Category Archives: Nature and Environment

Georgette Gerdes: Camellia

pink ‘n prettywith your delicate petalsso exactsymmetricalflouncing with the morning dewyou bask in the sun or dappled shadeoh how you tease Madam Japanese princesshow I have worshipped yousung your praisesgiven you wateryet you deny me brown buds ladyit ain’t fair yet a single bloomin all these months is worth the wait

Don Sinnott: Houseboat Holiday

It ticked all our boxes: an indulgent few days on a luxury Murray River houseboat, with guided walks each day over sections of the cliffs and floodplain, restaurant-quality meals and a comfortable bed. We found ourselves a generation removed from the other seven guests (and two generations from the two guides and the boat manager)Continue reading “Don Sinnott: Houseboat Holiday”

Don Sinnott: Recollections of the Heysen Trail, South Australia

We’re loggers. Not the timber-cutting kind, but the kind who log their notable events in a journal. For years we’ve recorded recollections of journeys that bring a warm inner glow, peaks of joy and depths of gloom. We don’t intend to have others read our journals—although perhaps a later generation might skim them after we’veContinue reading “Don Sinnott: Recollections of the Heysen Trail, South Australia”

Georgette Gerdes: ‘It’s not easy bein’ green’

  – a homage to Kermit the frog ‘Its not easy bein’ green’ Kermit sings with skinny limbs and felty fingers strumming the god given banjo he says it’s boring blending in with things chlorophyll leaves grass vegetables mountains of green the greenback lucky green green with envy green behind the ears green when you’reContinue reading “Georgette Gerdes: ‘It’s not easy bein’ green’”

Lawrie Stanford: Fire Alarm

‘No, you won’t!’ Mary’s outburst was angry and insistent. ‘You’ve spent so little time with me and the kids because of your bloody devotion to work. The kids are on holidays and I’ve hired this beach shack, so you’ll damn-well stay with us.’ That was it, Mary’s outburst was compelling and there was no wayContinue reading “Lawrie Stanford: Fire Alarm”

Georgette Gerdes: Island Life

caught she wants to fly far, across the horizon to the island the island of safety hurt no more the logs flatten on fractured wings struggling in dirt pain, hot scorching beak open no sound gagged by distress gasping struggling to survive squashed helpless, ignored, discarded expendable but the Island is beautiful soft breezes turquoiseContinue reading “Georgette Gerdes: Island Life”

Georgette Gerdes: The Culprit (Plumbers’ Dream cont.)

He stands proudly, gnarled, twisted, whispering in the breeze. He’s been here for one hundred years or more. He’s steadfast, strong and rather unattractive. My late mother would say how much she hated him. His red needles would drop all over her grass and the brick patio. Annoying sweepings required. He extends and thrives. HisContinue reading “Georgette Gerdes: The Culprit (Plumbers’ Dream cont.)”

David Hope: What is it About Deserts

The desert passes by the car window.  People seem to think a desert is a sterile, barren place; an unending vista of not much, stretching to infinity. Yet, what is passing by, is an everchanging scene.   There is a straggle of undersized trees meandering across the land, marking a watercourse. Strangely, there is a sandContinue reading “David Hope: What is it About Deserts”

Don Sinnott: Walkers Follow Ridge

Today’s start point for our walk is near Woolshed Flat, a whistle stop on the Pichi Richi rail line, halfway along the pass between Quorn and Port Augusta. A road, now badged the southern section of the Flinders Ranges Way, shares the pass with the rail line and crosses it at several points. Whether youContinue reading “Don Sinnott: Walkers Follow Ridge”

Don Sinnott: House Hunting

They were rosellas. No doubt about it—dead ringers of those on the sauce bottle. The brilliant birds appeared in our yard a few weeks ago, paired off for the breeding season. But surely it’s still winter, the sap has yet to rise, avian ardour must lie dormant. Yet there they were, a devoted couple, clearlyContinue reading “Don Sinnott: House Hunting”

Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Part 5

I have a philosophy when it comes to trees and global warming. My position is that if you drive a car, you plant trees to offset your carbon miles. As a result, I proselytize; annoying a number of people but feel I have a responsibility, no matter what. My friends will tell you I’m tangential;Continue reading “Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Part 5”

Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Parts 3 and 4

Murder Another year and I still hadn’t learnt about scraps composting through the garden. The pumpkin seeds had generated again, and another group of vines spread through the front. At first it was water conservation and I ignored them but, with finding the first Butternut, a new plan emerged. I began watering in earnest. TheContinue reading “Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Parts 3 and 4”

Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Parts 1 and 2

The Garden I like to think of myself as a perma-culturist, a euphemism for a haphazard gardener. I’m the kind of person that if I eat something with seeds inside, I save the seeds. I’ve had peaches, nectarines, pomegranates, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers the list goes on. But, like any fertilized seed, what you get isContinue reading “Edie Eicas: Gardening Tales – Parts 1 and 2”