South West Multicultural Festival night under the stars 2016

Last Saturday a huge crowd were treated to the South West Multicultural Festival - a free night of entertainment under the stars at the Bunbury Music Shell.  Many different nationalities came together to celebrate and showcase their cultures through music and dance. 

This event has been a highlight of the region’s calendar since 2005 and again this year we enjoyed a vibrant evening of entertainment which included guest artists from Perth as well as local groups.  A barmy summer night, the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Events were held during the day included tai-chi, cooking demonstrations, craft displays, fashion parade, sport, talks, and stalls. People were also treated to fabulous tastes through the Food Truck Safari. 

Exploring your creative side in retirement

Retirement years are a wonderful opportunity to explore pursuits that you didn’t have time for when you were working.  There are so many avenues out there for taking up new hobbies, exploring your creative side, volunteering, learning a new skill, enrolling in higher education, going to workshops or just getting out there exploring.  With so much on offer there shouldn't be any time sitting at home with nothing to do. Just get our there!  Even if you live in an isolated area far from services there are many courses on offer via the internet or by correspondence that you could try.

In January I attended a number of summer school workshops with the Bunbury Summer School program at the Stirling Street Arts Centre. I wanted to explore a few new artistic genres and I found that the Bunbury Summer School was a wonderful way to do that. There were so many short workshops on offer that I actually had a hard time narrowing down what I wanted to try.

To find out about the Stirling Street Arts Centre and Summer School, please go to their website by clicking here - Stirling Street Arts Centre.

The life of women in Australia's past

Last Monday, cooking grape jam on a blistering 40 degree Celsius day, over a hot stove, but with my air-conditioner running, my thoughts and memories went back to my mother cooking grape jam on a wood stove in a wood and fibro house in over 100 degree Fahrenheit heat with no cooling, and before that my grandmother bringing up eight children in a tin shack out at Bilbarin in the Western Australian wheatbelt, and her mother before that in the 1800s in Jeparit in Victoria. They certainly didn't have the luxury of an air-conditioner or even a fan!  

My maternal grandmother and grandfather, May and John Jackson, were married in 1912 in Narrogin. In 1919 my grandfather moved the family, by this time including five children, from their comfortable home in Narrogin and went out bush as he wanted to "make a go of it" at farming.

"Their first temporary home was tents set up on a rabbit warren where the ground was hard and bare, making good flooring. A small home was soon built, typical of the bush homes of those days – bush timber, corrugated iron roof and walls, lined with bags split open and white washed, and with an earthen floor." You can see some of the house in this picture above. The smaller child is my mother. 

Summer days

We are in the middle of a heat wave here in the south west of Western Australia - average temperatures 36-40 degrees Celsius.  My computer doesn't want to play today (maybe it has decided that 40 degrees Celsius is far too hot to work in - I tend to agree), so for this week I am just posting some recent cooling water photos from along our estuary.

Denmark, Western Australia - Where the forest meets the sea

Hi everyone. We have just returned from our yearly few days visiting my Aunt in Denmark on Western Australia's south coast. Denmark would have to be one of my most favourite spots in Western Australia.  

I have blogged about Denmark before - 
Denmark & Walpole wilderness 
Denmark, where the forest meets the sea 
Denmark weekend 

So for today, just a few photos to take you back there. 

It was misty raining for the few days we were there. Below is a photo of the karri forest in misty rain along the Denmark River. I've blurred the image by moving the camera when I took the shot. Do you like the effect?

Denmark is nestled in the towering karri forests which literally come down to the sea or at least the inlet edge. You can see the karri trees below along the Denmark river which flows through the town of Denmark, then into Wilson Inlet, and then beyond to the Southern Ocean. Such a gorgeous setting. We saw a team training in a dragon boat on the river. Yes it was raining, but I don't mind walking in the misty rain as long as I have my rain jacket and a hat and my camera doesn't get too wet!

 You may get a bit of a sense of the height of the karri trees in the images below. Still raining! We always joked that it always rains in Denmark whatever the season. They have had water restrictions this summer so the rain is welcome.

The karri trees constantly shed their bark in sheets. 

There is plenty to do in Denmark - beautiful beaches with clear blue water (I recommend Greens Pool at William Bay - you can see it below), walk trails, mountains to climb (Mt Lindesay 9km return to the summit) and wineries, restaurants, produce outlets, galleries and artisans to visit.  

About 12 kilometres out of town along Scotsdale Road is the Harewood Forest Walk. This beautiful 1.2km return walk (allow 40 minutes) winds upstream through karri regrowth forest. You can see the start of it below left.

This scene was taken over Wilson Inlet just down from our hotel. There were lots of pelicans, black swans and other water birds gliding over the water or feeding.

And below taken on a better morning from a previous trip. Or perhaps I just got up earlier to watch the sun kiss the paperbark trees lining the Inlet.

Denmark attracts artisans and you can't help be inspired when you visit the galleries.
While we were there I "discovered" Meleah Farrell -Meleah.Farrell.Abstract.Photographer.
I am in love with her work, so I hope you will take a moment to click on the link to go to her Facebook page or blog to see her work.

Meleah says: "With my photography I like to see the ‘special’ in the ‘everyday’. I like experimenting using unconventional photographic techniques. All my images are created ‘in-camera’ with little or no manipulation in Photoshop. I try to create a photograph to be, for me, an abstract form of expression, and for the viewer, something that challenges their perceptions and expectations of the world around them."

And below a quote I saw in Denmark over an image I took of Canna Lilys in my Aunt's garden. I was inspired by Meleah to take this photo and the one at the top of this post of the karri trees by the river. I hope it encourages you to imagine what could be.

Q Where does the name Denmark come from?
A The first European explorer to this area (1829), Dr Thomas Wilson, named the Denmark River after his mentor and friend, Dr Alexander Denmark, a Royal Naval Surgeon.

To find out more about Denmark please go to the Denmark VIsitor Centre website by clicking here - Denmark, Western Australia
 
Only a short post today but thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday
Travel Photo Mondays
Lifestyle Fifty Monday Linkup 
Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Worth Casing Wednesday
What's It Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday
The Weekly Postcard

Australia Day & Re-Discover Street Art 2016

A couple of weeks ago Bunbury's  streets were buzzing with artists and people out to see the new Re-Discover 2016 street art. This is the third year for Re-Discover, an initiative creative director, Andrew Fraser, of the Bunbury based artist run group Six Two Three Zero which "seeks to use street art as a catalyst for urban development and social change by bringing communities together in conversation and creative inspiration." 

I blogged about 2015's Re-Discover last January here - Bunbury Street Art and I was keen to see what the local, national and international artists were bringing to our streets, laneways and buildings this year.

2016 Reading challenge

I recently came across this 2016 reading challenge through Facebook. It came along various paths from its original creator Anne - Modern Mrs Darcy - over on her blog at Modernmrsdarcy.

It is an interesting list so I've decided to give it a go and have already earmarked a few books for my challenge.

I've already ticked off my first book recommended by my sister -  In Love and War by Liz Byrski published in Western Australia by  Fremantle Press in 2015.  Please click on the links to read more. 

  




Liz's personal memories and experiences as a young child in the final years of World War 2 in the English country town of East Grinstead, and her trip in 2007 to find the England of her youth, are interwoven with the stories and memories of "The Guineas Pigs"  and their nurses. Cronically burned airmen were brought to the East Grinstead hospital where Archibald McIndoe rebuilt their faces, hands and bodies while the nurses and townspeople helped rebuild their self-esteem and lives. In the process of walking familiar paths, interviewing airmen and nurses and writing the book Liz made peace with her memories and banished some of her own personal ghosts.

Western Australia is burning

It is the summer fire season in Australia and there are devastating bush-fires raging over Western Australia in the Waroona-Yarloop-Harvey area south of Perth and near Esperance on our south coast (Esperance update pm Sunday - has now been downgraded to Watch & Act).

 The bushfire in the Waroona-Yarloop-Harvey area was started by a lightning strike and  even though  the bushfire is over 60kms from where I live I have felt paralysed the last few days thinking about the two men who died in their homes, the infrastructure and over 100 homes destroyed, over 72 thousand hectares of farmland and bushland that has been destroyed, the farm animals that may have been lost, and the wild animals that have lost their lives in the fire. 

Digital swirling

2016 already. I wish you all health, peace, happiness, and inspiration in whatever path you follow in 2016.
 Today a little fun to experiment with over the summer (or winter) holidays.

In 2009 I completed an on-line digital photography course with University of WA extension Ed2Go. 

I don't usually play around too much with Photoshop on my images other than a bit of cropping, or cloning out imperfections (though I must say I am doing a bit more now than in 2009...), but the teacher shared this really neat tool which changes your images into what I can see as gorgeous swirling glass balls.

You can see here my original photo, the Australian Native Cornflower, Brunonia australis, and the swirled image below. Stunning isn't it? 

 







The Native Cornflower is one of my favourite wildflowers. It is widespread over Australia. Here is a link - Atlas of Living Australia - Brunonia australis
Here is a pic of it in the wild, taken at Jibberding Reserve along the Great Northern Highway north of Wubin in Western Australia.
  

2015 - the year that was

I really wondered about what to post today - and then thought - why not the year that was.  So here it is - just a few memories in pictures with links to where I blogged about them. I was given redundancy -"accepted early retirement" in April, and my life has certainly had a few changes not going to a "paid" job every day.  Just as well I think because I never would have been able to fit all this in! 

Below are some of my travels from 2015.  You can see some of my published work from this year here - Published work

 January 2015  - St Werburghs Chapel, Mt Barker