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).

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11 comments:

  1. diane bJanuary 17, 2011 12:10 am

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

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  2. Kay L. DaviesJanuary 17, 2011 1:56 am

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

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

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  3. Bob CroweJanuary 17, 2011 3:17 am

    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.

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  4. Genie -- Paris and BeyondJanuary 17, 2011 3:29 am

    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

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  5. LúciaJanuary 17, 2011 3:55 am

    I love Albert Camus, this quotation is very positive!

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  6. Luis GomezJanuary 17, 2011 5:44 am

    What a great post Julie. Lovely. Thank you.

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  7. AnnJanuary 17, 2011 9:18 am

    Very appropriate post.

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  8. JimJanuary 17, 2011 10:58 am

    Interesting contrast.

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  9. VickiJanuary 17, 2011 6:00 pm

    Graffiti with a message. Love it.

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  10. Joan ElizabethJanuary 17, 2011 10:07 pm

    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.

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  11. Sue McGettiganJanuary 23, 2011 5:10 pm

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

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