Free writing- Spring

Fountain-pen-nib

Free writing is just writing what is in your head for 10 minutes (or any other time length) with minimal editing.  The aim is to free the creativity and exercise the brain.

One of the unusual things about Narrabri is our system of seasons.

Spring often feels a lot like summer, especially in a dry year like this one. But then natural variability is so wide that winters can persist until November when summer strikes back with a  vengeance.

About 5 years ago we were hitting temperatures well into the thirties in mid-September. The westerly winds blew from parched drought-dried land in South Australia bringing dust and heat such as I’ve never seen before.

Often spring can be really benevolent with warm days and enough rain to make everything grow in a sea of luxuriant green. the farmers like it to dry out before harvest, though, as warm weather causes the wheat to improve its protein content.

The meteorologists are predicting some rain on the weekend which will be really refreshing after weeks of dryness.

Lunar Eclipse This Wednesday!

Total lunar eclipse to glow red across Australia

 
The total lunar eclipse will be more spectacular than the one in April, astronomer Alan D

The total lunar eclipse will be more spectacular than the one in April, astronomer Alan Duffy said. Picture: NASA. Source:Supplied

IT’S big. It’s red. And it’s coming to a night sky near you.

On Wednesday night Australians will get the chance to witness a total lunar eclipse that will turn the full moon a deep red colour for an hour.

Astronomer Alan Duffy of Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology said the eclipse will be much more spectacular than one that was visible in Australia in April.

“This one will be the real McCoy,” he said.

“Australia is the perfect place to see the long lunar eclipse experience, weather permitting, and we will see that distinctive blood red colour.”

 

 

The partial total lunar eclipse above Geelong in April. Picture: Kaylene Stocks

The partial total lunar eclipse above Geelong in April. Picture: Kaylene Stocks Source: Supplied

 

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth gets between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow across the moon that causes it to turn a blood red colour.

“It’s like all the sunsets around the entire earth shining on the moon. I love that description,” Dr Duffy said.

“The atmosphere bends the light from the sunset around and gives the moon that red colour.

“Without the atmosphere, the moon would just be dark (during a lunar eclipse).”

West Australians will see the total eclipse but will miss the entire passage of the earth’s shadow across the face of the moon because the eclipse begins before the moon rises over WA.

Lunar eclipses occur at least twice a year, but lunar eclipse lovers can expect seven to occur in 2038.

WHEN TO WATCH (local times):

NSW/ACT/VIC/TAS: Eclipse begins 8.15pm, total eclipse 9.25pm-10.25pm, eclipse ends 11.35pm. QLD: minus one hour for all times

SA: Eclipse starts 7.45pm, total eclipse 8.55pm-9.55pm, eclipse ends 11.05pm. NT: minus one hour for all times

WA: Moon rises at 6.19pm, total eclipse 6.25pm-7.25pm, eclipse ends 8.35pm.

From news.com.au

Fading Glory

The excitement is over, the Bunnies won their first premiership in a hundred years  (I exaggerate a tad) and NRL goes on holidays for a couple of months.

As I was listening to the news this morning and the soundtrack of “Glory glory to South Sydney”, the commentators waxed lyrical about the glorious victory and how the team had been redeemed after years in the wilderness. (That sounds sort of familiar).

So, after school goes back tomorrow and the cricket season starts, who is going to care about this? By Christmas who will even remember the score? And by the start of next footy season we will have to stop and think about who won the competition in 2014.

If you think I’m overstating the case, ask yourself what was the score in the last State of Origin? Only the die hard fans remember just a few months later.

Sporting glory is a fading glory. The crowds are entertained for a night and people have something to talk about at work the next day, but the accolades dim quickly. What excites us and seems so important right now soon loses its lustre after the event.

There is a reason for this.

Human beings are created for an eternal glory, an immortal honour that goes way beyond the sporting arena.

We were created to worship God, the ultimate glory, and to share in His nature. We get so easily distracted by the immediate things we see in front of us. We settle for a pretend glory and think that’s all there is.

Jesus came to bridge the gap between the human and the divine. He has prepared a place in eternity for His followers, and a glorious destiny we can only imagine.

Don’t settle for anything less.

Newcastle Can Keep This One!

Massive red-bellied black snake surprises Newcastle wrangler called in to remove it

Updated 2 minutes agoThu 2 Oct 2014, 8:07pm

Wildlife wrangler Geoff de Looze is well accustomed to catching snakes and bagging them, but even he got the shock of his life when he found a massive red-bellied black snake at a job in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

“Mate, this thing was huge. I don’t even think I’ve seen one [a red-bellied black snake] half its size,” Mr de Looze said of the massive reptile.

The snake had taken up residence at a Newcastle air conditioning firm in the suburb of Cameron Park.

“He wasn’t coming out, but I could tell straight away that this snake was something else,” Mr de Looze said.

“There were people all around me at the time, and luckily this one didn’t have a go at me. These snakes will eat brown snakes and can get pretty nasty.

“These are the jobs you think: ‘I should have brought an extra pair of undies today’.”

Full story

Only in Narrabri…

Today was the big day! After a couple of months of being starved of “discount variety” shopping our Crazy Clark’s store reopened as Crazy Sams. To avoid confusion, they’ve left the old signage up, restocked with pretty much the same stock and re-employed the same staff.

The whole town seemed to be squashed into the store and traffic on Maitland Street was really heavy- more like a Saturday before Christmas than Monday morning.

Margaret spotted some magnetic cross plaques with flowers and Bible verses- ideal for our christian book shop. They were $2 each, and after some debate we decided to buy all 25 of them. We’ll sell them on for $3.

We toured the shop and bought a cheap roller blind for one of the doors at home where the sun shines through in summer. A few other odds and ends and we went to the checkout.

After lunch, I got to install the blind and a couple of venetians. I did a creditable job and didn’t get too grumpy.

Late in the afternoon Margaret decided to go back to Crazy’s and buy another blind. As she headed to the checkout she heard the man we had earlier spotted as a Head Office type (he turned out to be the owner of the chain of stores) talking to Matt, the store manager. He was saying that the biggest selling item of the day was the crosses. He was thinking that Narrabri must be a particularly religious town. A lady from the AOG church heard the conversation and told Matt that she had seen us buy all those crosses. Matt told Margaret he didn’t care if we bought them all for $2 and sold them for $4, but he had better warn the owner not to get too excited about buying more of them.

Meanwhile the guy from Head Office saw Margaret with the roller blind and he told her he had got them really cheap and was wondering how they would be. So she told him that we had bought one in the morning and we thought the chain to roll it up and down was too clunky and probably wouldn’t last long, and that there were no instructions so some people would find it hard to install them.

So within a few hours of our purchase, the staff knew who had bought which items and what we thought of them!

All part of the fun of living in a small community.

Spring Time

I love spring time. The warmer weather seems to bring boundless energy to everything, including me!

There are negatives of course- swooping magpies and snakes would be my least favourite parts of spring.

The positives include bottlebrush flowers glowing in the sunlight.

A stray Pattersons curse flowers in a neglected corner of my yard.

Romantic

This is the place where I proposed to my wife.

To be fair, it was a park then. It is now being turned into the Castle Hill railway station, part of the North West rail project. When the construction is complete they will turn it back into a park again. Magic!

A Happy Story


Amidst all of the news coverage of ISIS, Boko Haram and Hamas wreaking death and suffering on so many people it is good to remember that these terrorists don’t speak for ordinary Muslims. The stories of crazy Australians living on  the disability pension and going off to jihad with their little boys and posing with severed heads shock most people.

Let me tell you a happy story about some decent Muslim people.

Margaret had been looking on EBay for a new (slightly used) lounge suite, and she wanted the best. King Furniture use the same manufacturer of springs as Porsche, and their furniture is nice but expensive. She found one in Sydney that seemed ideal but was pipped at the post. As a result, she found out about a web-site where you can ask for a quote and independent trucking companies bid for the job. There was one bid and the price was under $500 which seemed excellent.

On Thursday, another lounge came up, right manufacturer, good colour and excellent “Buy it now” price, located at Katoomba. She contacted the carrier to find out if he would do this job for the same price and he said “yes”.

She bought it, paid for it and organised the carrier. It was here before lunch today, two days later.

The team was a man and wife, she dressed in the traditional Muslim head covering. They are just the nicest, friendliest people and make you feel good even just being around them for the 15 minutes to unload the furniture.

The couple work hard- they must have started out at 6 this morning to get to Katoomba by 7.15. They would have been lucky to make $200 for the day’s work when you take the fuel and other running expenses out. They are friendly, do exactly what is promised, going the extra mile with a smile. They see Australia as a country with endless opportunities to build a business (oddly enough called Schemozzle) and earn enough to give their children a good education.

So next time you see the latest atrocity or the violent demonstrations or the demands of activists that our nation bends to conform to Arabic culture and Sharia law, just remember Khaeld and his wife- two hard working Aussies who happen to be Muslims.

 

Thought Crimes

The gay mafia has won. Total conformity to the accepted doctrine is now required. Apparently is it not acceptable to quote gay activists who deviate from the party line.

A Hobart school chaplain and Council Youth worker has been sacked from both of his jobs for posting the following picture on his facebook page- note the attribution.

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He has been pilloried by the media, hounded by the gay lobby and now dumped by employers, one of whom is Scripture Union, a christian organisation. 

It’s just wonderful that Australia has freedom of speech- as long as you don’t say the wrong thing, or insult a protected class, or worse still say something that contradicts the prevailing ideology of the ruling classes.

 

 

 

Try Before You Buy- Still a Bad Idea For Marriage

Rings

Despite society changes over the last few decades and the increasing trend towards living together before marriage, a recent U.S., study finds that the best way to ensure that your relationship lasts for life is not to live together first.

If you want to marry, be careful about cohabitation. Sure, more and more people are cohabiting, but it’s also less likely than ever to lead to marriage. In fact, people are increasingly cohabiting in ways that are associated with greater risks to the aspiration of marital success. If you are aiming for marriage, aim for a solid choice in a partner and then look to form a public, mutual promise to marry. While all couples may be more likely to break up before marriage now than in the past, look toward something that really signals commitment to figure out whether you and a partner have what it takes to go the distance.

 

Read the full article here