The Thunder Drums

A storm is coming over the hills. Thunderheads of rolling iron sweeping past our valley. My brother and I took photos:

Just after we took these, a wedge-tailed eagle circled overhead, then was gone.

Fortress Of Doom

Not too long ago, Sir Awesome and I found ourselves sitting around at my place with nothing to do. We'd even watched all the Disney movies in the house. We were stuck for fun.

And then, without warning, the aptly named Sir Awesome had an idea... We would make a Blanket Fort; and it would be the grandest and most formidable Fortress in all the land!

The gauntlet had been thrown down, and we had to admit the task was a little daunting...

Despite our fears, we set to work.

We cleared a whole room of floorspace to accommodate for what we envisioned to be a palatial construction. We staggered under the weight of the piles of sheets, blankets and stacks of phonebooks that had to be carried to site. Very nearly stripped the upstairs floor of furniture to construct the skeleton of the Fort. Cushions mysteriously disappeared from couches and pillows vanished from beds...

The frame from a Papasan Couch became a soaring domed roof:

We laboured on.. I've no idea how long it took over all to build, and in the midst of all the fun our antlike industriousness came to a sudden conclusion. The Fort was complete!

It filled and entire room all the way to the walls.

Inside had been so layered with cushions, matresses and blanket that sitting inside was somewhat akin to being inside a hollowed-out (and highly colourful) sponge cake.

And yes, yes it we did have a fun afternoon, watching dvds and eating fruit-loops in our grand, formiddable, Fortress Of Doom.

XD

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Armadillos & Greyscale Photos.

ARMADILLO.

They sit, contented, and watch with mere-
Passing interest,
How intriguing! The sourceless rush of
Wishes and wants. As he

Snuffles over the dry leaves,
-As crackling parchment- and faded
Dreams.
Soft nose, flared, most and warm; he caresses.

The searching Armadillo, passing over
Them- inviting, his touch.
So met, only with mild curiosity,
And the wide-eyed acceptance, of they-

The Innocent. Pure of the wants-
The poison of wishes ungranted. And curious,
They touch. Ah, the rough skin –so perplexing-
A corrugated shield. Incomprehensible, the

Plated armour- of a grizzled Veteran.
Poor Armadillo,
Scarred. For there will always be chinks in armour-
The sly dig ‘tween overlapping plates.

Puzzled are they, by the Armadillo, so gentle,
They do not understand ‘scar’.
They, untouched, watch all bemused, as we-
With our dreams, yearn.

The Armadillo, he sleeps between them,
-In quiet contentment- at peace;
As we too watch -in passing interest-, but with
Envy.


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Toes...

Toes,

My little camera & I went for a walk,

Swinging in it's case from the belt at my hip,

But my toes just touched the water,

Down past our little winding creek.
Willow strands to the little suncreek dip,

And I had no need to wander farther;

I had found it all right here.

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Notes From The Road...

I'd never really been comfortable with the entire concept of a 'holiday', you must understand, I never really saw it. No camera will fit down my throat to show you the strange flavours of new foods I try, or the fuzzy, humid air that clung to my skin in the sub-tropical north when we got as far as we could go.

In typical family fashion we visited the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, here are my snapshots, but I have no time for a thousand words each to give them any substance at all.

Juara, his name is "champion" in Indonesian, the same language I studied for years and never once came across the word. the curiosity in this picture does no justice to the creature or his namesake, it was simply the best shot...

The Giraffes with their smooth velvet noses and great liquid eyes, thickly framed with lashes darker than soot. You cannot tell from the photo how graceful they were, like dancers, they moved.

Mam's photo, I did not see the Meerkats, My only report can be that Mam smiled as she spoke of their bright eyes and chittering fastidiousness.

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The hours in the car were long, the shudder of the car made it feel like my bones were dissolving into my flesh after days of it. Rising each morning in strange places with strange smells eeking through the sunlit canvas; stifling heat and lashing rain that should have made my windows shudder, if only I had been home.

The treasures found along the way make journeys worthwhile, like the roadside monolith that stole the sky, we waited 10 minutes just for the right light to take the photo, but it does it no justice, unfortunately

Or my Sleeping Giant, hidden in the mountain rockface with a mysterious smile on his slumbering lips.

Ah yes, the mountains, they too were beautiful beyond any human ability to comprehend, the lifethreads energetic and busy on their green forest skin, while deeper, through the stonespine of the plain it flowed slow and strong like a secret lifeblood river...

The Dorrigo National Park had more whispers than twisting vines, each a tiny forest secret that, teasingly, it will not tell...
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The people I met, the melodies I played upon my battered guitar, even the pier I sat on smelling the sea, the little memories I keep... my camera caught these, to be sure, faces and places, but with not even the substance of a parting smile.

L.

Rain Day (The World ouside the walls)

Today was a RainDay, I mean it when I say it... our dusty, sunburnt November has been washed away with holing wind and driving sheets of H2O... The world outside the walls has never smelt so good- rising in tricky columns of steam from the warm, rain-beaten ground...

(a little pic of the cherry-tree from under the brim of my battered umbrella,)

The sound was almost deafening.. there was so much energy in the air, my hair practically stood on-end!

And the scent of it all: the bitumen, growing, blooming, winding, soft earth, frenzy, whisper, lacquered, snipped, mown, left-to-go-feral, stagnant-water, rising into oblivion, clouds, sunlight, dried-then-drenched glory that is Rainy Days!

Our water tanks overflowed (both of them):
>>
As did the guttering>>

...Now, hours later, the rain has relented to little more than a begruding drizzle (a mere shadow of the torrents that dashed our windows earlier today)... And us? ...Why, now we can enjoy the best part of all: The PUDDLES!!

Signing off with an almost childish enthusiasm;

Leah Mae, :D

If you're EVIL & you know it Clap Your Hands!

Happy Hallowe'en everyone! Though we don't tend to celebrate Halowe'en in Australia, sometimes you can't help but get into the spirit.... pardon the pun.... we started with a little pumpkin-carving, fondly nicknaming our pumpkin 'Scarface' because of the scabby grey marks under his evilly winking eye....
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How's this for scary?:

...Jakie contributed by giving the camera his best "I'm going to kill you" face with the pumpkin-carving knife.. if you look close you can see the orange bits in the blade... he makes quite the convincing murderous-psychopath, doesn't he? ...Scared the collywobbles out of Mam when she first saw 'Jake's madman-mug-shot'...

A touch of the occult to weird (or should I say 'Wyrd"?!) things up a bit... Some skillful photo-shop brings out an eerie glow from the crystal, and the symbols luminesce freakishly... it was a joke photo but I like the way it scrubbed up and decided it was worth posting....

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Blood, anyone???:

...Just kidding guys, it's portello cordial, kindergarden strength! makes a reasonably convincing table-centerpiece though- ....Kinda brings back the craving for the edible fake-blood we used in Jekyll & Hyde: Mint flavour! Ah, production memories....! mmm....

*Laughs* Well, whatever you're up to wherever you are in the world, have a great evening; and be on the watch for them boogie-men!!!

Morrigan aruna dei Samhain Sabbat, il'medora! ...translation: HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYONE!

...SidewaysSmileyFace, :)

Leah-Mae.

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Spring into Summer...

It's all too easy to get caught up in the sweet domesticity of home, the subtle changes in where things are stored, displayed; how they're cleaned and maintained, or if it's the wrong season to bother with them at all... the details to be relished in how the knick-knacs inside the house can reflect the transition of the world beyond the garden.
I took the time (Sundial) to wander 'round the dwelling and snap afew things that have changed already....

The dried herbs- no longer needed for hearty winter meals, and would be out-of-sorts in the light summer salads of the warmer days... I'll soon have to store them in jars or something, 'else they'll go to waste..

The piano will be stored in our hallway until Gran can sell it, as there's no room for it in her little nursing home closet- how she must miss it!
Jake seems to have taken a liking to it, and though he can't play, has an ear to it enough to send mournful, rippling tunes echoing over the balcony in the evenings and afternoons; we've offered to organise lessons, but he doesn't appear too keen on the idea....

Our newest chookens, Nugget, Noodle, and Dumpling, have shot up while I wasn't looking... no longer the gawky fledglings I remember from our autumn frenzy to have a new chook-house ready for their arrival, they strut around with the full, glossy feathers and proud expressions of hens who lay more eggs than we can eat, and allow it to get to their vanity more than a tad!...

And finally, to the muddy gumboots stacked neatly by the back door, aside from a (very) highly unlikely late-spring flood (we haven't got our hopes up), they'll languish here until next June, peering expectantly up at us as we pass by in our floppy thongs, wishing for the months when the splashes of creeks and puddles are their pride and joy...

Yes, the hilly surrounds are browning off already, the backyard follwing in suit; and like a tiny marsupial creature, Inspiration is waking my imagination; whispering to me of Sunburn, BBQ's and sparkling sea-salt christmases.

I just LOVE summer... it's so close I can almost smell it!

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Hello, I come from Pyalong (photos)

My Front Gate >

The Creek Ford >

My Glorious Sky (I wake up to this) >

My home town... possibly the most beautiful place it in the world... you've not likely ever heard of it before; but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else... :)

>For the full album, go to: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=2030763&id=1605892446&ref=nf

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Milk, Detergent and Food-Dye....

This is an old pic I wanted to share... it still amazes me how many cool patterns we got from four drops of food-dye and two of Detergent in a saucer of milk, try it! ...Keep Smilin' :)

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