There is something we should treasure,
Worth much more than we can measure.
We can’t earn it, still less steal it.
It’s a gift and we will feel it.
Even when we’re far away
It stays with us every day.
Gift so unlike any other:
Yes, the love of our own mother!
I knew I shouldn’t
But resist I couldn’t
And now with the bloat
It’s my lot to float.
So let this be a lesson to you –
One fly for dessert, never two!
My Mum
My mum is the best,
She cooks my favourite meals,
She gives me lots of hugs,
For her I’d do cartwheels.
She does all my washing,
And all my ironing too,
Drives me to footy training,
There’s little I need to do.
She often takes me shopping,
For cloths and shoes and stuff,
I’ve never heard her complain,
Even when things get tough.
She’s a very special person,
Unselfish, loving and kind,
I’m so lucky she’s my mum,
I love her with all my heart and mind.
I want to be a dog,
I don’t want to be a cat,
A rabbit or a hog.
I want to live at my house,
With parents just like me,
Where I’ll be fed and pampered,
And looked after to the tee.
Song
(after Charles Causley)
I am the song that lifts the sky
I am the wind that flames the fire
I am the cloud that calls the flood
I am the stream that draws the sun
I am the tide that drinks the moon
I am the air that sings the leaf
I am the bird that stirs the branch
I am the tale that flies the word
I am the note that spreads the song
© Katherine Gallagher
Most animal legs
will have some knees.
Including birds,
including bees,
including dogs
like Pekinese,
including cats
like Siamese.
There’s also apes
like chimpanzees
and watery-mammal
manatees.
And most of them all
have kneecaps, two.
including us,
the gnu, the shrew,
and even frogs
have kneecaps too.
But NONE are found
on a kangaroo.
Pondering These Knees by Celia Berrell
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/04/02/four_fascinating_facts_about_kneecaps.html
http://kneesafe.com/fun-facts-animal-knees/
Each drop of water
from sea, soil or stream
is teeming with life.
A mi-CROS-copist’s dream!
Diatoms shimmer
in rainbows of light.
Their intricate coats
a magnificent sight.
These algae have skeletons:
glassy-grown cases
with species-specific
designs on all faces.
Placed on a slide
only microns apart,
kaleidoscope patterns
delight us as art.
First published in Double Helix (April 2018)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO www.doublehelix.csiro.au
inspired by:
Klaus Kemp – The Diatomist – & Algae Kaleidoscopes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxkbSk–EUY
Published on Feb 9, 2017
Struck by the beauty and symmetry of diatoms, modern-day microscopist Klaus Kemp recently revived the Victorian art of diatom arrangement. In this short film by Matthew Killip, peer into the peculiar art form and witness a modern-day diatom master at work.
Naturally Artistic
Kids are naturally artistic,
In so many different ways,
Free from self-judgement,
Not restricted in anyway.
Their mind’s an open palette,
With fearless application,
Producing works of art,
With gusto, not frustration.
There are no expectations,
Just imaginations wild,
Creating an extension,
Of what they feel inside.
Greed
Knowing you was swell.’
