One of my favourite poems as a teenager in high school was this one by TS Eliot. The words easily conjure up the pictures in my mind. See if you can see the pictures too.
Prelude
The winter evening settles down With smells of steaks in passageways. Six o'clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots; And at the corner of the street A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. And then the lighting of the lamps.
I can't bring you images of gusty showers, chimney-pots, and lonely cab-horses, but I can bring you withered leaves and a few images from my winter garden.
We have just returned in the last few days from our latest camping trip through Western Australia's midwest.
We stayed for a few days at a river front bush campsite at Wooleen Station just south of the Murchison Settlement, 690kms north east of our capital city Perth.
We had heard about Wooleen when we travelled through Murchison last year, and were keen to experience their station stay. Covering over a quarter of a million acres of picturesque outback,
Wooleen Station is a cattle station that is playing a leading role in
preserving and sustaining the unique ecology of the region.
Located in mulga shrub land, Wooleen Station was founded in 1886 when James Sharpe bought the lease of about 90,000 acres. The Pollock family bought the lease of the property in 1989 and is today managed by David Pollock and his partner Frances Jones.
As well as cattle grazing, David and Frances run an eco-tourism business on their property.
We loved the private
river frontage bush camping on the Murchison River at Wooleen
Station with absolute quiet and a million stars
overhead at night.
There are 4 riverside campsites - Bagaa (white-faced heron), Birdiny (water chooky). Gurulhu (Black swan) and Warrbi (fish). Below are two pics of our camp with views over the Murchison River. Gurulhu means "Black Swan" in the local indigenous dialect.
I have just finished reading "The Flower Hunter - the remarkable life of Ellis Rowan" by Christine & Michael Morton-Evans published by the National Library of Australia.
It is indeed a fascinating read about the life and times of Ellis Rowan - an intrepid woman adventurer and wildflower painter 1848-1922.During her lifetime she painted over 3000 works, not only wildflowers across Australia but also New Zealand, New Guinea and America, and included 45 of the 52 known species of New Guinea's birds of paradise.
Today Ellis's work is largely forgotten. The Australian National Library in Canberra has the largest collection of her works - 970 paintings, mainly watercolours.
The book, The Flower Hunter, was recommended to me by my friend who is a "florist" extraordinaire. Actually to say "florist" is not enough to describe the beautiful floral art she does, exhibits and teaches. Flowers are her life!
