Gemma's "Greyscale Territory" Poetic Songlines

Haiku Challenge #25 ~ Cult

2012-02-25T06:23:00.002+11:00

Part of Swanston Street near Flinders Station, Melbourne

City streets
Waves of busy eyes
Shopping cult

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 25 – February 25th – Theme or Word: Cult Form: - Haiku

Haiku Challenge #24 ~ Dream Walks

2012-02-24T04:03:00.000+11:00

Even round life's rocks
Dream walks wait for those who seek
Always tread slowly

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 24 – February 24th – Words: Dream Walks Thanks to Rachana Shakyawar of Humming Today because the phrase 'Dream Walks' was coined from her poem

Cove Skies

2012-02-24T00:04:00.000+11:00

Skies over Martha Cove marina on Port Phillip Bay

Like thinking secrets
Balancing alternatives
Indecisive skies

Hosted by Sandy Wren Sylvia

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Haiku Challenge #23 ~ Joy of Giving (ABC, CDE, EFA)

2012-02-23T04:03:00.000+11:00

Wandering Dromana beach on a cool summer's day

Just giving some time
Sharing experiences
Connection of souls

Connection of souls
Treasuring the joys and tears
As they walk the beach

As they walk the beach
Love smiles quietly round them
Just giving some time

(ABC, CDE, EFA)

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 23 – February 23rd – Theme: Joy of Giving Form: (ABC, CDE, EFA) - Haiku

Stand Up Paddling

2012-02-23T00:04:00.000+11:00

Parked (a trailer attached to a 4WD) close to Dromana beach is this sign on material sides protecting tiers of paddle boards.
For some reason their name - Peninsula Stand Up Paddling School -sounds quite amusing!
Not sure why!

Paddling for pleasure
There's ways to walk on water
Thriving new business

Signs, Signs is hosted by Lesley
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Haiku Challenge #22 ~ Paint the Image

2012-02-22T06:01:00.000+11:00

Ankles graced with charms
Naked feet bathed in sunlight
Poised for new dances

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 22 – February 22nd – Theme: Paint the Image...

Photo Clicked by Enosh of: Enosh Bansode Photography

Zara Bate and Family

2012-02-21T04:03:00.002+11:00

Dame Zara Bate's grave is at Sorrento cemetery on the Westernport Bay side of the Mornington Peninsula.

Dame Zara (1909-1989) had a number of surnames.
She was born in Kew, Victoria and her maiden name was Dickens.
She married and became Fell in 1935. James Heywood Fell was a British army officer with the rank of Colonel.
They divorced in 1946.
Later in the same year Zara married Harold Holt - a solicitor and member of the House of Representatives. (She knew him before her marriage to James.)
While Harold spent time in Canberra, Zara opened a boutique called Magg in Toorak village, Victoria. Business was so successful that another Magg boutique was opened in Double Bay, Sydney.
In 1961 a Magg evening dress was voted `Gown of the Year’, and in 1962 Miss Australia, Tania Verstak, wore a Magg gown in the Miss International contest, which she won. Zara Holt also advised on Australian uniforms for events such as Expo ‘67 in Montreal and the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. Ref: HERE

Harold became the 17th Prime Minister of Australia in January 1966.
When he mysteriously disappeared at Victoria's Cheviot Beach on the Mornington Peninsula, on 17 December 1967, Zara was at the Lodge in Canberra.
In 1968 she was appointed DBE.

In 1969, at Toorak, she married the flamboyant federal politician Henry Jefferson Percival Bate till he died in 1984.

Zara retired to (and died in) Surfers Paradise in Queensland, but she is buried at Sorrento cemetery, the nearest cemetery to Cheviot Beach.
And the faded details of the headstone just read:
Dame Commander of the British Empire.
Rest in Peace

Zara's grave is unpretentious, seemingly squeezed between others.
There is barely an outline of the site apart from the headstone.

And a little mystery.
Zara and James had 3 children - Nicholas (Nick - a lawyer), Sam (now a Melbourne lawyer) and Andrew.
(There is rumour that the twins were actually Harold's - before the marriage.

Harold adopted all children and gave them his surname when he married Zara.))
Quite a distance back from Zara's grave is this headstone.
One of the last born twins?
It lacks detail as does Zara's headstone, simply stating:
Andrew John Hugh Holt
Born 23.5.1939
Died 21.12.1997
Zara's marriage to James broke down soon after the twins were born in 1939.

More family connections:
Sam's son Robert is a corporate lawyer and owns a bookshop in Noosa Heads, Queensland.
Andrew's son is Christopher.
Sophie and Pippa are daughters of Nicholas.
Sophie's home is in Portsea. She is involved in the designer fashion labels just like her grandmother and is renowned for reviving Elle B and Country Road. For more details see HERE!
Pippa Holt is a Contributing Editor for Vogue. Prior to Vogue she worked at The Times as Fashion Editor of the Saturday Times Magazine and before that she was at Australian Vogue. She lives between London and Dublin.

Taphophile Tragics is hosted by Julie
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Haiku Challenge #21 ~ Dedication

2012-02-21T01:06:00.001+11:00

Humble wash basket
May you enjoy empty days
And feel beautiful

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 21 – February 21st – Theme: Dedication

Haiku Challenge #20 ~ Live out of your imagination...

2012-02-20T02:05:00.001+11:00

The world from inside the car inside a car wash!

Imagination
My fluid world of dreamscapes
Where history sleeps

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 20 – February 20th – Quote: Live out of your imagination, not your history

Haiku Challenge #19 ~ Seasons

2012-02-19T18:28:00.003+11:00

A late summer view of Dromana beach looking toward Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsula

Those softer warm days
When Summer whispers Autumn
Come close to my soul

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 19 – February 19th – Theme: Seasons Type: Kigo

Shadowy Swanston Colours

2012-02-19T00:04:00.001+11:00

Deep shadows in Swanston Street Melbourne play round a curbside floral display.

Bright shining flowers
Do you feel like champions
Breaking down shadows

In the crucible of shadows languish the secret colours of life ~ Gemma Wiseman

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is hosted by Magical Mystical Teacher, Chubskulit + Gemma Wiseman

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Haiku Challenge #18 ~ Famine

2012-02-18T06:53:00.002+11:00

In times of famine
Mind, body and soul are locked
Coated in hunger

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 18 – February 18th – Theme or Word: Famine

Haiku Challenge #17 ~ Wait + Paint the Image

2012-02-17T02:05:00.001+11:00

Lost, tossed and crumpled
Hungry eyes litter the street
Wait for light to change

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 17 – February 17th – Theme or Word: Wait + Paint the Image
Inspirational Image Clicked by Anand of: Apple Blossom's Photography

Fading Summer

2012-02-17T00:04:00.000+11:00

A view of Dromana beach on Port Phillip Bay.

Almost empty beach
Sweet summer days are fading
Heavy clouds hang low

Hosted by Sandy Wren Sylvia

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Haiku Challenge #16 ~ Sin in Haibun

2012-02-16T02:05:00.008+11:00

There's a house not far from me that never changes.
It simply is.
To me, it is like a broken link in the chain of life. It is like a stage without actors, a sky without weather changes, an earth drought-ridden.
It's a sin to let a house bathe in the sunlight and shadows of the seasons, shuttered, alone...

No circulation
No tending of the garden
No family love

A grim door that never greets nor farewells, stands like a locked memory - of someone.
A gated driveway locked in bland nowhere. Somehow there is a sense of a child, discarded, wondering if parents will ever remember to come home; like a body adrift in limbo, seeking a heart and a soul.

Scraps of energy
Like shredded, lost momentos
Mere driveway relics

There's a house not far from me that never breathes, never blinks.
It simply survives.
It simply is.

*150 words

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 16 – February 16th – Theme or Word: Sin Form: Haibun

The Poetry Pantry is hosted by Poets United

Haiku Challenge #15 ~ Paint the Image

2012-02-15T02:05:00.000+11:00

When your walkway floods
When murky sludge clogs your way
Seek out an odd smile

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 15 – February 15th – Theme: Paint the Image
Inspirational Image from: Google Images, Author: Unknown

Haiku Challenge #14 ~ Love

2012-02-14T02:05:00.001+11:00

A young couple quietly wandering through the Dromana Hub carpark.

Love's many faces
The joy, the romance, the touch
The soft connection

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 14 – February 14th – Theme or Word: Love or Valentine

A Soul Set Free

2012-02-14T00:04:00.003+11:00

This statue of a young girl - seeming to set a bird free - is at Mornington Cemetery on the Mornington Peninsula.
The figure is a slate grey but the bird is gold toned.

Like finding gold wings
Like breathing new life spirit
Like Galatea

For the love story of Pygmalion and Galatea see HERE!
And the name "Galatea" means sleeping love.

The figure is a little classical and yet there is a feeling that this statue may not have been poured from some reusable mould! It seems to have been specially cast for this grave.
(In wanderings of cemeteries, I have not seen a statue like this.)
The grave gives little clue. The headstone seems low and its nameless.

Taphophile Tragics is hosted by Julie
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Haiku Challenge #13 ~ Paint the Image

2012-02-13T02:05:00.001+11:00

Just leave your housework
Our home's always beautiful
Please come play with me

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 13 – February 13th – Theme: Paint the Image
What a beautiful smile by my Nephew Ashik, Today is his 2nd Birthday :-) Photo Clicked by Someone is Special of Few Miles

Haiku Challenge #12 ~ Colours in Naisaiku

2012-02-12T02:05:00.001+11:00

Children
Innocence
COLOURS
Beginnings
New dawn

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 12 – February 12th – Theme or Word: Colours Form: Naisaiku

Driveway Shadows

2012-02-12T00:04:00.002+11:00

I saw a strange gathering of shadow shapes and patterns in a Dromana driveway

A shadow display
Blocks, lines, smudges, lattice work
The art of sunlight

The art of shadow is the art of sunlight ~ Gemma Wiseman

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is hosted by Magical Mystical Teacher, Chubskulit + Gemma Wiseman

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Haiku Challenge #11 ~ Paint the Image

2012-02-11T02:05:00.002+11:00

We melted as one
And yet our eyes see beyond
Are we passing by

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 11 – February 11th – Theme: Paint the Image
Inspirational Image by: Narayana Nethralaya

Haiku Challenge #10 ~ Special Day

2012-02-10T05:48:00.004+11:00

I usually only travel into the heart of Melbourne a couple of times a year.
On this day, for the first time, I saw the amazing architectural delight of Melbourne Central.
The old tower has been preserved and a huge skydome and stylish shopping complex have been built around it - all above Melbourne Central railway station.
The 9 storey tower is Coop's Shot Tower - built in 1888 - and now houses a museum.

Sweet discovery
Old tower lit with new style
Worlds smile together

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 10 – February 10th – Theme: Write a Haiku describing about a Special day in your life...

Quirky Clouds

2012-02-10T00:04:00.000+11:00

During the summer period on the Mornington Peninsula, Nature seemed intent on re-creating the regular concept of cloud formations.

Streaky light cloud trails
As if teased from a paintbox
Inventive Nature

Hosted by Sandy Wren Sylvia

Haiku Challenge #9 ~ Paint the Image

2012-02-09T02:05:00.002+11:00

Locked minds surround you
But only you dare to lock
Your sensitive heart

Written for The Haiku Challenge 2012 - Day 9 – February 9th – Theme: Paint the Image
Photo Clicked by Siva of: Siva's Art Work

Gemma's ~~~~ "Greyscale Territory" ~~~~ Poetic Songlines