ANZAC Day 2019
ANZAC Day is commemorated this year on Thursday 25th April 2019.
For ANZAC Day traditions and rituals, click on official Parliament Of Australia.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Category: Special
Botanical Gardens Fresh Air and Sunshine
Coming out of a hot dry summer, March weather is beginning to soften the sky and offer the cooler, more gentle mornings of autumn. There is no definite change of season, just a calmness, almost a feeling of relief after the insistent tropical heat.
Apart from, whack, an insect, there’s something serene and relaxing about strolling through a garden, touching leaves, sniffing flowers, following a creek and hearing the splash of a small waterfall through the trees.
To quote Rudyard Kipling “The Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!” so…
Here’s what I experienced one lovely morning…
Arriving early at the Brisbane Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, I strolled through a cool, green gully and thought it was strange to be in a capital city yet hear no traffic sounds. I floated along, enjoying the stillness, until my personal calm was shattered when the garden crew came on duty and the leaf- blowing brigade roared into action. I had to wait until one fellow walked out of shot to photograph Xanthorrhoea australis, the Grass-trees (below; left). The atmosphere shuffled its feathers and tranquility returned.
Wooden bridges and flowing streams…
Leisurely, I followed the meandering paths across bridges and green lawns, enjoying the mild sunshine. Strolling down a slope, I came to a bracken-lined watercourse then walked up a gentle incline towards king ferns, piccabeen palms and towering hoop pines. I’ve never fully traversed the 56 hectare (138 acre) area which displays mainly eastern Australian plants.
You can spot Eastern Water Dragons (lizards) and geckos as they scurry out of sight or get a giggle watching the many varieties of water fowl, ducking and diving in the lake. Feeding wildlife is not allowed and I couldn’t entice them into an appealing photograph.
Sculptural features are ‘casually’ placed throughout the gardens and I think the most alluring is a silver fern seat (below; left) with interesting support.
Beside the pond and beneath the trees…
The Japanese Garden (below; entrance and pond) offers soothing symmetry and a waterlily’s single bloom. Nearby the concert bandstand has grass seating surrounded by trees with foliage of different patterns and colours. Around me, there’s a multitude of subtropical shrubs, cycads and flowers with names I never remember. You will notice that I do not attempted to be horticultural! A bit further along, in the arid zone, resides a sci-fi concoction of exotic cacti. The culinary, fragrant and medicinal herb gardens are pure indulgence. But if herbs aren’t your thing, the pungent eucalypt is my favourite and walking the Aboriginal Plant Trail with its edible food plants.
Biodiversity and water reflections…
The stillness of the morning created pleasing reflections on the lagoon which is fed by rainwater captured from the hills. You can choose between typical heathland or wetland regions made easily accessible for suburban folk. The Conservation Collection includes rare and endangered species in their natural habitats and I entered the steamy, geodesic hothouse (below; left) where equatorial plants are nurtured. My face beads in sweat, it’s not a place for humans to linger too long. Time for an ice-cream!
Tropical Display Dome at Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha, is a large lattice structure (geodesic) displaying plants from the tropics. A pathway winds upwards through the dome building, wrapping around a central pond with water plants.
Look outside the Botanic Gardens…
Outside the entry are several buildings of interest: Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium (below; saved from extinction by a vocal community uprising) large carpark, small art studio, specialist library and auditorium providing a variety of events. I have booked a place in a workshop Monoprinting Australian Native Plants, so a blog post may be forthcoming. The new Visitor Information centre offers guided walks and Gardens Café has the ice-cream. The two white-coated fellows outside the café are entomologists, surviving statues from World Expo 88.
Pandas and children have a special treat…
The Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Children’s Trail is a hide-and-seek ramble through the shady rainforest garden with special works of art dotted along the way and I couldn’t resist following it myself. Check out the wacky weathervane! And a log for native stingless Sugarbag bees. Mother and baby Panda bears enjoy the bamboo; they are a special fabrication of laser-cut aluminium by Australian sculptor Mark Andrews.
Parks and gardens change with horticultural trends. The smaller City Botanic Gardens are older and more formal, in keeping with the style of previous centuries, but I prefer the softness of Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. As the world becomes more populated and natural plant life decreases, Brisbane city dwellers like me need our botanical gardens to nourish and refresh our screen-dependant interior lives.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Tropical lagoon and green algae swirls at Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, Brisbane, Australia 2019
Note: Please click or tap an image to enlarge.
You may also like to read about my visit higher up the road at Mt Coot-tha Lookout.
Wales Readathon 2019
If you’ve never read a Welsh writer’s work, now is your chance! I’ve been to the library and collected my copy of Under Milk Wood, the radio/stage/film drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas to get me started. Read all about Dewithon19 on Book Jotter’s blog….Mwynhewch ddarllen! (Enjoy reading!)
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
1st-31st March
Welcome to the first ever Wales Readathon (aka Dewithon 19), a month-long event beginning on Saint David’s Day, during which book bloggers from all parts of the world are encouraged to read, discuss and review literature by and about writers from Wales.
For more in-depth information on this reading jolly, head over to DHQ (Dewithon Headquarters) – and should you wish to take part in the official readalong, please follow this link. You can also share your thoughts and posts on Twitter by using the hashtags #dewithon19 and/or walesreadathon19.
Here we display your Dewithon-related posts. Please leave your links in the comments below or drop me a line with the URL.
Mwynhewch ddarllen! (Enjoy reading!)
************************************
DEWITHON POST PINBOARD
FEATURES
- A Dewithon 19 Taster – Book Jotter
- Middle Earth and Mid Wales – Calmgrove
You may use the Reading Wales/Dewithon logos with a link…
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Happy Valentine’s Day
Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
By William Shakespeare
🎀
Love to all ♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Beach Boys and West Coast Girls
Guest post from Maud Fitch who looks at 20th century male chauvinism, surfer culture and skin cancer.
Okay, she looks at one particular song––California Girls by The Beach Boys––with the observation that it reeks of male teen spirit.
Thanks for filling in, Maud. “No problemo,” she writes “My comments relate to the inequality of the sexes and when males sang about women with such defining features, dare I say ‘personalities’, that a song could transcend the decades. Whereas women sang about males who are leaving/arriving or causing tears/heartache and are not physically described, leaving nothing etched in the memory.”
Maud’s musical hypothesis…
The Beach Boys // Photographer Unknown // 23681 // Beach Boys publicity shot
If you don’t know the song lyrics (lucky you) here they are:
California Girls
The Beach Boys
https://www.thebeachboys.com/Well, East Coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I’m down there
The Mid-West farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright
And the Northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at nightI wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girlsThe West coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a French bikini on Hawaiian island dolls
By a palm tree in the sand
I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldn’t wait to get back in the States
Back to the cutest girls in the worldI wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girlsI wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
etc, etc…Songwriters: Brian Douglas Wilson / Michael Edward Love
California Girls lyrics 1965 © Universal Music Publishing Group
Location is not an issue here, the girls in question are prominently mentioned and The Beach Boys diplomatically reference various US regions so as not to offend by omission.
A catchy tune, they sing of the visual pleasure of one woman pitted against another until the type named ‘California Girls’ moves to the top of the lust list.
The objectifying of women does not translate well to 21st century sensitivities. Although in 2010 Katy Perry sang a similarly shallow song California Gurls.
It can be argued that The Beach Boys were young and represented their gender and the world-wide surfing movement with what appealed to them at the time. Their songs certainly represented the superficiality of youth and what was uppermost on the manly mind. In contrast, The Supremes song of 1965 Surfer Boy shows an entirely different slant on surfing and a more emotional approach.
The Beach Boys skimming appraisal of the external woman brings me to the French bikini on a Hawaiian island girl. I don’t know skin cancer statistics in other countries but at one stage Australia had the highest skin cancer rate in the world. Most beach babes of the mid-to-late twentieth century now have a crusty epidermal layer of melanoma sores and spots which are regularly checked by their skin cancer specialist.
Are these bikini babes still loved? Nobody of that beach culture vintage is cute now, unless Botox is involved. Heck, everyone of that generation has aged and, depending on decrepitude, may wish they had that body again.
Allowing for variants, The Beach Boys and The Supremes are now older, wiser people who made a lot of money from their hard-working vocal chords and have moved into Music Legend status. I wonder if they sit in comfy chairs, musing about their past lyrics? Do they laugh, cringe or couldn’t care less?
The world may have moved on but surfers still surf, boys still ogle girls, and sex discrimination still remains. And no matter how irksome, old songs never die.
Maud Fitch – Guest blogger and east coast Queensland girl
Kei Ishii and The Kontemporary Idea
Kei Ishii, founder of The Kollective Idea and its related dance module The Kontemporary Idea, will be holding more 3-day workshops this year, offering a creative boost to young and emerging dancers.
This is the first part of our two-part interview with Kei discussing his contemporary dance career. Watch out for part two with Q&A insights!
Kei Ishii graduated from The Space Performing Arts, in Melbourne and went on to take a place at the world-renowned Ev & Bow Full-Time Contemporary Dance Course in Sydney where he trained with Sarah Boulter for two years. During this time Kei assisted Sarah in choreographing many events including Dance Academy and the Arabian Games and was also offered a secondment with the Internationally famed ADT (Australian Dance Theatre) in Adelaide.
As a member of Legs on the Wall Contemporary Dance Troupe, Kei performed in their production of Puncture at the Sydney Festival in 2015. He has choreographed many short works which have been performed at festivals such as Sydney Fringe Festival and Short Sweet Dance and was also awarded Best Choreographer at Fast + Fresh 2013.
Since returning to Queensland, Kei shares his knowledge of various contemporary techniques with dance schools around Brisbane. He started The Kollective Idea to give aspiring dancers the chance to perform in a company setting, to learn what working within the industry involves and to be guided through this exciting process.
Kei says “At The Kollective Idea we foster your talents and expand your experiences in an environment where you can gain the creative edge needed to succeed in dance. You will dance alongside award-winning instructors and choreographers. We are highly motivated to develop your performance technique, style and stage skills.”
Kei goes on to say “The right philosophy drives success, it is where everything we do creatively and professionally starts. A promising idea will define what you do and how you will do it. Having the knowledge and skills to use this idea is why we study, practice and gain experience, growing to expand our ideas, our horizons and ultimately our dance futures.”
“We can help you through the process of growing in the industry. Our mentors are award-winning dancers with experience and the knowledge needed to help you grow that idea.”
A great learning opportunity from a man with vibrant and affirmative ideas!
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
The Kollective Idea starts their year with another The Kontemporary Idea 3-day workshop 19-21 January 2019 in two groups for ages 10-13 and 14+ covering techniques, improvisation and choreography. Website bookings––
http://thekollectiveidea.com.au/
http://thekollectiveidea.com.au/events/
https://www.facebook.com/thekollectiveidea/
The Kontemporary Idea
Brisbane Studio––
WORKSHOPS 19-21 JANUARY 2019
DAY 1 – Contemporary Techniques
DAY 2 – Improvisation Techniques
DAY 3 – Choreography Techniques
AGES
KONNECT – Ages 10-13
KOLLECT – Ages 14+
NEW WORKSHOP COMING JULY 2019 (see below)
PERFORMANCE VIDEO
http://thekollectiveidea.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CompressedIRISH-1.mp4?_=1
CLICK to read the second part of our two-part interview.
Drought Ain’t Over Yet
Australian farmers, east and west, north and south are facing challenges on the land. As we head into summer, the drought has reached drastic proportions right across the country. Imagine no water, cattle dying, crops withering and red dust coating everything you touch. We have to think about farmers livelihoods, they put the food on everyone’s table.
So far Rural Aid have…
• Helped over 4500 farmers have registered for various types of assistance.
• 2000 farmers have received Buy-a-Bale hay, currently numbers growing at 30 a week.
• 1000’s of hampers, water trucks, fuel cards and vouchers.
Since 1 July 2018 Rural Aid have…
• Employed 11 mental health counsellors with committed funding of $5.5m over 3 years.
• More than $20m in total cash donations has been accepted by Rural Aid.
• Over 2200 counselling telephone one-on-one calls or face to face visits to farmers in 4 months.
• $3m paid for hay distributed to farmers in need.
• $2.3m paid in freight to deliver the hay.
• $6m for bill relief for farmers.
• Forward commitment to purchase $11m of hay and transport for next 6 months.
• More than $1.2m provided to farmers in the form of gift cards which can be spent locally.
• Expanded their team by 7 people so they can respond to enquiries and provide help faster to those most in need.
Rural Aid have moved 76 and 88 trailers respective, almost 3500 tonnes of hay in the last two weeks alone, delivered to over 300 farmers. This is amazing work by hay teams, truckies and hay producers who are all pulling together, a super support effort. But the battle continues.
Read the blog of a drought-stricken cattle farmer Paula Stevenson
http://paulastevensonwriter.com.au/day-266/
My thoughts into words…
It’s a hard way to earn a living. You can help dedicated farmers to keep growing our country’s food. Consider Farm-sitting, Farm Army volunteering, Farm Rescue groups, buying hay bales or donating to—
Rural Aid www.ruralaid.org.au
Buy-a-Bale www.buyabale.com.au
As Rural Aid wraps up another year, their 2019 calendars are now selling. Help out by placing an order for this great Christmas gift and have it mailed—
Calendar Grab a 2019 calendar
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Why do we care so much about shortlists? And I am on one!
I am honoured to be on the Shortlist in such esteemed company.
Here’s Jen Storer telling us all about shortlists…♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
| Someone recently asked, what’s the big deal about a shortlist? What’s the big deal? A shortlist groups together the best! It acknowledges the most accomplished of a long and always healthy collection of entries. It’s also how we make competitions like the Scribbles Creative Writing Awards, manageable — both for the judges and for the competitors. Imagine if we only gave out two prizes, two ‘nods’, per category. Judges would tear out their hair. Creators would feel jaded and demoralised. And rightly so! |
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A shortlist gives more people a chance to shine. It spreads the love a little further. |
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Remembering Those Who Fought
Today 11/11/2018 is the Centenary of Armistice and Remembrance Day in Australia.
We remember those who fought and those who died––
At 11am on 11 November 1918 the armistice treaty, which Germany had signed earlier that morning, came into effect. The Great War, the ‘war to end all wars’ which had begun on 28 July 1914 was finally over.
Like millions of other Australians, I’ll follow tradition and observe a two-minute silence at 11am (no matter where I am) to honour the 420,000 men who enlisted and the 62,000 who didn’t return.
In Flanders Fields
Poem by Dr John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lest We Forget.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Thoughts Become Words 