Veronika Wild

  “Tulips are the poets of the garden, Whispering tales of strength and beauty to those Who listen with their hearts.” -Poem by Alice Hoffman -Lovely flowers by my friend, Fine Art Photographer, Ivy Malkin As we plunge headlong into winter and our trees have gone straight to brown instead of gold, my friends in the Northern Hemisphere have been sending me pictures of spring flowers. They remind me that even though the world is in turmoil and the future doesn’t look all that bright, there are still things to be grateful for. This was going to be a post for Earth Day, April 14, until other events intervened, but perhaps it will still bring some sunshine into your life.   Solar Gardens Have you thought about owning a bit of your own electricity grid? No, I don’t mean rooftop solar. Solar Gardens are for renters and city apartment dwellers who don’t have a roof to call their own. Looking rather like community garden plots and feeding directly into the grid – no n...

-Image by Roel Wijnants licenced under CC ND Saturday, 27 April 2024 I had hoped to finish on a happier note this month, but this weekend women all over Australia have been marching in protest at yet another murder of a mother and her three children. Quite a few men have been marching too, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.  Many are calling for a Royal Commission, but I have little faith. The Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody which ran from 1987 to 1991, resulted in 399 recommendations, very few of which have been implemented with the result that 470 Aboriginal people have died in custody since. The huge expense involved could have been better spent improving conditions for Australia’s indigenous people instead. Much the same can be said with respect to the Royal Commission into Aged Care in 2018. It too, revealed many tragic stories of abuse and neglect and resulted in a large number of recommendations, but again, so far very little has changed, though no...