Coming home… 2003

This shows what a wonderful part of the world I am lucky to live in… I have now enlarged the photos so you can see more detail.  In the 9th photo, the train line I most often use to get into the city, runs North and South through the middle of our freeway.  We drive on the left here, so the train line is on the right but the other side of the freeway is not visible.

Perth Words... exploring possibilities.

When I first returned to Perth in Early December 2003 after living in Ireland for 14 months, the Jacaranda outside my kitchen window was in full bloom!

Hubby and I took a ride into the city via the Sunset Coast Tourist Drive, along the coast from just north of my suburb to Fremantle, back along the Swan River (home to our black swans) and into Perth City.

My Jacaranda Views on our 5 min drive from our house, along Ocean Reef Road,  to the sea. West Coast drive and our many white beaches… Whitfords Avenue has multi-million dollar beach side homes on it and a huge shopping centre. About 7 mins drive from my house. West Coast Highway part of the Sunset Coast Tourist Drive to Fremantle and South. Swan River meets Leach Highway from Fremantle and Kwinana Freeway to the city skyscrapers in the distance. Now we’re on the Kwinana Freeway, almost into Perth…

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How a tunnel became a mountain…

Sharon Ojala of ‘Where the Gnomes Live’ is my crafting idol. She inspires me and thousands of others everyday – for free! Her simple construction method is cardboard boxes, Al-foil, paper kitchen towels and PVA glue, paint etc. Her tutorials are so easy to follow too.

The first project I tried was a gnome home which my little granddaughter absolutely loved.

On her birthday I was inspired by Sharon again for her Halloween party.

And yesterday I delivered my latest effort – a tunnel which grew into a mountain complete with cave and waterfall for my 5 year old grandson.

Now the oldest grandchild has ordered a Christmas Village… So thank you Sharon, from the bottom of my heart. My grandchildren are all very happy because of you.

#SharonOjala #WhereTheGnomesLive #MyCraftingIdol #Halloween

New from Red Room Poetry

From cloud forests to flood, water connects us in every sense

“Red Room Poetry’s Writing Water: Rain, River, Reef project is commissioning celebrated poets and inviting public submissions that look below the surface and reimagine our essential relationships with water. From the slow-moving waters of TarraWarra in Victoria to the extinction of corals and conversations with wetlands in Western Australia, poems are provocations to honour, remember and interrogate our responsibilities with water in a time of environmental change.”  READ MORE

#RedRoomPoetry #NewChapbook #WritingWater #Poetry

Song of the 60’s

Guaranteed to take me straight back to my teenage years in the 60’s.

Hubby is standing next to me as I do this and tells me he sold tickets for their gigs in Zambia in the early 70’s.

#SongsOfMy60s #Jesamine1968 #TeenageMemories

POEM: Coral Bay

When the moon is just right, thousands of coral reefs spawn, turning the sea into a snowstorm of new beginnings, drifting on the tides to start new reefs.

Perth is where I live and one day, I’d love to swim with whale sharks. Until that day, I can dream…

 Coral Bay
  
 Snorkelling with rainbows
 just past the breaking surf, 
 I see the red rocky shores
 of the North West Cape.
  
 Shimmering white sands where
 Coastal Daisies, starflowers
 and Sturt Peas grope to grip
 harsh hot terrain in fighting wind.
  
 At Easter, a hundred yards off  
 the bay, coral triggers upside down 
 snowstorms to invite gentle giants 
 from the depths of Tantabiddi to feed 
  
 whilst in my imagination, I squeeze 
 the fish colours through my fingers
 to paint pictures and feel myself
 swimming with whale sharks.
  
 Frances Macaulay Forde © 2008
   
LISTEN to the poem.

   
#POEM:CoralBay  #Tantabiddi  #SwimmingWithWhaleSharks  #WesternAustralia  #Poetry  #FrancesMacaulayForde 

Remembrance…

I was working at the Post House Hotel in Heathrow but remember watching the ceremony on TV on Remembrance Day in 1973.

• 

The Queen in Black

Remembrance Day 1973

How many thousands watched her lay

the wreath of poppies while they prayed…

Or held their breath and stood still in silence

two minutes for the sacrifice, in remembrance.

As each petal falls from above so a page in the book

of memories ~ thoughts of someone they loved and lost.

They say each petal represents the life of one who gave.

Poppies seen growing amongst a countryside of graves…

Frances Macaulay Forde © 1973

#LestWeForget #Remembrance #POEM:QueenInBlack #FrancesMacaulayForde

Becoming water

A beautiful escape from this madness…

I've started so...........

Switch me off

And let me drift

Into the river

Let me float

Away so far away

Face turned to heaven

Watching the changing sky

Motion following motion

The water soothing

My aching head

The current and I

Become one

No longer visible

To the outside world

I drown in bliss

And then bloom in

The life of the river

Obstacles are meaningless

I flow around each one

Nothing stops me

My destination is

Always in sight

A movement

And I ripple out

Without end

Without boundary

An ocean of living

Awaits me

A sea of loving

Lies before me

I have become water.

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Romantic Women’s Fiction

Australian Romance Readers Association

Romantic women’s fiction

By Guest blogger: Rachael Johns

Today I want to get something off my chest!! Over the past few years I’ve seen a lot of authors calling their romance novels women’s fiction or vice versa and I think this is a disservice to both genres and the readers who favour one of the other. READ ORIGINAL BLOG ENTRY

#AustRomanceReaders #GUEST:RachaelJohns #RomanceWriting #WomensFiction

‘You Gave Me The Answer – Writing McCartney III’

In case you missed it, there’s a new Paul McCartney studio album on the way! McCartney III will be the third album in a trilogy of self-titled solo records, following McCartney in 1970 and McCartney II in 1980, and is written, produced and performed by Paul.  READ FULL ARTICLE

McCartney III Paul Said… You Gave Me The Answer

Letters To Old Lovers — The Lighthouse

Why should anyone still care why should anyone raise an eyelid the news is old Perhaps, eight years ago you may have gotten some reaction to justify the price of ink Still you persist in writing them letters to old lovers letters they may lazily reply to letters they may not reply to the news […]

Letters To Old Lovers — The Lighthouse