WIRES- Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation - is the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Australia and has been rescuing and caring for sick, injured and orphaned native animals for over 35 years. They are based in New South Wales, but provide wildlife information and education to the community nationally and give financial assistance to wildlife rescue organisations across Australia.

WIRES was there during the disastrous bushfires of 2019/20, working across all the fire areas and helping in local wildlife rescue efforts at the time and in the aftermath, for instance helping to set up a wildlife refuge on Kangaroo Island where up to 40,000 animals were lost in the fires there.

They do a fantastic job and have a lot of information on their site, a blog and you can sign up for email newsletters. It’s worth a look for anyone interested in Australian wildlife and rescue.

In response to the first day of

kat_lair

Steam, thick and heavy in the morning air, drifted down in curling tendrils around them as they walked from the front door and James looked skywards, caught by the shadows drifting in stately parade across them.  A floating flotilla sailed high overhead, blocking out the sun as they passed. Clippers and brigantines, schooners and converted warships all crowded together so that it seemed every inch of the sky was filled with bright white sails and dark hulls, all fighting for space. Even a Chinese junk or two zipped in, out and around its larger companions like fleas about a dog. It was the Great Annual Steamship Race gliding over Oxford, all seeking the valuable prize offered for the fastest and the best.

James hesitated on the top step and looked at the array above him, his eyes stinging from the miasma the ships created. He thought about digging his aviator goggles out of the inner pocket of his jacket and began to reach for them, But Robbie was already on the street and grinning back at him, making ‘come on’ gestures, and the sight of him made James realise he didn’t want goggles after all.

And for Squee here's a photo of a baby spider monkey taken at Gorge Wildlife Park earlier this year during a brief period of open borders and no lockdowns.

We’re in lockdown again, the Delta variant has escaped into the community *sigh*.  

Grateful that we don’t have the same horrible statistics of other countries but with the government’s lackadaisical attitude (‘we’re not in a race’ – hate to tell you this PM, but we are) to the vaccine rollout we’re looking at possible lockdowns for at least the rest of this year.

So it’s stay at home for everyone until at least next week, not that it affects me too much as I’m retired so have no urgent reason for going out, even did some grocery shopping yesterday thereby managing to miss the usual frantic panic buying that precedes a lockdown. The grocery shops are staying open people – there’s no need to stockpile toilet rolls …

There had been a vague sort of plan? hope? maybe? that we could go to see daughter and the grandsons for youngest grandson’s birthday at the beginning of August (where the hell has the year gone??), but that’s been firmly knocked on the head. They’re in lockdown, we’re in lockdown and never the twain shall meet so to speak.

And it’s cold and wet here right now so not much fun. Walked to the park this morning and the effects of the storms that came through last night were everywhere  – branches down all over the park and almost the entire top half of a large tree was ripped off a few streets away.  If we walk tomorrow I’ll take some photos.

Writing: hey, I’ve actually started a fic, got 300 words done over the last week or so, just dabbling with an idea so not sure it’s going to go anywhere, but at least it was writing. I’ve looked at some original work that’s been sitting on my hard drives for years too, but that’s all, just looked;)

I’ve been sorting photos so will get to posting some of the ones I took on our last trip to Victoria soon - expect yet another pic-spam in the not too distant future.

My last update was February and quite a bit has happened since then.

There’s been a trip to Victoria to visit daughter, son and grandchildren – the first time since 2019 we’ve been able to see our son and granddaughter. She’s grown a lot of course and so have the grandsons, the oldest of whom is up to my shoulder in height now. It won’t be long before he’s taller than me! He’s turned nine last December so I suspect he is going to be a big lad when he grows up.

Daughter and grandsons came our way for Easter and that was really nice, we had some gorgeous weather for it and got out and about quite a bit.

In amongst all that I have finally managed to fullfill my fandomforoz  auction obligation and finish the marathon that has been the Lewis Steampunk fic, duly presenting it to my bidders moth2fic  and kat_lair . I admit to feeling a little lost now that it’s finally done and dusted. But no doubt inspiration for new writing efforts will strike sooner or later. If you fancy a look it’s up on AO3 here Death in Jericho

I will be posting some photos from the visiting in due course, once I’ve got around to sorting them all out. In the meantime here’s some pretty pictures from the park.

I've missed several challenges, but this one was interesting.

Challenge #12

In your own space, resurrect an old meme. Have fun with it! Which is the goofiest meme you can think of? Put on your party hat and be silly!! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I don’t usually do memes but I saw this on the list and it appealed so thought I’d give it a go.

I write like

Paste a few paragraphs of your writing into the box and see which famous author has a style most similar to you. It doesn’t have to be actual fic writing; you can post your latest blog post, but the longer, the better the tool works

As I often change my style of writing to suit the particular story/setting I decided to use three different fics, and came up with three different famous authors I write like, which is quite an achievement – I think.

No. 1: Shadows on the Wall

This is a short piece I wrote for The Professionals a while ago:

In which:


 

I must admit to be quite happy with the comparison because like his work or not he is a brilliant writer.

No. 2: Prey

An AU fic written for the Lewis_Challenge Fright Fest, a vampire hunter tale set in Victorian England

In which:

Happy with this one too, I must have got the atmosphere right somewhere there.

No. 3: This one is an excerpt from my current WIP: 

In which:


I’ve never heard of this writer before but he seems quite famous, so now I’ll have to find his books and read them!

On an aside, a Snowflake Challenge seems oddly inappropriate in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment, especially as it’s currently 42deg Celsius.

I’ve thought about this challenge and was unsure about answering it. I don’t think I’d like to so much meet the people of fame, because really, what would you talk about, their worlds and mine are completely divergent. Besides, I would probably be so nervous and self-conscious that I’d just stare open mouthed, which would not give the best of impressions.

What I would really like is to be a fly on the wall and go back in time to see history unfolding – ancient Rome and Greece, the Egyptians building the pyramids, Shakespeare’s London – see historical figures making history, but from the advantage and safety of being an innocent little fly on a wall;)

On the other hand, hanging out with fictional characters would be cool. Perhaps Sheppard and McKay could give me a tour of Atlantis and then I could have takeaway with Lewis and Hathaway. Sitting in the backseat of Danny’s Camaro and listening to him argue with Steve would be fun – the possibilities are endless*g*

It’s awhile since I did an update, not that much has been happening. We had plans for trips to see grandchildren, but of course they didn’t happen due to the closure of all state borders at one time or another. Daughter and grandsons were going to come to us in September, but again … closed borders because of a second wave in Victoria – just as things were looking quite good too.

Anywho, it’s now been 15 months since we saw the boys and 14 months since we saw our granddaughter. But! Borders have now opened and there is a planned family Christmas here with at least one daughter and grandsons. I’m not getting too overly excited – been there, done that before (damn COVID) but I’m sorting out the house in preparation, which is quite a lot of work as it has got very messy over the last twelve months or so, and getting the back in order. So, at least things will look a bit more shipshape whatever happens.

On another note, progress has been made on my Lewis fic, especially in the last month thanks to ushobwri  and the November writing challenge MiFuNoSo. It pushed things along and I’m near the end now, hopefully finishing off by early new year, which I'm sure will please my auction bidders. They have been very patient.

Other than that, photo taking has been my usual standby occupation and here’s a few from the last couple of months, this first batch taken on walks in the park over spring.

It feels like such a long time since I last posted, before the world changed and everything went crazy.

The family incapacity/ill health continues but hubby seems to be gradually recovering from his radiotherapy treatment and improving bit by bit, so I’ll count that as a win and hope it continues.

There were plans for Easter this year, daughter and grandsons were to visit for a week, but of course it didn’t happen as all our state borders closed and no one is going anywhere! So disappointed, but everyone is in the same boat so I shouldn’t complain. We now have big plans for Christmas …

So, I did put my hand up for the fandomforoz charity auction and actually got some bids. The upshot is that I now have until December to finish a half-completed Lewis fic forkat_lair, who conspired withmoth2fic for the winning bid. With the ups and downs of my life recently I’ve needed a push to try and get back into some writing, so thanks guys for supplying the push! And thank you to ci5mates who also put in a bid.

We’re heading into winter at this end of the world, I’ve been staying in as much as possible of course, especially with hubby being ill, but I’ve been venturing out a bit more lately, taking the dog for a walk, even going as far as the park - have to have some exercise right? And staying in was starting to make me stir crazy. Took my camera with me the other day.

Stay safe everyone and look after yourselves.