Ephemeral Works of Art

I have been meaning to put this photo up since 'Belongum' shared his son's picasso artwork. This 'Belongum' is my 13 year old daughters handiwork. The beast decided she was sick so spent the day in bed while I went to work. Her Uncle was also home from work and taking a nap. The beast was a tad bored, hence the artwork. Later in the morning she retreated back to bed. Her Uncle rising after she had gone to rest her weary head, wandered into the kitchen to get some breakfast. After the shock, bemusement and laughter wore off he decided he couldn't eat the eggs and sent me this pic via his phone.

The moral of this story 'Belongum' is that the true artist continues to draw, paint or create whenever the opportunity arises, and it is ongoing. This is not the first piece of artwork by the beast. She has many many more ephemeral works that have not survived the test of time, but the memories live on. 

Not to mention me washing walls etc etc etc to remove her handiwork on departure of the building.

Here's to the artist, may they grow in number for without them life would be boring!

Life is good.

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Today I was given a beautiful copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Khayyam is a 12th century poet from Persia, among other things. Actually he was a scholar who wrote the odd piece of poetry, however I think his quatrains are snippets of philosophical thought. 

The timing is perfect and it makes me realise how lucky I am to have divine guidance, not to mention some very special people who love me and know me well. The past couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster and I was beginning to ask the question 'what's the point?' Then out of nowhere comes this fantastically beautiful book of quatrains that is the perfect response to my emotional inability to focus lately. 

Incredible the powers of the universe. When you least expect it you are shown the way. The book is full of the philosophy of life but there is one quatrain in particular that I would like to share with you. It is a tribute to my Uncle.

With them the seed of wisdom

did I sow,

And with my own hand labour'd

it to grow:

And this was all the harvest

that I reaped,

I came like water; and like

wind I go.

How beautiful is that and I have to say it is exactly what I had been searching for to honour my uncle's life.

I am truly blessed.

Life is good.

Moments Alone

Recently my Uncle passed away. He was in his early 60's. He had a stroke and then took 5 days to pass away. There was nothing that the doctors could do for him as his body was riddled with blood clots. I think about him a lot and I am having the most profound thoughts. My emotions are numb and I cannot seem to focus on anything. I am writing this because the funeral is tomorrow and I have no words to describe my sadness. I have not been able to express how I feel.

My Uncle was one of the nicest people I have ever met and I have found myself spending many moments thinking how lucky my cousins where to have him for a father. He was or I should say is a great father and a wonderful grandfather. He was so proud of his children and his grandchildren. My Uncle was divorced, so that means he may not have been such a good husband. However, nobody is perfect and relationships of the romantic kind require skill, depth and stamina. Despite this my Uncle never failed to amaze me. I loved his kindness and his gentleness and I admired his courage. 

I have a fabulous photograph of my Uncle with a couple of his brothers and some of his cousins. It was taken in the 1950's and all of the young men looked like James Dean. I laughed when I unearthed this treasured photograph from one of my mothers boxes of trinkets. They all looked like rebels. In my excitement I showed the photograph to my Uncle. He didn't smile. He looked at it with sadness in his eyes and he pointed out the ones that were alive. There were only two. The rest had passed away. The sadness I felt at that moment is indescribable. And it brought home the awareness of the Aboriginal statistics of early deaths of our men. The statistics put out by the ABS state that 75% of Aboriginal men die before the age of 65. My Uncle is a statistic. 

I think about this statistic and it makes me wonder when there will just be me. You see I have three brothers and one has already passed away at the age of 48. He too is a statistic. I don't like the statistic but I do not know what to do about it. 

I think about 'bridging the gap'? What is that? What does it mean? How will it help? I am confused because the reality is more and more men I know are passing away at an early age, so unless we 'bridge the gap' now we won't be able to save the lives of those we love. 

In aboriginal culture there is a belief that goes something like this: 'if we don't take care of the land then the land will not take care of us'. I think about this and I wonder if this is the reason why our men are dying young? It is complex, this thought.

I have no answers and my heart bleeds from loss. I am in pain and I feel numb. I have no words to express the way that I feel, except to say 'how unfair'.

Words fumble from my mouth, dissolving in mid air. I have tried to put together a remembrance of a man whom I loved, yet my words do not do justice to who he was. 

I have no words............ someone said that you cannot share grief? 

Life is good but sometimes you have to live moments alone!

The Beauty of Nature

Isn't it wonderful when you finally get back to nature. Studying has been intense and time consuming, however I took time out over my four day break for some well earned R & R. Finally went for a paddle on the Swan and look what I found. 

This little beauty was sitting on a branch that is growing out over the river. I could touch it as I paddled past.

And this is why it's called The Swan River, grace and beauty.

Now this is interesting! It is paper bark. Do you see the image in the bottom left hand corner? Nature's work of art. 

Knotted trees. These tell stories all of their own, all you have to do is visualise and then use your imagination. I think this one is a tree of children.


All this elegance and beauty in one day. A true work of art. 


I feel privileged to have witnessed the gifts of nature and all I did was put the Kayak in the river and paddled up stream.


So, enjoy your days, go outside often, take a casual walk, or paddle your way up stream in a kayak, and you will find the most breath taking, charming, elegant and fascinating works of art created by the one and only master painter, NATURE itself!


And you thought I was going to say God...lol


Life is good.