More images and stories later. This was the moon before the eclipse.
Super Blue Moon Rise – ABC Australia
Monthly Archives: January 2018
Judged Five Best Short Story Entries for 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition
Short Story finalists from the Crocodile Prize – Papua New Guinea’s national annual literary competition.
Below are the five best short stories entered for the Short Story Category of the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition. The numbers of the short stories entered for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Competition was low compared to the previous years. But the quality has been outstanding. The story lines and characters were better developed. The stories were better organised so the build-up to a climax were deliberate and entertaining. The emerging writers have also come from a more diverse background. Electricians to carpenters and Literature students of the University of Papua New Guinea and more. Several of these are first timers who do not identify themselves as writers. The following titles below were the selected short list of the winners after the long process of filing, culling and judging. Only one more process is left, that is: Selection of the overall winner among the 5 winners as identified by the judges.
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Once in a Blue Moon – A Total Lunar Eclipse
We are about to watch a rare science spectacle in Australia tomorrow night. This moon can be seen in other parts of the world, but we get the best seat.
A total lunar eclipse will occur on Wednesday, January 31, and it’s also being called many other lunar things, from a Blood Moon to a Blue Moon and a Super Moon.
So what is really going to happen tomorrow night? Here is a good guide to the eclipse from The Conversation.
This is the first time in three years that we have the chance to see a total lunar eclipse from Australia, and the Moon will spend just over three hours passing through Earth’s shadow.
Last year, on August 21, there were a lot of excitement and media coverage of the solar eclipse across America.
The continent-spanning wave of instruments from home-made pinhole cameras to the most sophisticated telescopes followed the eclipse across the U.S.A.
We also had two super moons so far in a close space of a year. The total lunar eclipse – and third supermoon. A note here as well that there won’ be any full moon in February – but we have two in January. Moon’s appearances are interpreted by many cultures in different ways, and the moon also affects festivity seasons, food harvests and traditional rituals.
Courier Mail story on Once in a blue moon…
Five entries shortlisted for the 2017 Crocodile Prize Cleland Family Heritage Category Award
Here they are the finalists for 2017 Crocodile Prize (Papua New Guinea Literary Awards) Heritage Writing….
The 2017 Crocodile Prize Cleland Family Heritage Category received a collection of interesting topics that were written about and sent in. This continues to highlight our rich tapestry of stories which is an intricate and significant part of our Papua New Guinean cultural heritage. Our forefathers created, maintained and strengthened relationships through stories in Papua New Guinea. The skill of storytelling is like a rope being weaved together in varying styles, colours and strength for a perfect bilum to capture and carry the rich and unique culture and heritage of our people. Stories were sacred and were told appropriately and respectfully at the right time. Stories in Papua New Guinea were culturally used for several noble purposes by our ancestors and they were exchanged freely and as gifts. Knowledge was transferred through stories and traditional mark-making. Telling stories was embedded into daily activities. Stories were sung in songs for the…
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Wanted crim who impersonated police busted after they found he couldn’t march
This story is from Papua New Guinea from my Province. It was written by Gabriel Lahoc and appeared on Scott Waide’s blog. Thank you guys.
Lucia, Before And After by Anu Valla
Cool Stuff – Strong Gothic Arches for Hatters Huts
My friends Susan Cochrane and Michel Bonnefis are currently homeless, but not for long. They were here in Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) for a month house-sitting and visiting for Christmas. They are currently staying at a friend’s house while their new home is being built in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, by designer and award winner Mark (the Hatter) O’Carrigan. Once a hat designer, O’Carrigan currently designs these cool houses he calls Hatters Huts.
The Hatters Huts homes, feature strong Gothic arches re-created from the basic idea of the Nissen huts. During the First World War Engineer and inventor Major Peter Norman Nissen designed these prefabricated steel structure for military use. They were made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel. The structures were extensively used during the Second World War. Here is one story about Nissen huts from the war.
Australian O’Carrigan’s inspiration behind one of architecture’s greatest developments is the gothic arch, as seen in many famous cathedrals. The arches give these homes more space than what a typical Nissen house does. A Blue Mountain resident himself, O’Carrigan also believes that houses anywhere should be built to suit their local environment.
Mark’s philosophy towards his unique buildings stems from his years of designing and making hats… ” A good home is like a good hat…it must be comfortable and stylish, sit lightly, protect you in all-weather, suit you and be affordable”, he said.
After earning a living as a leather craftsman for 25 years (specialising in hand crafted hats) and winning design awards for those creations, he has developed a unique ecological tourism business centred on a massive sandstone cave at Hatters Hideout.
You can sleep in this cave a hand-built lodge and environmental retreat which is set 3.2ha of Blue Mountain’s land. It sleeps 12 people. Guests can choose between sleeping in the cave or in a lodge. There is a campfire, gas barbecue and camping gear. From: $245 per night. The Hatters Huts are also O’Carrigan’s business.
With a high demand in Australia, more architects and designers are creating strong and sturdy energy conserving homes that can also insulate for the country’s wild bushfires.
When the construction of their home is completed, Michel, a French national, a joiner and craftsman and Susan, an Australian author and arts curator will design and complete the inside of their ‘hut’.
Susan and Michel’s house is expected to be completed in a couple of months. I will bring you more pictures.
“If I Was God”
“If I Was God” – shorts from the New Yorker
A twelve-year-old’s frog dissection leads to day-dreaming of having ultimate power. Haven’t we all been down this track at some point during science experiments or just day-dreaming…
A Blue-Tongue Lizard and Then…
A Blue-Tongue Lizard and Then…Short Story
(Memoir) J.K.Leahy
It was a very pleasant Thursday, ending with an evening conversation with both my sons who are away. I sent a picture of the blue-tongue lizard to Nathan and Chris about 8:30pm. The reptile was staring at me this morning about 9am when I went to let the hen out in Bellbowrie, Queensland. Its brown carpet patterned scales and raised head had stopped me in my tracks. I thought it was a carpet snake at first.
I had seen a carpet snake, this size and only a teenager, in November near the hen pen. The lizard’s arms and legs quickly gave it away.
My older son Nathan texted me back to say it was cool to have a blue-tongue lizard in our yard. It was common for the family to share our discoveries of creatures that lived on our property and the local bushland. There are many beautiful small creatures such as this lizard and water dragons, possums, koalas and other animals and birds of many kinds in Queensland.
I didn’t hear back from Chris, (my younger son), about the blue-tongue lizard. I thought maybe he had gone to bed, because he had started work at 5am.
Nathan texted me again to say an owl threw itself into his car as he drove home tonight. I thought it was strange and I gave Nathan my various symbolic meanings of why an owl would cross his path. It was mostly to do with deception and revealing truth, but when I thought about other meanings, death was one of them. I didn’t want to tell my son that. We talked a little more before he stopped texting back.
At that moment when the owl discussion came to an end, I heard cars speeding, tyre squeals and a loud bang! It was coming from the junction, 100 metres from our house. Suddenly it was eerie and the night was very quiet.
Nathan didn’t text again. I checked my phone twice.
“I think there is an accident”, I texted him again probing for a response.
From the direction of the accident, I could hear a high pitch horn of one car continuing, even after the crash quietened down. I was in our lounge where the sounds coming from the junction were the loudest. When the crash happened, I had been in my office. I moved here because it made me feel better somehow.
There have been many crashes on this junction – Moggill, Lather and Sugars roads in Bellbowrie. A few years ago a 65-year-old motor-bike rider was crushed by an unknown vehicle. Later, the man died in hospital. It took police a while to find the other driver.
I had this urge tonight to run 100 metres up the road to the crash, but part of me felt weird and uncomfortable. There were sounds outside my house; voices, branches breaking as if someone or people came into the property through the bush, and then more voices came from the roadside. I could hear other cars drive and stop at the scene. Two minutes later, I heard an ambulance. I felt relief. Some of the birds near our house made noises – echoing the high sirens. The accident must have woken the birds.
Then, a police siren started in the distance and then got really loud before it stopped at the junction. There were more voices, but no-one screamed or shouted. I heard louder vehicles come and then whinges, metal on gravel and then car doors shutting. I could not see the road; the huge gum trees blocked the accident scene. The sounds were very clear.
I kept thinking I should go and see it, but something stopped me. It was a fair walk in pitch black.
I texted my sons again about the accident. My older son did not respond. I thought he went to sleep. I called his brother Chris.
“What do you want me to do?” Chris asked me when I told him about the accident.
“Nothing – I’m just afraid, so I texted you,” I responded.
“I’m going to sleep”, he said. Chris was travelling for work in the Sunshine Coast.
“Goodnight son, I love you,” I said and hung up.
By the sound of the siren, a second ambulance arrived. It could have been the same one leaving. I wasn’t sure.
More voices came through the trees. I WhatsApp my cousin in Papua New Guinea – and he agreed, I should stay home. If help was already there, no need to go and I can find out more tomorrow. He is a cop.
My aunt called on WhatsApp and I told her there was an accident and that I felt scared. Over the phone, she said she was scared too.
“I think someone is hurt, the horn didn’t stop honking for a long time,” I said.
“Don’t go there”, my aunt said.
She diverted the conversation and soon, behind the night bird calls, the normal traffic sound returned. I shut all the doors and windows.
Two hours later, my son Nathan responded: “Oh shit! I hope everyone is okay… can you see any cars? ..if you can, do you recognise them?”
“No Nat. I was scared to go and see. The ambulance and police came straight away which was good – but the accident sounded bad.”
“That’s awful”.
I said goodnight to my son and told him I loved him.
“I love you too mum”.
I hope no-one was badly hurt or killed. I will know soon.
Friday – 19/1/2018 – Update
To those that read this story – as it turned out, a friend drove by the accident last night between two cars. He said no one was seriously hurt, even though there was a lot of damage to the vehicles. I saw the remnants of the accident this morning, but I’m glad to hear that it wasn’t as serious as I thought.
Tribalmystic Stories 
