I’m going for a procedure this morning, a bronchoscopy, an examination of my lungs. Hopefully they’ll have some good results for me, and I’m able to go home soon, so I can tend to my Day Lily.
The two video’s below, are with my Phone, a Samsung Galaxy S 5. Hopefully the cyberspace mail-man delivers them intact. The first video below, is of Amie recited Leonard Cohen’s poem, “Ballard of the Absent Mare”
The second video below, is of Amie, singing, “Leaving The Table”, sorry but you may have to turn the volume up.
A few days ago(29th Nov 2017), I had started writing a poem about Penny Farthing Bicycles, prompted by an article in the Geelong Advertiser newspaper, the arrival in Geelong of eight members of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in March 1880, as per featured picture above, courtesy of the Geelong Heritage Centre Collection. Then I was chatting with my friend Jane of Janebasilblog, she had just sent me the song and lyrics of the Mary Hopkin hit, “Those Were The Days”, from 1968, and I mentioned The Kinks were one of my fav’s from that era, and of course their song “Lola”. After our chat, I starting thinking [which is dangerous for me] about writing a crazy, combined, mixed up poem… The piece below is the result of those thoughts, and to my older readers, you’ll notice all the phrases written in Italic, are song titles taken from The Kinks album “The Kinks Collection”. So apologies to Ray Davies for using his song titles in such a manner. And thank you to Jane for providing me with the inspiration to actually write these jumbled up words. ** And now today(8th Nov 2018), this poem has been edited, and re-posted, as a response to CalmKate’s Friday Foto Fun – Wheels Or Circles.
Featured Image: Above: Martin, father of Finn, Niamh and Tia.
Yesterday !! was a PJ’s day, today was another day. Sunday has been an Aussie barbecue, get together day, that I happily, was fortunate to be a part of. Please enjoy the photos, and soak up some of the afternoon’s atmosphere in the video links, oh gee, I hope they work. My friend Terry on the guitar, and Tom on the fiddle(the father of the gorgeous 6 month old baby girl, Eva, who is being fed during the video) and we are celebrating the occasion of Martin’s daughter, Tia, visiting from England, with her son Charlie and partner Jamie. A wonderful gathering of family and friends. I’m so hoping the videos work. ……….. Please let me know, they’re just videos off my phone that I transferred here via Google media, and I had no idea how to transpose them here………
Above & Below: Terry and Tom player a couple of traditional Irish songs.
Below: Terry singing a great Redgum classic song, Diamantina Drover
Photos Below: Top Left, Tom and his daughter Eva, Top Right, Terry and Martin’s daughter Niamh , Bottom, Martin, baby Eva, and that dog Monty licking Ava’s fingers
I’m Doggie minding again. This time I’m looking after the gorgeous Monty, for friends Martin and Jacqui. He’s a bundle of joy, no trouble and a pleasure to have here.
Whilst in Beijing we visited the Hutong and Shichahai historic scenic area. Hutong has a double meaning. Originally, a hutong is a type of narrow-alley. In Beijing, hutong alleys are formed by lines of Siheyuan, old Beijing residences, called courtyard or quad houses in English. Thus, hutong also refers to the neighbourhood formed by lines of Siheyuan houses. So Hutong was the place we experienced the old authentic Beijing culture, and the Shichahai Scenic Area is where the old Chinese culture was most featured. It is located in the west of old Beijing and used to be part of the old Grand Canal of the Yuan Dynasty 600 years ago. Willows line the river bank, like a misty green curtain. The lake shore line is packed with people chatting, drinking, shopping and generally relaxing. From here we had a rickshaw ride through the narrow alleys of the old area. We dismounted our rickshaws and walked down even narrower alleys to eventually enter a single doorway that lead into a small private courtyard. This was a typical family home of the area, where the home family entertained us, with the lady of the house playing a 400 year-old Guzheng Chinese Zither. After which we all sat inside to enjoy an excellent traditional home-style Chinese meal(and a few Chinese beers). For me, this being allowed to share an evening in the home of a Chinese family, was one of the highlights of the tour. The house itself was over 500 years old, and I felt very privileged and honoured to be one of the family’s guests.
Above: The scenic Shichahai area of old west Beijing
Above: Part of our rickshaw ride, from the lake past gardens and former ministers residences.
Above: Ivor and Barb, (my travel companion), in a rickshaw, and then in the private courtyard of the Chinese family home, where we were entertained and had a home-cooked Chinese meal.
There was 36 of us, who all met up at Beijing airport for the first time. As the days of the tour went by we became a very happy and friendly “Australia Mob”, lots of fun and laughter together, and the comradeship of looking after each other, and making sure none of us were lost or feeling alone, was truly heartwarming. The above featured image, is of the whole crew at Tiananmen Square, on the first day of our trip.
Above, the crew at the Great Wall Of China, the Buddhist Temple, and bottom right photo, at a cafe/bar in Shanghai.
Above, on the left, myself with Barbara, my travel companion and a dear friend for many years (yes, we’re just friends), and on our canal cruise of Suzhou.
A Single Atom
I see a shooting star, traverse the full-moon
Like a jungle bush-fire, raging out of sight.
I feel the heat of midday, smothering the night.
Like a warm body, inside her tomb.
I see the dawn, without the golden sun.
Like a Lyrebird, singing all out of tune.
I hear the morning rain, without a cloud in the sky.
Like yesterday’s floods, leaving her high and dry.
I see a sandy beach, awash by a tidal wave.
Like a burning desert, water is her grave.
I fill lonely sheets, with empty dreams.
Like a dark chasm’s irrelevant beams.
I see a summer leaf, wilted by a frosty Autumn.
Like an unwatered orchid, opening to an old anthem.
I feel like a splintered heart, inside a single atom.
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 