I am about to go into a 7-day silent meditation retreat, so I will be off the grid for a while. That means no email, no talking, no reading, no writing, no YouTube, no wifi, no news, no TV….no nothing. Nowhere to hide. It is shaping up to be a challenging experience with temperatures predicted in the high 30s to low 40s Celsius over this … Continue reading Off grid for next 7 days.
Its been a couple of days now since we had the hail-pocalypse. A ten-minute storm cell that swept through Canberra just after lunchtime on Monday. Throwing down an angry blunderbuss of icy shot that shredded trees, smashed solar panels, killed hundreds of birds and bats and seriously smooshed-up cars. Lots of cars. In the thick of it, wind gusts of up to 116km/h were recorded … Continue reading Hail-pocalypse!
Moses Monweal McCormick is a 33 year old African American from Columbus Ohio. If you look at this picture of him from his Instagram feed you may experience at least some preconceptions, biases and prejudices of who he might be. You are about to have them busted. You see Moses speaks over 50 languages, demonstrating fluency in more than 12. He is completely self taught. … Continue reading Video: The language of connection.
It is raining here now. Not just a drizzle but a big wet ground soaking sustained dollop.Hallelujah and yip my yah!Been so long I had almost forgotten what it felt like. What is smelt like. Rung in with a rolling clap of thunder that sent Juno scurrying under the coffee table to bury his head in his favourite stuffed toy. Then a big dump. Then … Continue reading It’s raining in Australia!
Prologue: The Hadron Collider Kelly’s mum came to stay with us for a couple of days and I immediately put her to work helping me sew my Rakusu. We began with a few printed pages of confusing and somewhat incomplete instructions, a few shaky YouTube instructional videos, sewing threads, needles and $12.70 worth of materials. Oh, and the wooden ring given to me by my … Continue reading Rakusu Pt 2: Art from chaos.
Flying a flag upside down is a symbol that has been used by many countries to signify conditions of dire distress or extreme danger to life or property. At the risk of cultural appropriation, the symbolism of an upside-down aboriginal flag reflecting the smoke red/orange sky and blackened ground seen throughout much of Australia right now seems to be a deeply fitting expression of the … Continue reading Aboriginal flag reflects distress of Australia.
Scrunched up against one side of an otherwise open public space near our house is a small dense stand of birch trees. There is a dirt trail running beside it that is heavily trafficked by people like me walking their dogs or, jogging, or taking a shortcut across to the local shopping centre. The trees are also just across the main road from our local … Continue reading High School kids build secret room hidden in plain sight.
The impact on our wildlife and ecosystems from the current bushfires is going to be catastrophic. It will be some time yet before the full extent emerges, but it will undoubtedly forever change the fragile ecology of our country. Professor Andrew Beattie from Macquarie University near Sydney told AFP he believes the death toll of animals nationwide could be in the billions, “if you think of mammals, … Continue reading Video: Koala rescued during bushfires.
The 2018 California fires burnt 2 million acres. The 2019 Amazon fires 2.2 million; and the 2019 Siberian fires 6.7 million. So far Australia’s 2019/20 fires have burnt 12 million acres. Now, I am not one to often talk of politics in this space but during this time of crisis, we have seen a total leadership failure from our Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Including complete … Continue reading A grim perspective.
