Veronika Wild

Lovely random picture of two Superb Fairy Wrens - they are aren't they!  by Elizabeth Kay Russell  (Thank you, Elizabeth) Dear friends, It’s Tax time in the Land of Oz, so I will be very quiet this week, (no cheering!) while I shuffle through my assorted paperwork. At least it shouldn't take long this year, which will alas, be true for many thanks to COVID 19, especially for anyone connected with the arts, the media, in hospitality, tourism or any other casual employment. To paraphrase Thomas Dewar slightly, “The only thing sadder than having to pay income tax, is not having an income to pay taxes on.”   I also rather like this quote by Herman Wouk: "Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today." Or this one by George Bernard Shaw: "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul." - [All these are from investment advisor Motley Fool which has lots of other se...

I thought I was on to something here, but when I got the binoculars it turned out to be an island It was beautiful weather here on Sunday, so off I went for a spot of whale viewing. Between April and June is the time of the year when large numbers of whales – particularly Humpbacked Whales and Southern Right Whales, pass by this region on their way to the tropics to breed.   Alas, I didn’t have much luck, but the next night on the news, they said that over a thousand Humpback Whales had been seen off the East Coast of Tasmania. It’s estimated that in total there are now around 35,000 of them again, which is excellent news because thirty years ago their numbers had fallen to just over 100 individuals. This represents a great win not just for the Whales but also for conservation efforts. Hunting of Humpback Whales stopped in 1963 after catches had declined worldwide and in 1965 they were formally protected. The creation of marine reserves around their breeding ground...

Although Refugee Week finished on the 20th, many of the videos and online events will be available until the end of the month. I’ll include one or two here, just in case. It’s never too late to share a meal ,  recipes or inspiring stories or to make people feel welcome. Currently there are around 70.8 million displaced people in the world, the highest number in recorded history. Some are displaced within their own country (40.3 million) because of land degradation or conflict. We have already encountered some of those who must leave the countryside and move to cities because the land can no longer support them, or because of conflict –four million in Yemen alone, or natural disasters.   Others seek asylum in other countries because of religious or political persecution, such as the Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar,   because of their race or ethnicity such as the Hazara in Afghanistan, or even because of their sexual preferences (Nigeria).  This places great...

Drought: There are many definitions of Drought, the simplest being. "A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to shortages of water." However, drought also refers to a lack of soil moisture, causing crops to fail and surface vegetation to die. Desertification: A process whereby land becomes progressively less fertile usually as result of prolonged drought, deforestation or land degradation. Read More ... Lessons from history   Someone once told me that the Sahara Desert started because of a ship -building frenzy around the Mediterranean especially by the Romans, two thousand years ago, but I couldn’t find any further reference to that until now. Today I read on Wiki, that it was the result of the rapid expansion of the Roman Empire (beginning with the formation of the Roman Republic in 500 BC), and its insatiable demand for timber - not just for ship building, but for housing, for fuel, for heating homes and bathhouses, for the manufacture ...