I heard it mentioned recently that someone had referred to spending a Dog Year in a town. In essence they were saying they did not like it there and that time dragged.
It was this description that made me reflect on how we are all captive at times to our attitudes, how sometimes time seems to fly and at other times it seems to take forever.
So if a dog year is very roughly 7 human years (to use an approximate figure), how is it relevant if at all?
Trees for Life sent through an update recently to let people know about a new website with a focus on Native Orchids called OrchidNotes. For those with an interest in Native Vegetation and particularly Native Orchids it really is an exceptional resource!
http://orchidnotes.wordpress.com/
Written by Philip Jones & Anna Kenny, I came across this book by chance in a second hand book shop in Strathalbyn.
A companion publication to the 'Australia's Muslim Cameleers' exhibition in the South Australian Museum it is a way for others to discover this much unreported aspect of our countries history.
Based around historical records, artefacts and the memories of decendants it provides a sense of the contribution made by these people and how they maintained their faith and their links to their culture in a remote and strange land for them.
A small tree that looks like thousands of others becomes amazing when there is a focus on individual leaves at a particular point in time!
8/10/2011
4/10/2011
I collect the shredded paper from our office and put it around some of the trees as a mulch. I have started to see bits of it being used now in the construction of bird nests and even at the entrance of a spiders 'home'.
I am now starting to wonder what bit of writing the birds or spiders can see on the inside lining of their homes!
9/3/2014
Updated to add 2 photos of a birds nest that is using pieces of orange & blue Bale twine in its construction.
There was something about this story that seemed obvious, impossible and yet what a great business life model.
What at first impression seemed like a story where everything just fell into place really came upon reflection, to be a story about someone who built a self propelling business by staying true to a series of core principles.
There is one song writer who has been able to put so many of our unspoken feelings into words and that is
Eric Bogle! www.ericbogle.net
For me personally , there are 3 songs in particular that resonate.
No Man's Land
............did you really believe them when they told you 'The Cause'?
did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Lifes storms come and go
Some with warning
Some without
Some destructive
Some exhilerating
All make us focus, think
Make us different
Sometimes we retreat
Seek shelter and comfort
Only to reappear when we feel safe
Sometimes we do not care or cannot care
We are weathered but the storm passes
Sometimes we let the storm sweep us away
To a new life, new surrounds, as a new person
We all have our storms
To storms we are nothing
I glimpsed parts of a presentation recorded on A-PAC by Professor Sampford some time ago and it gave a definition to Dilema vs Temptation, to Lying, to Misleading, to Persuading.
Dilema = Principle 1 OR Principle 2
Temptation = Principle BUT the alternative leads to Personal Gain.
Lying = using a False Statement to induce a False Belief
Misleading = using a True Statement to induce a False Belief
Persuading = using True Statements to induce a Belief in what you Believe.
John 1/6/11
There is something about this book that makes you think ' ah, thats what is happening ' and gives you a guide to how some have done it and how others could do it.
Published in 2010 by Portfolio Penguin, I was made aware of this book by a reference to it by Seth Godin.
Linda sees the Mesh design as Durable, Flexible, Reparable and Sustainable and in many ways these businesses develop into something that their users drive by thinking aloud (very aloud & very quickly).
The original township was established around 1856 principally with migrants from Scotland and Germany. These days the ruins are reminders of a Colonial past. Once a stopping off point on the way to the Victorian gold fields, these days it remains very much a rural area with operating farms and a selection of lifestyle properties.
30/3/11
I enjoyed this book because in so many ways, it is the complete package. A mixture of packaging, graphics and then the writing that tells a story about a journey.
http://www.greensugarmerchant.com/
YackaYacka in Littlehampton has a history of Gorse infestations. In addition to the mechanical means of controlling it there is evidence that one of the biological controls has reached this area.
http://dpi.vic.gov.au/DPI/nreninf.nsf/v/CBC03ED7ABE3B1A1CA25741F0016B6AC/$file/Biological_Control_of_Gorse_with_the_Gorse_Spider_Mite.pdf
Hopefully it assists in the control of this weed.
The Stringybark trees on YackaYacka at Littlehampton are some of the more easterly that I've seen around this area. They tend to grow in the higher rainfall areas of the Mount Lofty Ranges.
Over the last 2 to 3 years there have been increasing numbers of them dying on my property and why that is I am not sure. I thought initially it was because of the preceeding exceptionally dry years but the trees continue to die even in a wet year such as the second half of 2010 into 2011.
8/3/11 - Advice from the Native Vegetation Council
The first section of the property where I began planting was above and into an old quarry that was in the south western corner of the block. The plants I selected were native plants with the aim of creating an understory. I used to work away a lot at the time (2 weeks on, 2 weeks off) and it was hard work at the time given the type of terrain in that small area, but the reward was in seeing the growth of the plants.
Something I always find interesting and stimulating is Seth Godin's Blog. Always thoughtful, it provides new insights into thinking about things and I find that it deals with a world that some people are already living in, some people are about to enter (willingly and unwillingly) and a world that is inevitiable.