Just talking on the phone with L. about her wedding dress etc. ..sometimes seems strange to think I'm going to be the mother of the bride.....Pale ivory with delicate pink tracery....unfortunate they don't now make the veil which she really likes :( Lilies or roses...perhaps roses she thinks; cream, pink and raspberry pink.....that sounds yummie ........ P. moves to his new police station after the weekend ..... that was meant as some far away happening and now it's happening which makes the December wedding seem even closer.........I was playing the piano this morning and wondered if I should take up piano lessons again...54, but what the hell...I suppose life can start anywhere really can't it? ...... Last night finished Arundhati Roy's The God of Small things...so rich in metaphor ...at first some of it was slightly clawing but then i got used to it and there's no doubting that she writes beautifully.....During the past month I've read, that plus Vikram Seth "a suitable boy", An Equal Music and the Golden Gate is on the book shelf inviting a read....Salman Rushdie's "Fury" which had my mind turning inside out and working overtime, Anita Desai's "IN Custody was brilliant" as were Shiva Naipaul's "The Chip Chip Gatherers and Graham Swift's "Last orders"........I'm now getting into Martel's "Life of Pi" ....such a 'readable' style and i'm looking forward to seeing it unfold.....yes, perhaps I'll look in the music teachers' directory for a teacher....My Mum was 81 years old yesterday and apart from her eyesight apparently failing she is happy and well....Last year myself, PJH ,TCH, C. and K. were in the UK helping to celebrate her 80th....it would have been very much quieter for her this year ….mm thinking
I am listening to My mind and I am currently optomistic
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Sydney and gum trees (for a friend)
12/04/2002 12:36 a.m.
who knows ...... i might even get around to tidying this thing up :))
Some gum trees shed their bark like mud packs
To reveal a new complexion for summer
Smoothe and grey
From their hundred foot gaze
They overlook the various parts of this city
In which they are planted
Though creating carpet for the bush track floor
And much sweeping up in the backyard
They are not deciduous as they always retain some leaves
Afterall, these ‘folks’ must maintain their dignity
Most of all, they are familiar with blue skies over Sydney
A good feed by the October rains just before the summer heat,
And the odd nibble from a koala, depending on their location
As well as playing umbrella for the many
Who choose to explore, on two feet or more,
the many tracks through the bush
Which forms part of the city’s environs
Those by the harbour see the usual comings and goings
Of any sea port and experience the sounds of aircraft
Large and small as they traverse the skies before landing
At Kingsford Smith, the city’s airport
All against a magnificent backdrop of wavelike architecture
Which is the opera house and, of course, the ‘coathanger’ (for such is its nickname)
Shape of the famous Harbour Bridge
The water seems forever blue
and is a watery highway for trade, travel and of course sport,
For people approaching the city from the leafy ‘north shore’
Train and road travel provides a magnificent vista as the Harbour Bridge
Links the north with the city and the south
What better way to start the day than with a glimpse
Of this breathtaking postcard, though for those with their heads in the ‘Financial Review
or taking a quick nap,
the scenery often goes unnoticed
Gum trees are great friends with the palms with whom they co-inhabit
The botanical gardens which are right in the heart of the city’s CBD
Still maintaining their room with a view the gardens gently curve around
The outer edge of the harbour and provide lunchtime respite
As well as an educational stroll, through its fascinating array
Of flora, representing many other countries, as well as its own.
The gum trees form welcome shade and the palms are exquisite
In their fronded frocks, well that’s good alliteration but really if the palms
Were wearing frocks they would be upside down
…. Mm perhaps they’re doing the can-can
Ferries used to chug from shore to shore, but now it’s more of a swish
As the huge catamarans bring in others for whom there isn’t a train route
Or who just prefer the ferry anyway
The famous Taronga Zoo is over on the other shore,
just a short ferry ride away
And there it’s the giraffes who have the magnificent view
For their ‘home’ over(longneck )looks the harbour
The summer time brings many visitors and locals to the city
In search of the sea food which is rumoured to be ‘top notch’
Fish (and other) restaurants line the length of Circular quay, and also Darling Harbour
Providing more than adequate choice for those in search of a tiny morsel
Or a ‘slap up meal’
Both areas were, in the city’s beginnings, busy dockland areas
And indeed the QE2 as well as less famous liners and commercial ships
Still dock at Circular Quay
which is also the terminus for the several ferry routes
Gums trees are used to swaying with the breeze
And their movement often provokes relief
As it can herald the approach of a cool breeze from the south.
After a day of summer heat the ‘Southerly Buster’ is indeed
A welcome visitor to Sydney
Too often in recent years though, they have been the victims
Of fires, willfully lit, which have created havoc for them
And all the creatures of fauna that choose to inhabit their branches
Or shelter in their shade
Koalas, kangaroos, the red and blue rosella and green and yellow lorikeet parrots, the sulphur-crested cockatoos and magnificent frogs and lizards
Are just some of those who have lost members of their families
And of course the flora suffer as well
Though there are some species of trees which require the fire
At some stage to open a seed pod to enable future growth
Bush fires are part of Australian life
The city’s tower block buildings are numerous
Representing, as they do, this bank and that
As in any other city
One building, recognizable by the fez which it wears
Atop its pole-like figure is ‘Centerpoint’ originally
Known as the Telstra Tower it has now taken on a new name
But for Sydneysiders I think it will always be ‘Centrepoint’
Unlike many other international cities today,
Sydney does sleepat night,
though of course it does have its share of insomniacs
Evidenced by the solitary lights in offices and lone travelers on the
Trains late into the evening
The airport closes at 11.00pm each night
And more gum trees than people, I suspect, witness
The arrival of the first planes as they approach the city
For opening time at 6.00am
There is exciting entertainment and much cultural activity
Happening in the city but for the many who pile out of offices
And squeeze themselves onto the escalators in the rush to catch a train
A relatively short journey takes them home to houses,
townhouses units in high rise buildings or flats to rent
But wherever you live in Sydney you can guarantee
You’re never far away from at least a view of the gum trees.
I am currently Happy
I am listening to kookaburras :)
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