Veronika Wild

Thank you, Fiona and The Irish Way. Oh dear, this hasn't loaded quite the way it should have. The first three words are "Two roads converged...." The original poem is by Robert Frost  and was written in about 1915 after a stay in the UK. It is about indecision which certainly strikes a chord with me. Read the full poem here . It remains one of the best known and misread poems in America. Just thought you might want to know all that. I chipped a front tooth on New Year's Day, which is not exactly a good omen for 2017. While I have been hiding away waiting for the Tooth Fairy to have a cancellation, I have been browsing through all the funnies and inspiring stories on this site. However, I am not the only one who didn't get off to a good start. Five -year -old granddaughter slipped on Hobart's fabulous long slide - always a favourite with several generations of this family, and managed to break four bones in her little foot. She is now the proud posses...

Have just finished seeing the New Year in with neighbours and family. The fireworks were spectacular, but half the time I was thinking why are we  sending all this money up in smoke? On the other hand, according to Chinese tradition, crackers and noise are to keep evil spirits away though these days we are more likely to call them stress and depression, and they have certainly done that.  May the New Year bring you all you hope for and much more. We also hope our elected representatives, bankers,bureaucrats and others who hold our lives in their hands are all busy making New Year resolutions to behave honourably and wisely and do better this year in the best interests of all. The Japanese custom of Old Year Forgetting which includes making up with those with whom we have had disagreements and paying up all one's bills, also has a lot to recommend it. For those who don't have much to celebrate this year because of illness, turmoil, incarceration or persecution, may this...

Season’s Greetings from Melbourne Airport Between Worlds Into the cool green embrace of Tasmania It was 34oC when I left Perth and it's 18oC when I arrive in Tasmania. I'll be complaining about the cold next. The little girls and their Mum arrive two days later.  When they wake up in the morning, there's snow on the mountain.They are positively thrilled. I don't think the youngest, aged five, has ever seen it. They play in it, they taste it and come back red -cheeked and very excited. It could be a white Christmas yet. So little snow - so much excitement Youngest son has decided to delay his departure until after Christmas and the oldest, with his little family, will be arriving tomorrow.  For a few days the house will be crowded with music, laughter and chaos. Strange that. I always thought it was a bit like Brigadoon for my mother -in -law when the whole family descended for a day or two and then scattered again to lead their separate...

Possibly a type of Casuarina - these are not so much flowers  as excrescences Have no idea what this tree is either but it has little yellow star flowers like a Jasmine   In Western Australia the season of flowering trees continues -not just the Jacarandas, stunning as they are, but also those above, several types of ti -tree and the first of the flowering gums, a spectacular pink one. (Sorry no photo, I was in someone else's car on the way to dinner).The bright red calistemons, usually one of my favourites because they come out at Christmas time and provide a seasonally appropriate splash of colour, came out much earlier this year and during a particularly hot spell, making them go into almost immediate decline before the flower heads had fully developed. Calistemon - usually prolific at this time of year, but few and far between this time Sadly, most of them look like this - dying off before they are fully in bloom Though I wasn't sorry to be l...

First real rain since early October Whooeee!   It just rained, and a real gutter -spiller it was, complete with thunder and lightning. I don't think we've had a drop of rain since I came back from Broome on the 4 th of October.   All around you can hear the bush and the trees sighing with relief and I feel much the same. Before that it’s been a bit like "Troppo Season" in Darwin just before the rains hit, which is usually accompanied by an excess of violence, pub brawls   and road rage. Then, when the rain does finally break, you feel like going out and dancing in it. That how I felt last night. Kangaroo Mum and baby popped down this morning  for a spot of green grass - note how skinny Mother Kangaroo is It’s been over 37oC for the past few days and everything has been tinder dry. Tempers have been short too. Indeed, the Allied Shop Assistants Union has been thinking of going on strike due to abusive shoppers. So much for Christmas Cheer.  ...