dog at play

hound bolts

summer subway fun

what chaos

Unless your reading of Japanese is excellent I shall explain this story. Back in 2002 my little sister in Nara Japan emailed me this article with an English translation. It seems that on a summers day in August a person was walking their Afghan Hound near Osaka station in central Osaka during early morning peak hour, (I would never do that having been there and experienced the noise and activity). 

Anyway, the hound broke loose from the walker and took off into the crowd and apparently entered the main entrance of Osaka Station. Accounts of what happened next are varied and bizarre, however the dog found its way down into one of the many subways running beneath the central station, leapt off a platform and took off up the tunnel. Fortunately for the dog a very efficient emergency lock down system was immediately activated. ( I will not explain why the Japanese have such systems but if interested you can find out)

At some point during the next half hour the dogs exploration of the subway system ended when it emerged up onto a platform at another station and merged with a very packed waiting group of stranded passengers.

Police arrested the dog and escorted it to a police station. Meanwhile the entire railway network of central Osaka was halted and took some time to restart.

The cost of this activity was several million Yen as chaos reigned across the city for hours, and apparently the instigator of interruptions to the subway system are charged for the cost. The dog’s beloved could not be traced and for obvious financial reasons the owner never turned up to be re-united with the poor pooch.

Having an Afghan Kara living with us at the timeI felt for the dog knowing what lovely and adventurous dogs they are and what a nightmare unfolds when they escape into suburbia, believe me its scary. Also the experience would have traumatised the lovely hound. Anyway our Afghan Kara was a special guest on the website of an Afghan Hound living in Osaka. We contacted them to find out the destiny of this dog and were kept informed across the following days.

Apparently the dog became famous across the country with Afghan Hound lovers leading the call to save it and  eventually the disruption costs were withdrawn by the police. Offers to house it came from across Japan and abroad and eventually the dog was resettled. My little sister suggested hopefully it may have been the original owner, I hoped so too.

This is my co-contribution to  RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 103 Summer & Fun a creative forum for haiku artist across the world to home in and accept Ron’s challenge each week. Have a look at the poetry  here https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-103-summerfun/

And also my contribution to the 52 week image challenge this week PLAY, and would that dog be playing? maybe. See other playful images here at Wild Daffodil’s blog https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/photo-challenge/ 

winter heat

setting sun

dreaming of its heat

in winter

This was a sunset over Port Phillip Bay just a few days ago in mid June and winter has arrived. Back in Summer such colour would be accompanied by  warmth at this time of the day. But there is no heat at all in Winter. Does anyone know where it goes to?

This is my contribution to the 52 week photo challenge, this week HEAT.  You can discover more about the challenge and participate at this link  https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/photo-challenge/

 

banksia blooming

seed pods open

chance of rebirth

cheerful sight

This old Coastal Banksia is still flowering and offering its seeds and nectar to the wider environment of Ricketts Point. Rainbow Lorikeets  and Wattle Birds were enjoying the nectar. Potential new Banksias are a possibility from this tree’s seed pods. They are potentially collected  and propagated for future re-planting along this coastal park. The Point  of Ricketts Point is in the mid background whilst the low hills in the far background are the Mornington Peninsula suburbs of Mount Eliza and Mornington directly South down Port Phillip Bay.

This is my contribution to RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 102 Birth & Cheer,  an exciting HAIKU challenge  created weekly by Ronovan. To see many other haiku from internationally renowned poets visit https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-102-birthcheer/

native wildlife need friends

friends gather

native wildlife aides

at all times

Our City of Bayside has a number of environmental Friends groups. I belong to the Friends of native Wildlife. We are a voluntary group who promote the conservation of native fauna in the City of Bayside. We study and survey native wildlife and their needs. We undertake regular practical community activities such a micro bat detecting and monthly frog identification evenings, daytime community bird and insect observation walks, holding specialist information evenings, school visits and meeting scout and girl guide groups, often working with such groups at local parks and heathlands. A significant role involves data collection and observation activities from which we advise Bayside Council and other organisations such as The University of Melbourne, the Australian Bat Society and South East Water. One important participatory function we provide for local residents is to offer installation of bat habitat boxes in their yards and then support their observation through regular endoscope examinations of the boxes.

We maintain a WEB site  http://www.bayfonw.org.au/  and Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/Bayside-Friends-of-Native-Wildlife-137252919670864/ as well as a regular email newsletter. These communications keep interested residents aware of and focussed on the Fauna issues relating to the City of Bayside.

This is my response to the 52 week photo challenge  (NATIVE) , find out more at https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/photo-challenge/

 

 

windy memory

strong winds blow

bringing fresh relief

from the heat

We took a Christmas holiday break down the great Ocean Road near Johanna Beach some years ago. I am almost holding Charlie from blowing away as the wind swept in from Bass Strait. Instead of worrying about bushfires  from our forrest hideaway with beautiful coastal views , (when viewable) we prayed for a sunny day. Most of the time it rained or cold winds howled. That is Cape Otway in the bottom picture , and the coastline from there  back behind the camera  down to Moonlight Head and on to Port Fairy is literally littered with C19th shipwrecks coming from Great Britain heading to Melbourne or Sydney. This is one of the wildest stretches of water in the world and the Cape Otway Lighthouse is still an important beacon.

Johanna Beach , in the top photo is one of the best , but not safest surf beaches in Australia.

This is my contribution to Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 101 Fresh&Wind. To discover fantastic , creative haiku visit Ronovan’s site at https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/06/13/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-101-freshwind/

 

 

 

Headgear

Headgear 1.

essential

afghan hound headgear

at feed time

When Charlie was young her groomer Sue gave us this SNOOD to protect the ears from food and being chewed. Sue was  very direct about how Charlie should be fed, on what and when and also was not impressed with her ears. Sue’s own Afghan Harley always looked starved, with very prominent hips and spine as she fed him a strict vegetarian diet. However Harley lived to over 13 years of age. Charlie to her credit didn’t mind the snood and wore it until it began to fall apart. She would disappear outside after dinner and race around the yard in the snood and scared quite a few people at the front gate in this headgear.

 

headgear 2.

 

 garden space

resting picnickers

enjoy peace

I took a few candid shots when a group of women and children arrived near our lunching party at the Cranbourne Native Botanic Gardens. We were guessing they were recent immigrants to Australia and possibly refugees from Middle East conflict.  Their enjoyment was profound, shoes were discarded, ground coverings unrolled  and food spread out. The added peace was probably the absence of any men or boys in their entourage.

This is my contribution to week 23 photo challenge, HEADGEAR , check out this challenge at https://daffodilwild.wordpress.com/photo-challenge/  and check the contributions on the latest page of Sandra’s blog at this link, usually on Mondays.

watch out

a warning

from top of lighthouse 

shines at night

The Port fairy lighthouse, one of the oldest in Australia still shines  every night.

Coastal shipping entering Bass Strait from the West is thankful for this guiding light especially on wild winter nights. Bass Strait is one of the wildest and roughest straits in the world with hundreds of shipwrecks mainly from the C19th littering the shallows of its  shores and islands.

This lighthouse sits at the mouth of the Moyne River on Griffith Island, an artificially created island that is now a protected nature reserve. Tens of thousands of Mutton Birds, (Sooty Shearwaters) migrate from Siberia to breed here every Spring. In early Autumn the adults depart back to Siberia then a few days later the young ones begin to follow. This is one of the longest bird migrations in the world. many birds die on the flights , and the numbers are now decreasing at an alarming rate along with other migratory Australian birds, some species even now face extinction. WHY? because the resting , feeding sites along the migration routes through SE and Northern Asia are being destroyed by human development or the birds get killed by people. One more example of the natural destruction caused by over population of humans and economic greed, ( an evil and dangerous combination)

This is my contribution to RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 100 Top&Light.  Visit this link and discover a multitude of amazing haiku https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-100-toplight/

 

 

 

winter arrives

evening smog

beckons setting sun

cold night comes

Winter sunsets in all their glory are starting to make nightly appearances over Port Phillip Bay. We are lucky in our part of Melbourne to have a choice of cliffs at Sandringham, Half Moon Bay and Black Rock or the open expanse at Ricketts Point and depending where you watch the spectacle from there will be a new aspect to photograph. These shots follow in sequence over a period of fifteen minutes beginning at 5.05 pm from the Black Rock cliff. The temp was down to about 8 oC by then and dropped to 4 by the bay overnight. This haiku emerged from the sequence for met. I hope you enjoy the combination  and if a regular visitor trust you are not tiring of Port Phillip sunsets.