Merry Christmas to all my readers, family and friends. Thank you for all your contributions in making this blog special. I wish you all a wonderful 2016. Here is one of my favourite short videos of singing Melanesian children.
All posts by tribalmysticstories, lazylittlefrog.com
The Glorious Sounds of Harvest Rain for Christmas
Voices, footsteps, coffee cups, elevator, kids playing and then, there was glorious singing. That beautiful sound through the mundane noise of Christmas rush in Toowong Shopping Centre, Brisbane came from the members of the Harvest Rain Theatre Company. At first, I thought of my mother as I listened. How much would she had enjoyed this? Then, as I sang along, I let thoughts of my late grandmother and my aunts and their happy faces go through my head. How many times did we sing in harmony like this together? The thoughts almost brought me to tears.
I walked closer and watched each of them singing joyfully. They were so happy, it was infectious, and my sadness vanished. One by one, the busy shoppers slowed and took notice. Some stopped and listened. I asked the singers for a picture and someone else wanted pictures too. This was how I remember Christmas as I was growing up – the glorious singing.
Thank you Harvest Rain Theatre Company. You made the shopping worthwhile, considering I don’t like shops, crowds or the pretentious conversations of people trying to sell you something.
Merry Christmas to all you!
Night Visitor – Insect Photography
Our night visitor never left. The long-horned beetle entered our house on Sunday night and was flying around crashing into everything and everyone. My son took it outside, but yesterday I found it alive and under a floor mat.
The brown/reddish native beetle from the Cerambycidae family (according to Queensland Museum) was supposed to live in open forests and woodlands throughout Australia. It has been accidentally introduced to many overseas countries where it is a serious pest in eucalypt plantations. The white, legless larvae of this beetle bore under the bark of recently dead or sick eucalypts lives for several months.
The beetle is 15–30 mm long. This one in our house was at least 45 mm long. This species has a dark-brown, elongated body with a pale band and spots at tips of wing-covers. The reddish antennae is much longer than the body. When I photographed the beetle yesterday, it was very aggressive. I returned it to the woods.
A Tribute to Paper – Cool Stuff
Artist and industrial designer Lilian van Daal makes exquisite things from various materials. Her collection made cool stuff this time. Here, she pays tribute to paper by showing it in ‘delicate textures’ to remind us of how we give little value to paper when we use it, perhaps sometimes irrationally in our every day lives.
Lilian says: ‘Delicate Textures’ she hopes, would make us think about the everyday use of products and materials. In this collection paper is immortalized in an exclusive porcelain object. It is a tribute to paper and its origin. It makes us aware of the self-evident use of paper, since it appears and disappears again and again in our daily lives.
Here are some of Lillian’s other fascinating creations. A 3D printed soft seat.
Lilian van Daal (1988), graduated from Industrial Product Design HAN – Arnhem in 2010 and in January 2014 she graduated from the Postgraduate Course Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art – The Hague.
Besides her own work, she has worked for Studio Drift, Feiz Design and Bleijh Concept & Design. She started in 2010 with working as junior designer at StudioMOM, where she still works.
Beyond the Petals – Photography
We Are Doing It For Allison This Friday – Rally in Brisbane to Challenge Court’s decision on Baden-Clay sentence
“We are doing it for Allison” is the video produced by family and friends of Allison Baden Clay to call on Queensland people to support a rally this Friday in Brisbane.
Already, the media is expecting thousands of people in Brisbane to join the Allison Baden Clay rally to challenge last week’s court decision to down-grade the murder conviction of her husband, Gerard Baden Clay – to manslaughter.
All Brisbane residents who are against domestic and violence against women – are asked to meet at 12:15pm, King George Square on Friday, 18 December.
Some of my readers may remember the story of the mother-of-three I posted on this blog in August. Her body was found at Kholo Creek, Anstead on July 2012. This creek is less than five minutes drive from our house.
At that time, her husband had already told police he did not know of her whereabouts. Baden-Clay, 45, reported his wife missing in April 2012 and her body was found 10 days later. During the trial last year, he denied killing his wife. There is a lot of media coverage of Allison’s death and you can read the ABC timeline on the events of her death. Gerard Baden Clay was found guilty on July 15, 2014 and convicted for murder. He was serving that sentence until his appeal and the court’s decision last week to give him a lesser penalty.
Allison comes from Brookfield, one of several local communities in Western Suburbs and our family property was bought from Baden Clay’s real estate business over four years ago. Please share this post and if you can make it – see you at the rally.
Untethered – How to Spend Your Spare Time on High Adrenaline
“Your palms will sweat and your heart will race, but you can’t help but be ridiculously inspired. The cinematography, story, and pure slacklife style is beautiful.” – Andy Lewis
AT: UntetheredFilm.ca
Untethered is a documentary that takes an immensely personal look straight into the heart of the slacklining and highlining community in Vancouver BC. It is an epic ride from beginning to the end, offering an inspiring look into a group that pursues the unthinkable.
This project was made with zero outside funding while living out of my van. Huge thanks to all the friends that leant their time (and gear) to help bring this vision to life.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Miss Papua New Guinea Abigail Havora won the Regional Miss Pacific Islands Crown
Abigail Havora is Miss Pacific Islands 2015/2016
Papua New Guinea’s Abigail Havora has been crowned Miss Pacific Islands 2015 in a ceremony held in Rarotonga over the weekend. Her reign will end in 2016 when she crowns the next regional queen. This is the first time PNG won the regional contest. The stunning, intelligent and confident Abigail has strong opinions about status of women in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. She also wants to promote unity and diversity and bring Papua New Guineans together to build a strong nation.
In the beauty quest, Abigail believes true beauty comes from the heart. The Pacific Islands Pageant, she said “is a beauty of our cultures.”
“It’s just about drawing from within, because that’s where our true beauty lies,” she said.
She told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat earlier when she was crowned Miss PNG that Miss Pacific Islands is about “being a cultural ambassador” rather than focusing on physical beauty.
“Pacific Islanders are closely tied to our culture and that’s what the pageant hopes to bring out,” Ms Havora said.
“Culture is our way of life so each girl had their own definition or own way to show what culture meant to them, and that was what was showcased. My intent for the wider PNG is to bring a message that strengthens the bridge between culture and the changing times so young people, especially women, are more aware of what they are contributing to and the type of influence they are exerting”.
Abigail devotes her spare time to helping youths in PNG through The Voice Inc and is an ardent supporter of the PNG Cancer Foundation. She works for Oil Search Limited and through the Oil Search Adventure Club, they have developed a library Pouching System to build and strengthen libraries across PNG.
The 24-year-old science graduate beat eight other regional contestants to take home the Miss Pacific Islands title. Miss Samoa, Ariana Taufao, was the first runner-up while Miss Tonga, Brittne Fuimaono, was the second runner-up.
Ms Havora also picked up the Best Sarong and Best Talent Performance titles. She is from Gabagaba village in PNG’s Central Province.
Note from the writer – I would like to congratulate Abigail, her family and the Miss PNG Committee for making history in the region. Abigail, you have made the women of Papua New Guinea very proud of you.
For more info click on the Official Facebook Page.
See also previous posts on this cultural quest.
Art – Accidental Artwork Gum Bark
I have not thought of creating art from gum bark until this season.
In the past month, the gum trees (in Bellbowrie, and other parts of Queensland) have shredded their bark, leaving behind beautiful trunk colours. Surrounding each shedding trees are barks of different shades and density, giving the trees, a kind of carpet or stage to show themselves off.
The gum trees look so striking I decided this year to collect most of the bark around our house to try using its dyes and mulch the bark for my garden. The easiest way to break the bark was to leave them out in the rain to soften and then line our driveway, so everyone can help ‘mulch’ the bark for me as they drove up and down each day. It has been almost three weeks of bark-driving. The mulch is ready, but what I did not expect were the beautiful shapes and colours the bark pieces would make. I hope you like this selection I photographed with my phone. I messed with a few of them using an App called Paper-artist.
The Jacobean Lily – Photography and Gardening
I found another exotic mysterious plant in my pond – yes, in the pond and we have been here four years. I realised that since the water has almost dried out this spring, it has given the Jacobean or Aztec lily a chance to grow and flower.
Searching on the internet and asking friends about the beautiful red flower, I found this website with the information – mystery solved. Below is what they said:
As there is no need to say much about this beautiful lily apart from the fact that we have found them extremely easy to grow. Jacobean lilies grow very well in full sun.
In Queensland, they tend to flower at all times of the year (in fact, there is very rarely a month without some flowering somewhere in the garden).
Jacobean lilies do less well under trees but do survive and multiply and lastly they prefer to be in soil that drains freely.
The Aztec lily is an absolute joy to have in the garden or in pots and are very companionable with other plants.
After the flowering, I have transferred the Jacobean lily to a nice dry sunny spot, hoping for more gorgeous flowers in the future.
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