Category Archives: BEAUTY

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What the?????!!!!

Category:BEAUTY,Being,Community,Compassion,Despair,Doubt,Family,Fear,First Peoples

 It’s been a while since I last wrote anything here.  In that time there has been much of the ‘stuff of life’ going on. So much in fact I’m not sure where to start, what to say and what to leave unsaid.

Journeying with people as they begin married life, others who are laying loved ones to rest and hearing stories of injustices endured by indigenous peoples, and those who have endured loss due to decisions made to become the person they believe they are.

I often feel inadequate in many of the situations I find myself in, sometimes its a stranger who engages in conversation.

 One of those took place today.

As I was parking the bike a person approached as blurted out How can there be a God when the world is so shit??   (a reasonable question)

What followed was a comprehensive list of what is wrong with the world, conspiracy theories and the like.
The conversation, which was one sided, concluded with ‘well I have enough of this shitty world, so everyday i throw myself in front of trucks and buses because I’ve had enough’.

Where is a person supposed to go after a conversation like that? (to the pub????)

So whether we ourselves are experiencing darker moments or we are journeying with others through dark times, may brighter days await us.

Sometimes the words of others best help us understand the darker times.
These words from an Elder at Parihaka (NZ)

After the shades os darkness comes the dusk of dawn, 
whilst  before lies the shimmering glory of a fair day.
(he maru ahiahi kei muri te
maru awatea he pakiarohhi kei Mia)

…then this line from a song called..we’re all in this together

we’re all in this together walking the line between faith and fear…..
(not sure of its origins but heard it on a cd by old Crow Medicine Show)


This from the good book in Psalms, read at a funeral recently.

He shall cover you with his feathers, under his wings shall you trust:his truth shall be your shield and *buckler.

(*a smaller shield fitted to the wrist for added protection?)




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National Anthems ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED

Category:Baby Jesus,be excellent to each other,BEAUTY,Church sign,Community,Compassion,First Peoples,Hope,Hospitality

I often wondered why we don’t sing the other verses to out NA.I am happy to be a citizen in Australia, sadly our history is littered with hurt and mistakes.One would have thought we might have learnt from them, but it appears not.



A verse from our ‘anthem’ with additions in brackets by me….Beneath our radiant Southern CrossWe’ll toil with hearts and hands;To make this Commonwealth of oursRenowned of all the lands;( for being a pack of bastards)For those who’ve come across the seas ( to stop the boats and send them back)We’ve boundless plains to share;(not really but it sounds good)With courage let us all combine(courage to do the right thing is lacking)To Advance Australia Fair.(actually Dutton cannot read so me missed this point)In joyful strains then let us sing,Advance Australia Fair. ( then stick our heads back up our bottoms)










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the language of art

Category:ART,BEAUTY,WOW
Art in its various forms impacts us humans, perhaps the animal world too.
Sitting on the steps of the old PO on the corner of Elizabeth and Bourke Street last year with a bloke who had just offered to share his beverage of choice which was in a brown bag, sat with me. 
A busker was setting up. 
The stranger asked me if he was any good, I suggested he listen to see what he thought.  
As the music filled the Spring air, we sat in silence the stranger and I, the music transported us away.
For a while it seemed the world had stopped and there were only the three of us on this busy mall.
On a recent holiday I was struck by the beauty of the Fiords in NZ’s South Island, (see picture above) a natural work of art, it evoked the same response I had on the Mall.
I commented to The Ruth how sometimes people feel the need to place a verse from the Bible on pictures such as the one above, as if it adds to its beauty or justifies its existence.
Art and beauty in all its form, or so it seems to me, speaks without the need for words.  

Art, is more than ‘entertainment’, it should provoke, disturb and comfort, rich or poor, mad or sane, what ever gender, race, creed, colour or age.