© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
Walking the dogs earlier in the week I came across a chance find and I will probably never know who did it or what it is supposed to signify.
Is it the new child’s pursuit replacing the daisy chains we made as children?
Is it a memorial?
Did someone sit and wait to be picked up, idly fashioning this floral piece to while the time away?
I don’t the answer but I thought immediately Floral Friday.
Today is my first birthday, although I celebrated it in a post the other day so I don’t plan on revisiting my reflections on the matter. Today I went to Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. It is not a place I know well but each time I visit I become more impressed with how well the river is used as a place for the public to enjoy.
© irene waters 2014
A girlfriend and I had planned on catching the train but on discovering I wouldn’t get home until around 9pm if we did that I decided to drive. What an easy relaxing drive it was and having discovered a deal online for parking that was also a doddle. We arrived an hour early and hit the shops, not buying anything but certainly admiring the price tags.
At the appointed time we met our other friends from our nursing training days and had a delightful lunch overlooking the river at Eagle Street Pier.
We had plenty to talk about. Catching up with the present, remembering the past and speculating about the future and promising to do it again soon. The compulsory group photo taken by the waiter and then we headed off. Some back to Northern NSW, others to the gold coast and two of us to the Sunshine Coast.
© irene waters 2014
Although I enjoyed my day it is always nice to get home. A great first anniversary day.
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
Fall, where I live, is not a season that is marked by the beautiful leaf colours, falling to the ground creating a thick layer of mulch gently enriching the soil as it rots. Most of our trees are evergreen and I rarely travel in the Autumn, preferring early to late Spring to take my jaunts. This trip to Switzerland though I was lucky to see the start of the season and the colours that would come later, when I had returned home.
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/08/05/cees-fun-foto-challenge-metal-or-the-season-of-autumn/
© irene waters 2014
A passion of mine is ballroom dancing. For me there is nothing that beats flying round the dance floor to the strains of a quick step, Viennese waltz, jazz waltz or foxtrot being held in the arms of someone who knows the moves. After these dances my favourites are the sultry Latin dances. I liken a jive to a bunch of friends having a fun time. This fun can then lead to the cha cha cha which is cheeky and flirtatious. The Samba takes this flirting a step forward until finally the rumba is the dance of love.
My least favourite form of dancing is new vogue and old-time dancing. It isn’t that I dislike these so much as I tend to get bored whilst doing them. Most dances you attend will play two each of each dance and by the time I have done it once I really just want to move on and do something different. Most people like this form of dancing as the men don’t have to lead and if you don’t know the dance there will be someone who does that you can copy on the way around for these dances are done in a circle with everybody doing the same steps.
I have learnt with my move to Queensland that each state (at least NSW and Qld) have different preferences for dancing styles and where in NSW modern ballroom and latin predominates the dance scene with perhaps only twelve new vogue dances routinely done. In Qld new vogue dancing is almost exclusively performed with what they call free form (modern ballroom) barely getting a sideways glance and Latin non-existent. Here I am learning at least thirty new vogue dances I had never heard of so at least it is keeping the dementia at bay.
As we stand in our circle twirling and whirling I often think back to a night I attended a ball at one of the dance studios I used to frequent in Sydney. All the ladies looked an absolute picture although long ball gowns in my opinion don’t allow for either great dancing as the length prevents that wonderful flying out effect that a bell skirt would have and for those watching, disappointment that those intricate feet and leg movements can’t be seen and admired. Never the less the women did look gorgeous with their strapless bodices and long gowns.
It was during one of the new vogue numbers that disaster struck. Not only are their intricate foot movements but the arm movements are also important in making the dance look spectacular. I was performing one of these arm movements with my arm going behind my body in an almost circular motion, totally unaware that the couple behind us were far closer than I thought they were. My hand entered her bodice and with its forward trajectory pulled her bodice with my hand to my side, her zip having undone itself in the process. There she stood, bra-less, exposed for the room to see. The horror on her face was reflected on my own as I quickly tried to repair the damage apologising profusely as I fussed.
I was so embarrassed, as was she, and I have hopefully learnt my lesson. No longer do I flourish my arm movements unless I know without doubt the location of the couple following.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/memoir-madness/
© irene waters 2014
Þingvellir national park in Iceland immediately came to mind when Charli posed her latest flash fiction challenge.
July 30, 2014 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that involves a crack. It’s a rich word, full of possibility. Do cracks reveal something to you, something beyond the surface? Take a crack at this prompt and respond by noon (PST) Tuesday, August 5 to be included in the compilation.
The reason this national park came to mind is because this is the only place in the world where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is above ground. I’m fascinated with plate tectonics and to walk in this rift valley was almost as mind blowing as climbing the volcano in Vanuatu. When you think that 20 million years ago Africa and South America were joined and what began as a small crack in the Earth’s crust is now a huge ocean with massive under sea mountain range running 40,000 kms along its length.
This widening continues today and the scientists in the national park and no doubt elsewhere keep a close watch on it. The movement is measurable at around 5cms per year. Where will the continents be in years to come and I wonder what did those early hominoids think as they saw these cracks appear, open and widen with the resulting movement of water?
Janet’s screams tore through the house. Another nightmare. She hated these dreams of the earth shaking, swallowing her parents in the cracks which divided the earth and disappearing as the earth shook shut. She knew it didn’t happen. She’d been having them since she was three and now at twelve she should know better. She didn’t live in an earthquake zone. Still she perspired and longed for her parents to come and comfort her. Why didn’t they come? Rising she padded out to find them. In the dark she couldn’t see the crack – not until she felt herself falling.
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
© irene waters 2014
I live in the country because I don’t like crowds. I avoid cities and when travelling I stay away from the tourist spots; always trying to take photos without people in them. I like to feel as though I was the only person there. I struggled to think of any photos I had which featured crowds and then it came to me. Travelling to Sydney on a bus with a whole heap of other country folk, normally non-radical farmers, who were incited to action when it was decided to put a coal mine in the town’s backyard, taking valuable farming land, affecting our clean water supply and endangering our health.
We protested outside the parliament buildings in the morning and went in to the sitting of the chamber where they were discussing the issue in the afternoon. Here we did become a rabble as we became angry when Fred Nile called us “watermelons”. This was a term I had not heard before meaning green (environmentalist fanatics) on the outside and red (communist) on the inside. He then spoke in favour of opening our national parks to shooters, siding with the Shooters party as they would give him the numbers in the vote to allow mining to occur.
We called “Shame on you Fred Nile” one too many times and were escorted from the chamber. We left the town two years later. Five years on the town is divided between those that believe we need the jobs and the economy the mine will bring and those that can see the bigger picture – health, climate change issues, food production, water quality and scenic loss.
This was one occasion I was proud to be a member of the crowd.
http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-crowd-work/
In three days, August 7, one year ago I started blogging. This tour which Raewyn nominated me, I feel, therefore, comes at a perfect time to reflect on my past year and where I plan on going in the new year ahead. Before I do that I would like to tell you about Raewyn from New Zealand. I first came across Raewyn on her scrapbooking site and crafts are one of her passions. Her big passion though is photography and manipulating the photographs that she has taken. You really must go and look at her photography as it is simply stunning. Thank you Raewyn for passing the baton on to me.
Having set up a blog for the creation of an author platform I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the process of blogging immensely. Naturally when I started I had no idea what to do. I knew I wasn’t going to blog my book so I had to find a different topic so I started walking through my childhood home. That led me off on tangents and as I got to know other bloggers I enjoyed the repartee of the comment boxes. I became fanatical for awhile and I don’t know how my husband put up with me but now I realise that I have to divide my time between posting and visiting and in the coming year I hope to be a more regular visitor to your sites. I had said I would post a minimum of once a day for a year and apart from the first month where I was finding my feet and missing two days quite recently I have done that with sometimes up to three posts a day. I told you I was fanatical. As I am studying, and have other commitments, in the coming year I am not going to beat up on myself if I only post five times a week. The trouble is I enjoy all the challenges I do so I don’t know yet where I will pull back. Time will tell. Thank you to everyone who reads me because it is you that makes it so enjoyable. Looking forward to another year with you all.
Back to the Blog Tour rules:
Compose a one-time post which is posted on Monday (date will be given to you from whoever passes on the tour)
What am I working on?
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Why do I write/create what I do?
How does your writing/creating process work?
Answer four questions about our creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires us to do what we do.
Then pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers. Get their permission first and give them rules and specific Monday they are to post.
1. What am I working on now? I am working on a sequel memoir about our time as farmers, discovering we were not cut out for a life on the land, setting up a haemodialysis unit in the country and then purchasing and running a general store.
2. How do I differ from others of its genre? There are a lot of farm memoirs but most are either of a childhood on the farm or an idealised tree change. Ours is neither of these. There are no haemodialysis memoirs that I can find and I haven’t yet come across any general store memoirs either. Therefore I think that my memoir will be different from any others on the market. It also deals with post traumatic stress disorder, isolation issues and unfulfilled dreams although the narrative has a lot of humour.
3. Why do I write/create what I do? I love writing but I do not have a great imagination when it comes to creating a fiction piece so I fall back on what I know best – my own story with a bit of history thrown in.
4. How does your writing process work? I just write. I think about stories and angles most of the time, while I walk the dogs, sleep, watch television, clean the house, almost everywhere. When I sit down to write it just flows. Blog posts take no more than half an hour to prepare, often less. They are always written as stream of conscious and I don’t spend much time editing them. My sequel memoir I have written around 70,000 words and guess that I have around 30,000 more to write before I start the editing process. Editing is the item which really takes the time. I have just edited my confirmation document and all up it took me around 24 hours to write and close to 48 hours to edit to complete.
My apologies to my baton bearers to whom I gave little notice. To carry the baton on further:
Noelle Granger 19th August
Teagan Kearney 26th August
Jennifer Graham 2nd Septermber
Sherri Matthews 9th September
Thank you everyone and thank you all for sharing with me over the past year.
© irene waters 2014
The number of zig zag roads I have travelled are numerous but due to an irrational fear of windy, narrow roads my tendency to photograph everything is stilled by fear when it comes to these occasions. There was the time in Norway when the bus driver suggested that anyone frightened would be better off walking as the bus would hang way over the edge as it negotiated the bends. I walked but still didn’t take a photograph. Then there was the time in the Ardeche where Roger parked the car on the edge to have a good look at the view. I became hysterical screaming at him not to leave me there. “you’ll get run over and then what will I do” I screamed concerned only for my well-being. Another time in New Zealand when Roger did think I was going to die from fear as we crossed the Wairappa.
Instead I am showing you zig zags from the island of Tanna in Vanuatu where we lived for around four years. It was a strange island, full of custom (traditional lifestyle), chiefs, witch-doctors, cargo cults and the world’s most accessible active volcano Yasur. This Chief believed that Prince Philip was born on Tanna and is on loan to the Queen. One day he will return. He has a shrine to Prince Philip where his collection of biscuit tins (preferably only with a picture of the Prince) are displayed. The one he is holding we bought back from England, a present from Ken Campbell (an actor of some renown) who had visited Tanna whilst researching his play Jamais Vu. We had seen it and been taken backstage when it was showing in the West End of London.
The zig zag of the weave of the bamboo and grasses is easy to see. as in the examples below of special feasting houses being opened and outside one of our bungalows when a friend came to the island to be married.
Not only are the buildings and mats zig zaging but so too is the walk up to the rim of the volcano. An experience never to be forgotten.
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