MY WORLD ~ Sacred Canyon

Enter the Sacred Canyon at your own risk! Even the youngsters

among the trees stretch out their feet to trip you up.

Thoughtfully, in single file we brave the narrow creek bed.

Each lost in our own 'Dreaming'.

The Aboriginal marking of a permanent waterhole carved in

time immemorial, was it a hundred, a thousand or ten thousand

years ago that a flint tipped tool carved these sacred symbols

for ever present water?

Every crevice was filled with flowers, this one, the European

hop bush a recent newcomer in this ancient landscape.

Newer signs of things to come without this encouragement

one could easily give up as the creek is bone dry until you

actually reach the liquid wonder that flows for less than 100

metres before disappearing under ground.

If you enlarge this picture, you will notice more carvings on

the rocks at far left. They depict the fact that this is permanent

water, and the animals who come to drink here. The footprint

of an emu the squiggle of snake and drag of lizard as well as a

simple representation of a human.

Apart from a tiny trickle of water, total stillness engulfs all

comers as one by one each sinks into the Dreamtime . . .

A place so gentle yet powerful that uplifts and regenerates

the soul and one is loth to leave again.

The keeper of country who watched over me and helped me

negotiate tricky rock climbs to reach the inner sanctum.

The canyon is neither deep nor wide but powerful in a spiritual

way that stays with one through space and time.

Enjoy or enlarge and enjoy more.

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we can be everywhere at once.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Poppies and Roses

Sunlit poppies blowing in the wind,

perfectly painted by crayon, watercolour or . . . just light.

The sunlit splendour of the roses too looked painted my a

master.

From this week in my garden.

To walk in the gardens of the world, just click on the Logo.

Thanks to the TODAY'S FLOWER TEAM for giving us this possibility

to share the beauty.

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Potpourrie

Shadows come in many guises, romantic

sharp

natural

or just a little bit self-agrandising.

Go check out what else is on offer at Hey Harriet, you'll be surprised!

SkyWatch ~ Goolwa Sunset Part 3

This is the last group of photos of that magical sunset. I have

only left out two that might have been a little boring.

As the rainbow and golden glow faded from the eastern sky,

the clouds high above the west lit up.

I seemed to be going around in circles as the colours kept

changing around me. Below is just to the left of the above.

A little more to the left and they were more muted but

fantastic just the same.

The bridge to Hindmarsh Island now looks totally different

to the image in the first instalment.

It looked like this was going to be the end but

the light over the bridge grew again,

the sky to the west lost colour and

suddenly the sun waved its last farewell.

That night it rained . . . .

All photos enlarge on demand.

Skies glow all around the world, so click on the Logo and join in the fun.

Thanks to the SkyWatch Team we can see so much natural beauty.

Nature Notes ~ Kangaroo Korner

As I was concentratedly endeavouring to capture the madly

mating dragonflies on the pond in the park, I was shocked to

hear the thunder of hoofbeats behind me. While turning to

see I thought 'but the horse is in the other paddock and why

this mad gallop?'

Startled, I saw a 7' kangaroo coming down at me at full tilt.

He did not see me,and veered around the bank not 3" away

from me.

I got the camera to my eye and started snapping but sometimes

stopped in sheer amazement at his great bounds and speed. He

had taken the fence behind me in one huge leap, clearing it by

well over 1', a real candidate for the olympics!

I was lucky to catch him doing 'airs above the ground' in this

one and bounce like a ball off the ground.

In the 18 years we have had the farm and have been planting

wildlife corridors along our road verges and establishing some

Eucalyptus plantations, the kangaroo population has escalated

in quite an alarming way, to the point of the council putting

up kangaroo warning signs of which the roos take no notice

whatsoever.

Having rounded the pond, here he is disappearing into the

trees on the far side and about to sail over the next fence.

Much as I love to see the natural inhabitants of this land

returning and do not mind sharing the pastures with them,

they do great damage to our fences. The big ones just take

them in their stride but the smaller ones break through

them in so many places that they have become like sieves and

our sheep wander where they will and can easily stray from home.

Just the tail end still showing and one of our resident waterfowl.

All photos enlarge if you wish to see the majesty of this beast.

Thanks to Michelle of Rambling Woods for hosting this meme.

Do click on the Nature Notes Logo and see the other entries.

Watery Wednesday ~ Water in the Desert or Aged Idiocy

Im the desert country it can rain all night playing music on

the tin roof but after an hour or two, all that is left of the

downpour is a puddle on the road.

The sandy ground is already drying off and paling in colour.

My Nemesis, after another night of rain, I came a cropper at

this inconspicuous little sheet of water. It had gathered in a

roadside ditch I needed to cross to the patch of Sturt Desert

Peas on the other side. The water was too deep to my being

willing to immerse my leather shoes in, too wide to jump, hmm

what now? No wood handy to bridge it, aha!, a sizeable rock

half submerged in the sticky mud, that will have to do. After

some juggling of camera and yanking at rock, I had my prize

without being plastered in mud. A judicious throw near the

other side where the water was shallower and within my range.

The result was not perfect but the way around the water seemed

worse. The bank on the other side looked firm enough, I gathered

my forces, put my best foot forward and leapt . . . I had intended

to barely touch the stone when, with a sucking sound the rock

sank. Pitching forward, yours truly slammed into the muddy bank

on hands and knees. When I extricated myself from this sticky

situation and shakily surveyed the damage, it seemed not too bad.

The camera had survived almost unscathed and I? Well I did look

like the monster from the deep, jacket, trousers and gloved hand

liberally caked with mud, both shoes full of water but no less

determined to go after my photographic quarry than before. I

slipped and slid up the bank, crossed the road and walking on a

couple of pounds of mud stuck to my shoes soon discovered the

flat earth I was behaving more like a mixture of an ice rink and

quicksand and pulling my feet away from under me.

I saw our trusty red UTE come my way and by ESP my darling

daughter to my rescue.

I seemed to be all in one piece. Only later at dinner the swellings

and bruises started to appear. In the heat of the moment I had not

noticed a couple of rocks on the bank, that added to very thin

blood due to medication did the rest. Weighing up options: driving

to the nearest hospital (a few hundred miles away), not an option

with flooded creeks. The airstrip too soft for the flying doctor to

land and the helicopter had left before the storm broke. Ah well,

had to rely on self help again and here I am to tell the tale.

Go swim the sea or submerge in a puddle but visit 2sweetnsaxy

and join in this very wet meme. Just click on the Logo.

MY WORLD ~ Feet and Faces of Sacred Canyon

At the entrance of Sacred Canyon in the Flinders Ranges of

South Australia, sentinels of great age have grown faces to

protect this important dryland waterhole. The wonderful Roz

gives scale to the enormous feet of this Eucalyptus camaldulensis

with its roots dug deep into the earth to a depth of 60' and more.

Look up and a face looks toward the canyon . . .

you feel like checking your back when you have passed them

Sometimes there is just one, sometimes a group occupying

a limb of a tree.

Another tree with its feet gripping the stony earth.

Another face, old and wrinkled like a fearful soldier of Mordor.

Feet of great age need cooling . . . the common name of this

Eucalyptus is river red gum, because it grows in and along

watercourses and has the most beautiful red, termite proof

timber extensively used for railway sleepers that are still

intact when being replaced by concrete ones after lasting

more than 100 years.

More shadowy faces, if I had been alone, I would have turned

back at this point. They looked threatening and protective

of this Aboriginal water hole.

All being well, next week I'll show the canyon itself. It was a

truly magical place.

All photos enlarge.

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TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ Wittunga Botanical Gardens

Adelaide has three Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the CBD

of Adelaide, the mountain gardens at Mt.Lofty and the third

within the southern suburbs is Wittunga.

As you enter the gardens and nose into your parking spot,

you are greeted with this view of a magnificent pink

Callistemon in full bloom.

At present the gardens are filled with colour whichever way

you look.

There are many shady paths to wander and enjoy and green

lawns to picnic on, ducks to feed on the pond or grazing on

the lawns. A very people friendly place with all paths

negotiable by wheel chairs.

My camera and I spent a happy hour there last week.

All photos are best enlarged.

Thanks to all the happy flower people at TODAY'S FLOWERS

who host this meme we can smell the roses all around the world.