The True Cost Of Fish
Dermott Ryder tells of a song commemorating a great sea disaster.
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Dermott Ryder tells of a song commemorating a great sea disaster.
"History books are full of the faces of men, board rooms and hospital lobbies are framed with the pictures of men, government resounds with the voices of men, and calendars are printed with the birthdays of men. But not in March. Not on my calendar,'' writes Gloria MacKay.
Margaret Kendrick goes on an entertaining ramble, from bottoms to friends to a stuck finger.
Lytrice Adams tells of an ending and a new beginning.
Colin Fisher tells the tale of the day of the gredat coffee tasting.
...Just over the bridge, we passed the open doorway of a little shop—at least, we never did pass it, because from inside the most delicious smells wafted forth...
Wendy Ogbourne recalls the tempting delights of a chocolate shop.
Paula Wilson outlines the life of Jane Bell, a Scottish-born woman who brought about major changes and improvements to nursing in Australia.
'Jack, why is it cruel ter stick pins in beetles yet it ain't ter sew buttons on flies?'
And Bible Jack had an answer to the question, as John Powell reveals.
Colin Fisher gives some tips on fuel-efficient driving.
"January is here which means the footie season is fast approaching. Apparently, the Magpies and the Kangaroos have been playing football in Australia for centuries,'' writes Paul Newbury.
Wendy Ogbourne's speaker puts in an impassioned plea for a return of those days when the pen was mightier than the sword.
Continue reading "There's Less To This Than Meets The Eye" »
Colleen McMillan tells a tale of failure - and major success.
Continue reading "There's Less To This Than Meets The Eye" »
Lytrice Adams ponders on the significance of the Christmas season.
Colin Fisher tells a tale with a punchline which will make you groan appreciatively.
Heather Stone remembers a night out when she was the one drinking the wine.
Colin Fisher tells a tale with a memorable punchline.
"I'm no head doctor. The only thing I know is that my brain sorts things out by immediacy, not priority,'' writes Gloria MacKay.
"I stood on the window-sill, terrified and in awe. The whole district, as bright as day, seemed on fire. I was in the centre of a circle of flames...''
John Powell recalls a far-from-peaceful wartime Christmas.
Shirley Henwood tells of the Christmas goose which arrived alive.
Rodney Gascoyne imagines the home of the future.
"With Christmas fast approaching, maybe you are struggling to find the perfect gift for that friend or relative who has everything. Perhaps a voucher for a trip into space would fill the bill—though the cost would probably blow the budget for some time to come. But what wouldn't you pay for such a unique experience?'' writes Wendy Ogbourne.
...As soon as we drive up to the house and they see our shadows on the glass, there's tapping on our window, a piercing cry and a small grey and brown bird hopping on the sill looking for food...
Goldie Alexander tells of fickle feathered friends.
...I first heard it in a folk club in an otherwise forgettable pub in Bradford, in the early sixties. A couple of verses of it stayed with me for ages. I wanted to sing it but I could only remember the first and third verses. It was an annoying Yorkshire haunting. Finding the missing verses became a personal crusade...
Dermott Ryder searched for the words of the song which epitomises the character of Yorkshire working folk.
Can Trevor resist the invitations to join the Hallelujah gym?
Wendy Ogbourne tells a most satisfying tale.
Mairi Neil touchingly tells of a role-reversal.
...When we sat down to a white-clothed table festooned with dishes, Dad's comment, 'I wonder what the poor people are doing now,' was said partly from Presbyterian guilt but also pride that a working class man could offer a feast to family and friends...
Mairi Neil recalls her first Christmas in Australia.
Heather Stone tells of her fight to dcrive of the fearthered maurauders attacking her orange tree.
John Ogbourne terlls of living life at a more relaxed pace in the Yorkshire Dales.
"When the presiding judge at the trial of Elizabeth Scott pronounced she 'was to be hanged by the neck until dead' most people thought surely she would be reprieved. A woman had never been hanged in the Australian State of Victoria, and they were certain Elizabeth Scott would not be the first,'' writes Paula Wilson.
...'Watch out for Maggie, won't you, he won't hurt you, but don't try and touch him.'
Maggie was a magpie, who'd arrived with a sore leg, and had stayed around when his leg got better...
Shirley Henwood recalls a visit to Mrs Hull's house.
...I put my hand into the bag. Something was very wrong. 'Oh my God!' Not a curse but a prayer. Instead of my sandal—money. A pile of notes were crammed into the bag and they spilled out onto my lap...
Robin Hillard tells a most satisfying tale.
Gloria MacKay, elaborating on a Cole Porter song, exudes a wonderful enthusiasm for life.
"Astrology, unlike astronomy, is totally unprovable. Even adherents admit that they don't know how it works, though that doesn't prevent them believing in it,'' writes Wendy Ogbourne.
"Musical evenings at my father's family home had a well-defined structure. Three of his unmarried sisters had social accomplishments, ranging from culinary skills to musical comedy. Two played piano, one played violin and, after her third dry sherry, the banjo-ukulele,'' Dermott Ryder recalls.
Carolyn Hirsh's story tells of a financiaql adviser who missed an opportunity.
Colleen McMillan's story tells of an unwelcomed encounter in a motel room.
...He giggles and tries to play with little children but often mothers yank them away from him. He used to paint stunning oil paintings and read books prolifically but now his canvas is blank. His horizons know neither book nor paintbrush...
Colleen Szabo compels us to understand the feelings of a woman who is caring for a husband who suffers from dementia
"Both my daughters were avid soft toy collectors and had a large and motley assortment of soft toys that, until last week, crammed their rationed personal space to the exclusion of many valuables. These were known collectively as 'teddies' and assigned names and personalities,'' writes Heather Stone.
Continue reading "Teddies (Or The Velveteen Rabbit Re-Visited)" »
...Thunderstorms on a mountain aren't trivial, in my opinion. Once while coming down Long's Peak a fierce thunderstorm broke over us that several times sent Elmo's fire along our backpacks. Beautiful it was but one experience of that sort does it for me....
Sanford Russell tells of adventures in high places.
Wendy Ogbourne tells a brief tale which encapsulates the trials of bringing up children.
Wendy Ogbourne mourns the loss of a beautiful lake in Tasmania.
"The Australian Dictionary of Biography describes Maybanke Anderson as a feminist and educationist. If you had only two words to describe a person these are probably as good as any. But there was far more to Maybanke Susannah Anderson than two words can have any hope of covering,'' writes Paula Wilson.
"Many of us have been persuaded that unbridled capitalism is the same thing as democracy. It's not,'' declares Sanford Russell.
"In today's world of internet and instant email communication, we receive much information that is accurate and true, but also much that has absolutely no basis in fact, and others that are pure and simple hoaxes.'' writes Wendy Ogbourne.
...The song came to me in the late nineteen forties from a lady who visited my grandmother from time to time. Originally of Limerick and later of Dublin and later still of Manchester, she knew many songs but always needed a bit of a gossip and a taste of the stout to kick-start her memory...
Dermott Ryder tells of a 19th Century Irish song which still journeys on.
...In the early years, colonial authorities expressed fear that settler Australians would degenerate and go native. In many ways, they did. Clendinnen concludes, 'Here, in this place, I think we are all Australians now.'...
Paul Newbury delves into Australian history.
...'Eeeeeeek!' A piercing scream tore through our blissful soirée.
'A mouse!' One of the women yelled. 'It just ran underneath the TV!' She was shaking as she drew her legs up on the sofa, and wrapped herself up in a tight bundle....
Lytrice Adams tells of problems when trying to set a trap.
Les Yemm tells a story with a chuckle in its tail.
Continue reading "If You Have Tears Prepare To Shed Them Now" »
Brenda Bryant tells a tale with a satisfying conclusion.
So how about a generous plateful of tripe.
Carmel Fitzgerald tells a tale to challenge your taste buds.
"Writing represents a unique human skill. While spoken words drift away and are forgotten and lost, written words are permanent. They create a human history and shape a sense of who we are,'' says Carolyn Hirsh.
...Now you can go into any nursery and order a tree whose ancestors were living on the planet in the Jurassic period. And this with as much fuss as you would buy a geranium....
Sonia Inczedy tells of the rediscovery of the Wollemi Pine.
Continue reading "The Bequest Of Nature - The Wollemi Pine" »
Arthur Hay tells of his early ventures in the world of work.
Heather Stone tells of a cockatoo named Horace.
Paula Wilson tells of Guide Alice who was instrumental instrumental in making the magnificent Mount Buffalo in Australia accessible to all.
"In hospitals, motels and hotels there are the most user-unfriendly beds of all, with square corners and with top sheets tucked so tightly around the mattress that it takes a tyre lever to loosen them before use,'' writes Ken Silcock.
"When my father decided he was going to go to New Zealand, where he could earn more money, my mother said, 'Well, you needn't think I'm going'.'' writes Shirley Henwood.
...Or the weirdest idea of all—our universe may be one of many in a multiverse—a bubble or pocket universe, complete in itself, and totally unaware of all the others. Theories, pie-in-the-sky philosophy, or just plain rubbish, it's all fascinating....
Wendy Ogbourne contemplates the biggest issue.
"Eventually I discovered that 'Kathleen' is not Irish at all, at all, but American. Why was I not surprised?'' says Dermott Ryder, writing about a much-loved song.
Paul Newbury tells of an important court decision regarding the ownership of the intertidal zone off Arnhem Land, Australia.
...Looking ahead, I could see the entrance to the restaurant straight in front of me. Without thinking, I walked towards it, only to crash headlong into an unmarked glass partition! I literally lost a moment of my life...
Lytrice Adams tells of pain and frustration.
Colleen McMillan tells of trouble and disappopintment during a Moroccan visit.
Patricia Cannard imagines a two-year-old's view of the Ekka.
Colleen Szabo tells of a collapsed bed.
"Get fit, get social and help save the planet with Conservation Volunteers Australia!,'' Elizabeth Cowan suggests.
Mairi Neil tells of cheerful Pierre, a Melbourne tram conductor.
"I believe that if everyone stopped using soap the alarming problem of the antibiotic-resistant 'super-bug' would resolve overnight. Overmonth, anyway,'' says Michael Grounds.
...The jaunty-looking red and white Pitt’s Special plane looked innocent enough on the ground, but when he went up by himself, and started flying fast, higher and higher, I knew what it meant to feel my heart in my mouth. I couldn’t bear to watch, as he went into a barrel roll...
Shirley Henwood recalls a day when her heart was in her mouth.
"I have not had many encounters with snakes because if I think I see one I usually back away at a very unlady-like pace, but they are very shy creatures and are well on their way before I can spot them,'' says Margaret van Dyk.
Dermott Ryder recalls the first time he heard the song, Floral Dance.
"Torres Strait Islanders have a sea culture that sets them apart from other Australians,'' says Paul Newbury. "Their history from the mid-19th century is a narrative of the development of a pan-Island identity. Islanders became Australian when Queensland annexed the inner islands of Torres Strait in 1872.''
Continue reading "Torres Strait Islanders - Uniquely Australian" »
Lytrice Adams concludes that it's best to stay connected to the outside world rather than become "imprisoned'' in an exclusive retirement community.
"How did it happen? How have so many interpretations of organised religions become what I now see as Blake's 'mind forged manacles'?'' asks Glenice Whitting.
A gravestone in Melbourne Cemetery set Paula Wilson on an investigative trail which had its beginnings in Belgium.
Continue reading "Alice Jacqueline Hyacinthe St Denis (née Maës)" »
...Finally, one day, I said to him. 'Why don't you take me to the pictures?'
He hummed and hawed a bit, then said, 'Okay, it will have to be Saturday night, I'll pick you up at seven. Where do you live?'...
Shirley Henwood recalls asking the question which changed her life.
“Every year it recedes 2 inches further away from us,’’ writes Wendy Ogbourne in this introduction to our sister world, the Moon.. “Originally it was 10 times closer to earth—what a sight that would have been!’’
Dermott Ryder writes about a deliciously depressing song.
"On July 1 annually, the people of Torres Strait celebrate the festival of the 'Coming of the Light'. The festival marks the time in 1871 when the London Missionary Society placed two teachers on Erub Island to begin mission work,'' writes Paul Newbury.
“Perhaps the triumph simply lies in the will to push ourselves to the limit. To face our deepest fear. To know a pure moment of freedom bought with tragedy and loss,’’ says Lytrice Adams.
"She has one of the country's best known butts. But few people outside her family and friends would recognize the face of Fiona Walker - the woman whose cheeky lift of her tennis skirt became famous on the Athena poster,'' says columnist David Thomasesson.
Continue reading "Bottoms Up – Name Of The Tennis Girl Revealed" »
Colleen McMillan tells a tale concerning pretty Patti Perkins, she with the petulant lips.
...Outside, I could smell a strong fire smell, and had that same eerie feeling. The sky was hazy, the world seemed to begin and end right there in my back yard. There was no sign of the house next door, nor the one across the road. All was shrouded...
Carmel Fitzgerald recalls a day that is remembered in Australian history.
'Mum, did you see his leg through the hole in his trousers? It was black with dirt. His hands were filthy too. And he didn't take his disgusting hat off to eat.'
Carolyn Hirsh tells a tale which confirms that everyone is deserving of respect.
Glenice Whitting tells an encouraging tale about those special Old Age Pills.
...On the far side of the field was The Lawns Estate. To the children of the road, it was a fairyland—50 acres of woodland and forest paths, with two lakes and the ruins of an old house. What more could a child want?...
Wendy Ogbourne recalls her childhood wonderland.
...In 1917 she married Harry Bonney a wealthy Queensland businessman. Lores soon tired of her life style, so while her husband was off playing golf she hitched a ride with the milkman to the local airstrip and took flying lessons...
Paula Wilson outlines the life story of pioneering Australian aviatrix, Lores Bonney.
Shirley Henwood tells of a bold letter from her driving instructor.
...They remind me of Charlie Chaplin with their funny sideways walk, head down and flashing their beautiful colours under their wings. All the time screaming 'LOOK at me, LOOK at me, am I not the most BEAUTIFUL and SEXY thing you have ever seen.'...
Margaret van Dyk tells of the wildlife visitors to her garden.
...By far the most effective and sophisticated method of rabbiting was spotlighting. My mates and I drove a ridiculously dangerous paddock bomb around the farm at night, picking up the rabbits' eyes in the spotlight and then administering a dose of 'lead poisoning'.,,
Rod Wise spent his childhood living on a sheep (and rabbit) grazing property in central Victoria, Australia. He is now a teacher and writer.
...For the human inhabitants of earth, the amazing thing is that the distance of the earth from the Sun is exactly right to provide the conditions needed for life to flourish. Closer and we would fry, further away and we would freeze...
Wendy Ogbourne brings information on the great generator of light and life, the Sun.
Continue reading "The Sun – Giver of Life, Ruler Of The World" »
...So here I am again this spring, struggling to deal with the flotsam and jetsam of my life....
But Lytrice Adams shies away from having a big clear-out.
Colleen McMillan tells a tale concerning an unwilling patient.
“'Trust the bloody Jerries to write a love song in march-time,' one of my more cynical uncles said, as he flaunted, in song, his only German,’’ writes Dermott Ryder.
And the song the uncle was singing was of course Lili Marlene.
How on earth did a horse thief end up as a face on Australia's currency?
Paula Wilson summarises the life story of a most remarkable woman.
"Not content with polluting the earth, mankind is now creating a cosmic junkyard,'' declares Wendy Ogbourne.
Carolyn Hirsh tells of a couple of cats who refused to take their medicine.
Colin Fisher tells a story with a chuckle in its tail.
Ann Bristow recalls a childhood holiday in the Malven Hills.
Wendy Ogbourne tells a moving tale in few words.
...Danny Boy is an all pervading malady that attacks all male members of the Irish Diaspora over the age of twenty-five...
Dermott Ryder takes a critical look at a famous song.
...'Tom, is that somebody we know?' I questioned my husband. He turned from where he was about to put the card through the swiper, to stare at them.
'Never seen them before in my life,' he said, and turned back to swiping the card. I glanced at them again. She was still nodding and smiling, and her husband was smiling as well. I started to feel very uncomfortable....
Shirley Henwood tells of a mysterious look-alike.
Margaret van Dyk declares war on cane toads.
Gehan Wijesinha received an impromptu address during a visit to Havana on the the benefits of living in Cuba rather than the USA.
...It was wonderful. I would lie in my bed at nights listening to the wind in the trees, the barking of dogs and hooting of owls. I grew accustomed to the clanking of the galvanized roof as it cooled in the night air, and reassured myself that the diverse creaking and groaning of the house was just that—the building's response to the elements, and not the footfalls of my ancestors protesting at the modernization of their earthly home...
But then Lytrice Adams was awakened one night by a loud crash.
...'Well, birthday girl,' the oily voice simpered. 'It must be wonderful to be 100. What's your secret?'
Silly girl, I thought, she has absolutely no idea. Inside I still feel like I'm 16...
Wendy Ogbourne wonders what it really will be like to live to be 100.
...Auntie Em didn't really seem to change, to grow older as we did but then we'd always thought of her as old. Her nondescript clothes seemed to change little with the season: wispy, greying hair poked from old-fashioned little hats or drawn into un unbecoming knot. Aunt Em was just part of the streetscape and as for the babies, well they just came and went...
And nobody knew Auntie Em's real name.
Colleen McMillan tells a most intriguing tale.
"The jewellery I own represents people I have known and loved and reminds me of favourite times and places,'' writes Judy Judge.
What a shock! To wake up with a hangover and discover that you've lost a leg.
Isolde tells a remorseful tale.
...I'm old enough to remember a time when a single woman could obtain credit, although certainly not as easily as a male, while a married woman needed her husband's permission. Well it seems things haven't changed much, at least in the area of telecommunications...
Norma Jean Kawak presents the reasons why she has every right to feel angry.
But who is getting the best Valentine’s Day gift? Gehan Wijesinha’s story has a surprise in its tail.
Carolyn Hirsh writes about a harsh exodus from Ireland.
Colin Fisher considers the nature of happiness.
Paul Newbury reflects on the nature of Australian mateship.
...The tractor, an orange Allis-Chalmers, had a clutch so stiff that I had to slide off the seat, hang on to the steering column and push with all my might to depress it...
Ellen Fisher recalls that she was nine-years-old when her hard-swearing father taught her to drive.
...My grandmother was fond of telling us that we would have whatever we wanted when our ship came in. This ship was always running into storms, and getting lost. I can't remember how old I was before the ship faded from my mind...
Shirley Henwood recalls her early days.
Norma Kawak’s tale emphasises the need to keep things in proper perspective.
Lynn M Williams tells of an outing by folk travelling in classic sports car to Broken Hill and Beyond.
Colleen McMillan tells a tale that is sure to surprise.
Paula Wilson tells of Australian woodcut artist Margaret Preston who experimented with Aboriginal inspired designs.
Wendy Ogbourne takes us on a quick guided tour of the Orion constellation.
Shirley Henwood recalls the day Cousin Albert sent them a goose for Christmas. A live goose!
Is dirty old Ryan really who he seems to be?
Robin Hillard tells a surprising tale.
Lytrice Adams tells of an enigmatic encounter on a bus.
Violet Hall tells the the inspiring story of a little girl, and how she dealt with her Lily Lump.
Gehan Wijesinha introduces to to Bartholomew Browne, aman who adopted brown shoes and white suits as a uniform.
...A soft voice, definitely not that of his teacher, answered, 'I think it is wonderful.'
Frank's mouth opened and shut but the pretty dark-haired girl looking at his painting with such intense scrutiny went on, 'the colour, the life of it. I wish I could instill such life into my work.'..,
Colleen McMillan tells of the arrival of love in a young painter's life.
...The very first minute of the course, Miss Tubino stood up in front of the class and said: 'Este es un curso de inglés y sólo se usará este idioma. Esta es la única y última vez que hablaremos en castellano, que no está permitido.' This means: 'This is an English course and we will only use this language. This is the last and only time that we speak Spanish, that is not allowed.' Then she started....
Argentinian José Miyara tells how he came to speak and read English.
...From July 1914 until December 1918 she penned one letter a week describing conditions in Germany. The first 52 made it to her sister and probably into the hands of the British War Office. The other 175 were kept hidden from the Germans. The letters contained sensitive information and if discovered Ethel would have most likely been executed as a spy. Despite Ethel's home being raided many times throughout the war the letters were never found...
Paula Wilson tells of thge life of Ethel Cooper, a most remarkable woman.
...'Your mither'd nip a currant in two', he'd say with pride when he came home on leave. 'She c'n mak a meal oot o' a' dishcloth.'...
Christina Ratcliffe tells of her frugal Scottish parents.
Rodney Gascoyne visits gold rush country.
Colin Fisher suggests that our governments are not doing nearly enough to prevent what many believe to be the coming disaster.
Ellen Fisher tells the troubling tale of the black cat on the roof.
...From out of the great ocean of our personal experience, the whales surfaced in that magic space between the everyday and the dream. They floated through the shallows of the bay and into the deep water of our memories...
Roger McAuliffe sees Wright whales when he goes flying off the coast of Western Australia.
Paula Wilson introduces us to campaigning writer Catherine Helen Spence, the first woman in Australia to become a professional journalist.
Tom Powell met an old-timer with a Welsh accent in the Rockies.
Colin Fisher assesses how he knows what he knows.
...Perhaps in this age of ipods and MP3 players, hobnobbing with ghosts
and witches and remembering the dead is a good thing; allowing our
imagination to travel beyond today's logic and technology could give us a
chance to think of the unknowable...
Lytrice Adams sees a bonus in Halloween customs.
John Turner tells of the perfect tenant.
...The tide has turned in my grandma. Her hand fumbles around until it finds my hand and the fingers close around. She's heading out to sea, and I can feel myself pulled along with her...
Lucy Treloar's profoundly moving story says all there is to say about love.
Gehan Wijesinha tells of a good night that turned bad.
Wendy Ogbourne tells of a late-night dash to the hospital.
...Wanda had known from the time that she first saw a broom that she was a bona fide witch...
And tonight was a very special night for Wanda, as Colin Fisher's tale reveals.
Ken Sillcock wonders whether we should give up on names and merely identify people by their DNA codes.
Colleen McMillan's tale tells of a far-from-perfect evening.
...No longer having to structure my time, I began to relax. Become spontaneous. I started to learn how to give myself to time, and just let things happen. Of course, in the beginning, my old self-exacting demons disapproved of such indulgence. You're not productive, they taunted. You're wasting your time...
Lytrice Adams tells of the delicious privileges which come with retirement.
Paula Wilson introduces us to the Australian artist Portia Geach, a tireless fighter for women's rights.
John Turner recounts the plot of a famous film.
Paul Newbury introduces us to the most magnificent coastal drives in Australia.
...As someone who has spent a lifetime in the 'logic' business, but with a fair amount of emotion thrown into the pot, no pun intended, it amazes me that rational people can have a faith that there is no God, or gods, and believe sincerely that this is more rational than to believe there is a creator God. Given the preponderance of evidence of rational order in the universe I believe it is completely irrational to believe that it is all happenstance, or happened irrationally by accident...
Robert Heller considers fundamental questions.
'How could God get a needle to come out of her foot by people praying?
As a child Shirley Henwood found herself asking a profound theological question.
Wendy Ogbbourne muses upon the strangest things in the universe.
John Turner tells of tenants who worked on Millionaires' Row.
...My paternal forebear, known to all generations of her family as 'Mama', was the very essence of a lady. Despite the family falling on hard times during the Great Depression of the late Twenties and early Thirties, she maintained the same elegance of manner which was always so much part of her...
Val Jones delves into family history.
Robin Hillard tells a tale of a murder mystery which was quickly solved.
...He cast his mind back luxuriously, over the myriads of pikelets, sponge sandwiches, fruit cakes, nut loaves, gingerbreads, fruit flans, meringues, upside-down cakes, lamingtons, even pumpkin scones that had passed his lips. Not for him the 'taste and spit' method employed by wine tasters. He insisted on a large slice, to truly relish the delicious textures and flavours, and sometimes even a second slice...
But Peregrine Nightingale has just heard the worst possible news.
Wendy Ogbourne tells a tyasy tale.
Is Peregrine Nightingale for ever going to be a henpecked husband? Colleen McMillan tells a surprising tale.
Continue reading "Peregrine Nightingale Brushed A Crumb From His Tie" »
...Grace Bussell sat on her horse at the top of a great sand dune looking down at the scene below her. A steamship lay wedged at an impossible angle in the surf. The deck was lined with people unable to get to safety as a violent sea tried to destroy the vessel...
Paula Wilson tells the dramatic story of Grace's never-to-be-forgotten rescue efforts.
...And so began one of the most unpleasant spells he had experienced in his 35 years in the organisation. Being hounded by Amanda was bad enough, but now being hounded by Mr Wonderful too was more than he could suffer—and working all day without a break!...
But Peregriune the hard-working Muffin Man is about to wreak a most satisfying revenge on the two people who are making his life miserable, as Les Yemm's tale reveals.
...One day, to my total embarrassment, Mrs Batchelor said to me, 'I'm letting you go at the end of the day. Pick up your wages at the wages office. You're not fast enough at doing the job.' I stared at her flabbergasted...
Shirley Henwood recalls the day she she was fired from her first job.
Wendy Ogbourne considers the "demotion'' of Pluto.
...I like to imagine the sky and the lake are knitted together in the horizon by the dark green scalloped seam of the Toronto islands, creating a background for a vast watery stage on which the theatre of life is acted out...
As Lytrice Adams admires her cityscape view she ponders on one of the possible challenges of aging.
...Nico's visits, on his monstrous motorbike, passed from andante-moderato through to FURIOSO-AGITATO as their relationship disintegrated.
Eventually raised voices, staircase-stomping, door banging, kerb-side arguments and accusations signalled the end of the affair. Suddenly F.C. yanked off her shoe and slashed her stiletto heel at the bike...
John Turner tells of a tenant he called Fur Coat - or FC for short.
When Val Jones lost her engagement ring on an Australian beach she discovered something much more precious.
Robin Hillard wrote this letter to his local newspaper, the Toowoomba Chronicle. Not surprisingly, the local council did not take up his suggestion.
...When Eliza Forlonge arrived in Australia in 1831 she came with a family, a flock of the finest wool sheep and an amazing story of adventure...
Paula Wilson tells of another fascinating settler in Australia.
...With the help of a swarm of interpreters in Trivanderum, we had agreed on a fare before commencing our expedition. Unexpectedly, our first port of call was the petrol station, where the driver pumped a few gallons of fuel into the tank. It was a new experience for me, although not one that I would cherish, or savour. He was evidently a man accustomed to living from hand to mouth, or so I gathered, when he stretched out his empty hand in my direction. This could only mean one thing: 'Give me some money to pay for the fuel!'...
Gehan Wijesinha brings an account of an Indian taxi journey.
...'Yes,' she said in softly accented English. 'It is a big case but there is always a kind gentleman like Tom to help me.'
Taking in at a glance Rani's lovely face and her huge kohl-accented eyes, Susan thought, I bet there is...
But is Rani all that she seems? Colleen McMillan tells a surprising tale.
Elaine Lutton tells of "serpentine friends''.
Shirley Henwood wonderfully recreates the thoughts and feelings of childhood.
...I now realize how much influence my mother had on my character. Whether it's her love of reading, her careful way of managing the family finances, her impeccable style of dressing, her unwavering sense of duty-I am very much her daughter. She will always be part of my life...
Lytrice Adams tells of a powerful mother-daughter bond.
Colleen Szabo writes movingly about the sad winding down of a great romance.
...Street parties to mark Victory in Europe Day, Victory in Japan Day, and Armistice Day were times of celebration and singing. The return from war of fathers, husband, sons and daughters brought more songs, not so much of victory or loss but to share the joy of being alive, home and safe at last. Then it was time to get on with life in post war austerity Britain, but the music didn’t stop...
Dermott Ryder celebrartes the ubiquity of "social'' song.
Robin Hillard tells of the disasterous day she took Scamp the dog on a shopping expidition.
...Dinesh, our driver, pulled over to the side of the road and nimbly hopped out. No sooner had I heard the boot pop open, I saw him jump down the embankment into the paddy field at a trot. He broke open the double barrelled shot gun and loaded the cartridges before his feet hit the raised levee separating the rice paddies...
Gehan Wijesinha tells of an "unofficial'' duck shoot in Sri Lanka.
Mary Clemons wants to be a survivor.
...'Just thought I'd call and say hello, Ma.' He was wary, his voice a little shrill around the edges.
'How did you get in?' Was his mother's greeting...
Colleen McMillan tells the sobering tale of a visit from an unwelcomed son.
...Joan would like to wear tracksuit pants but Doris won't let her. 'They look cheap, Joan,' she mutters disdainfully. 'The only thing for you is crimplene pants, like mine. Much more flattering.' So now their hair and their trousers match...
Joe Lee tells of two battling sister-in-laws.
Paul Newbury introduces us to two historic towns in Western Australia.
Shirley Henwood tells of being stuck in a lift.
Lytrice Adams tells a cautionary tale involving Trade winds and noisy kites.
Some tenants are so unwelcomed, as John Turner reveals.
...I watch them swim past and out of sight. Their sleek bodies, their closeness and the rhythm of their passing take my breath away, and I raise my head. My son is shouting, 'Did you see them? Did you?' I can't stop smiling and give him the thumbs up before plunging my head under again, struggling like a fish caught in a net to keep my body in position. A large dolphin effortlessly, sensuously glides past...
Glenice Whitting goes swimming with dolphins.
Paula Wilson tells of some of the women imprisoned in the 19th Century on Sarah Island off the west coast of Tasmania.
Joe Paris Lee tells a tale which illustrates the occasional cruelty of kindness.
...Mind you, the Hipster colours are a bit exotic, South Sea Island Aqua, and Golden Sunburst Splendour; so vivid I wondered if I had wandered into the wrong Department and bought ladies' knickers...
John Powell treats himself to some new underwear, spoling himself on his 82nd birthday.
...Now we are not allowed to trust the purity and quality of anything we buy, unless it is so securely sealed that you have to keep in the kitchen a whole range of tools needed to break the seals, at some risk of damage to hands if the tools should slip...
Ken Sillcock abhors the inordinatly safety-conscious society in which we live.
Continue reading "Grievance Day In Our Frightened Society" »
Shirley Henwood tells of the day adventurous Tammy came into her life.
...The old house - no longer a house, but an assortment of decaying boards, fallen windows, torn roofing and rotted floors. It has now taken on a dissolute character, attracting all kinds of vagrant low life: illegal kittens and marauding tom cats, snakes and lizards and the occasional mongoose. Rats and mice have staked out their claims and dare anyone to evict them...
Lytrice Adams tells of the cottage in which her grandmother used to live.
...For very little effort, a person could create important smells that traveled all over the house. I knew that I was doing well when my mother came down to the basement to complain about the smells wafting upstairs...
Colin Fisher recalls the boyhood joy he had experimenting with the toy experimental sets manufactured by the A C Gilbert Company.
...Gilbert is the black sheep of the family and baa's his way blissfully to contented sleep each night, happy with his lot. His main crime as far as the family is concerned is that he hopped from job to job, depending on where he could make the most money and whether the job seemed interesting enough...
Les Yemm introduces us to his wickedly funny uncle.
...I took the wrong path!
Now here I was high above the beach looking down at a group of horrified onlookers, including my mother, and screaming as loud as I could...
Violet Apted recalls the day when, as a seven year old, she made the news by being rescued from a cliff face.
Colleen McMillan tells with huge delight of her astonishing, tale-telling Uncle Gilbert.
...Webster's says INVISIBLE means not perceptible by the eye. I say INVISIBLE is a woman with white hair in a computer store at lunch time...
Ellen Fisher eventually secured an ally when she went to the store for advice.
...suddenly I can’t hear properly, and the air shimmers in green waves in front of me. I wonder what is happening. Am I going to die?...
Shirley Henwood tells of childhood days of self-doubt and uncertainty.
...Robin approached the Western Australian Department of Health for permission to carry out a vaccination program in the North and North West of the state. Permission granted, she borrowed money and bought a Cessna 182. On 22 May 1967 she boarded her plane and headed out alone to the remote areas of the state to hand out her sugar cubes...
Paula Wilson tells the astonishing and inspirational story of flying nurse Robin Wilson.
Peggy Mitchell tells of the Thailand of 40 years ago.
Dorothy Moffitt makes an informed and profound recommendation for future food production in Australia.
Ken Sillcock puts in a plea for the wedge-tailed eagle and the dingo.
Continue reading " Should Have Saved Our Native Predators" »
Gehan Wijesinha tells of climbing the lion rock in Sri Lanka.
...Meanwhile life in the classroom was a daily battle to stimulate and educate, or at least keep 40 larky lads occupied for the remaining weeks of their schooling before those not gaining apprenticeships were condemned to the local brickyard...
John Turner recalls his early days as a teacher.
There should have been shoes in the brown paper bag but Robin Hillard found that it contained a wad of money.
This story by Mary Clemons tells of acute terror in a storm.
Mary writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Above her cot on the card was written, Baby Henwood, Mid Forceps Delivery...
Shirley Henwood tells of exhaustion and joy.
...As the fighting at the stockade ended a trooper tore down the Southern Cross flag and trampled it into the blood stained dirt, fragments of the flag were ripped off leaving it in tatters...
Paula Wilson tells of the three women who made the flag around which more than 8,000 miners rallied in the Ballarat goldfields of Victoria, Australia, in 1854 to protest against injustice.
Peggy Mitchell tells of Smokey, a cat with a devil-may-care attitude.
...Don’t get me wrong. I am not against giving to charity. I think we all have to give in whatever way we can. But I would like to make that decision myself without being hounded into it...
Lytrice Adams is tired of the constant appeals on her charitable nature.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Stepping up to the counter with my passport, I noticed that he did not wear a watch confirming my belief that being mindful of the time was not particularly harmonious with tropical living...
Gehan Wijesinha tells of arriving in Sri Lanka on a hot steamy night.
Ellen Fisher recalls her father's life as a farmer and his relief at leaving the land.
Colleen McMillan observes the behaviour of widows in church.
Colin Fisher sings he praises of domestic cats.
...Hourly they listened to the weather reports, noting where new outbreaks had started, and anxiously scanning the sky for tell-tale signs of smoke. He could smell the smoke in the air, long before it became visible. For days, the wind fluctuated, unpredictable, fire crews cut breaks and tried to establish containment lines, but suddenly, it was all to no avail. The fire had jumped the main road and could now be seen creeping down the hill opposite the township...
Wendy Ogbourne tells of a man who fought to save his home as an Australian bushfire came raging towards him.
...When the ship was wallowing, somebody said the stabilisers had not been turned on, and we accepted this explanation. That night my head slid, bump, into the wall at the top of the bunk; and next I was sliding down to have my feet bang the bottom of the bunk...
Shirley Henwood and her family rode out the aftermath of a cyclone.
...When the ship was wallowing, somebody said the stabilisers had not been turned on, and we accepted this explanation. That night my head slid, bump, into the wall at the top of the bunk; and next I was sliding down to have my feet bang the bottom of the bunk...
Shirley Henwood and her family rode out the aftermath of a cyclone.
...Legend has it Mary Ann swam across the shark-infested waters to the island carrying a file. Ward used the file to break his chains and they swam back to Balmain. Mary Ann hid him and a fellow escapee in a disused boiler until the search died down...
Paula Wilson tells of the life of female bushranger Mary Ann Bugg, who went marauding with Captain Thunderbolt.
Peggy Mitchell recalls a Christmas spent in Yokohama 40 years ago.
Peggy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
"China strikes me as a country of contradictions,'' says Lytrice Adams.
Gehan Wijesinha presents a snapshot in words of the vibrant city of Hong Kong.
Shirley Henwood says that from the beginning of time, men have had sheds to escape to.
Rodney Gascoyne rides the scenic rail route in North-Western Canada.
...The proprietor greeted us in a friendly, if not astounded manner. To our enquiry as to whether there were any other campers booked in, he answered bluntly: 'Nobody else is that crazy!'...
Peter King recalls a stormy Christmas under canvas in the Lake District.
Paula Wilson tells the inspiring story of Mother Mary Berchmans Daly, the ninth child of an Irish blacksmith, who made a huge success of her life in Australia.
Peggy Mitchell tells of the day there was an almighty explosion in her Bangkok kitchen.
Robert Heller wrote this article expressing his delight in the Christmas season,and its real significance, three years ago. It is just as relevant in 2009 as it was then.
...Around the turn of this century, a small inn, named the Auberge de Saint-Michel Tête d'Or flourished at the foot of the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel. The owners were a Normand couple named Poulard, and over the years, the little inn established a reputation based upon the wife's masterful omelette-making technique...
Poppy Fogarty telles of a delicious omlette - and how to make it.
Ken Sillcock offers some sensible words on the subject of food.
Ken writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...If I had stuck with Anne, would she and I still be together? What of all the women I have loved since then? Their influences have helped forge the man I am today. If Anne had been my last and enduring love, I would not be the person I now am. Would I like myself more or less?...
Peter Lingard endevours to recall some of the loves of his life.
Peter writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Until you have been to a Cat Show, you have no idea how many dozens of breeds there are, and how obsessed their owners can be with them. Doting mothers entering their small daughters in a modelling contest could not be more competitive and, well, 'catty'...
Wendy Ogbourne reveals secrets of the feline show world.
Wendy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Keith Ford remembers with affection his first car, a Fiat 500.
Keith writes for Bonzer magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Mother came home from caring for her mother and bought herself a Holden utility, and obtained her licence again at age 53. She had many adventures with this on gravel roads. One time, she turned the vehicle over and was found by a local minister calmly sitting on the side of the road drinking tea from a thermos...
Dorothy Moffitt recalls driving days.
Dorothy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...My favourite is a girl who makes me laugh. She tells me things about the story. She says, 'We have fun, don't we?' And we do...
Shirley Henwood tells of the pleasure of going as a volunteer into a school to help young children improve their reading ability.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson tells of three Australian sisters who between 1926 and 1933 co-wrote, directed, starred in and handled the behind the scene workings that were required to produce movies.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Peggy Mitchell is invited by 'Bottler of the Year', Mrs Yomiura, to a celebration at the most expensive Geisha house in Tokyo. Mrs Yomiura is determined to teach the dominant males a lesson.
Peggy writes or Bonzer! magazinw. please visit www.bonzer.org.au
To read the first part of this story please visit http://www.openwriting.com/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=peggy+mitchell
"When I came to Canada as a young woman, I discovered the glorious reality of autumn,'' writes Lytrice Adams.
Lytrice contributers to Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...As a practicing Buddhist, it is my duty to work out my own salvation with diligence, while allowing all other people to do the same. In this way whatever refinement of the Buddhist path I achieve will stand as testament to others of the worth of the endeavour...
Terry O'Connor points the way to a path which could lead to a better world.
Terry writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Each life is like a rose, says Rose Perry.
Rose writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Should a man going grey dye his hair? Peter Lingard proves a point.
Peter writes for Bonzer magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
The person hiring the dinghy helped us in, and my father took the oars and started off. He'd only rowed about four strokes, when because of the waves washing onto the shore, the boat turned sideways and over, and tipped us all into the sea. Boy! What pandemonium!
Shirley Henwood, with a belated smile, tells of a holiday misadventure.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...We wrote everything in ink in those days before the Biro, when pencils were thought not good enough. We ordered nib-holders and nibs, plus other stationery, from the school office, as well as Quink ink, but if you were lucky, you owned a fountain pen that would save you from dipping into the inkbottle every few words...
Rodney Gascoyne recalls his days at a 1950s boarding school.
Rodney writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson presents a brief biography of May Wirth, a circus artiste who was the best bare back rider in the world.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Peggy Mitchell tells of the night when she was a guest of honour in the usually male preserve of a Japanese geisha house.
Peggy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please do visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Throughout the ages, women have been socialized to focus their lives on nurturing others. To the extent of undervaluing their own growth, their own independence. But with the loss of the extended family, many women are finding themselves alone as they age...
Lytrice Adams writes encouragingly about dealing with a universal problem.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Picture if you will, a large round table, around which are grouped a dozen chairs. Each place has its glass, knives and forks, and a simple plate on which sits a folded serviette. A carafe of vin de table and a bottle of eau du robinet is in the middle of the table, and on the side are some long, crisp baguettes...
As you must already have guessed Poppy Fogarty is a "foody''.
Poppy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...I’m sitting at the computer, eyes glued to the screen, fingers hovering over the keys. The message reads 'You are the highest bidder.' My hands are sweating and my heart racing, as I wonder whether to increase my bid or if someone else will come in at the last minute and gazump me. I imagine other bidders sitting at their computers just like me, trying to work out their best strategy...
Wendy Ogbourne tells of her addiction to eBay.
Wendy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
"My welcome to Australia consisted of being sprayed with decontamination spray.''
Derek Smith recalls arriving in Australia at the age of 17.
Derek writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Joe Lee, an Aussie living in New Zealand, tells of an astonishing one-year-old and a ket.
Joe writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Derek Smith remembers with happiness and sadness those who figured in his younger years.
Derek writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer,org.au
...The curator had noticed our emotional reaction and came over to us. We related our story to him and he seemed to be looking at me rather intensely.
'What number did you live in? ' He asked.
'Number three.' I replied.
I was not prepared for what happened next...''
Violet Hall tells of an amazing counter in a war museum.
Violet writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Continue reading "Of All The Joints In All The World, You Walked Into Mine" »
...It’s certainly not an original observation that we don’t appreciate our parents until they’re not around any more. When we’re young, we’re much too busy with our own affairs to think too much about them as individuals. It’s only as we become the older generation ourselves, that we can begin to understand the lives they led or the difficulties they overcame...
Nick Ogbourne tells of his hard-working father.
Nick writes for Bonzer! magazine, Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Violet Apted recalls one of the saddest days of her life.
Violet writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...My dad from time to time suffered from unexpected sneezing fits for no apparent reason. Unfortunately, during dinner, he sneezed! Being a big man it was not just a little short sneeze, but a huge resounding sneeze that stopped everyone in their tracks!...
And that was the start of quite a performance, as Anne Mayne reveals.
Anne writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Derek Smith tells of his grandfather who worked on the railways in India - a man presumed by his family to have died.
Derek writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Some of the school staff were caring and interested in helping the boys, but generally we were expected to cope on our own....
Rodney Gascoyne recalls his days at a Kentish boarding school in the 1950s.
Rodney writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson introduces us to Molly Morgan, a lively lass who was twice transported from 18th Century England to Australia.
Paula writes for Bonze! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Peggy Mitchell tells of a visit to an active volano.
Peggy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
I think that I shall never see
Waste paper lovely as a tree.
But if our current waste don't fall,
We may not see a tree at all.
Valerie Yule suggests a number of simple planet-saving ideas.
Valerie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
"With all of the knowledge man has acquired it seems we are still at the lower end of the wisdom scale,'' declares Robert Heller.
Robert writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Poppy Fogarty visits St. Remy de Provence, a town of artists.
Poppy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Michael Hart tells the spooky tale of two mugs whcih disappeared, then reappeared.
Michael writes for Bonzer! magazine, Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Andrea Roberts suggests that when two people are planning a holiday serious questions should first be asked or disaster may ensue.
Andrea writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...I squirm, pull and tug, trying to get my body encased neck to ankle in rubber. It's worse than a full body corset and I breathe in as I pull the zipper to beneath my chin...
Glenice Whitting dons a wetsuit to see life beneath the waves.
Glenice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Sometimes her hair hung free and loose, flowing over her shoulders, sometimes it was gathered back and held by a comb clip at the back of her head, sometimes two plaited braids swept back from her forehead and held it back from her face. What a face!...
Les Yemm tells of a man obsessed.
Les writes for Bonzer magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...visions of my child limping with pain along that long inhospitable course riddled my dreams the preceding night. I wisely kept my fears to myself...
Lytrice Adams began to suffer when her daughter announced that she was going to run the Montreal marathon.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Colleen McMillan tells a delicious tale of a mistake made by a proud new dad.
Colleen writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson tells of Ausgtralian female nurses who sailed to South Africa to tend the wounded and ill during the Boer War.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please click on www.bonzer.org.au
Valerie Yule give some money and planet-saving tips.
Valerie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Diamonds are the result of age and pressure. And we learn through our life experiences over the years. We can put the pieces of the puzzle together and see how they worked to land us in whatever pickle we find ourselves today. Or in whatever Shangri-la...
Lytrice Adams delights in the positive side of growing older.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Anna Mancini deplores modern manners - or rather the lack of them.
Anna writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Wendy Ogbourne mourns the loss of a beautiful lake in Tasmania.
Wendy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Sandi Maroney tells of a life ruled by the phone.
Sandi writes For Bonzer! magazine. Olease visit www.bonzer.org.au
Colleen McMillan tells of a creepy incident experienced by her granddaughter.
Colleen writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...The cicadas of Yokohama were unlike any I had heard in Australia. They seemed to produce definite tunes and sounds ranging from 'keck-keck-keck' to a 'clicka-clicka' sounds.
Peggy Mitchell caused giggles while recording the sounds of cicadas in Japan.
Peggy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Nothing sits collecting dust and guilt in the too hard basket in this house. I've taken the phrase the 'too hard basket' and made it into a physical reality, but removing the 'too'...
Andrea Roberts tells how she deals with the tasks that are so easily left undone.
Andrea writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson tells of film star Claire Adams, who fell in love at first sight then set up home in Australia.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please click on www.bonzer.org.au
Anna Mancini muses on the nature of faith.
Anna writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Poppy Fogarty is entranced by the "pigeon houses'' dotted through the Midi-Pyrenees region of France.
Poppy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Police who caught Aborigines spearing cattle put them in chains and sent them to Derby hundreds of kilometres away on foot. The torture of the chains around their necks in searing heat must have been unbearable. Many of these were sent by boat to Rottnest Island near Perth where few survived the cold or saw their country again....
Paul Newbury tells of Aboriginal resistence to European invaders.
Paul writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Sandi Maroney tells of a man who planned his funeral.
Sandi writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
....Harry Jensen's attempt at self-sufficiency began in April. He walked into the forest with a hunting knife and a digging stick and a crossbow set he'd bought at a Hobart gun shop....
But could Harry survive in the bush? This story by Michael Grounds reveals what happened to a man who tried to be at one with nature.
Michael writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Lytrice Adams tells the story of two sisters - and the relentless effects of passing years.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Derek Smith tells of the Significant Sixties.
Derek writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Mary Clemons tells of neighborliness when hurricanes come blasting into Florida.
Mary writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please click on www.bonzer.org.au
...We loved going to the zoo. Joy, my sister liked the monkeys best. I liked the cockatoos because they talked to us. There was one sulphur crested cockatoo, who always said, 'Hello darling, hello darling, give us a kiss. Cocky want a cup of tea? Dance cocky, dance.' If we bobbed up and down he would dance with us. Or if we made kissing noises he would too. He was always there when we visited. I thought he knew us...
But there came a day when Shirley Henwood decided that she did not like monkeys.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Paula Wilson tells of Charlotte Badger and Catherine Hagerty, Australia's first female pirates.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...I stopped running when I was 34 and began to meander through my life, one moment at a time, trying to appreciate each step that I take, making each one significant...
Anna Mancini brings sound suggestions on how to lead a happy life.
Anna writes for Bonzer! magazine. www.bonzer.org.au
Paul Newbury visits Boodjamulla National Park, a place of tranquil waters and the land of the Waanyi people in North Queensland.
Paul writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Why would parents name a beautiful baby girl Apple? Does this name age with the child? How does a girl named Bambi or Honey mature with self-respect?...
Sandra Maroney discusses the naming of children.
Sandra writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Now I think that hyperthyroidism was the best gift that life could offer me...
Connie Herawati Lilie tells of horrible days.
Connie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please click on www.bonzer.org.au
...Grief can only follow its own path and take its own time. The paths are many and the time varies considerably...
Grieving is a lesson most of us learn as we journey the pathway of life, says Violet Apted.
Violet writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Gehan Wijesinha feels the pain as he tries to get fit.
Gehan writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Wendy Ogbourne tells of the roller-coaster emotions of those who write to be read.
Wendy's words appear in Bonzer! magazine. Do please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...When we came to New Zealand, I was fourteen. I was always falling in love with somebody. Or I imagined I was. My life existed mostly in my dreams and daydreams, which was a failing of mine, or so I was always told. Most of these dreams were unrealistic I can see now, but at the time I suppose they kept me sane in a strange country where I didn't fit in, and wanted to go home...
Shirley Henwood tells how she took one look - and fell in live.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Violet Apted tells of a nightmare journey.
...She walked towards me, seemingly oblivious to my presence. Her hands were gripped together in front of her. She gave the impression of wringing them together in anguish, but there was no discernible movement...
Shirley Henwood tells of a hauntingly unforgettable encounter.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Valerie Yule suggests that to save the planet's water we really do need to rethink how we wash out clothes.
...We all carry the history of our people within us, as sure as we carry our ancestral DNA...
Alma Iris Ramirez tells of displaced people and a dying river.
Alma writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Anna Mancini considers the mad month which ends today.
The naming of geographic features has a deep, deep significance, as Paul Newbury reveals.
Paul writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Betty Collins finds herself bemused by the world and its ways.
Sandra Maroney recalls an idyllic fishing trip of many years ago.
...'What's it like to be really old like you Poppy?'
'What do mean really old?' He pushed the laughing boy...
Derek Smith tells a touching story of age and youth.
Derek writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
The Northern Lights color this vengeful story by Mary Clemons.
Mary writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please click on www.bonzer.org.au
Unless Colleen McMillan's grown-up daughter reads Open Writing, she will never know what became of her pet bird.
Alma Iris Ramirez honours the Crone as a symbol that women still have a life to lead as they grow older.
Alma writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...I understood the concept of transferred affections and how what matters is who actually raises you. There will always be the biological, DNA vibrating connection to one's birth parents, but our hearts, minds and souls seem to be perfectly adaptable to becoming bonded with those who take the time to feed and nurture us...
Anna Mancini writes movingly on the subject of adoption.
Anna writes contributes to Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...An article describing the scene when Thorntown's town lots were auctioned off in 1830, mentions that a rattlesnake bit someone's horse, tied out to a sapling. It wasn't much of a horse, but still a pioneer could hardly afford to lose him....
Jerry Selby delves into local history.
...Women were, and still are, I've noticed, expected to be able to sew by instinct. Ladies were always expected to be able to 'sew a fine seam'; and girls who had nothing whatever to do, and no other talents or accomplishments like singing or playing the harpsichord, were expected to sew 'samplers' at the very least..
Betty Collins muses on the art of sewing.
Betty writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...It is contemporary Politics that have been the last straw: I cannot make head or tail or of what is going on in the world...
Betty Collins expresses the views of millions of sane, sensible and bemused citizens.
Betty writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Rosemary Davison recalls the day she set out to buy lamb's fry.
Rosemary writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...Women were, and still are, I've noticed, expected to be able to sew by instinct. Ladies were always expected to be able to 'sew a fine seam'; and girls who had nothing whatever to do, and no other talents or accomplishments like singing or playing the harpsichord, were expected to sew 'samplers' at the very least..
Betty Collins muses on the art of sewing.
Betty writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Connie Herawati Lilie is attached to Indonesia. despite violence against those of her relgion and racial background.
Connie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
There is a disadvantage to using a digital camera, as Lytrice Hood reveals.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Gehan Wijesinha tells of an air drama.
Gehan writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Jerry Selby juggles with a few long word.
Jerry wrote for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
There’s a chance of revival when you enrol in a University of the Third Age course, as Maureen Foreman's poem reveals.
... I begin to wonder how I will ever find bus number two seven nine...
Glenice Whitting gets lost on a Jerusalem tour.
Glenice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Wendy Ogbourne tells the wierd tale of an accident foretold.
Wendy writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...One could imagine that only good decisions could come from a government working in such beautiful surroundings...
Shirley Henwood visits Canbera.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer,org.au
Rodney Gascoyne tells of life aboard a Union-Castle passenger liner.
Paula Wilson tells of Australia's first film star.
Paula writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Valerie Yule gives a guide to life's pleasures.
Valerie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
"The male church hierarchy secluded itself from the lives of ordinary women, but in our community we celebrated motherhood.'' recalls Alma Iris Ramirez.
Alma writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Anna Mancini tells a supernatural tale filled with true love.
Anna writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Ans Redelaar-Seinen brings a disturbing account of old age.
Ans writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
When Lytrice Adams returned to Grenada for Christmas she did not find what she was expecting.
Lytrice writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Rosemary Davison tells how Sebastian and his sister Melpomene changed her life.
Rosemary writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Ros Schulz takes a hard, clear look at Christmas.
Ross writes for Bonzer magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Jerry Selby tells a wonderful, heart-warming tale of Christmas in the Army.
So where is home? Shirley Henwood tells an ex-pats tale.
Shirley writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Rodney Gascoyne recalls joining the crew of the liner Stirling Castle.
Rodney writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Valerie Yule explains how to have a waste-free Christmas.
Valerie writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
...One morning as I walked towards a bus stand, a small group of barefoot tribal women snaked their way through the narrow Kathmandu streets, heading in the opposite direction...
Alma Iris Ramirez tells of Nepalese festivals.
Alma writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please do visit www.bonzer.org.au
...What an interesting experience, this volume business. We are designed with two ears to hear and process sound. You would think that we would have evolved into having automatic volume control to go with the ever increasing blasts of sound coming at us from every aspect of life, but especially from young people....
But Anna Mancini cautions that we should not stereotype the young.
Anna writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Jerry Selby delights in the month of November.
Australian Ken Sillcock, a man in his nineties, suggests economic reform.
Ken writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Betty Collins tells of ladies who devote their lives to cats.
Betty writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Musician Faye Harkness and her husband Blair collected a sackful of interesting experiences when they went on tour to find out what Australia was all about.
Faye writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Continue reading "The Exploits And Adventures Of A Travelling Musician" »
Nick Ogbourne belives that dads should take a full share in their children's school days.
Nick writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
There was a surprising reward for Good Samaritan Yvonne Becker.
Yvonne writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
Colleen McMillan tells of a talkative cruise "companion''.
Colleen writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au