I have become angry with the state of the world and the trivialisation of our parliamentary processes; the lack of compassion in our elected representatives for the less fortunate in this world as exemplified by their response to the public outrage over the mistreatment of animals. Refugees,are, like the rest of human-kind, animals too – a fact they seem to have forgotten. I am angry that the prospect of climate change, caused by natural or man-made processes is of less concern to them than playing to the lowest common denominator – that which allows them to hang onto power. It is a joke hanging onto power by whatever means when you corrupt your core values and principles in the process.

I don’t want the precious Flea part of my life contaminated by these feelings. In future, I shall express my feelings of anger and disappointment directly to the people involved. So, it is goodbye to this blog. Thank you for your comments over the years.

PS – Mr Fricative – I understand now how you felt.

Why does the plight of animals attract this expression of outrage and subsequent action, when the plight of refugees seeking asylum in Australia fails to evoke the same response?

Reading the letters to the editor in the Herald this morning, the hypocrisy and irony were glaringly obvious. Why is locking up people for indeterminate periods, sometimes years, without recourse to the Australian judicial system any better than the cruelty perpetrated on animals going to slaughter? Try reading the relevant parts of those letters, substituting “refugees” for “cows” etc – it should make you think.

Why is it not cruel to keep children in captivity for long periods of time? Why did the government promise that this would not be the case, when there was apparently little intention to ease the situation? Does no one care?

Why is it cruel to let an animal watch its fellow creatures being slaughtered when it is apparently acceptable to allow people in detention watch their fellow detainees self harm and commit suicide? Why is that not cruel? Do the cries for help from human beings mean less than the anguished noises of other suffering animals?

Why, when the medical profession is calling Australia’s current detention practices a breeding ground for mental illness, are those practices allowed to continue? Are politicians more knowledgable about mental health issues? Don’t make me laugh.

Why are there calls for animal processing to be carried out on Australian shores when it is acceptable to ship refugees off to Malaysia, a country which is not a signatory to the UN convention on the treatment of refugees and a country which has an appalling human rights record? Why is that acceptable?

Perhaps it is felt that refugees had a choice while the cows did not – after all, if they didn’t try to come to Australia by boat, they wouldn’t be locked up. The reality is the choices they have are no choice at all – remain in their home countries and face inhumane treatment, persecution and perhaps death – or remain in terrible conditions in one of the many refugee camps around the world. If it’s such a good option, why do they embark with their families on unseaworthy boats with an unknown chance of reaching the Australian coast alive. Only the desperate would undertake such a voyage.

Think about it.

I am concerned about the future of this planet, as are many of my friends. Some politicians are concerned about the future of this planet and some politicians choose to ignore their own concerns in the chase for power. The current public dissent within the opposition’s ranks I hope is not only a sign that the thinking members of the Liberal Party are feeling uncomfortable with the strategies adopted by their leader, but a small glimmer of hope that they will stand up and be counted also – hypocrisy can be a very uncomfortable place to live.

The argument that we can’t be the first to adopt this measure would be laughable even if it were a true. I have no doubt that cyclical changes in the world’s climate exist – the science shows this. But in the absence of a cataclysmic event to account for the current changes, and the opinion of a so very many respected scientists around the world, it is unbelievable that the very people entrusted to ensure the wellbeing of our country now and for the future, persist in denying that action is necessary NOW. Many of us thought it was necessary years ago but as always, despite the rhetoric thrown around at election time, pragmatism, the unwillingness to upset the big end of town and the desire for power win every time – except in the case of our Kevin ’07 who discovered that failure to act on his moral impulses lost him the support of the very people who voted him in and subsequently the golden crown.

The release of the latest “rich list” topped by Gina Rheinhardt and other mining interests makes a farce of the threats from the mining sector that they would have to close many of their operations down when a super profits tax was proposed. Our Julia went to water on that one. Let’s hope she maintains her stance on carbon pricing.

There is no doubt that we will all have to pay in many ways to protect our world for future generations – if it is not too late already. We will need to ensure that the least able in our society are looked after – for the rest of us, we who are older, and our children have a much, much better life than most of our parents’ generation. It won’t hurt us to watch our pennies for a change.

Read Ross Gittens’ article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald – you might learn something about climate change and what thinking people feel about your attitudes and behaviour in that policy area. Just give the poor electorate a break from your constant, grinding negativity.

The Greens are looking better everyday.

Three fungi - big to little

The biggest - about 10" across.

A view of the underneath - not much of a photo, but I love it.

Now for the middle-sized one:

Again the lantana to provide some perspective.

Top view - isn't it beautiful.

The beautiful baby with its small scales still showing.

Magic!

Also quite a few goannas and scaly back lizards (no photos of those).

These yellow footed rock wallabies were put on the endangered species list a few years ago, but again, the wet weather and the resultant prolific growth of the native plants has seen their numbers increase recently. These wallabies are so well camouflaged amongst the rocks that they are hard to see unless they move. They have a distinctive striped tail – only just visible here. If you look hard you can see that this is a female with a pouch – I can’t see the little one though.

Well, off again tomorrow but locally this time. be back soon.

There’ll be more on our outback adventure later – in the meantime, the sunsets yesterday reminded me of some photos I took recently of the sunlight and shadow before a recent storm at home.


I’ve spent a large part of today trying to reduce my email inbox to a manageable size. I had something like 200 emails that I hadn’t opened, let alone read – courtesy of my fatal predilection to sign up for every newsletter around, and the subsequent sale, I assume, of my email address to various places I’d rather not know about. Bouncing unwanted emails only seems to encourage them. So, I now have many folders full of emails to read at some point in the future – who am I kidding? And my inbox contains only a couple of unread emails that I’ve sent to myself from Grandpa Flea’s inbox. In the process, I managed to send off a few emails that needed to be done. I only have another dozen or so to do

I’ve also had a mad rush of energy trying to get some things done in anticipation of several weeks coming up when I’ll be severely handicapped in my ability to undertake strenuous activity – so I’ve been lugging large bags of manure and potting mix up from the garage to try to build up the soil in our courtyard gardens. I’d love to know where it goes, but the level seems to be lower each day, no matter how much extra I add.

Washing was another item on the agenda – oh my life is so exciting. Fortunately I got some dry before the rain came down. Now I have to iron it …… We go away again on Tuesday for 3 days so I think I’ll be playing catch-up in the laundry for a while.

Over the last three years we have been away a lot, but it never seems to make the blog. But this time, it has – I’ve been off the air because I’ve been outback – and to a much lesser extent in the air. We set out with some adventurous members of the local PROBUS club to visit lake Eyre and the Corner Country. First, the 14 hour train trip to Broken Hill which was surprisingly comfortable although the food bore an uncanny resemblance to airline food – but what the heck – that’s what the joys and memories of holidays are all about – the unexpected. And we had the unexpected!

We travelled with a company called Fringe of the Desert Tours and they used another company called Outback Experience Tours. On our first day out of Broken Hill we spent most of the day bogged up to the axles in mud – shades of my childhood. We used to travel in outback NSW with my father and I well remember dad getting rather excited because Mum revved the engine too much, splattering him with mud or sand, while he was trying to get a plank under the bogged wheel. In those days there were no mobile phones, satellite phones or two-way radios, no car fridges. We had a canvas bag of water hanging off the bumper bar at the front and that was the coolest you got. If you couldn’t get out of trouble, you just had to wait for someone to come along and offer to help – which everyone did. But it might be hours before that happened.

Ooops! The ground's a bit soft ....

Ooops! from the outside.

Deeper. ever deeper ...

Typical of country communities, the hotel owners had stayed up until the bus arrived to provide meals. Fortunately, for everyone, only a snack was needed.

In one of the waiting periods between getting fresh supplies of chains, Jingo, Dick and Simon, our drivers/guides had built a fire and produced a barbecue meal which they ate while the sun set.

Magic.

Last Saturday, Grandpa Flea and I celebrated our survival of 45 years of marriage. Not always easy as we traversed the ups and downs of married life, raised three children to adulthood, coped with numerous dogs, goldfish, guinea pigs, a cat, a ratty partially feathered rainbow lorikeet that couldn’t fly, a baby rabbit and a budgerigar along the way. We buried numerous of those pets in our backyard, complete with tears – we even had a funeral and buried “Miss Mousie”, a dead rat that the cat deposited on the front door mat much to the distress of the smallest member of our family – nothing would convince her that it was a RAT, so commonsense prevailed and we did the right thing. We lost and buried my grandmother, our four parents and any number of other relatives and friends in that time. We worked and studied. Did the Brownies, Guides, Ranger Guides, Cubs, Scouts, Venturer and Rover thing with much involvement in all the associated parent activities – to the point that Grandpa Flea was pinned as a “Friend of the Girl Guides”. We did likewise with the preschool and schools – sat on committees, did tuckshops, working bees. Mothers Club and P&Cs, raised funds, accompanied classes on excursions, sat through school plays, swimming and sports carnivals, helped with homework, managed netball teams and aged rapidly during the teenage years. We even transported one daughter to Girls’ Brigade at the local church despite our better judgement. And here we are, 45 years later, with three responsible adult children and five beautiful grandchildren and step grandchildren.

I have never seen her so consistently happy in all her life, yet she can’t marry because her partner is another woman.

What more can I add? Our Prime Minister, in her ignorance or political expediency, has said that she doesn’t support same sex marriage. Many others feel the same way. All I can say and keep saying is that we love our three children and fail to see why one is denied a right that the other two have. Australia has a secular system of government – or should have – and our Government should support the system that is used in many parts of the world – all marriages, regardless of the sexuality of the people involved, must be preceded by a civil ceremony which deems the “legality” of the relationship (I can’t quite find the words to express what I mean). This would entitle all people the same legal rights in this matter.

For many people, regardless of their sexuality, this would be enough. Very many marriages today are conducted by civil celebrants without any reference to God or the Bible, except for the part required by law referring to marriage as a ?sacred union between a man and a woman.

A “marriage ceremony” in a church for those same sex couples who wish to have their union sanctified because of their faith, then becomes a separate battle to be fought within the confines of their religious beliefs. The battles within the churches for the ordination of women show that change can occur – albeit slowly – but change won’t occur unless the existing mores are challenged.

One day, we will look back and realise that denying all people the same legal rights in this matter, is really no different from the shameful period in our history when Aboriginal people were denied the right to vote. Each involves discriminating on the basis of perceived difference.