Our First Year in Brisbane

There once was a time that our family of eight

Lived down south in Canberra, and thought it was great.

Our house and our friends and our schools were just right,

We were happy and settled from morning to night.

Then one day we found out this all was to change -

We moved north to Brisbane where things were so strange.

Pre-School is “Kindy”, and Kindy is “Prep”.

Grade Seven ends primary, Year Eight’s the next step.

The kids here play “tiggy” (what we would calls tips)

No wonder at first we made so many slips!

Here canteen is “tuck shop” and swimmers are “togs”,

And after light rain the lawns turn into bogs.

There’s geckos in our house and cane toads outside.

The heat’s so oppressive there’s no where to hide.

The sun rises early (it sets early too) and

Shines strongly and brightly the whole long day through.

In Autumn the leaves stay stuck right on the trees

And temps remain warm - not a hint of a freeze!

With June and July comes a welcome fresh breeze,

Yet locals say “winter” with greatest of ease.

Just as we’re enjoying the nice, cool air,

Heat and humidity emerge from their lair

To once again melt us to our very core,

But strangely it’s not quite as bad as before.

Is it possible we are adapting, at last,

To living in Brisbane - forgetting our past?

Whatever the reason, we’re quite pleased to say

We like living in Queensland a bit more each day.

We like geckos ’cause they eat spiders and ‘roaches.

We like that there’s seatbelts on buses and coaches.

We like frangipanis, we love the flame trees,

We’re quite getting used to the warm, moist, sea breeze.

We love Bribie Island, we like the Gold Coast,

But let us just mention the thing we like most …..

The people in Brisbane are friendly and kind,

And some of the best we were lucky to find

Right here in our town, in our neighbours and schools,

And your friendship is worth more than any rare jewels.

Great friends are just priceless (in Canberra or here)

And we’re blessed beyond measure to hold you so dear.

So we wish you a Christmas that's happy and fun,

And hope your New Year’s a most fabulous one!

© Pics 'n' Poems

Books and Tea

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
— C.S. Lewis

I know the feeling.

Often I am sipping my tea (or coffee) while reading a book. I pick up my cup to have another sip .... and it's all gone! That's the kind of cuppa that's not large enough for me.

I also know how it feels when a book captures my imagination so completely that I can't stop thinking about it and wish the story could go on and on and on. That's the kind of book that isn't long enough for me.

Evolution Quote

I like this version of the big bang theory:

"The current state of knowledge can be summarized thus: In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded."

(p7 "Lords and Ladies" by Terry Pratchett.)

Blossom

Thin. Spindly. Stark.
The branches are bereft
Of vitality or spark.
It's like there's no life left.

A tiny bump, a hint,
A green leaf starts to grow.
And then a blush, a tint
Of pink begins to show.

The blush deepens and seeks
To open petals sweet.
She lifts her head and peeks.
The world she wants to greet.

But blazing up on high
The cruel sun heats and glares.
It burns the tender bud
And burdens her with cares.

Her blush grows deeper still.
She wrinkles, shrivels, fries.
The sun performs it's kill.
She droops - motionless lies.

Cooling clouds assemble.
Refreshing moisture falls.
Young leaves sway and tremble.
The dying process stalls.

Nourished by the rains,
Encouraged by the dew,
The blushing bud remains,
Despite her darkened hue.

But damage she sustained
(From sun's relentless blaze)
Her resources have drained:
Yet hope can't be erased.

With anguish, pain and tears
The shriveled petals peal.
And though she still has fears,
Her heart begins to heal.

The sun appears again,
This time to warm and calm -
As gentle as the rain,
Just like a healing balm.

At last it is the time!
Now healed, cleansed, renewed -
Bud, rosy in her prime,
Unfolds, displays, is viewed.

All who see her splendour
Are stunned, amazed, in awe,
That once a blush so tender
Blossomed to so much more.

©Pics 'n' Poems 4th August 2011

Autumn in the Capital

I had to the opportunity to be out and about with my camera (and without any children) early one morning in late Autumn. I was fascinated by the sparkles on the lake - these ones look like they have been captured within the reeds.
It was a calm, clear, cool, crisp morning and the lake was a picture of serenity.
This line of pine trees were reflected very neatly in the still blue waters.The sun even enjoyed it's own reflection in the lake.
Here's the sun peeking through a branch of autumn leaves.
You may be surprised to discover where I was actually taking all these lovely nature phoographs. This tree of rich red autumn colour was right beside a very recognisable object.
And this is not something you would expect to see in Autumn - certainly not Autumn in Canberra.
These dainty little pink flowers were in an area that was bustling with movement, even this early in the morning.
Those flowers were so sweet I had to get a closer shot.
And these colourful leaves were resting on the hedge right beside the little pink flowers.
If you were judging from this particular photo of the sun rising behind this tree of beautiful yellow autumn leaves you wouldn't believe it's location, I don't think.
This picture of the sun streaming through the trees, making patterns on the concrete walls might give you a clue.
And this photo might give you more of an idea of the area in which I was taking my photographs.
It was Belconnen City Centre ... could you have guessed? Don't we have a beautiful Capital Territory? In this photo the rising sun gets it's first glimpse of itself in the office window, and puts a golden glow over the whole building.
(The first photos were Lake Ginninderra, taken from Emu Bank.)
The tree of rich red leaves was planted right beside the KFC sign.
The frangipani plant was on the balcony of an apartment by the lake.
The little pink flowers, colourful autumn leaves on the hedge and tree of yellow leaves were situated right outside Westfield Belconnen Shopping Centre.
The photo of the light dancing about on the concrete wall was the walls of the shopping centre.
The second-last photo was the window coverings from across the road at the real estate agent.
The last photo was the Benjamin Offices just behind Westfield.)

I was there so early, without children, because the car had to be in the service centre for some warranty work. I had the whole day to myself and, apart from it becoming rather tedious by mid-afternoon, it was a bit like a mini holiday.

April Sunsets

A few sunsets from my back yard. The first two taken on 13th April.

And these two were taken on 22nd April. Possum came running inside this evening, breathlessly asking me to take a photo of the sunset - quick!Talk about "pie (or Pi) in the sky."The reason Possum was so excited about this Pi cloud formation is because one of her school friends is obsessed with Pi (Possum even made this friend a Pi Christmas ornament last year.)

Sunsets from March

This was the sunset on March 20. Up close it was bright reddish/pink.Zoomed back out to widest angle you can see a hint of dark purple in the clouds.And zoomed right in on the tree, looking a little further north, it's a pretty pinky-mauve.
The day before there was a lot of smoke in the air from some control burns being carried out to the south east. HB and I thought it would make a beautiful sunset, but the smoke was too thick. It did turn the sun a beautiful shade of hot pink, though!The first photo was taken from the front yard, and the last two from the back yard, so the angle is slightly different.Just before the sun touched the top of the hill it started to disappear behind some thick cloud, which we couldn't even see because of the smoke haze.