Oh good grief!

 Where does time go? I popped on here and last time I was here was November. Holy cow!

I wish I could tell you that I had some great book news for you...but I don't. Sorry. Old books are on sale, a few words have tumbled from my brain, but mostly I'm still taking photos.

Here are some of the latest photos:

I sat at the beach on Saturday evening to see the moon rise. It wasn't quite full, but the night was perfect I thought. I'm glad I did because last night was clouds. Of course, these are in reverse order...but I'm out of practice doing posts :)

Hope you enjoy!

The almost full moon, later in the evening

Sunset and gum leaves

Sunset through the dune trees

The moon and ocean through the dunes

Moon, ocean, waves

A wave while I was waiting

The wind-blown sand, while I waited

A tern flies back with a feed

Seagulls flying into the setting sun

The setting sun through the grass on the dunes

It's been a while...

Oh boy, blog, I've neglected you for a long time. 

Words aren't doing it for me at the moment - writing, speaking or reading them.

Why? 

I think it's a processing thing in my brain. I noticed when I was learning new things about writing, I couldn't write until they'd settled into my head properly. And I think this is similar.

In the last 2 years, life's jumbled itself all up. Well, actually, that's not something new for me :) But it's not just my life this time, it's the life all around me that's jumbled. And that's taking time to process.

I was thinking today, that maybe there is nothing to process. Maybe I should be looking at/after myself and working on me, and forgetting about the wider world.

I'm one of those people who can see most sides to things, especially when I remain somewhat detached and unemotional. So, I can see why people are upset about everything that happening. I can understand why people take things as a personal attack, rather than a wider societal thing. I see people's view when they say something is their #1 priority - even if I don't share that view. I can understand why people are deperate for a vaccine, and I can understand when they don't want one. And that's been hell in my brain.

My poor brain is like an old computer churning through data trying to make sense and see a way forward in the program.

Sometimes, there isn't a way forward that harmonious or even a satisfying compromise. I think this is where my words are stuck.

And so I'm falling into nature and capturing the joy I feel there in images. It's like every day is a Wildflife Wednesday.

And I apologise for not being here, not writing, not finding words or stories. I'm managing the chaos of life my way, so I can find joy every day and continue to find happiness in living.

I hope you're also finding pieces of happiness and joy even in this chaos.

Australian Magpie

Currawong

Australian Pelican

Rainbows in waves

Windblown sand

Driftwood

Silver Gull

Wildlife Wednesday - more birds

The Alice Springs Desert Park is a fantastic 'zoo' experience. It's spread out across quite a space, but has gorgeous, well-maintained walking tracks, lots of native 'scrub' and lots of information. There are a lot of bird aviaries, a nocturnal house, lots of other critters to see, and zookeeper chats.

We went in the afternoon when it was 42C and the woman at the entry tried to talk us out of paying our entry, and coming back the next day when it was cooler. But it was day 1 and Mr E was still in go-go-go mode, we had plenty of water, we have been used to the heat, so we went in. We were the only people in the park, aside from staff, and I'm pretty sure they watched us on CCTV to make sure we didn't die! The woman who let us in, met us as we were leaving (like, joined us for the last stretch before the exit)!

One of the joys of the bird aviaries was that they had a really light mist fall at random intervals and there was plenty of natural and man-made shade for the birds. 

Another aspect was that with no other people, and it being so hot, the birds sat pretty still!

So here are some pics:

(I'm missing some IDs - I'll try to fill them in later on)

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

A variety of birds, including budgies

Pied Stilt

Zebra Finch

Australasian Grebe (I thought it was fake!)

A bunch of zebra finches

Western Bower bird (with pink blotch on back of head - that's real)

Port Lincoln Parrot

Orange Chat

Splendid Fairywrens

Princess Parrots

Diamond Dove

Spinifex Pigeon

White-winged Fairy-wren

Banded Lapwing

Wildlife Wednesday - birds, birds, birds with a few other criiters

I'm just back from a most marvellous holiday to the Northern Territory - Alice Springs and Uluru. 

We're so lucky in Australia to be able to travel. I'm so lucky to be in a position where I can afford to travel. And I'm incredibly lucky to have the health that allows me to travel - and for the first time in at least 15 years, I travelled without complete and utter exhaustion (with a few mega-walking days too!).

Going to the Territory in December isn't the smartest thing if you're not a fan of hot temperatures. Most days were between 38 - 44C. We had a couple of days under 38C which was fantastic. Nights were in the mid to late 20s. But we knew we could do the hot, dry heat of the centre. We used to live in the centre of NSW, which has similar weather conditions, so I was hoping I hadn't become 'soft' living on the coast. And I'm pleased to say I'm not too soft!

Travel when here are only domestic tourists, and in summer when people don't generally want to go to hot places without a beach, is BLISS for people who don't like crowds. Most of the McDonnell Ranges' sites we had to ourselves - except for the birds, insects, mammals, reptiles (and a Park ranger we kept bumping into - even in Woolies!).

So, here are some of the wildlife we encountered around Alice Springs. It was so incredible to see so many birds and be able to snap them. Some were right at the edge of my zoom lens - they seem to know to keep their distance! :)

Next week, I'll pop up some of the bird life from the Alice Springs desert Park. If you're ever up there, that place is incredible!

Crow escaping the heat

Brown Falcon

Crested Pigeon

White-rumped Miner - adult and juvenile

Wallaroos

White-browed Babbler

Port Lincoln Parrot

Black-fronted Dotterel

Zebra Finches having a drink

A blur of a rainbow bee-eater in flight (just above mid photo)

Rainbow bee-eater (back)

Diamond Dove

White-plumed honeyeater

Magpie Lark (pee wee)

Sacred Kingfisher (back)

Sacred Kingfisher (side)

Australian Magpie

Another Crested Pigeon

Another Miner

Another Brown Falcon, watching me carefully!

Spotted (or Western) Bower Bird