Juniper’s World Journal – Page 20

For my Mother

I have to thank my Mum for believing and supporting me for tomorrow’s exhibition. The above photo is NOT in the exhibition, but I am putting it here just for my Mum.

Today I had a very long day hanging the exhibition but the mekeo yellow was vibrant and strong, as well as lots of orange, maybe the spirit of ABC Open (logo orange). Both these colours on the wall made me feel joy even when the going got tough and we had challenges to overcome.

Sally who helped me hang the exhibition, was valiant and brave and solved any of our day’s challenges pretty well. By the end of it we were all tired, but it was on the wall and it looks like an exhibition. Sarah did an awesome job with the labelling! Was lovely to arrive and see my pile of labels all ready to go.

Hopefully all will go well tomorrow. A few people stopped to look at it whilst we were hanging, some friends doing a workshop with ABC Open even gave encouraging hugs for tomorrow or a smile – which was all appreciated.

My daughter, who’d come with me, and I ended the day eating berry cheese cake and singing at the tops of our voices in the car on the way home.

When I arrived home I found a comfy old chair in the garden and watched the birds flying overhead.

I was treated to a large bird flying really low, not sure what it was but it looked impressive. I was too exhausted for a camera trip and it went away so fast, instead I captured the moment in memory, and then promptly dozed off on the comfy chair.

My hubby brang me a hot cuppa and we had a short yarn until the mosquitoes chased us inside. What a day! Tomorrow, Smile Within Opens- and the butterflies are strong, but a little bit of that Mekeo Dance is in my photos even if I am terrible at dancing.

Thanks Mum and also of course my friend Pam, and Helen and Bill at Ezy photos, who have been so good to me these last couple of weeks. I have to let them know that people noticed something about the paper on the walls and wanted to know what kind of paper I printed on. On ya Bill. Anyway now I need to snooze before tomorrow! Time to have just a little bit more cocoon time.

Thankyou – time to vote for people’s choice in the Australian Blog competition

Dear Readers,

Thankyou so much awesome readers for nominating me for Best Australian Blog, a competition being run by the Sydney Writer’s Centre, now is the time to head along and vote in the people’s choice awards.

So if you like hearing about life in the country, the role of creativity in healing, and what ever else is happening in Pearlz Dreaming then please head over there and vote – and thankyou for reading and supporting my blogging and real life challenges and adventures down the years. I appreciate every one of you.

You don’t have to be Australian to vote but it is for an Australian blog.

June Perkins

Final Selections, March Flies and Anchors

the journey — June Perkins – The Journey

Preparing for an exhibition is like preparing for a birth – only you know the exact date (not a rough estimate give or take a few) and you have to meet it. Everyone is there to watch, not just your partner or other nominated birthing coach. The contractions of an exhibition are strong – time to select, print, mount, and add the text near the photos. Deep breath, continue, another deep breath. Time to publicise, invite, cater — yikers get a move on girl!

Will people get that this exhibition is sharing a part of my family? Part of my community? Our journey in the last year? If only I had more time to prepare. How many about-to-be parents do you think have said those same words?

Preparing this exhibition has been a journey, enjoyable but just a bit nerve wracking as it comes to fruition. I can’t say pregnancy was that easy though – especially the first child.

Labour in all my cases at the end part was fairly fast though – lucky we got to the hospital on time and stayed there awhile to wait even when they told us to go home. Otherwise I’d have some baby born on a road by a canefield stories to tell.

During my pregnancy I remember almost permanently basing myself in a cold shower all that time ago – and wishing we had an air conditioner. We were in Townsville at the time and it was so hot, and no rain! We were poor uni students living from hand to mouth. I wrote a few poems, might try dig them up and share them ‘Tropical Mum.’

Today we live in the wet tropics, and although it can be mighty humid, we are blessed with rain – like today – just enough rain to cool it off and not a big wet, just perfect wet.

Today we had surprise drop in visitors, keenly into photography and bookmaking, and headed off to the Murray Falls, and I took along my dearly beloved camera.

It was inspiring being with people who love photography as much as I do, and who take things slow so as to observe what is around them. For once I was not the one at the back always stopping whilst my family call out, Where are you Mum?

It was amusing to watch the kids catching food for our pet bird – grasshoppers and march flies. We all mused whether blue on tablecloths and hats really attracts March flies and how if you kill one March fly all its friends come around to attack you. What wisdoms do you know about March flies?

bushgirls — Bushgirls just wanna catch bugs – June Perkins

The girls were full of zest in their quest for bugs for food for others. Future naturalists or zookeepers? I wonder which?

After we said farwell to our visitors at the Falls we went to take a photograph of an anchor.

The inspiring story of the anchor will be included in the exhibition. I took several photographs of Christine, the owner and a few of my family interacting with it, and she took one of us. I clicked this one of my son sitting on the anchor at the end.

Whenever we are busy it is a time to remind ourselves of the true anchors in our lives. What anchors us to joy or does joy anchor us?

anchorchristines — Anchored, by June Perkins

It’s off to Town I go

Once a week I take our car (we are a one vehicle family and no it’s not the picture above that’s another of my favourite activities looking for pictures in Tully and elsewhere) and head off into Tully or on other adventures. Here is an account of one typical day in town. Ironically as I share this account the kids AFL carnival in Cairns has just been cancelled by rain and all the kids are on their way back on the bus. That’s the wet season for you!

A typical day visit into Tully town includes visiting my friends working at their shops or at their homes. I enjoy these visits and they are a welcome break from writing and project work at the confines of my computer.

Gift Shop – J. and I discuss whether I should photograph her sister’s wedding- she’d like me to do it and gives me her sister’s phone number. I have never done a wedding before and am a bit nervous, but I’d so love the opportunity. Will I or wont I? I have given them some other local photographer’s names.

M – at the library I borrow different sized books and then M. discusses what librarians look for in a book; I file away this information to take into account when I am working out my size dimensions. I really have to get onto my quotes.

Visit to J… – discussion of her submission to the Smile Within project, people are the most important thing… life of service, but a creative writer too, who friends tell me did very well at school. She is off to a conference on residential places for retirees.

Photo Shop – They have some wood for my exhibition photographs to be mounted on and will save any as it comes in. Like many in photography they like me like to be behind the camera. I think B. would write a great photography blog, we always have interesting discussion, –can’t wait for their housewarming, it’ll be awesome!

Scrap booking shop – I pick up a contribution to the exhibition – and chat to two people in doing an art workshop with A. they are making some interesting stuff. Looking forward to reading what A. has written. One of the ladies doing art is a mum of a child my kid used to go to school with. A. is interested to read my project blog for smile within.

I visit C. She asks how did the trip to Brisbane go? She returns the consent form for my upcoming exhibition ( I lose my keys, but have put them in my camera bag what a dag!) C. is my driving mentor extraordinaire – and she is a great and caring mother to her kids. Devoted and dedicated – a real backbone to her family.

Back home to Murray Upper and then back in to town – taking my son to AFL footy training – how he loves his sport!!! We run into some more parents – some fellow teachers, and one from my son’s school. The kids are all excited about AFL. It is pouring but their coach takes them to the oval to play anyway – no stopping for rain! Hooray a sport where you just keep on making the effort. It rains up here so much. Well that’s life.

(c) June Perkins

Wet Season Arrives?

A break from the writeup of the Brisbane Adventure, due to the arrival of the wet season.

Will the wet season arrive? Will we dodge cyclone warnings? Will we be flooded in?

This is a time to wake each day and listen to the radio whilst having breakfast, because announcements about non-accessible roads are inevitable. North Queensland Tropical city and country living is punctuated by the wet season. Although this year we have as a community been debating if it’s going to happen as it seems to have been unusually dry.

This morning David, my husband, woke up to the sound of the pounding rain, was on his way to check the bom site when the phone rang, and the Principal of the school we live next to asked how the roads were looking near us.

David then drove off to check the roads and came home with a report of where the water was over. There were still some roads open and the road to Tully was open. It was looking like going to work at highschool was going to happen.

This was followed by a call from the bus driver, saying so far so good, they would be running so a normal day was on the cards. However, this was shortly followed by a call from the bus driver again – saying, no the roads are looking dodgy and waters are rising fast we won’t be running the buses.

Next step in this wet season saga is that David then becomes a primary school teacher for the day, as well as having to plan his lessons for the day at the high school. He phones the Vice Principal at the high school to let him know the situation as well as his staff room to pass on lesson plans.

Before long parents rock up to our door step to check he will be teaching and drop their kids off at school; it looks like no other staff will be in and so our youngest son will let Dad know the routines of the day. He has a few tips from the Principal –but she has been away for two weeks on long service leave and is not sure what the kids are up to.

I make lunches for David and my two kids who will be heading to the Primary School.

Our youngest and our daughter, who’s in the first year of high school, are off to the Primary school with their Dad. Youngest is excited to have Dad teaching for the day with no real set program. His Dad is a talented teacher and can think on his feet, this should stand him in good stead today. I think though perhaps he is wondering how many kids he will actually have and thinking back to what works best with primary school kids as he is high school trained.

The Principal is not coming in, as her road may be cut off, and if buses don’t run she is advised not to head to the school, and it seems unlikely any other staff are going to be able to make it in either as they live down side roads that are flooded in on days like this.

Our Eldest decides to stay home and work on an assignment. I am working on an exhibition and have loads to do. I might just check how they are all going later. The exact number of children arriving today is an unknown factor.

My daughter pops home to pick up Dad’s glasses – as he can’t leave the school being the only staff member there.

So how else do people approach the wet season?

The rained in days can become days of reflection, and meditation – to celebrate the wet tropics. They can be places of a comma or full stop in life – a time to take a breath before moving on with normal routines.

Yesterday we went to observe a waterfall awash with so much water from rain it was majestic. The leaves of the plants and trees on the way to the waterfall were all glossy and green with the rainwater sheen. They looked like they had been varnished. It was refreshing to escape from the indoors to enjoy the rain. Wet seasons are what they are and as long as you are prepared for the adventures and full stops you cope just fine.

Our kid’s sneakers were wet, and headed for the dryer when we arrived home to be ready for the morning adventures.

Now back to today – the rain has cheekily stopped, but the day is set, and until 3pm David is a primary school teacher.