Mt Hagen town view from Mt Kuta – Papua New Guinea. Picture: JK.Leahy
Although it was under a sad circumstance, it was good to return to Mt Hagen town, Papua New Guinea, after almost 17 years to attend George Leahy’s funeral. The town had a dry spell, but the air was crisp and everything looked green and luscious.
This is the view from a beautiful house on the Kuta Ridge that I visited the last week. The house was built by my late cousin, Maggie Wilson. In partnership with her family and her people, she ran a successful world re-known guest house called the Haus Poroman (house of friends) for several years before she passed away a few years ago. Her eldest daughter Bernadine Danomira took me to the ridge to visit Maggie’s place and see the view once more. It was still as beautiful as I remember it.
An Eastern Brown snake caught in the net – before it was set free. JK.Leahy picture.
This evening, when I called a Brisbane snake catcher to save an Eastern Brown’s life, I did not expect him to be married to one of Australia’s top romance authors, Ally Blake.
…………..
My younger son Chris had told me on Saturday night he had seen a large snake by the house, but it had gone. I wanted to check the surroundings but it was too dark when I returned from my recent trip to Papua New Guinea. After work today, I checked around the house to make sure no slithering kinds were lurking in the dark corners outside the house. This is the season for hibernators to emerge. Sure enough, at the back of the house, in the shady leafy spot among layers of fallen leaves and a stone wall, the fish net moved from side to side when I approached.
I knew it was alive, and I could see the beautiful long golden tail tuck away instinctively. The head was locked into the nylon knots in an awkward angle. It was an Eastern Brown, about a metre and a half long. We had caught a large male two years ago in the same spot and freed him into the Brisbane City Council wildlife reserve. This one was surprisingly alive and strong after several days in the net. The Eastern Brown snake accounts for more fatalities than any other Australian Snake. It is the second most poisonous land snake in the world and the most poisonous in South east Queensland.
The snake we caught looked exactly like this Eastern Brown. Picture courtesy of Queensland Museum.
I quickly ran back into the house to phone for help. From 5:30pm today, I called six snake catchers, one after the other – they were all busy. Finally, the fifth snake catcher who was heading three hours out-of-town told me to call Mark, the Bellbowrie snake catcher.
Mark told me he was away, but he would get to Bellbowrie in half hour, and if I had not found anyone else, he would set the snake free or take it away for a small fee. Mark also said he lived in Bellbowrie. I told Mark, I just wanted to make sure, the snake did not die.
After 45 minutes, Mark arrived. Armed with my torch, camera and his hoop, net and snake-catching equipment, we ventured into the back of the house where the snake was. Mark is an environment scientist and like me, he was more concerned about saving the snake’s life. I was relieved when he told me that.
As Mark tried to undo the feisty Eastern Brown, we had a conversation about other things and I mentioned casually that I had to leave soon to attend a creative writing workshop.
“Really! My wife writes romance novels. She has written 32 books”. Mark beamed.
“Who is your wife?”
“Ally Blake”.
“Wow!” – that was all I could say. Mark’s wife, Ally Blake is one of Australia’s top romance authors with over 4 million copies sold world-wide. She has published through Harlequin Mills and Boon, Entangled Publishing and Tule Publishing.
Mark catches snakes part-time, and only because he loves them, and he wants to protect them. He said most people he helps to catch snakes or removes snakes for – want the reptiles dead.
When Mark could not untangle the snake, he suggested it was safer to take the reptile with part of the net to his house. There, he was better equipped to relax the reptile and properly treat its injuries and rest it before releasing the snake into the local reserve.
Mark said the snake was a female of a few years and that females tended to stay at a favourite spot and the males come to visit.
“If you see two snakes wrestling, those will be two males fighting for her,” Mark said.
That was not really the news I wanted to hear – but a lot of changes will be happening this weekend to the snake’s favourite hiding place.
I have to also check out some of those romance novels by Ally Blake.
Dear friends, thank you for your continued support of this blog. I will be taking leave from Tribalmystic Stories for one week to pay my respects to my late cousin George Leahy who passed away last night. George was an important person in my life. He has his own story, which I will tell one day.
I will respond to your comments when I return. Thank you.
My Cootha is one of my favourite places in Brisbane. My closest friend and my son’s godmother Marina works in the temperate gardens. Often when I visit her, this wooden contemporary bench is where we sit and have lunch. I painted this watercolour for her as a gift. The poem is just an observation of people who come to sit in the temperate gardens.
Mondays Finish the Story is a flash fiction challenge by Barbara W. Beacham. The story requires 100-150 words (excluding the first sentence). The challenge runs from Monday to Sunday. Here is my short story for this week’s prompt based on the first sentence below and the picture.
“The family had no idea that little Luigi would grow up to be a…murderer.”
The shock was too much to bear as police led Luigi away from the courtroom. He caught his sister’s gaze and his terrifying eyes softened. Martha turned to her mother; they both buried their faces in uncle Dino’s old, smoke-soaked coat.
“It’s not him, it’s not him – I know… I know,” Martha cried. She felt the 65-year-old Dino’s grip tighten as he led them to his car, barreling through the flashing media cameras and the crowd. Many had come to see New York’s District Attorney Martha Luciano’s brother sentenced today.
“Grim Day for Luciano Family”, headlines screamed across the streets in earlier hours.
Three days later, Martha brought Luigi the aged Polaroid of the family that he had asked for. Her eyes salted as she tried to smile. Trembling, she leaned closer to her beloved 26-year-old brother.
“I can’t Luigi…you can’t go to jail for me,” Martha sobbed.
(You can read my other short stories by clicking on the top menu on Tribalmystic Stories home page)
The Australian Government keeps track of endangered and extinct species through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act list. Australia is home to one million diverse species in the world.
The above slithering creature’s safety has caused a stop to a coal mine in Queensland.
ABC News reported a recent Federal Court decision setting aside approval of the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland has sparked debate about whether courts should have that kind of power.
The court was sidelined because the government had not properly considered environmental advice for two vulnerable species in the areas.
The pictured ornamental snake (Denisonia maculata) is on the EPBC list as vulnerable. It is one of two animals that were the cause of this court decision to overturn the mine approval in Queensland.
The fact check has confirmed of the 266 extinct species in the world, Australia lost 25. Pictured below, the Tasmanian Tiger is one of them.
From ABC News File: The Tasmanian tiger was declared extinct in the 1930s. Surveys to determine whether the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacine) was extinct or not began in the 1930s.
Extinct species
USA 266
French Polynesia 89
Mauritius 46
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha 36
Australia 35
Source: IUCN Red List tables 6a & 6b
I love the accidental artwork. That’s why I enjoy art experiments.
I set out to do another art experiment in my garden this morning. It was a beautiful day for it. I ended up accidentally shooting the leaves intended for my experiment in another artwork, totally unplanned. The accident in the experiment looked too interesting to not photograph.
After laying out the materials, I applied water and dyes. Then, I pinned everything down with glass. I noticed reflections and water bubbles sneaking into my work. They had their own colour and shadows. That was when my artwork plan changed. It was the experiment that came out of another experiment, the kind of ‘accident’, we artists love. Something you did not expect, never meant to or planned to create but it becomes yours. A gift from the universe.
The images were shot with a Nikon D5200 using both macro and 18-55mm lenses. We shall re-visit the work, after all the water dries up in a few days. Thank you for reading about my experiments, please let me know what you think of my accidental artwork in the images.
Craig Santos Perez, a native Chamoru born and raised on the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam), migrated with his family to California in 1995, and does not return home until fifteen years later.
From from unincorporated territory [guma’] emerges from the tension between arrival and departure to map the emotional and geographic cartographies of migration.
Featuring a variety of poetic forms (including lyric, narrative, documentary, and conceptual poems, dramatic monologues, and prose essays), the poet highlights the everyday struggles of staying connected to native origins and customs, while adjusting to new American cultures and terrains. Furthermore, this collection draws attention to, and protests, the violent currents of colonialism and militarism currently threatening Guåhan, a US territory since 1898 and a “strategic” location of US geopolitical power in the Asia-Pacific region.
Perez’s first two poetry books were published in 2008 and 2010.
Flash Fiction Challenge for Mondays Finish the Story with Barbara Beacham.
Picture by Barbara Beacham.
Mondays Finish the Story is a flash fiction challenge by Barbara W. Beacham. The story requires 100-150 words (excluding the first sentence). The challenge runs from Monday to Sunday. Here is my short story for this week’s prompt based on the first sentence below and the picture. (This story is set in Australia where we like to use the term ‘mate’ meaning friend).
“I see absolutely everything.” Oliver said and stopped. Drawn in by a large black shimmering eye, he placed two fat little fingers up his nose and tried to push them as far as he could.
“What are you doing mate?”
“Trying to find cheese”, the three-year-old replied, ignoring his mother.
“Cheese! Where are you going to put it?”
“On my sandwich.”
“Get your fingers out!”
Oliver pulled his fingers out of his nose and poked the large eye on the tree-trunk. The eye was soft. He pressed harder. Something gave and sucked him into the tree.
“Maaa ummmm!”
Then, minutes went by.
“Oliver! Oliver! Wake up!”
The little redhead stirred. He eyed his mother and sister Georgia.
“You fell and hit your head on the tree mate”, his mother said trying to hug him. Pushing her hands away, Oliver said, “my cheese sandwich?”
“Oh Oliver…” his mother said.
“Never a dull moment”, Georgia agreed.
……..
(Note: Oliver is my friend Celise’s three-year-old son. He has fiery hair and large blue eyes and is an inquisitive and mischievous little boy. Oliver also has something to say about everything).
Tribalmystic Stories 