these parts?

I realise some of those around the ridges (further south) may be a little sick of it, but me? No way, Jose. I have been ready for a flood from the first drops. Ready, willing and pantry stocked to the max. And Nikon primed and stuttering at every vivid green-and-grey view like a raging machine gun. Bear with me while I wallow a little longer in the lushness we find ourselves surrounded by. I know for sure it will not last. And these rainy day pages will undoubtedly be among the most-visited by moi when dry weather again takes a stranglehold on our part of the world... Wallow with me?

~.~

This series is from the Bunyip Hole.

Invaded not only by streaming water...

but by birdlife who look for all the world as if they never left...

Seriously? Swans in a paddock where a few weeks ago dust was blowing...

My favourite of all native trees, groves of gorgeous blue gum trees...

The rushing sound of the floodwaters is as insistently cleansing to my senses as the rains that gave them life...

And the stream tumbles and roars around newly-created islands...

Singing it's anthem of new life around tree trunks and giant knotting roots...


Before racing headlong to fill creeks and tributaries and dams and rivers...

perhaps in the days, weeks, months ahead to wriggle through to the ocean.

Leaving behind calm, content waterholes.

Happy to lie in wait for blue skies and hot suns.

Reflecting the stillness of draping trees, polished grey branches and the ancient myths of bluegums and bunyips.

Just like me.

Kitty, kitty, kitty

There is a feline feel to this post...

because my blog heroine Ree is running another assignment at her place

and I have entered three pussy pics this week.
...
After the over-excitement of getting two photos up in last week's canine contest, I have very low expectations (there are 1000's of entries after all!) but thought I would share the pics here so at least SOMEONE gets to see 'em.

My cousin's tiger/cat sporting a hot pink collar...

some fill flash used

Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 150 mm


Middy the panther, and her lamp eyes ...
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 170 mm

Middy the Victor.

After bashing up Axel.

(Again.)

Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 200 mm
...

If you missed the first take on this love-hate relationship that is enacted EVERY SINGLE DAY here at Granite Glen, then check this post. And this one. The day he realises he is actually bigger than her, she's toast. Luckily she is a LOT cleverer than her canine counterpart. I cannot see the status quo changing anytime soon...

...

So... which is your favourite shot?

If you entered a shot at Ree's, please post the entry link in comments.

Or if you've a story/post about your feline friend, share it there too...

Thistles

As I alluded to earlier this week, the life of a blog friend has been touched by tragedy.

More than touched. Shattered.

It's not my story to tell.

It's not my pain to express.

Not my loved one lost.

Despite this, I cannot help but acknowledge that today, this friend will brace herself for one of the toughest jobs a human can face.

She will attend the funeral of her husband.

...

I cannot imagine (and to be honest, am trying desperately hard not to imagine) what she is going through today. It's something I cannot bear to walk through in my own mind.

Yet, I want her to know that I will help in whatever small way I can.

Especially today.

...

I was initially nervous of mentioning the shattering event that has so changed the life of this lovely woman and her young family. And despite her grief, she sent an email that assured me 'there are very few wrong things people CAN say and even when they do, I know what they mean'. She went on to say how important she felt it was 'so important that people keep me talking and engaged in life'.

And so this is what I will try to do.

Keep on living and invite her to be part of that.

Even while part of me wants to stop everything for this person,

a woman I have only ever known as Corymbia.

My awful initial uncertainty about how to respond made me wonder:

What IS the right thing to do?

What IS the right thing to say?

When is enough TOO much?

And when is it not enough?

...

If you have experienced this kind of tragedy, what did you need from others?

Please, share your wisdom or experience or advice here.

(Because I know so many of you are way wiser than I.)

She will read this.

Maybe not today, but soon.

And all I have to offer her is you.

Break in the (weather) transmission

Did I MISS something this week? Like, um, the WEATHER WATCH?

Sheesh... hopeless.

Not too regular here at the moment (and trying to bat kids away from the computer as I type this - blinking 'educational' websites). So as we enjoy a tiny break in the rain patterns here (NOT that I am complaining) and share a couple of snaps of the by-products of the wet weather...

Fabulous crops of mushrooms trailing across our rampant lawn...

Native bees all abuzz around our lush Crepe Myrtles.

Can't see? Look closer...

Weather for this neck of the woods:

21-28 degrees and 87 percent relative humidity (aka: stinking steaming hot!)

90% chance of 10-20mm rain (keep bringing it on, Hughie)

Frost risk - 0 (no kidding Einstein?)

Rest of the week filled with 'more possible showers'.

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And before you ask, NO we are SO not sick of it yet, despite being almost flooded in on a couple of seperate occasions in the past week. We have had almost 15 inches of rain for 2010 already - not so far off our entire rainfall last year! Each soaking we get tops up our dams and adds to our underground water supplies - meaning we can go for that bit longer without rain when the dry season arrives (as it surely will).

..

I do feel for those having to evacuate their homes because of flooding in Charleville and St George... check out news reports here. And the flash flood in Melbourne (see Jayne's pics).

...

And how about you?

What's Mother Nature up to in your part of the world.

I wait with bated breath!

Peaceful place

Sometimes the Gods just don't play fair.

Sometimes life sucks.

Sometimes we need a little place to go to, just to be still and calm and peaceful.

I thought that I would share one of my places today - a place that does that for me.

A place where the stillness and beauty help salve a ragged soul.

Because at least one of my blog friends really needs this at the moment.

I have not much to offer her but a little bit of my peaceful place.

I hope it helps.
...
What's your 'peaceful place' like?

Have you described it somewhere?

Maybe you have a photo?

Please share a link or description below, to share with those who need it now.

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A Novel Woman's Cottage Wilderness

Kaleidescope's Torcello

Shutterbug Linda's Backyard

Kelly's Fishing Pond

Nikon Sniper's Silk Waterfall

Eye Spy

I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'B'...

(Remember Bay Lulic aka Bella? Original story here)

...

I spy with my little eye, a cow who saved a calf from starvation.

I spy with my little eye, a cow who took that orphan on as her own in an instant.

I spy with my little eye, a cow who is part of our family now.

I spy with my little eye, a cow who is one of the best mothers ever.

I spy with my little eye, a cow with only one working eye.

(A fact that never impeded her ability to care for her adopted 'son'.)

...

I spy with my little eye (a couple of weeks later)...

a cow with a new problem...

Something which makes life a whole lot harder for her...

I spy with my little eye...

Pinkeye.

A serious infection that has blinded our darling Bay Lulic.

Lots of antibiotics and TLC and eye cream later... she can see shapes again.

So the crashing into trees and fences has lessened a little...

And the need to walk her in each day from up the paddock so she can find the trough for a drink, is a little less urgent.

Oy, the DRAMA.

I wonder... you reckon the TV networks need inspiration for a soap opera cow?

Last one I promise...

Holy cow... or should I say Holy Great Dane?

I arrived home late tonight to be alerted to the incredible fact that Cosmo the Great Dane (and keeper of an entire corner of my heart) has made the fourth group of Ree's doggie pics.

In some seriously HOT canine company...

She chose this shot - of my lovely late mate watching the very same little fella (just out of frame this time) he was photographed with in the previous selection.

This one was taken on the beach/mudflats at Sandgate (Brisbane, Qld, Australia) in 2004.

*sigh*

He was a great galloping galut and I still miss the big boofhead.

But what an amazing honour - twice.

(All those 'also-ran' efforts in previous assignments will keep me level-headed, I promise!)

.

I realise I have been a tad self-indulgent this week.

So tomorrow I will offer you something different.

What would you like to hear about next?

1. What happened to Bay Lulic the one-eyed cow?

2. How to cut up beef (from scratch)? (You heard me), or

3. Magic mushrooms