Whale Welcome
Whale Welcome
Nestled in the
crook of the arm
of the beach –
a whale
nudged
her calf
through the shallows.
Submariner of the deep
idly floating
down
and
up
Spray-spouting silhouette
flipper waves
to
two
watching
from the sands.
A ‘clutch’ of joeys bring joy.
We groaned with disappointment as we drove up the dirt track to our favourite tea spot, only to see a woman carrying her ‘picnic’ basket out of her 4WD and placing it heavily onto the rough wooden table. This was our spot. This was where we always had a tea break on our camping trip down south. This hidden lakeside spot was a long-forgotten and seldom-used bush site a long five kilometers from the back road that we always used. Miserably, we climbed out of our vehicle as they carried yet another ‘picnic’ basket and placed it on the ground beside the table.
Strangely, my husband called me over to them – and reluctantly, I went. What a surprise! Inside the ‘picnic’ basket, four of the cutest little joeys sat tucked up, heads poking out of their man-made ‘pouches’, as their wildlife carer, Adriayn fed them their bottled milk. Up close and personal, their little ears twisted this way and that, sensitive noses twitching in all the new smells, as they rubbed the tiniest little black paws across their faces, as they waited their turn.
Short grey fur was beginning to cover their lithe bodies, and I could not have been happier to be unexpectedly sharing a picnic spot in the bush with a wildlife carer, taking her lunch break with her brood, as she made her weekly 250 kilometre mail run to outlying farming communities!
That’s life in the bush for you, with all its unexpected eccentricities!
Whales Returning.
“The whales are back in the bay!”
I knew it before I heard the answer to my question. People straggling off the whale watching boat had that sloppy smile and dreamy-eyed look of those who’ve witness the awesome mysteries of nature!
“Two young ones – over there!” she said, and I felt it too – that silly smile sliding unbidden onto my face.
Our boat harbour is the last man-made launching point before the Antarctic – 6 000 kilometers away. And to think these gentle giants, ‘dinosaurs of the deep’, travel all that way to birth in our bay! It truly is a celebration.
The Velvet Chair
The chair spoke to me. It was nothing special, grand or new. It sat quietly at the back of the shop, out of place beside the newer, functional pieces around it. It did not scream out at me, “Pick me! I’m what you need!” But something about it drew me closer, to tentatively stroke the velvet seat and watch it gently rock. Softly, I heard its voice, “You know me.”
Like a key unlocking a memory from deep within, I saw myself as a young girl on holiday with my family at a guest farm, excitedly running into the Kid’s Barn filled with dusty books, ping pong table, piano, games and …chairs just like this one! I’d snuggle into its velvetness, rocking gently as I escaped into a book, dust motes dancing in a shaft of subtle sunshine at my feet, before racing out to ride a horse or have tea on the verandah with my family as we soaked in the countryside. It was always an escape.- a place where time stood still.
Nostalgia oozed over me. I sat. I leaned back into its velvetness. Springs bounced under me as I stroked its smooth wooden arms. I closed my eyes and smiled contentedly as I gently rocked “Yes, I know you well,” I whispered.
Mindfulness in Nature
Looking for that little window of magic means recognising the moment when nature opens your eyes and says –
Take a good look, before you miss it!
See it.
Hear it.
Smell it.
Touch it.
Taste it.
Imprint the experience in the hard drive of your mind.
In that moment – do not blink but freefall like Alice into Wonderland. Channel your inner yogi as the world spins around you and BREATHE!
Achieving that clarity of focus, honing in like an over-zealous camera man with his thumb pressed on the zoom lens highlighting every detail, as you ‘place your attention’ carefully through that tiny magical window while filtering out all the white noise – that is mindfulness.
Nature is mindfulness in action. She throws precious moments up into the air like jugglers’ skittles, and if you’re ready – you’ll catch their beauty and heart-stopping brilliance as they fly past that magical window.
It’s all about awareness. It may be the smell of eucalyptus leaves wafting on sunbeams down to earth. It may be pure wonder at the perfect symmetry of a leaf you’ve picked up, or just a quiet smile at the indecision of a hitchhiking bee hunched on the glass of your windscreen.
Open your eyes next time you’re out in nature – and take a mindful look around you.
Swimming at Flinders
Sitting above the beach while my husband swam, the beauty of the scene was not lost on me. The ocean oozed silvery-blue as it wriggled and nudged against sandy fringes while a black speck swam laps, cutting like a hot knife through the liquid blue. Jutting into that scene was a ramshackle wooden jetty, hardened pylons pinning it down as a hydrophobic kelpie paced its length, tongue-panting for his owner in the waters below. Mesmerised, I too strode its boards and …what a revelation! As if with a magic key or pin number, the ocean lid peeled back to reveal a blinding white sea floor, intense aqua ripples and swaying seaweed. I stood transfixed. The ocean swam in me…until, sated, I returned to the shore.
Writers Circle – Developing a Writing Community
I host Writer’s Circle at lunchtimes once a week during the Winter months at school. I am a Year 3 teacher with a literary bent and this is open to all students in Years 3 to 6 who just love writing.
It does mean commitment as we all miss out on one lunch break a week, but what a bonus as I watch aspirant writers:
- struggle with unusual genres
- wrestle with words and plot lines
- sit contemplatively considering new approaches
- light up as inspiration strikes
- beam with pride as they share on “Author’s Chair”, and then
- publish and give each other feedback on a digital sharing platform!
We’re into week 4 and we’ve written list poems and songs and are now working on developing stories which will allow students to extend their plots and allow for reflective editing. An interesting idea from a colleague before beginning narratives was to start from a different viewpoint from the usual. If we start our planning the usual way where often we develop a complication and then work outwards from there, the resolution is often predictive. So – we are exploring developing characters first in isolation, using lists and characteristics borrowed from real people we know… and now I am interested to see where this takes us and if any stories begin to “ask to be written” using these characters….?
This is only my second season offering Writer’s Circle and I’d love to hear your experiences or ideas for where we should go next….? I’m particularly interested in how you “Writers Workshop” educators might view this or what you would suggest. (btw – I’ve got Stacey’s “Craft Moves” as a great mentor text myself….)
Dawn
The Secret Life of Cows – Part 1 – MOTHERHOOD
Motherhood is a difficult job for anyone and just as much for a cow, right from the start!
It’s a home birth for every cow – alone in a private part of the paddock. When her baby pops out there’s no cooing as he’s placed on her chest to bond. She has to jump straight up and lick him clean herself, welcoming her newborn to the world with loving murmurs of “mm..mm..mm…” as she nudges and nuzzles him warm and dry. Recognising Mum’s voice the calf teeters to his feet, then totters tentatively towards Mum, looking for that teat for his first drink of lifegiving mother’s milk.
However, the mother is often too enthralled with the wonder of her newborn to look away and stand still for him and so begins the dance of love: ungainly calf following instinct as it stumbles on brand new legs towards the udder, while mum, flooded with maternal love, turns round and round to keep her eyes fixed on him. They dance ever closer until finally, instinct wins out and he drinks!
It’s legendary how all mothers will go in hard to bat for their kids. This aggressive-protector instinct is given birth along with the newborn. Cows, however, have to take it to a whole new level, as the mother has to eat her afterbirth (which is after all a big task for a grazing animal), to ensure no predator comes looking for her precious newborn. And only then, can the two of them cuddle up against each other for a loved-up snooze, often with Mum’s head draped protectively over baby’s silky soft body.
When cows show off their new calf, it’s not quite the same as a royal photo shoot showing the world the new addition to the family. This is a much noisier, in-your-face type affair. After a few days of bonding, the proud mother is ready to introduce her new calf to the rest of the herd. She bellows loudly to her friends, whilst reassuring her calf with gentle ‘mm..mm..mms”, as his aunties rush as a group with pounding hoofs to sniff and nudge him, gently welcoming him into the herd. This sniffing is his naming ceremony, so they’ll always recognise him in future. After this public outpouring of love and acceptance, Mum reclaims her calf and leads him off in close tow for a quiet cuddle.
Cows soon enrol their calves in the Community Kindy. We all know what mischief young kids can get up to unattended and calves are no exception. Most of the time you’ll only see dark ‘lumps’ against the green of the grass as they sleep most of the day. But these bundles of fluff soon want to do what all young kids do – explore and play. Mum cows need to go out to work though, to make sure they graze enough to feed two to support their family but cows have an ingenious way of coping – it’s called Day Care for Calves! Each day one cow mother is rostered on for kindy duty where she has to stay back and keep an eye on the group of youngsters. ‘Day Care for Calves’ seems to work well, but when it’s mealtime every mother knows the sound of her own calf’s hungry bellow and responds quickly.
Unlike humans who agonise over parenting skills and contemporary parenting styles, training their young into good routines seems to come naturally to cows. There’s no need for nappies or toilet training. There’s no “Come here right now!” or “I’ve told you a hundred times to brush your teeth and wash your face!” Cows seem to have it down pat right from the start. Her calf will trot obediently behind Mum without a sound being uttered. He stands still and even seems to enjoy the morning face wash as Mum licks the milkshake moustache from his face before giving him a general once-over lickathon – even giving his ears a thorough clean without any argument!
As youngsters grow and need to find their place in the group, Mums have to teach independence and assertiveness. A cow does this by teaching her calf the intricate art of headbutting, guaranteed to sort out all kinds of disagreements in the future. The little calf trustingly pushes its tiny head against Mum’s huge head, eye-to-eye, before Mum lets her little midget push her one tonne weight slowly backwards – a real lesson in love, trust and responsible parenting.
So, now that you know their secrets, the next time you drive through the countryside past a paddock of cows, look for the little sleeping lumps in the grass and note where the kindergarten are meeting for the day.
And, if someone were ever to call you a cow – thank them and wear it as a badge of honour, because they don’t know what you know about the secret life of cows!
The Parfumier and the BFG
He stepped off the sidewalk into the doorway of the boutique and lounged casually against the polished doorframe.
“Is that Chanel you’re wearing?” he asked the surprised woman behind the counter.
“Yes,” she replied as she looked quizzically at this stranger.
“I thought so,” the man replied as he turned to leave. “I could smell the scent as I was walking past,” adding as an afterthought as he left, “…I’m a parfumier.”
The power of our senses to capture and store emotions is not to be underestimated. It’s what we rely on when we attempt to convey emotion in writing. We train our students to write, drawing on their senses to create atmosphere. Harnessing our imagination we develop original descriptive language, using metaphors and similes which resonate with all that we have experienced before. Hasn’t every teacher asked their students to “close your eyes and picture…” before eliciting a written response? It’s all about the senses and the memories they conjure up – especially the sense of smell.
The parfumier and the incident above are real. He lives in London and he specialises in creating scents for exclusive clients. These are no ordinary perfumes to be worn on the wrist or neckline. These scents are designed to enhance the atmosphere of mansions owned by the rich and famous and the Uber rich. With a starting price of $25 000, these scents are unique and complex compilations designed to create an emotional response, and to give the mansion a specific persona. The parfumier works with the client to design the exclusive perfume and many of the layers of the scent recall specific memories. For example, one layer may remind the client of her father’s aftershave, another layer the woods on a misty morning. He then works his magic to weave them together into a bespoke, and very expensive, scented candle.
In Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”, the Big Friendly Giant takes this one step further as he bottles dreams and blows them silently into childrens’ bedrooms with his dream trumpet. These are physical memories he has captured and bottled in Dreamland. The BFG blows happy dreams from his glass bottles. The parfumier creates happy memories through his perfume, which he then bottles.
It’s this kind of sensory immediacy and emotional connection with the reader, which we seek when we ask our students to review their writing and to include more descriptive language; to show not tell; and to try to convey the emotion and personality of the character through the words they choose to use. If only it were as easy as opening a bottle or lighting a scented candle.