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Showing posts from March, 2008

Half life

Photo: Central coast hiterland Musing: From The Lady of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson "There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott."

Seagull

Photo: Seagull, Forster Musing: From Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach "Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating."

Someplace coastal

Seal Rocks

Jealousy

I am getting jealous of my friend who has started a photo a day blog the Sunshine Coast Daily . I miss posting daily like I did for nearly a year for my Blue Mountains Journal -- though I don't need that pressure right now. We have lots of visitors at the moment, with not even a chance to get out wayfaring, so I will post a few pictures from a trip we did to Forster about this time of year. Photo: Boats, Forster Musing: My Pretty Rose Tree by William Blake A flower was offered to me, Such a flower as May never bore; But I said, ‘I’ve a pretty rose tree,’ And I passed the sweet flower o’er. Then I went to my pretty rose tree, To tend her by day and by night; But my rose turned away with jealousy, And her thorns were my only delight."

Still life

It's Easter, a time for rest and reflection. Photo: Nature's still life Musing: From the Holy Bible Psalm 46:10 New International Version "Be still, and know that I am God"

Back to packing

By the end of the bug chase the sun was shining nicely so time to walk back to our campsite, pack up and go home.

Design

Before you tire of bugs I have to get in a spider's web. Now we all know dew spangled webs are a photographer's delight but the interesting thing about this one is the leaf. I saw one web with a leaf in it, then another, and another - heaps of them. By then I figured this was no freak accident of falling leaves but a design feature. Photo: Leaf curling spider Musing: From Design by Robert Frost "I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth -- Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches' broth -- A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?-- If design govern in a thin

Butterfly

A tiny butterfly in the morning sun -- exquisite.

Blue fly

Once I started photographing bugs I found all manner of beautiful insects.

Chasing bugs

I have been admiring the insects and other bugs that Duncan at Ben Cruachan blog has been photographing over recent months. I was detirmined to catch a shot of a dragonfly but they zig-zag everywhere so I only got water dripping from the trees reflected in the water below. On the way back I found this one sitting so still on the road it was probably dead but still very beautiful. Photo: Dragonfly

Reflection

We were ready to pack up but the canvas was wet from the overnight downpour and morning mist. There was nothing else to do but wait for the sun to bring its drying warmth. So we strolled down to the river. Photo: Lane Cove River What wonderful moods this river has -- we've seen it glowing in the afternoon sun , rippling in the breeze and now this glassy morning stillness mirroring the world beyond its banks. Musing: The Lament of the Looking Glass , by Thomas Hardy Words from the mirror softly pass To the curtains with a sigh: "Why should I trouble again to glass These smileless things hard by, Since she I pleasured once, alas, Is now no longer nigh!" "I've imaged shadows of coursing cloud, And of the plying limb On the pensive pine when the air is loud With its aerial hymn; But never do they make me proud To catch them within my rim! "I flash back phantoms of the night That sometimes flit by me, I echo roses red and white - The loveliest blooms that be -

Pack up day

Photo: Morning mist, Lane Cove National Park After a week of delightful sunny weather it poured raining the night before we were due to pack up -- delivering us morning mist with just a glimpse of towers in the distance reminding us of the great city of Sydney beyond the trees.

Noisy Miner

Noisy Miners were flitting about in the she-oaks beside the river. Photo: Noisy Miner, Lane Cove National Park This native bird is often confused with the introduced Common Myna which has similar facial markings but has mostly brown plumage unlike the grey of the Noisy Miner.

Add water

Add water to the list of things I like to photograph. I like light playing on ripples, how setting sun makes rivers flow golden, reflections in glassy streams, the bubble of rocky creeks, and the white veil of waterfalls. I also like the foam of the sea on black rocks but never get it right. Photo: She-Oaks beside Lane Cove River Musing: I guess this is about the most famous poem about water. From the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge " Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink ; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot : O Christ ! That ever this should be ! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea. About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night ; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue and white. "

Sunday afternoon

Photo:Rowing boat, Lane Cove River Anticipating a busy week, we decided to wayfare in the city. A good decision. Sunday, a day of rest before the onslaught. A very good decision. Musing: From the Holy Bible Genesis 2:2-3 New International Version "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done."

Favourite things

Photo: Somewhere near Oberon This photo has three of my favourite things -- a haystack, a fence and grass seed swaying in the wind -- perfect. It is such pleasure to stop and savour the moment instead of whizzing by saying isn't the countryside pretty today. The photo, the blog post -- a snapshot in time to be relived at will -- a treasure bank to call on when live gets too busy, like it is for me right now. Today's musing is a favourite poem of mine about favourite things. I learnt it by heart the other day during my daily crawl to the city in heavy traffic. I am learning lots of poems -- it makes the time pass more pleasurably . Musing: William Street by Kenneth Slessor "The red globe of light, the liquor green, the pulsing arrows and the running fire spilt on the stones, go deeper than a stream; You find this ugly, I find it lovely Ghosts' trousers, like the dangle of hung men, in pawn-shop windows, bumping knee by knee, but none inside to suffer or condemn; You f