Bombed by Bushtail Possums........

My evening was average last night until a thump caught my attention out the front. A possum had jumped from the verandah to the Banksia tree. He was happy to play while I took a few photos of him. I am somewhat cautious around possums as they often have little or no fear of humans. John told me a story of how they will run up your body mistakenly thinking they will climb high into a tree....lol. Goodness, all I could think about was their sharp claws.

Anyway, I was surprized at just how nimble they are in fact, very fast moving. He arrived at dusk to feed and appeared to use his tail to balance on the tree branch. This possum was about the size of a cat, with a pointed face and long pink ears and a pink nose which you will see in my photos. Apparently their diet is made up of leaves, the tips of gums, flowers, and fruit. Now this fellow appeared to be inspecting the dish I had filled with bird seed for the parrots so I guess they enjoy bird seed as well.

Now later in the evening there was a notice on local radio to say that the road to Point Perpendicular will be closed this coming Friday due to bombing practice by the navy. Now at first I looked at John and he looked at me and we dissolved into laughter. Bombing practice? OMG! It seems that the road out to Point Perpendicular is via the Naval Bombing Range.

On ordinary days one can drive along this road to a point and then walk the restof the way. Many people camp here although I noticed in amongst the information that one has to take your own shovel and water as there are no facilities of any type. John assured me that meant NO facilities and that taking a shovel was not to help erect a tent lol. Now on the opposite side of Point Perpendicular is HMAS Caswell which is a training college for the navy. Stands to reason that the navy have to learn to bomb inland from sea I guess....no wonder they have no facilities lol.

An Afternoon's Drive......

Today was a beautiful day here down south. The weather is lovely, the sun is shining and there is a slight breeze. Yesterday morning I remarked that one could detect a slight change in the temperature; it is slowly changing and becoming cooler. The sun is rising later again and as I am driving to work there is mist and a little fog slowly moving in. Autumn is here!

As I drove to Sydney on Saturday morning I was in awe of the fog around areas such as Jasper's Brush and parts of Berry. If you have ever seen a picture of Mount Fuji in Japan you will remember the clouds around the foot of it. Well the same took place here. The mountain range peaked trough a sea of mist and looked wonderful. I imagine that areas such as these experience a heavy fog throughout winter so I am endeavoring to get back there soon to photograph such beauty before the winter sets in. On my return on Sunday afternoon I had to make a huge detour because of a multiple car accident between Berry and Nowra. The detour took me to an area called Bolong, a rural town with the lush and greenish fields.

There appeared to be many beautiful old houses set back on acreages; many of them were bed and breakfast places. It was like walking back in time as I passed them, one could imagine the late 1800s when these houses were first built and how excited families must have been to move into them. Most are on dairy properties. As you leave the area and drive back towards Nowra the Crookhaven River sits on the left of the road and winds all the way back to the Princes Hwy. It is such a beautiful drive and I would never have experienced it if it had not been for an accident, which caused everyone to detour. There is peacefulness and energy here in the outdoors. Everything seems so fresh and alive everywhere you look. These areas are definitely worth a photography weekend, which will be next on my calendar.

The photos were all shot while walking Husskinsons Beach recently. It is amazing what one comes across whilst walking on a beach.

My Afternoon in Pictures......

This afternoon my sister Ms D and I went to explore Currarong. Currarong is a village approx. 30 km south east of Nowra. We stopped for a swim at Abraham's Bosom, that has a small sheltered beach with wonderful rock outcrops all around. At one end was a series of rock pools that was completely sheltered from waves. One could almost imagine an ocean maze where you had to negotiate your way back to the entry pint. The entire area sits out on a peninsula area and the cliffs made for some spectacular photos.

The Cost of Driving.......

Occassionally I will hear or read a comment or an article that will inspire me to sit and begin typing at a fast and furious pace. Something just triggers a button and off I go, crazily moving the words that buzz around in my head, down onto the computer screen. Quite often my fingers can not keep up with process and today is one of those days.
I logged onto to read several forums last night and a simple question from someone made me chuckle and commence typing at a pace beyond finger-endurance lol. Her simple question….”Have you ever had to clean your own car ? If so how did you go about it?” She went on to explain.
It would seem that part of the modern lifestyle is to drive in to quality car wash each Saturday morning. There, for the price of $80.00 you will be treated to the most de-stressing Saturday morning experience that one could request….you may have your car cleaned.

Now don't go all blah blah on me before you read about this. I have actually been several times after driving back from western NSW covered in red dirt and it really is quite addictive, mind you if this woman were to shop around I am sure she could find a cheaper place than $80.00. I digress, as you drive in the driveway of the car salon you are met by a valet who will discuss your carwash needs and give you professional and courteous advice if your vehicle has a special need that week. Who knows…you may have driven through a dirty puddle or perhaps had an inconsiderate pigeon drive bombed overhead. In any case, the valet will explain that you can have this service performed cheaper elsewhere however, those “cheap” companies will not be using environmentally friendly products nor will they treat your little your Mazda like the porche that it wants to be treated like.

Anyway, after determining your requirements you hand your keys to him and go inside to choose your coffee. Espresso anyone? No thank you but I will have a Medium cinnamon Dolce Frappuccino light please. Now to find the Sydney Morning Herald, god I hope they are all not taken already. Nope here is one..thank goodness other wise I would have missed the latest. Now to find a comfortable lounge chair and goodness they are all taken so I will have to sit on a stool; well life wasn’t meant to be easy (Malcolm Frazer). If I read fast enough I should be able to check my emails in the Internet kiosk as well; Saturday mornings are frantic I tell you. While you sit there reading about how much the stocks have fallen over night you can also watch the boys cleaning your car. They clean the outside with precision care using soft sheepskin mitts, dry it lovingly with a chamois and then detail it right before your very eyes. At the same time some one on the inside is vacuuming the upholstery, cleaning the windows, painting the tyres black and stuffing smelly stuff in the unused ashtray. This is the ultimate car wash experience for your little vehicle lol. Approximately 30 minutes later you will be buzzed to come pick the little cherub up and go home.

What triggered my ramblings here was a question I read last night ….”Have you ever cleaned your own car out? If so how did you go about it?”. This was from someone who went on to say that she has never cleaned her car out (not that I can blame her). For this past three decades each Saturday morning she has undertaken the above process but due to the current financial climate she is looking to down grade her life style and is considering cleaning her car personally each Saturday morning. I commend pro-active people who take their destiny into their own hands. During the week I read about a man who will have to relinquish the services of his maid and was concerned as to how he would clean his 4 bedroom three bathroom two story harbour-side house which he lives in on his own. Then there was the businessman who had concerns about keeping his multi-million dollar yacht; he was worried about the repayments and insurance by his company during harsh times. He was going to do his little bit to help by selling it. Mind you the estimated yearly expenses would have employed half a dozen average folk..... full time.
One has to wonder how the genuine poor are fairing at times like these. I watched on television last Thursday in Brisbane when a local church handed out 50 tonnes of food to 6000 people. They say that poverty is a relative thing and that it should be measured relative to the local culture in which one exists. However, in a country like Australia the gap between those that have and those that do not have is ever-widening. I may even sound like a marxist here but we need to close the gap, even if only a little. Perhaps some good to come out of this current situation is that there may be pay cuts for the greedy corporate heads and a pay rise for pensioners and lower income groups. One can only hope.
Now, off to wash my car..........maybe

The above photos of the bee, were all taken in Callala Beach, March 2009. The little bee was sitting on the sand one day while I was browzing the beach. I wodered whether the wind had blown him down onto the sand. He spent his time trying to negiotiate the sand and made for a good model.

As Time Goes By........

When I was doing my writing course (a lifetime ago now) I recorded this story and mentioned to my friend that I was going to post it in my original blog. Of course I never got around to it lol and so during the week she rang me and scolded me for not having done anything about it lol. I promised to post it here as soon as I located the file on my computer. This is dedicated to you Mary.
I have a very dear friend named Mary. Her family and mine grew up together in the Blue Mountains long before progress and development found the road to drive up there. She is of an age similar to my mother however, over the years, she has become a close and trusted friend of mine. We are the type of friends that can go more than a year without ringing and then once we do make contact the time simply falls away.

Mary married Ray. Ray was a gentle soul who died after 45 years of marriage to Mary. They had seven children, all grown, married with children of their own and most of who have moved interstate. The eldest daughter moved overseas to Britain in the late 70s to live and the youngest daughter Francis passed within two years of being born. I went to school with the eldest daughter and followed her trials and tribulations through a divorce and a second marriage, she now has two children. Even after my family moved to Sydney we all kept in touch, attended one another's weddings and sadly family funerals too.
When a very young handsome Raymond first courted Mary, he surprised her with a painting of the area where they picnicked and over the years it has proudly hung on the lounge room wall in a place of honour and pride. He used to tell their children of how he fell head over heels in love with a beautiful young Mary who had sparkling green eyes and a smile that would stop a 1940 Chevrolet Pullman car in the middle of the road lol. At church each Sunday he would sit one or two seats behind her family so as he could sit, watch and dream about her. Ray once admitted that it took him a month to work up the courage to ask Mary’s father if he could call on Mary and perhaps escort her to lunch. Mary’s father made him suffer for three days before he relented and gave his consent lol. I still smile today when I think back to the time when she told me that story. Likewise, Mary tells of a dashing Ray who seemed so charming that she was the envy of all her girlfriends when Ray arrived at the family home asking to speak with her father lol. It certainly was an era of respectful manners, etiquette and good personal conduct. I guess those were the days of dreamy romance.

Now apparently some years ago an art dealer befriended one of her sons and when visiting, asked about the painting to which Mary proudly told the story behind the picture. Then decades later, at 70 years of age, Mary decided to cull many of her possessions and downsize to a home unit on the cast near Maryborugh in Queensland. Word soon got around and several dealers then approached her to purchase the painting, not because Ray is deceased but because it represents a time up in the Blue Mountains which is long forgotten; the painting is of historical value as much as an art piece. It depicts the area in its natural surroundings long before the lower Blue Mountains was developed. At first I thought OMG that painting represents a lifetime with your soul mate; how could anyone expect her to part from it. However, when I thought about Ray later that night I could almost hear him telling her to sell it and make yourself comfortable for your remaining years. So recently I rang her and asked what has she always wanted in life that she has never had and was amazed at her reply. “I have always wanted to travel and see the world and as I have gotten older I am not coping with the winter cold and the summer heat. Both extremes have knocked me about badly over this past ten years. My body and limbs have become arthritic and ill-shaped”. She then told me that as much as she would love to have those opportunities that the problem was the painting was not a momentary item; it wasn’t just a "thing" or a material possession. It is an intricate part of her memories, her personal story, the greatest and only love of her life. As a 70 year old woman she can actually look back and isolate her life with Ray as the most beautiful experience she had known. The painting represented many memories. Both she and Ray picnicked to this little area in Glenbrook in the late 1930s when the roads were made of dirt. The little creek in the background was the area where he first held her hand. The wattle tree was the very spot where he plucked up enough courage to ask her to be his girl. He had polished the stones collected from under the water and covered a small photo frame with them and behind the photo she kept his letters. I remembered the first time that Mary showed me the photoframe. Her hands held it as one would hold a treasured possession; her elderly work-worn fingers softly stroking the shining stones, her eyes alive with memories and her voice trembling as she told their story. Mary could remember the smell of the eucalypts and hear the songs of the currawong birds during the summers there. She has long since treasured cool lemon tea, which they took with them on their picnics. Yet she says that when the summer heat reaches 40 degrees and she feels her old body sapped of its strength, she wishes for air conditioning. When she looks through magazines or watched a television program about Venice or Paris, she is saddened that she will pass through life and not have witnessed such magnificence.

Several times over the years we have talked on the phone and in the background one can hear recorded songs from the old days. The affection in her voice is gentle as she relives her life with Ray. I guess unconditional love does that for an individual; they can travel through time piggybacked on that love. They can return to days gone by that will sustain them though years of loneliness and solitude. I doubt Mary will ever sell her painting, one could not put a price on its emotional value but I suspect there will be a lot of family members pooling their money to buy an air conditioner for Santa to deliver this year.

And when people cite the divorce rates and comment that marriage is a waste and never lasts these days, I think of couples like Mary and Ray, and my in-laws who have not only had fulfilling marriages but have carried that love into their twilight years. We should all be so lucky.

Posting A Comment

More than once I have been asked about posting a comment so, let me see if I can put these instructions in here.

`Scroll to the end of the blog story that you would like to leave a comment on.
`Click on the mouve word “Comment” and a “Post Acomment” white box will appear. `Type in what you would like to say
`Then click on "Comment As" and a list will appear, click on anonomous.
`The word Loading will appear so you need to wait for several seconds. If it continues to load and is taking a long time then try clicking on “Comment As” once again. It usually works immediately then.