Sailing, sailing

Yachts at Goolwa, South Australia

Yachts at Goolwa, South Australia

I have never had too many opportunities to travel on ships or boats and especially sailing on yachts. I have only ever been sailing on a yacht on a handful of occasions. I certainly would have liked to have had far more opportunities, but they didn’t present themselves.

Perhaps I don’t mix with the right kind of people – or I need to find new ways of making far more money so I can afford a nice yacht. Trouble is, people like me (of a certain age) are probably too old and decrepit to learn how to sail. Perhaps I need to make a lot of money from my writing so I can afford to buy a yacht and employ someone to sail it for me.

On the other hand, I have often watched yachts sailing, admiring their beauty as they press through the waves, flying along on the wind. More than once have I wistfully wished to be one of those on the boat. From time to time I’ve even caught myself dreaming about sailing my own boat to exotic destinations.

Writing prompts:

  • Write an account of a time when you went sailing or boating.
  • Turn your non-fiction account into a fictional story, letting your imagination full rein.
  • Write a poem about the beauty of sailing ships and yachts.

Good writing.

The photo above was taken several years ago of yachts near the mouth of the River Murray, Goolwa, South Australia.

Writing prompt: A cute little rabbit

 

IMG_7886

This little rabbit has taken up residence in our garden. Not that we want it there, or have encouraged it in any way. It just arrived, probably from a nearby warren.

My sister-in-law thinks it is “cute”.

My daughter thinks it is “cute”

We don’t think that it is “cute” the way it eats our plants. In fact, my wife says that the only “cute” rabbit is one in the pot cooking for dinner.

How do you react to seeing a young rabbit? Perhaps you might even have a pet rabbit. Write a story about a rabbit, either one you do not want around, or a pet rabbit that you love.

Good writing.

Writing when you are hot

Would the person who invented global warming please switch it off?

Here in South Australia we have had a warm summer – no, make that an extremely HOT summer. Adelaide is the capital city of our state and today it recorded its twelfth day over 40C (104F) for the summer, eclipsing the previous record of 11 days set 117 years ago. And the forecast for tomorrow is 42C, extending the new record even further. While the next few days after that promise to be a little cooler, we still have 17 days of summer left.

While the city temperatures have been very high this summer, the large rural town where I live – Murray Bridge – is usually a few degrees hotter again. Every summer we expect at least three or four days in the region of 45C (113F) or even higher. On days like that one simply avoids going outside unless it is absolutely necessary. By way of extreme contrast, the following day it can plummet to about 20C (68F) with a strong southerly cool breeze off the Southern Ocean.

You get used to it…

…or move to Tasmania, New Zealand or Alaska.

Getting the energy and motivation to write on such extreme weather days can be a challenge but one I relish. It means I have an excuse to bunker down in my office… and write – or read. I have a small air conditioner in the office, but it really is not up to the task of cooling the whole room. It’s okay if I aim it directly at me. So last week we invited an air conditioning consultant in to assess what we could do to improve the situation. I haven’t ordered a new split system yet, but I will do so soon.

It may be too late for this summer – there is a 4 week delay in installation – but the heating capacity of the unit will be great on those chilly, nose-biting frosty mornings we get here in winter.

And then there’s always next summer.

UPDATE: 14th February – the cooler weather has arrived as promised by the weather bureau, and so has the rain. We’ve had over 70mm in the last 24 hours. Considering that our average for February is only 15, and our annual average 344mm, this is a significant weather event.

 

Writing prompt: close encounters with birds

A friendly visitor to our picnic

A friendly visitor to our picnic

Last week my wife and I went for a drive from our son’s home in Artarmon, Sydney, to Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. We stopped in several places along the way and ended up at West Head Lookout. From here you can see over Broken Bay and some of the beaches and islands in that area.

At one point my wife was sitting on one of the seats admiring the view when her phone rang. It was her sister calling from South Australia. She was so distracted by the conversation that she didn’t notice our visitor, an Australian Brush-turkey (see photos). The turkey just casually wandered around us, merely a metre or so from us. It was a wonderful photo opportunity.

Writing prompts

I love having close encounters with birds and the natural world of animals. I’ve written many poems about birds.

  • Write a poem about a close encounter you’ve had with a bird, animal or other creature.
  • Include animals, birds and the natural environment in a short story.
  • Relate an incident where you were surprised, frightened, amused or amazed by a close brush with a bird, reptile, fish, animal or some other creature.

Read more about Brush-turkeys:

IMG_7701

Australian Brush-turkey, West Head, Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park

It’s beginning to look like Christmas

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House

My wife and I are currently staying with our son and daughter-in-law in Sydney. We plan to be here for Christmas and look forward to sharing Christmas with our two little grandchildren, ages 5 and 2 and a half.

A few days ago we all chipped in helping to decorate the Christmas tree. Not one of those artificial ones bought in every shopping centre. No, we have a genuine natural tree bought from the local Scout Group who made them available to the local community.

Then the family gathered around the dining room table to make gingerbread houses. My almost two and a half year old granddaughter decided that it was far more interesting to eat her house straight away. Waiting for over a week to eat it is far too long for a little one.

Five year old grandson however, despite being an extremely active young boy, sat for over an hour with great determination to make the house shown above. We were all so proud of him – and I think he was too.

Writing prompts

We don’t have too many special traditions at Christmas time, but I know that many families do.

  • Write about the special things you do as a family at Christmas.
  • Relate a true happening when everything went wrong.
  • Imagine a truly wonderful Christmas; make it into a  story or poem.

Good writing.