Monday 17 January 2011

Just keep slogging away

Albert Camus, Return to Tipasa (1952)
I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel sea
Her beauty and her terror
The wide, brown land for me.

Dorothea Mackellar (1904)
Both photographs taken on diagonal corners of the intersection of Burton & Palmer Street, East Sydney. The flower is a cerise Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).

11 comments:

diane b said...

I love that poem ever since we had to learn it at school.

Kay L. Davies said...

Beautiful crepe myrtle, Julie. Lovely poem.
-- K

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

Bob Crowe said...

On a less philosophical level, all you need is an airplane ticket to find that summer. BTW, I didn't understand most of the Oz-realism slang in your comment today, except that me in a thong would result in a national disaster.

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Julie, there was a poignant interview with Richard Glover on our National Public Radio yesterday and he did mention the significance of this poem, well-known for certain in your country.

Your Camus quote seems appropriate in this difficult time.

Here is the link to the PBS article
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/15/132956600/Floods-Will-Hit-Australia-Hard-Long-After-Water-Goes

Bises,
Genie

LĂșcia said...

I love Albert Camus, this quotation is very positive!

Luis Gomez said...

What a great post Julie. Lovely. Thank you.

Ann said...

Very appropriate post.

Jim said...

Interesting contrast.

Vicki said...

Graffiti with a message. Love it.

Joan Elizabeth said...

When did we begin to think we could manage the climate ... the old people knew better ... the cycles of drought, flood and fire as as old as time in this land.

Sue McGettigan said...

Love both the Camus and the Mackellar quotes, words to live by.