Annie's Blog

Have been awoken to some  poetry of late... and so I put this here .. from Mary Oliver WILD GEESE You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things. Wild Geese: Selected Poems  is a soul-stretching read in its entirety. Complement it with Oliver’s deeply endearing  Dog Songs , one of the  best boo...

Did I post the African violet yet? It has been so pretty... and the full moon was pretty good too ...  always fun to see the Australia Day parade go past  even though  the date we celebrate it  seems to be becoming  quite contoversial some people even call it Invasion Day... the tennis has been interesting too, but of course I have been forgetting to take photos of it! Hope you have a great Australia Day week!!

 there were some interesting versions of Christmas trees in the church leading up to Christmas services...someone decorated a ladder (above)  some very pretty  this blue one might have featured in the "blue" service...for people for whom Christmas is not always the happiest time of year!!  a musical tree atop the organ  a wonderful traditional tree decorated in red and interesting original origami like green trees as well as very light and delicate ones. and of course I forgot to take a photo of the most original (and funniest) one..made out of a lawnmower a rake and spade all decorated with tinsel with an Aussie gardening hat on top..outside the entrance to the church.. I do hope you have been blessed by company,  friends and family this Christmas season and perhaps by a gift of quietude , maybe even a good book, and possibly an interesting satisfying meal.  We have been blessed by lovely cooler weather, and the skie...

a glimpse from the last month...a baby butcher bird...is this the one I rescued when I found it on the ground? I discovered that Australia Zoo Hospital (a la Terry, young Bindi and of course the late Steve Irwin fame,) was only too happy to take injured animals..in fact it seems easier to get help for an animal in the night than for ourselves!! ;-) apologies for a scarcity of posts lately...seem to have been busy with visitors...and a little gardening  spring gardens and trips to the seaside  seagulls  and a sunset at Caloundra  a frangipani starting to flower  and below, finally a swim at  the beach at Mooloolaba...my second swim in the ocean (with visitors...thanks Carol and Cheryl) in three years! A shocking statistic!! another sunset ...  and a preview of the supermoon...from the night before... more to come

 a mosaic seat at the craft cottage....  a mural from the side of the War Memorial Hall next door  it is nice to sit with a friend in such a pleasant place and visit and have coffee... Hope you have had a great week....May God Bless You in the coming one...

Love these cheerful little seedpods...they always look like funny little faces...

Always enjoying seeing these majestic Banksias , especially along the coast, at the beach! It seems I have been neglecting this blog. Hoping to get back to it slowly. I will have to check out what the next photo challenge is for this month. Unless I have missed it already. I am a little worried it might be on this weekend. Have been busy with babysitting after getting back from New York and Boston.

This is one of my favourite stormy weather photos. I finally found it amongst all my thousands of photos. I had to remember what day it was, I knew it had been a special holiday day...it was Christmas Day 2012. It was quite a spectacular storm front that had gone past, luckily as we made our way down to the beach for a paddle with the children! Won't you join Donna from her blog Cottage Days and Journeys to either participate in this month's personal  photo challenge the topic of which is  Stormy Weather, or to visit the other participants. Many thanks to Donna for all your advice and encouragement in the face of your own adversity. May God go with you this month, and with all those who are also facing stormy weather challenges in their lives at this moment.

 climbing up Emu Mountain  View of the Sunshine Coast from the top a pretty fungus flower on the way at the top.. back down at sea level, we walk through the Wallum scrub to get to the ocean...  Mt Coolum rises above the scrub  finally, the ocean appears always fun to be at the ocean again  there's been a fair bit of erosion  with all the wild weather  that we have been having  this year... time for a paddle...quite a beautiful day for winter, maximum 24 degrees Celsius... time to walk back again to the car. We don't always have to walk that far to get to the beach, but it was interesting anyway. Hope you have had a great week...and have an even better one next week!