Morning at the River

I've never really considered rivers as things to be fond of, although I've been aware that others do. I guess I've haven't lived near enough to a significant one to spend time there so that I became fond of it. But, that is what is happening now. The Swan River is a lovely river. It meanders gracefully around the suburbs of Perth and almost everywhere its banks are lined with trees dipping their leaves into the water and wonderfully sandy tiny beaches.

Today Bess (the dog) and I went off in search of a new stretch to explore. We arrived in Bassendean, a suburb that sits in a curve of the river just across from the historic Guildford. We went to Success Hill Park and discovered a wonderful little oasis of bushland and riverbank and had it all to ourselves (granted it was 7am on a Saturday). Besides being beautiful, Success Hill is a bit famous and a bit infamous. Famous because perhaps Stirling (our intrepid first Governor) 'watered his horses here' in about 1830 and infamous (although that is not really the right word) for an Aboriginal massacre that happened there a little later on. The Australian ability to take on this little known information and then continue with a morning's walk amazes me, even though I am also very capable of it too. I found out this information from an interpretation board - one of about eight in the park - and I could write a little essay about the way the information is presented, but I won't here.

So, let's just get onto the photos and let go of that prickly, difficult national issue, shall we?

This walk at the river I did take my camera, although I'm having to relearn my old lens because my newer and better one is, sadly, broken. Not all the photos I took worked out and that hasn't happened to me in a long time!

But, Bess and I had the glorious experience of wandering through bushland together, just like we used to. She with her nose to the ground, tail wagging and me with my camera and wide open eyes. Lovely.

Smart Woman

I'm always so excited to hear from very smart women who made it to the top of their field, especially when they defend their way of doing things as different because they are women, instead of insisting that gender has no impact on decisions and ways of working.

Anyway, just let me step off my soapbox for a moment to link to this interview with a very smart Western Australian woman, retiring chief judge of the WA District Court, Antoinette Kennedy, in which she discusses the role of the courts and argues against the media's representation of judges and the judgments they make. She makes so much sense that I wanted to cheer.

If you aren't from Australia this might not be so interesting for you, but she is really so clever that if you have a little time spare and find things about law interesting I would highly recommend listening. Or just save it for one of those times when you look to the Internet for something interesting and engaging and it fails miserably!

Find it here.

Speechless

Credit: Copyright Viviane Dalles. Used without Permission

Go here and watch the 'Growing Debt' slideshow (I mean, watch all of them, but particularly that one).

Now go here and look at this photo shoot of a one-year-old's birthday party. I saw this the other day and it has been on my mind ever since. I don't want to be mean to one family or anything but I'm scared this is not considered completely unnecessarily outlandish, over-the-top and decadent (in the bad sense of the word) due to all the fawning that has happened here over the 'cute!'. I just think that sometimes I have to stand up and say, 'no, actually, that is a hideous waste of resources and money'. I decided that my own blog was probably the best place to do that!

And here I am, somewhere in the middle, trying to be moral and good, growing some of my own food, not using plastic, trying not to drive the car too much and existing on the smallest amount of money I've ever had but still participating in ways that I don't think I should and that I could do better.

Sometimes the world just doesn't make sense.