blowing in the wind

summer breeze

blows through fur and hair

clears all minds

A windy day at Johanna Beach down near the Otway Ranges of Western Victoria. This was Charlie’s first big holiday and we were away for a week across Christmas and New Year 2007 staying on a bush property kilometres from the nearest cafe and many more to the closest town. The bottom image has appeared is an earlier post but the first one showing Jill and Charlie had not and I thought the pictures together were a perfect fit for RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 141 Breeze & Blow. To debunk the theory that haiku is a lot of Hot Air read many other breezy poems at  https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-141-breezeblow/

For more about the Greater Otway National park visit http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/great-otway-national-park

a hidden surprise

bunyip like

smoking amongst trees

now so old

We spent last weekend at Castlemaine and became caught up in the Castlemaine Arts festival. See http://castlemainefestival.com.au/   On Saturday we were chasing an open artists workshop trail on a back road near Walmer/Muckleford when we came upon this train.

The BUNYIP is a mythical Australian Aboriginal creature, large , black, living in swamps and marshes and active after dark. Bunyip stories made sure children did not stray at night. To support this story an active night bird called the Australasian Bittern lives in swamps and makes incredibly spine chilling boom boom noises. I could not resist the opportunity for metaphor.

There is a historical  train society that maintains the rail link between Castlemaine and Maldon and regularly runs tourist trips between the 2 towns and were certainly in action with the festival. The train and rolling stock predates the mid C20th . At the time I felt  haiku coming on, then I discovered the one a week Photo Challenge word challenge this week is HISTORICAL . This is my challenge. For this years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at  https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/

Can you spot two ducks in one of these photos?

butterfly blues

seeking food

fooled by a runner

lifes not fair

There is a lot to read into the imagination of this butterfly. Was it attracted by the colour of Jill’s runner? Was it fooled by the pattern that looked like plant structure? Was there some spilt honey on the shoe? Whatever the reason this persistent little insect would not depart. Jill took her shoe off and held it up for me to get a close up shot and still it stayed. Eventually it walked onto her hand and stayed there for a while before finally flying away hopefully discovering real food somewhere.

spiral trio

lighthouse dance

spiral up twist down

shout success

seagull shouts

cloud spirals and twists

twilight act

maori art

twist and spiral form

colour shouts

The first Haibun is the Port fairy Lighthouse, unfortunately locked up to prevent the latest dance craze.

Secondly another beautiful sunset over Port Phillip Bay from Ricketts Point with a lone seagull adding its voice to natures art.

Third is the Maori art work and totem at the entrance to the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua New Zealand. We were a bit disappointed by the commercialisation and overcrowding inside the spa. We were in and out as quickly as if visiting a casino and opted for a wander along the foreshore of Lake Rotorua.

Three contributions to, firstly the one a week Photo Challenge. The challenge this week is SPIRAL . For this years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at  https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/     and secondly RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 140 Twist&Shout where this posts joins lots of others at https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-140-twistshout/

peaceful

beats the floor

sleeping like a king

daybed dog

Of all our Afghans only Kara defied the ban on furniture. She happily acquired sofa’s and beds but reluctantly returned to her own sofa futon if pushed. The older she became the more liberties she took. However she started young as seen below at 3 months of age.

Of the others Kelly would always be on the bed in the morning if the temperature dropped below about 8 oC overnight  although we never heard or felt her getting  there. And Charlie would only get on the bed if there were thunderstorms or she was having a phantom pregnancy.

This is my double challenge contribution to RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku #Poetry Prompt Challenge 139 King & Day to see more contributions visit https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-139-kingday/

and this is also my contribution to the one a week week Photo Challenge  and the challenge this week is FLOOR ( in the first 2 images floors are secondary props) . For this years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at  https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/

how high

high jumper

natural instincts

freedom run

For a rare post I am prepared to break my rule of using only my images with my haiku. I have 2 Pinterest sites, one on photography tips and one on Afghan Hounds, where I share images of our Afghans , especially Charlie. Every few days I pin different , fascinating and unusual images of Afghan Hounds I come across. If you want to understand how addictive  Afghan Hounds can become in your lives, (Charlie’s images may have convinced regular visitors already) pleas visit my pinterest site some time at https://au.pinterest.com/deekar0134/afghan-hounds-sharing/

This image appeared recently and not only did I pin it I also felt a haiku coming on. So here is the haiku and I have to include the image so hence the rule break. There are legends about the jumping ability of Afghan Hounds and breeders always mention the need for high fences.  Our Suki could leap very high in pursuit of doves and others without going into detail would be prepared to remind possums to stay high in trees.

Thanks to Steve Blodgett who took this photo I can indeed share the fact that Afghan Hounds do indeed leap high

fragile

in summer heat

blossom secrets burn

so quickly

Our  Prunus Cherry Plum tree suffers enough from the teeth of  hungry Ringtail Possums. To counter this it tries to regenerate new leaves and sometimes new blossom. In desperation I feed the possums apples to steer them away from the leaves and flowers however more turn up for a feed. Tonight 3 were waiting for their apple however there is no guarantee they will not still take out a desert of leaves before returning to their home which is currently on the ground behind some bricks stacked against the back fence.

 This is my contribution to RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt Challenge 138 Secret & Burn. To read other private hot challenges this week visit https://ronovanwrites.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-138-secretburn/  

seed feed

lorikeets

take easy seed feeds

in the heat

A small group of 2 adult and three young Rainbow lorikeets drop by our front yard every day recently assuming the seed stick is eternal. They may take anywhere between a week and 2 days to demolish it. If they discover no stick is waiting a dreadful din begins with lots of screeching and screaming with the young ones doing antics on branches  a bit like acrobats on the high wire  until a new stick appears. Then they settle into a quiet chortling amongst themselves even nodding off to sleep at times. Can you spot the 3 young ones in this last image?

This is my contribution to the one a week week Photo Challenge  and the challenge this week is SEED . For this years challenge planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at  https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/

late summer

gentle wings

sharing my garden

summer ends

We are experiencing a late summer heat wave as Autumn arrives. Consequently the butterfly bushes are blooming and attracting butterflies ,naturally, and also bees . These images are three of the different types that flit around here. Of course the biggest and most beautiful ones always appear when I am not wandering around with my camera (including a 150- 500 telephoto and monopod) or disappear the moment I come out of the house to look for flying action. Across Summer we noticed more numbers and variety of butterflies  than in recent years so that is a good piece of local ecological news.