Driving through outback Queensland we were amazed at the number of emus, one flock of about 50 as well as smaller flocks and the occasional usual emu with a couple of chicks. The recent wet weather has obviously been kind to the native fauna…
Emus Abound
Out back of Bourke
Heading for Queensland
The season has been good
As the multitude of emus attest.
Never before have this many I’ve seen
Small groups, large groups, an adult with its young
The greenery in this usually dry area
Assaulting the senses.
While the northern hemisphere cooks
Wildfires in countries normally not affected
Much of the southern hemisphere is wetter than usual
Though we know it won’t last.
Animals and birds adjust better to this
Breeding when food and water is plentiful
Humans carry on regardless
Ignoring nature’s constraints.
I wonder if one day
When humans are no longer here
Will nature be able to overcome the wounds inflicted
And animals restore their resting places.
Brian Matthews 28-7-26
Travelling north in Australia during winter definitely has some weather advantages…
Ups and Downs
So good to feel the warm
Comfort takes many a form
But long cold spells are so tough
And for me can be so rough.
We all know how it goes
Hot then cold and some places it even snows
In Australia we are often with pleasant weather blessed
Though nature still sometimes us does test.
Downpours in lands already sodden
Or bushfires in places we have trodden
The weather can be so capricious
Of evil forces we can become suspicious.
For now I will just enjoy this state
Knowing that I will not have long to wait
Before the mercury does take a fall
And under something warm again I’ll crawl.
Brian Matthews 29-7-26
One of my younger grandchildren had her birthday soon after and I wrote this about a week before she turned 10…
So Tilly’s Ten
A slip of a girl now
But I think not for long
Because as we all know
You’ll soon grow big and strong.
To me it seems like yesterday
That you came into this world
But that’s what old ones say
Whose lives have long unfurled.
For you life is still fresh
Something to be explored
As your interests grow and mesh
Memories will be gradually stored.
Pop and BaBa wish for you the best
Lots of fun and friends to find
As life presents to you each test
Surround yourself by those who are kind.
Brian Matthews 2-8-26
For Tilly’s 10th birthday on 12th August
Life then became very busy as we prepared for and then started our 12 month stint as Caretakers at the Carrieton Caravan Park. Little time has been left for my usual lounging around but things were quiet today and I wanted to write something to celebrate what would have been my Mum’s 99th birthday is she had still been with us…
Mum’s Birthday
Mums are special
That we all know
Providing for us a vessel
In which our bodies grow.
But, as with us all
Time moves inexorably on
Until that last bell’s call
And then they are gone.
Today Mum would have been 99
Though five years now since she went
I worried that my memories would not shine
The harsh final years obscuring joyful times spent.
And yet that has not happened
Reminders of good times often emerge
Ensuring that shared experiences are not blackened
And pleasant feelings suddenly surge.
Life is both good and bad
Nothing can this change
And some of it will make us sad
But without the happy bits it would be strange.
So, on this day Mum I say to you
Thank you for all we shared
Even those things that made us blue
Knowing that you truly cared.
Brian Matthews 10-9-26
Brian’s Reflections 