Where wild things go (A day at Australia Zoo)

This is the place where wild things go to dance their wild dances…
Asian Lion Statue Australia Zoo

And walk their wild walks waddles.

Giant Tortoise Australia Zoo

How very beautiful you are, wild thing. And how very slow.

Giant Tortoise Australia Zoo

Oh, wild thing, why do you wear your woolen jacket? You must be hot…

Australia Zoo

The sun shines so brightly today.

Palm Tree Australia Zoo

What is it, wild thing? Did I say something wrong? Should I turn and run?

Emu Australia Zoo

Oh. No, wait. You’ve just got your eyes closed.

Sleep on, wild thing.

Sleep on.

There are wild things here in this place.

Tiger Australia Zoo

But they are more like us than we know.

Tiger Australia Zoo

You really are so beautiful. Aren’t you, wild things?

Koala Australia Zoo

Koala Australia ZooMother and Baby Koala Australia Zoo

Possum Magic. Blogtober 22nd.

I watched her silhouette closely. I envisioned her falling. Or being electrocuted, at the very worst.

But the balancing act went on.

The possum, herself, didn’t seem at all worried about her plight. She scurried along the power line that hovered high above the road. She took a sharp turn and began to edge along a new power line. She was trying to cross the road. Was she climbing on the wires to avoid the big and scary road? Surely possums are not that smart.

But maybe. Just maybe, they are.

I returned my attention to the lap top computer that I’d been tapping away at for the last half an hour. I had been composing this very blog  post. I had picked out a single smile for the day and, before the possum had taken to the wire, I had been drafting it’s content.

Then it all changed. 

Mister C pointed to something else up on the wire. Following about a metre behind the brave, road crossing possum was the sweetest little possum I ever did see. A baby, bravely following her Mummy as if she’d done it a million times before.

Then, Mummy possum stopped.

Her precious baby stopped right behind her.

They did a little tail wrestle.

And off they went.

Mummy Possum and her brave little baby. A game of trust. A game of love.

Without hesitation, I turned to my computer and hit delete.

How could the smile in the post that I’d previously been drafting compare to such a beautiful moment. A Mummy and her innocent child.

And then I remembered something else. Once upon a time, when I was just a girl, my own Mother had read to me a very famous and much loved Australian children’s story. It was called ‘Possum Magic.’

I began to research the story, thinking that I would like to include it in this post, some how.

“Once upon a time, but not very long ago, deep in the Australian bush, there lived two possums. Their names were Hush and Grandma Poss. Grandma Poss made bush magic…”

possum-magic-cover

Yes, that was it. Hush and Grandma Poss. Maybe that was them out on the wire. My two little, tail wrestling possums.

I’ll leave this smile with a little bit of trivia for you—something that I’ve only just discovered, myself.

Last year, possum magic turned 30 years old.

And so, my friends, did I.

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Fabulous Friday. Blogtober 10th.

I stood by the window and admired the morning as it glowed orange. The sun makes the world so very beautiful sometimes. And, where I live, it’s nearly here to stay. Ah. The Australian Summer and her stinging heat. Beautiful days like these make me pine for the warmth she promises.

There was no sign of George and Zilma this morning. Not a hint of a dirty, greasy, feather. There was sun, though. And sun bathing under the love heart tree was their favorite thing. They would come.

But just as the morning had reached its loveliest point, something went wrong. The world turned a little too far, perhaps. And the sun just disappeared. The clouds had been fluffy and white. Now they were marbled with grey.

Right now, I thought. Now is when I need to find my smile for today.

I mulled it over for a while. What can I smile about today? I looked at Baby C chatting away to himself in the mirror and it warmed my heart. But, no. That was yesterday’s smile. I thought about Mister C and how he makes me laugh with his booming voice and his exaggerated faces. No. He has already been my smile, too.

Then it hit me, and it hasn’t stopped hitting me since.

It is Friday. Today is FRIDAY. Fabulous Friday.

For some, it’ll be pizza party Friday night. For others it’ll be Friday night fish and chips. There’ll be dinner and a movie. There’ll be chocolate. There’ll be wine. Oh, there will be wine!

And tomorrow I will wake up and I will enjoy an entire day with my family. The next day, I’ll do the same. That, my friends, makes me smile like the sun itself. And if it’s not Friday for you yet, guess what? It will be soon.

And what a glorious smile that will be for you.

Oh, and by the way…

 Look who just showed up.

IMG_0233Find out more about George and Zilma here.

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