Monday, August 30, 2010

I love words.

Haiku poem.

Warm embrace shines now
Through crisp and fresh howling winds
Winter sun delight.

Sonnet.

Arrival of the minds' mystery stage,
the bewilderment of the trip allure
a new adventure begins, turn the page,
embrace the word illusions, more and more

Knowledge, learning, reality escape:
enriching the soul, embody the mind
endless derivatives sought, seeking shape,
searching souls thirst for pleasure, pure divine

Emotional ties and paper cuts braved,
indulge in the rapture, bask in the grit:
worlds of wonderment await to be paved
forget the risks and take the plunge right in

Explore words alike, many worlds apart,
draw it up high, breath in the dust, and start.

The Isaac.


The land was red, the air was bountiful, the sea was surrounding. Australia was the new England. A place for prosperity and future that Netties' family had followed across the seas. It was their new life, and oh the house. The house was precious. Beyond precious, it was a gift. It was a house of many rooms, an embracing wrap around verandah shaded from the heat and had a delicious feeling of wondering enchantment running through the halls. It was bliss. Accompanying the delicious slice of heaven was an adorning eucalyptus, standing tall and strong on the far reaches of the property edges. A sight of marvel and beauty for the Emmett family. On their first day under the southern cross, the Emmetts' has been told of the sacred land on which their beautiful house was built. Natives spoke of particular importance of the century old eucalyptus tree that stood tall and strong at the far back of their property. “Tree connect spirit to mother earth”, elders would say, and although the family held the highest respect for the Indigenous elders, they thought nothing of this tale. It was just a tree.

Nettie was a young girl to many, but in her heart she knew she was years beyond the numerical age that seemed to defined her. Coming into the age of 14 in the sweltering summers of the Australia. Well, technically, she was 14, but in her heart she going on 25. She was ready for life. She enjoyed reading her poems and watching the grass grow. She was a dreamer and very proud of it. The need for bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger lifestyles baffled her. She wanted to be immersed in the purity of nature.

While her parents and servants were unpacking she decided it was a chance for her to see what nature the outback of her new Australian home had to offer her. She set off down through the mystical hall ways of their new house clutching the diary she always had by her side. It was time for some exploration. “Why is this tree so important?”, she thought, “why this tree, of all the trees in the world”. As she drew closer, she could sense the raw beauty the tree omitted. The house was a beautiful place to live but this tree, it was miraculous. It stood 1000 feet tall and swayed proudly high up in the blue sky. When she looked up, she was mesmerised by the leaves dancing to the tune of the summer breeze. She felt in her heart and she knew, it was the Isaac.

For an entire week Nettie spent her time pondering the changes this tree would have seen. The floods, the droughts, the storms, she wondered. Geography was one of her favourite subjects and she yearned for the beginning of the Australian school year to soak up more native knowledge.

She had begun to bond with the land, whether it be because of the purity of soul she so willingly shared with the world or the time she simply took to try and understand; she felt a connection stronger then any other she'd felt before. The more time that Nettie would spend daydreaming about the spirit’s stories of the past and writing poems in her diary under the shade of Isaac, the more she felt connected to the land. Nettie was in absolute awe of mother earth's truly magical creation. Nettie understood that it was the lifeblood of the area, but it seemed like she was the only one who truly appreciated it's presence beyond shade and comfort. She knew there was more to it.

One day, as usual, Nettie was writing in her diary while basking under the morning sun through the leaves of Isaac when all of a sudden, she felt a tremor and the ground began to move underneath her feet . Amongst her world of dreams and imagination, she couldn't tell if it was real, but either way Isaac left her breathless. It was as if the tree was calling her, and she obeyed. Isaac was so beautiful up close and Nettie felt a wave of desire come over her, a devine beauty that she couldn't resist. He was calling to her, not through words, but she knew he was calling her. In the very distances she started to hear a sound, but it was muffled. She focussed harder and harder until finally... “Nettie!” Her mother's call woke her dream. Nettie was indulging in another of her fantasies before she had realised that the rains were coming in. She jumped up from her picnic-like arrangement she had prepared under Isaac, and quickly began to pack up her things before the spitting got too hard, but the rains came in fast. She wrapped her books up in the blanket with her diary safely on top, said her goodbyes to Isaac and slowly wandered back to the house, enjoying the spits of rain landing on her tongue. Nettie wondered what her family had been up to over the day, as she had been outside for most of the daylight, which was the same as every other day. Isaac has become her special place. No one else saw Isaac the way Nettie did. As you'd expect, Isaac was the tree. “The tree?!” she imagined they'd scoff while choking down scones and tea. No one would be able to understand but that wouldn't stop her from defending what she thought to be true. Her parents were modest people working hard to achieve a good future for Nettie. She was their only child and they had high expectations for a young girl of such distinction. She had the world of success right at her doorstep, so to speak. To them it was a shame that at the foot of Nettie's door was a world of disenchantment to their ways.

Nettie saw her future being days filled with flower picking and painting on the hills. Child's play, they called it, and had pure intentions of weaning her out of her petty state of mind. She begged to differ. No matter what it took, she would always strive for her interpretation of a blissfully enjoyable life; perfect for it's imperfections. Nettie was getting closer to the house when she could smell their supper was almost ready. Pot roast tonight, her favourite. Isaac had left her mind for the time being.

The clouds rolled darker and darker as the evening went on, the storm had worsened. Thunder shook the air and the bolts of lightening lit up the sky. It was an incredible display of power. The rains continued into the early hours of the morning with the Emmetts' slept quiet in their beds. The summer night was hot, despite the storm at present. Nettie laid with the covers off listening to the music of the storm, dozing in and out of slumber. A mighty roar of thunder cracked over the house that startled Nettie wide awake. She picked up her diary and creeped out of her room to see her parents sleeping soundly, they had not been disturbed by the storm at all. Nettie looked outside, Issac was bright in the early morning sky. He was lonely, she had to go to him. The rain had begun to ease up and smallest water droplets fell on her bare skin as she walked closer and closer to Isaac. Her heart began beating harder and harder. Her arms felt weak and her head began to spin, but Isaac needed her. She wouldn't leave him. The sound of indistinguishable chatter rung through her ears as she approached her special place, Isaac was calling her. She crouched underneath his branches, wrapped her nightie over knees and squeezed the rain out of her hair. After then, she didn't remember much. A heart beat, there was no sound. A breath inhaled, it would be her last. In the blink of an eye Isaac has come crashed down upon her, struck silently by lightening. Nettie was thrusted into the soft, wet soil. She was crushed.

The sunshine of the breaking dawn rose over the horizon and shone over Nettie's still body and the broken tree. The rains had stopped. The crisp steps of Nettie's father echoed through the ground as he desperately ran towards her. Her face was pale, her hair was matted and her nightie torn. He had come too late. He stroked the dew from her brow and kissed her for a final time. Over his shoulder he could see her diary. She always had it, he thought. “You could have been joined at the hip” he recalled saying to her.

The Emmett family were devastated. How could this happen to their child? They didn't understand and they wouldn't accept it. Nettie's passing left a hole of confusion in the hearts of her parents. They couldn't understand her infatuation with the tree, Isaac had not been real enough to them, but he was to her. She was taken by the great spirit of the land; indulged in the life of love and begun her pathway to the everlasting devine place of her soul. In honour of their child, they left the burnt tree stump standing strong in the backyard and beside it, they buried the diary that she wore on her hip. Perhaps it would grow her thoughts and dreams? A thought far from possibility, but it didn't matter. Nettie would have wanted that.

The land would never be the same again, and neither would Nettie's family. Lost in the world, they had recklessly been torn apart. Unfathomable damage had been caused to the land, to the spirit and yet, Nettie felt that it was only her that could see and feel the change. The change in the winds and the irregular heart beat of the land; an injustice had been done.

Native Elders spoke of this as punishment from the higher spirit. “Bad things happen for bad actions”, they said. These words lingered in the minds of Nettie's parents. They would never know what their bad action had been, or if it was even theirs' to start with, but nature unappreciated was never thought of that way by them again.


Within weeks, the Emmetts had moved back to England. They had chosen comfort and old ways back in their land rather then a lifetime of prosperity in a new land of hurt and broken spirits.

The months and years passed on as the generations grew and passed through with irrespective knowledge of the Isaac tree that once stood tall and strong. Slowly, the land withered away, loosing culture, meaning and connection to the once great spirit of the mother earth. However the broken tree stump in the land of red stood strong for many years to come. Through floods, droughts and storms, it was strong.

It was Nettie's place.

Monday, August 23, 2010

It's life.

Hello all!

Although I have not had a great deal of new posts lately, I have been working my creative mind like crazy. In the last few weeks I have learnt to knit a button hole, a baby booty and a hat, and have just opened my very own online shop. Please do visit:

It's been an exciting few days full of wonderful job prospects (of which I am eagerly awaiting replies hopefully asking to interview me and not for me to leave them alone), lovely baked goods including a great amount of cookies, both choc chip and smarty-filled, made my first Sheppard' pie and the excitement of this time of year when spring is starting to peek through the winter crisp and each day is inspiring for the simple fact that we are blessed enough to have such a wonderful country to be in.

Unfortunately it's just a quick stop in tonight, I am pumped with excitement of having a lovely online shop, and thus, I must go and make some pretties to put in it. Promise to stop by more often!

Sending love.

SM.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Free the refugees.



Today I woke up to a phone call from my mum, after I had just reset my alarm. She was asking whether I'd fancy a trip to South Bank to enjoy some tea and sunshine. Ever the go getter for sunshiney-tea-enjoyment, I accepted.

So we caught the bus and all of a sudden, found ourselves joined to a 'free the refugees' protest while we waited for the arrival of Mr. Tony Abbott to his launch. To be honest, I had no idea that this was happening today, and it was sheer coincidence that we ended up there. It all started with a blue elephant... the Australian Youth Climate Coalition were there, and naturally, we posed for photos with the big blue animal. From there, we hugged some trees, whistled at passing cyclists dressed in red speedos and big ears attached, then questioned by four policemen about our presence. That was nice. So, naturally we got involved. We joined the refugee rights team by Socialist Alternative on the other side and chanted away, making sure to raise our voices higher for the people with displaying disgusted looks.

A great day of mother-daughter adventures, I must say, and I want to finish today's blog with the following thought.

This is the beautiful planet, the home that we have. Why can we not protect and share the world we have? Why are people so defensive in sharing their beauties with just as beautiful people or even further then that, why can we not all be content only when every living being has the same basic rights as another?

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Fraggle Friday.

So a recently play on words has lead to believe that 'why not, apricot' is a better title for my little blog then dear old 'oddly red'. I like it, I think I'll keep it.

A few of the other words that I have deemed cute beyond cuteness include: 'oopsies', 'finks', 'doody', 'wizzle' and 'squee'. This little exercise has helped me to rekindle a bit of love that I knew I had with words... and now it's back.

I've not had a terribly great day - having slept in many hours past the time I needed to get up and prepare myself for a wonderful opportunity to get into my writing career.

I trekked out to the local mall (by bus) wearing my summer sandals, which to my dismay have decided that since I have not worn them for the last 3 months that they would give me blisters. It wasn't nice.

While I was waiting it up at the bus stop a thought occurred to me that I'd had more then once...how much reckless drivers annoy me so much, that I often think about what it'd be like to jump out in front of their cars while their speeding or on their phones, just to scare the utter crap out of them. Is that an insane thought? Perhaps.

As I stumbled to the post office and sent off the second assignment for this study period, I actually felt good about where I was and what my thoughts on the future were. I hope I can keep it up.

So, to help me keep it up, I have decided to write my biography. It's something I imagine someone reading on Wikipedia one day, or maybe it will eventuate into a book. What I remember, the things I like and don't like and all the things in between. I guess sometimes you need convincing that you are a good person and this just might be the way for me to do that. I think it will help keep me grounded, perhaps even keep me on the borderline of sane.

A good feeling.

So, it's been quite a while since my last post and I am sincerely hoping to restructure my daily routine to include a section of writing time no matter how small. I've just finished watching 'Julie and Julia', have eaten an entire ceramic soup mug full of chocolate covered sultanas and finally gaining a little bit of motivation to get stuck into some groovy-writing-tunes.

I am eagerly awaiting the return of my husband from work to help set up and activate the shiny new printer that we had delivered early this morning (as I ran out to greet the delivery man in my bright orange and pink spotted pyjamas).

I have just finished an assignment and feeling good about the world, despite this wonderfully pounding headache that has decided to bless me with it's presence. So I shall bid good evening and look forward to the adventures tomorrow morning brings.

x