light fading slowly farewelling shoreline calmness tomorrow whispers
A recent peaceful sunset at Ricketts Point. Maggie loves this beach as have all our other Afghan Hounds over the last 40 plus years. Maggie seems to look, reflect and even lose herself in imaginations when she is down here. There is also the prospect of finding a dead fish, or a piece of sponge. We always have to watch where her mouth is on the beach.
a nest to be saved
standing firm in defence
spring hovers nearby
We were walking along the coastal pathway at Ricketts Point recently. This blue male Superb Fairy Wren and his brown female partner were aggressively warning all living things to stay away from the nest they had built somewhere in the bushes nearby. For small birds they are very courageous.
a cool southern sun
saving more heat for europe
climate change is real
Not much heat is coming from the sun down in our Southern Hemisphere Winter. However for weeks now we hear and read about the record breaking Summer temperatures across Europe. Our current climate records show drier Winter conditions leading to less rain that quickly leads to drought . Across the planet the climate is slowly unravelling with disastrous consequences and our politicians close their corrupted ears to the messages. A teenage Swedish schoolgirl makes more sense of global warming than the G20 group of world leaders.
shades of grey
reflecting coldness
lonely times
In the depths of Winter 2019 Haiku Hound returns to the blogging world. I have missed my blogging and the wonderful bloggers I have met. Nia of sunset and cat blogging fame from Istanbul recently prompted me to return. Thank you Nia. Much has happened since Maggie and I bid Sayonara in November 2017. Plans rarely come to fruition and time gathers speed when it seems to be unplanned. My novel is still drifting along as a draft and has had many about to starts. Another is just around the corner. Maggie is now two and a half years old and finally beginning to settle down. Most of my time and energy has been used up on Maggie who has had a series of health issues caused by her seasons. We decided to trial a contraceptive implant to control her hormones 6 months ago and she has blossomed. More posts will follow and cover the last missing months.
World politics has reached new depressing lows in these past 20 months. Australians recently re-elected a conservative government that has no heart, no policies and no understanding of our country and refuses to acknowledge the dangers of Climate Change . As for Trump’s tweets and Boris I will remain silent. A glimmer of hope for the future comes from New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern leads with compassion and honesty.
writing calls
sayonara now
for a while
These latest sunset images are from two nights ago when the sun bade its glorious daily farewell to us at Ricketts Point. I have to bid a temporary farewell to you my blogging friends who have been sharing such creative and educational haiku plus poetry, photos and stories with me during these 3 years I have been blogging.
I have to stop procrastinating about completing the initial draft of my first novel. That means I have to seriously rationalise my time and that in turn means minimising my time spent on the internet. Thus a halt to blogs and blogging and all those other fascinating things the internet throws up daily.
So its Sayonara, a longer goodbye as the Japanese would say until we meet again in WordPress space towards the end of our HOT Australian Summer in 2018.
off duty
ancient defender
rusts away
HMVS Cerberus was built for the colonial government of Victoria in 1870 as naval defence against possible Russian attack. This design was the first turrented , motorised ironclad battleship without sails making it highly innovative for its day. There were two swivelling turrents with 2 ten inch guns in each. Thick armour up to 9 inches, (230 mm) thick covered the ship). The Cerberus was was not really suited to ocean travel and became uncontrollable in rough seas meaning it took quite some time to travel from Chatham England where it was built to Melbourne Australia. The warship never fired a shot in action and never left Port Phillip Bay. after its arrival . In 1924 the Cerberus was sold for scrap and in 1926 what remained , (a hulk) as seen in the photos was scuttled to form a breakwater at Black Rock on Port Phillip Bay.
Since then the ship has been rusting away and settling on the sand . Its a mecca for curious scuba divers, snorkelers and adventurous teenagers. Various signs warn of the dangers associated with entering the underwater holes in the ship or climbing onto the actual hulk. Since 2005 a local group has been trying to raise funds to save what is left of the Cerberus as a significant part of Victoria and Australia’s naval heritage. This is a valiant effort.
These images are for a very late contribution to the one a week Photo Challenge and this week for number 40 the challenge is RUST . For this years 52 weekly challenges planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/
golden rays
casting spring calmness
naturally
The sunsets across Port Phillip bay from Ricketts Point at this time of the year are often golden like this one. We captured these images 4 nights ago. There were many photographers scattered across the point as it was low tide. These two in the images had a camera mounted on a mini tripod right down on the water level. The seagulls as usual glided around as they settled in for the night.
tidal pool
wishful fishing
at sunset
setting sun
attempted fishing
hopeful bird
With about ten minutes of daylight remaining this White Faced Heron was desperately stalking the shallows at Ricketts Point hoping for a catch. Twice it appeared to snaffle something, both times a very small fish probably. Then with the light almost gone it flew away across the bay leaving a few squarking Seagulls to settle down.
living trees
stripped of dignity
what future
This was the scene looking down at the harbour of Napier on the central East coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Plantation timber is a big export market in New Zealand. These harvested trees came from what was once naturally vegetated landscape, now much of it gone and replaced by monocultures. These milled trees were waiting in orderly piles for a one way trip to some distant Asian processing plant some of them probably returning as paper or cardboard packaging in the future. The same cycle occurs in our South eastern state of Victoria in Australia, the big difference being some of our trees are indigenous. There is a certain stupidity existing in so many elements of todays economically rationalised global economy.
These images are for the one a week Photo Challenge and this week for number 38 the challenge is ORDERLY . For this years 52 weekly challenges planned by Cathy and Sandra visit Cathy’s blog at https://nanacathydotcom.wordpress.com/one-a-week-photo-challenge-2017/
beach passion
for play and learning
paradise
A photographic timeline of our Afghan Hounds on beaches they loved. From the top down: 1977 Kelly on Shoreham Beach 1987 Suki and Flossie on Merricks Beach 2003 Kara at Ricketts Point 2010 Charlie at Shoreham Beach 2017 Maggie at Ricketts Point
The first 5 were at trusted times of their lives when they were lead free on their favourite beaches, as yet Maggie is on hold although she is trusted to walk in and out the front gate to and from the car. Kelly loved the beach most of all as can be seen from the disturbed sand around her as she grins into the lens.
This is my double contribution to Firstly the images for this weeks one a week Photo Challenge covers all our Afghans at the BEACH. For this years 52 weekly challenges 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 165 Passion and play where you can read many other haiku responses to these words by clicking on https://ronovanwrites.com/2017/09/11/ronovanwrites-weekly-haiku-poetry-prompt-challenge-165-passionplay/
Haiku hound 