Veronika Wild

    Dear Friends, It's that time of year when we think of others and when we think of Peace and Goodwill towards our fellow humans and the creatures with whom we share this planet. War is such a terrible waste of lives and of the homes, skyscrapers, bridges, fields and forests, businesses and societies we have managed to build over thousands of years and many generations.  At this time in our collective history, we can’t afford to build them again and there are much bigger problems we must solve and which we can only solve if we work together. That is the one war we must fight and it will take all hands on deck and everyone working together. Everything else is a needless and cruel distraction. The words below were written by a beautiful, insightful comedian. Although he died at age 32 in 1994, his words resonate even more today than they did then.    -With thanks to Unify for alerting me to this lovely quote per X            ...

  Australians were shocked and saddened by events in Sydney this week when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish community group celebrating Hanuka. Our thoughts are with those who have lost family members and we wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. It was a dark day for Australia and it was made even darker by those seeking to capitalise on this incident for their own ends. Those on the right are calling on the Prime Minister to resign, as if he were personally responsible. We did not call on Prime Minister John Howard to resign after the Port Arthur massacre, nor Prime Minister Tony Abbott for the Lindt Cafe Siege in 2014. Ironically, both of these men are from the same political party which is now demanding that the Prime Minister step down. This glaring double standard reveals political opportunism rather than genuine concern and undermines unity when Australia needs it most. The older shooter was admitted to Australia by the previous government. The othe...

Richmond's famous  convict bridge (1823) I have had not one, but two visits to Richmond   in the last week or two. We've had appalling weather for at least a month, so the first time the sun managed to struggle out from behind the clouds, #1 granddaughter gathered me up and drove me Richmond for afternoon tea. One by-product of the weather we've been having was that everything was lovely and green, something which I have rarely seen in this area.   Richmond was its usual charming self. It's Australia’s oldest intact Georgian village and has quaint cottages and stately homes, a historic bridge, a river with ducks, several vineyards and eateries and its historic goal.   It took me a long time to realise that much of what we admire in Tasmania today would not have been possible without the toil, misery and free labour of convicts.  I had planned to visit one of two Christmas tree farms in this area, but one wasn’t open yet and the other hadn’t yet put up its Chri...