Category: freedom

Australia · ducks · freedom

Free to Come and Go ~ Choosing to Stay

Joanne14 Comments

It was back in February this year that I first introduced my pair of very welcome visitors to my back garden. They have been the most elusive couple, and extremely camera-shy, but I recently had the opportunity of encouraging them so stay just a little longer.

Each morning I feed the birds when they visit my garden. The visitors, including kookaburras, magpies, minors and honey eaters, have all become progressively more and more trusting of me, these days congregating within a metre of my feet as I drop a few crumbs of bread for them all to nibble on.

Out of the corner of my eye a few mornings ago, I noticed a flash of “something”, followed by a huge splash! into my swimming pool. The ducks are back!

Mr. Drake

Needing some form of encouragement for the ducks to stick around, while I quietly dashed inside to grab my camera, I flung a few chunks of bread down to the pool area, which the ducks noticed immediately.

Exploring the yard.

The camera I have used during the past month has become my new best friend. I’m totally obsessed with photography since getting this camera about a month ago. (Obsessed to the point of neglecting my blog, you may have noticed!)

Sharing the birds bread.

The zoom on my new camera is brilliant! There are so many options available to play around with that I’m feeling like quite the photographer these days! My camera is rarely far from my side, and it’s not unusual for me to take at least fifty to one-hundred photos each day.

Well, the chunks of bread throw into the pool area did the trick, the ducks lingered, whilst I clicked away, photo after photo, from this angle and that. Even when the cute little couple waddled down further into the garden away from the pool, pecking at the grass, I still clicked away, the result being around eighty photos of, well, just the ducks!

So close to the house.

This story gets even better though. (I’m hoping at this point that I’m not the only person in the world who is extremely excited by a pair of ducks choosing my back yard to hang out in!) The ducks came back the next day, but this visit, they came right up to the house, sharing the birds bread, just a few steps away from my back door!

Surveying the yard ~ A new view of the world.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Okay, maybe it could; imagine if they will eventually become so trusting that they would eat out of my hand! Am I being too optimist?After quite a bit of research I have learned that this handsome couple are “Australian Wood Ducks”. The breeding season is around November, when the female lays eight to ten eggs. I wonder if they will one day bring their ducklings to visit?

 

 

 

freedom · friends · son

Leaving on a Jet ‘Plane

Joanne7 Comments
When you were a little boy, did you ever dream of the countries you would visit one day?

He’s leaving on a jet ‘plane this morning. He’ll be at the Brisbane airport now; his luggage will have been checked and probably loaded onto the plane. He’ll also probably be on the plane himself, sitting with two of his best mates from his childhood.

Have they been allocated good seats? Who else will be on board the plane, taking the twenty-two hour flight with them? Will he enjoy the movies he watches? His only concern about his entire trip was the flight there and the flight home again.

No, no, don’t get me wrong, he loves air travel, that’s not his concern; it’s the boredom; it’s the wasted days.

“Try to focus on the adventure ahead of you, of seeing a whole new country on the other side of the world”, his father had suggested. “That will make the flight seem shorter.”

The clock on the mantelpiece strikes 11 am. Is the ‘plane running to schedule? Is he comfortably sitting aboard the plane, perhaps in a window seat, watching as the ground races past his window and the ‘plane takes off, lifting higher and higher, the ground becoming smaller and smaller?

When I speak with my blogging friends in the U.S.A. why is it that they feel so close to me, yet when my son is taking the twenty-two hour flight to the other side of the world, it suddenly feels as if he is going to another planet?

Travel safe, my boy. Enjoy your adventure. Make the most of the trip that you and your mates have planned for months.

Your room will be waiting here for you when you return. I will be so excited as the days draw nearer to your return home, just as I have done when you have travelled overseas before.

Why didn’t Japan or Sri Lanka seem so far away? I believe I am only taking on board your concerns as my own. But haven’t I always done that?

The “Big Apple” awaits you, my son; your five-week adventure begins today. xxxxxx

~ ~ ~

Australia · Changes · freedom · new beginnings

“Yours is the Earth and Everything that’s in it”

Joanne5 Comments
The SS New Australia

One of the most time consuming, although thoroughly enjoyable, items on my ‘to do’ list, is to sort through old photos I inherited from my parents. I have two brand new scrapbook style albums, which will become the new home for most of the photos, after they have all been scanned and labelled.

Another album I have to work on is a very old photographic record of my parents voyage in 1951, on the ship the “SS New Australia”, which brought them and their three young daughters from Southampton, England to Sydney, Australia, a journey taking them over one month, when they travelled across the world in search of a new and improved life.

In among a paper bag full of photos I discovered three restaurant menus, carefully saved and well preserved after all these years from their weeks on the “SS New Australia”.

On the back of one of the menus, printed Wednesday, December 6, 1950, I found a poem. As I read the poem, I couldn’t help but think what a thoughtful gesture it had been, giving these immigrants so much hope for their future lives, in particular with the line “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it”.

As they embarked on their new lives, they had the whole world in the palm of their hand!

Note~ After deciding to record these thoughts here today and researching how many others there were on the same voyage as my parents (over 1,500 people) I happened to notice the date when they arrived at their destination of Sydney, Australia.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in the early 1950's

The “SS New Australia” sailed into Sydney Harbour on the March 19, 1951, exactly sixty-one years ago today. And just by coincidence, today is the eightieth anniversary of the opening of the “Sydney Harbour Bridge”!

~ ~ ~

“If” by Rudyard Kipling

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

And make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master,

If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold On!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings, nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

Rudyard Kipling ~ Photo scanned from my book "The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English"

 

Australia · challenges · Changes · daughter · freedom · gardening · Tweed Valley · vision

So Many Projects ~ Where to Begin? (Please be warned, this post is much longer than those I usually write. You may want to get yourself a cuppa first!)

Joanne12 Comments
Black Velvet

My mind is a-mush with so many ideas scuttling around in it! My husband has often told me that I have “more ideas than a dog has fleas”, said in a tone that suggests this isn’t at all a good thing, although I beg to differ!

Isn’t it indeed a good trait to have, one in which one is never bored, hopefully never dull and revving at the heels, ready to rush off and begin The Next Project? Isn’t this the very trait said to keep one young and active?

I rest my case.

To help my mind in remembering all the projects I wish to begin or complete, I think I would be well advised to write a to-do list, one which will have me organised, accountable and will aid me in not forgetting one single important aspect on my list.

To begin my to-do list, (which I intend writing here, to remain accountable,) the first item on my list is to add pages to this website. You all want to know about my other blogs, don’t you?

It wasn’t long after I began this site that I came to the realisation that one blog is just not enough! With so many ideas of different subject matter, ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other, then back again, I decided to start first one new blog, followed about a year ago by another.

One of these blogs “Memoirs of my Life” is where I record the ramblings and reminiscences of my life. Some are old memories, or stories related by family members who are no longer with us. Other stories I have written are here-and-now stories, written when something significant has happened and I don’t want to forget the moment.

It wasn’t an easy road for me to follow, when I began my “Memoirs” blog. I felt concerned that someone who knows me may read something I have said and feel offended in some way. If you pay a visit to “Memoirs” you will notice that I write here incognito, by the name of “Annie Potts”.

Well, it is time for Annie Potts to confess to her writings and take responsibility for her words! In all honesty, I really don’t know what I was worried about, as I would never in a million years write anything with the direct intention of hurting  someone! My feelings now have progresses to the point where, if someone is upset by something I’ve said, then so be it! That is for them to deal with, not me! Although, whilst I may be sounding defensive at this point, again, why? I have nothing to be defensive about!! (What was I thinking???)

Moving on, as “Home Life Online” is now in danger of making a strong imitation of the sometime ramblings of “Memoirs”, I’ll mention my other blog, “A Sense of Spirit”, which began its life just over a year ago. Again, I felt reluctant to write the words that my heart asked me to, but again, I have made a strong recovery and have written more frequent posts at “A Sense of Spirit” of late.

(Here I will digress with a question ~ does anyone else feel the need to make apologies for their beliefs, or is it just me? I seem to have made a habit of starting blogs, but not wanting anyone to read what I’ve written! Figure that one out!!!)

The building of another website is on the cards also, a website which I have been itching to build for years! It involves one of my life-long interests, that being genealogy. I spoke to a not-so-distant cousin in England about my idea for a family history website some years ago, his reply being that it was a rather ambitious idea and he couldn’t see how it could be done!

Trouble is, I couldn’t work out how to put my ideas into a readable format either!! It wasn’t until I came across the “Rodgers Family History” site that I began to believe that it is possible! Barbara has obviously put hours and hours of time and effort into the site, the results being absolutely fantastic! I have content galore to add to my new site and have been checking and re-checking details which will be added to this new website, before I begin.

As I am in grave danger of writing a to-do book, and not a list, let the list begin!

  • All of the afore-mentioned, including updating my “Blogroll”, which can be seen to the right of this column. Oh, and remembering to update my “Quotes to Live By”, also in the right side column, just above the Blogroll, at least once a month. (Perhaps I should consider changing the title to “Quote of the Month” or even “(March, April, etc.) Quote of the Month”, which would force me to remember to do it!
  • Continue with my regular monthly contributions to the wonderful online magazine the “Calm Space”. Each month, when my article is added to the “Freedom Space”, I will add a post here also, so you won’t miss a single story!
  • Weed the garden. Yes, I know…boring! But really, you should see the weeds that have grown in the recent rain! I love taking photos around the garden to post here, and no one wants to see a photograph of the seasonal weed-growth, do they?
  • Start taking my beautiful rottie for regular walks. It’s early autumn here now, so the weather will cool down, making early morning or late afternoon walks a very pleasant pastime. Tess has turned nine and is in danger of becoming rather portly, if we don’t begin a regular exercise routine. Rottweilers should not put on weight, it’s bad for their joints, and we all love Tess way too much not to take the best of care of our Black Velvet girl. Regular walks with Tess will also prevent me from becoming portly, not to mention the new photo opportunities it will present to me! By the way, that’s Tess in the photo at the top of this page. She’s such a beauty!
  • Last week I took up an old project, one which I began about fourteen years ago and I never did finish. My daughter, then just beginning school and in kindergarten, asked me to make a quilt for her bed, one of her own design, including an appliqué of her name.  She finished school over a year ago, but I never did finish the quilt! We now have a drawn up design and the fabric for me to begin the quilt. I will “blog as I quilt”, keeping an online record of my progress.
  • Start my range of “Made in Australia” garments, yet another idea I have toyed with for some time now. When I’m out working, I sew. Yes, sew. That is my business, which I began from home, just after my first child was born, nearly twenty-seven years ago. My business has grown and shrunk over the years, depending on my families demands of my time at their various ages, now being at a manageable level (both business and family!), which suits me. I make school uniforms for a few of our local schools and as the demand for school uniforms is seasonal (eg mostly required at the beginning of each new school year), I go through some very quiet times, but at other times can hardly find time to lift my head up from my sewing machine!
  • Start up a new, online business. This is a very new idea and is more accurately described as an extension to my current business. No – not uniforms, but yes – it involves sewing. (I’ll keep that one just a bit under wraps for the moment!) Here is a photo, a tiny clue, to my new idea…

    I woke her up to take this photo. By her expression, you can see she was not impressed!
  • Sort out all of my parents old photographs and replace, in chronological order,  in a brand new photo album, with detailed notes beside each photo. I will also have to scan and reprint some of the photos, as some have managed to adhere themselves to the album pages! With my interest in history, both family and otherwise, it is necessary for me to preserve the memories of my family, both online and within the pages of books. Every family needs a family historian, right? In my family, although the interest exists among others, there is no one fighting me to take over the task of history-keeper. (And I wouldn’t have it any other way!)
  • Spend some unrushed, quality time at each of our local Tweed Valley towns, taking photos, then returning home armed with all I need to write a blog post, to educate anyone who cares to learn, about our very pretty area, here in northern New South Wales, Australia.

This to-do list is long enough, for starters, at least! As I complete the task on my list, I will link back to the points made here today. There’s no danger of lost notes with this list…it’s all online!

If you have read all the way through to this point, I thank you for your patience!

ducks · freedom · friends · summer

An Early Morning Visitor….Come back later, around midday, okay?

Joanne11 Comments
My camera-shy visitor

Over the past few months we’ve had a regular visitor to our back garden, or to be more precise, to our swimming pool.

We enjoy the pool on a hot day too!

A duck must have mistaken our pool for a nice relaxing pond, in which to float around and casually pass the time of day. Obviously the chlorine and salt added to the pool has not had any adverse effect to his health as he has returned, again and again, even occasionally bringing his lady friend along with him!

In the eighteen years that we have had the pool this is the first duck that has taken a liking to it, which has left me wondering….why? Is this the first duck to ever notice, over the past eighteen years, that the pool is there? Or, have the others been put off by the smell of salt and chlorine?

Perhaps our visitor is simply an eccentric duck!

I'm up here, Mr Duck. Look this way!

I’ve tried to get a photo of this cute little guy for ages, but every time the camera has reached my face, he flies away!

This morning, however, at 7am, armed with both camera and determination, I actually photographed him! They are not the best photos of all time, that’s a certainty, but at least they are proof that I’m not hallucinating!

I’ve noticed that all the photos I take in the early morning and also later in the afternoon have a fuzzy look to them, so just to satisfy myself that the light of the day can make a huge difference to the quality of a photo, I took another photo of the same place, same zoom, but at 1pm this afternoon.

Bring Mrs Duck with you next time. Midday would suit me just fine!

The result? Much clearer, and far more vivid in colour.

Now, if the duck will just make a visit around midday, my camera will be waiting. Hey, I’ll even invite his lady friend! 🙂