New Holland Honeyeater in our garden

Followers of this site may also be aware that I also write regularly about birds on another site of mine – Trevor’s Birding. The site also includes many hundreds of photos of Australian birds taken in my garden and on my travels around Australia. More recently I have included photos and articles about birds seen on a recent holiday in Ethiopia. Over the coming months I will also feature birds seen in both Morocco and Spain. What I experienced with my family on that holiday is also featured on another of my sites, Trevor’s Travels.

The birds in our garden in rural South Australia are a constant delight to us and visitors to our home. There is a constant stream of birds going from tree to tree, flying overhead or feeding on flowering bushes. I frequently photograph them and also write articles about them. From time to time they also inspire me to write poems or even short stories featuring the birds I see.

Writing prompt: take out time to watch the birds in your garden, or a nearby park, beach or river bank. Write a poem about one of the birds you see. If you would like comments about your poem, post it in the comments section (maximum 40 lines).

New Holland Honeyeater in our garden

Full moon May 2012

A few days ago the moon was at its closest to the Earth for this year. It was also full moon. The media made something of the event – it must have been a slow news week. I also noticed that quite a few people took photos of the moon and posted them on the social media sites.

While this didn’t particularly interest me, I though I’d take the camera outside soon after the moon had risen, just to see if there was anything worth recording. I managed a few reasonable shots of the moon shining through the clouds and nearby trees.

Writing prompt: write a short story or a poem about the moon. You can post your poem in the comments section (keep it under 40 lines) and I’ll comment on your effort.

Full moon May 2012

I’ve been thinking: on this Mothers Day, treasure your mother dearly – while she is still with you.

This day is always a bitter/sweet time for me because I have the sweet memories of my dear mother – along with the realisation that she passed from this life nearly 40 years ago.

Writing prompt:

Write about your mother and how much you appreciate her. If she is still alive, put your writing in a card and send it to her in appreciation. Attach a loving gift as well.

Bearded dragon

My scaly friend
Sits motionless on
The sun-drenched rock
In our garden.

He is staring past me at
The cloud-streaked sky.

Why are you perched there?
Is there rain imminent?
Perhaps a brewing storm?

Or is it just
To admire
The view?

© Trevor W. Hampel

Mt Macedon War Memorial

ANZAC DAY 2012

I invite you to read my special tribute poem Anzac Cove (click here)

A few months later I was invited to join the teaching staff and I started lecturing as an Adjunct Lecturer earlier this year. So far it is going really well and I am enjoying the experience – in spite of how it tires me out at my age.  More recently I have agreed to teach a second subject next semester.

Today I was able to witness a number of close friends graduating. I also had the privilege of joining the ranks of staff members during the ceremony.

I would highly recommend Tabor Adelaide to any prospective students. Many of their courses – including the creative writing units – can be studied externally, and even overseas. Semester 2 does not commence until mid-July, so you have plenty of time to enrol. You never know – you could end up with me as your lecturer!

The writing courses are particularly valuable. I regularly write and then submit stories, poems and articles to publishers. When I started the course my strike rate was less than 10% – meaning for every 10 submissions, only one was published. My strike rate is currently 44% and rising. In a few months I anticipate that I will be getting a publication rate equating to one published piece for every two submissions.That’s very encouraging.

Good writing.

Both of my readers.

In reality, this site still continues to chug along with a steady readership despite not having new articles posted regularly. It must have something to do with the content written and posted here over the last six years. I missed writing anything for this site’s 6th birthday on March 6th. Happy Birthday!

Over recent months I have still been writing and very busy on writing type activities. Late last year I was offered a lecturing position at the university where I recently achieved my Master of Arts degree. This has meant a great deal of time in writing and preparing the lectures. My lectures are designed to help students new to tertiary studies on how to research a topic and then turn this into an academic essay. I am pleased that this is going really well.

More recently I have been asked to lecture in children’s literature to student teachers studying at the same university. This is an area I am very passionate about and have significant qualifications in this area. Not only do I write children’s stories, I have 35 years of classroom experience in using children’s literature to enhance student development. Furthermore, about a quarter of that time was spent as a teacher librarian. I’m really looking forward to teaching this extra unit in second semester.

Another thing I have been doing recently is getting back to reading more books. Over recent years the amount of reading I have done has shifted from books to more online material. I plan to redress that imbalance in the coming year or so; there are so many great books that I haven’t read yet – or wish to reread.

Another pressure upon my time for writing here since January has been my church life. Our pastor resigned unexpectedly in January and as one of the Eldership team it has been my responsibility to see that programmes still continue to move along. This has involved some preaching – a sermon takes many hours to write and prepare – a few extra meetings, and writing material, including devotional style editorials, for our weekly newsletter.

I trust I’ll find time to add new articles here on a regular basis in the coming weeks and months.

Good writing.

Last Wednesday my wife and I had the joy of seeing a preview of the soon to be released movie The best exotic marigold hotel starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and several other wonderful actors. My wife won the tickets through and offer made by the Seniors Card people here in South Australia.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the movie and will eventually buy the DVD as it is such a delightful romp with many hilarious lines and incidents. Unknown to each other a group of ageing English people respond to glossy advertising placed by the young manager of a run down hotel in India. Unable to afford their current housing, or seeking adventure, each in the group sets out to take up residence in the hotel. Through many misunderstandings, misadventures, comical situations and a touch of pathos, the group is thrown together in an unlikely situation and help one another to survive - or not.

I haven't laughed out loud like this for some time. In fact, the whole audience - the theatre was full - enjoyed it so much that I occasionally missed some of the wonderful dialogue. Mind you, the average age of the audience was well over 60; you have to be 60 to qualify for a seniors card. The script was certainly written with seniors in mind - but younger generations will also get a good laugh at this, if only out of fear of what might happen to them in a decade or two.

I am a great admirer of the acting of both Judi Dench and Maggie Smith but this movie shows how both of them are ageing quickly. May they continue to delight audiences for many years to come - even if those movies send up the elderly in hilarious ways like this wonderful film.

Highly recommended.

The following post is an excerpt from my journal written while on holiday in Ethiopia last December. We were visiting our daughter who was teaching at Bingham Academy, an international school in Addis Ababa. After leaving Ethiopia we travelled to Morocco and Spain. I’ll write about those countries soon.

Saturday 10^th December 2011: Addis Ababa

We are becoming acclimatised to the altitude here. Both my wife and I had the best night’s sleep since arriving. Our daughter also slept well after getting little sleep the night before due to her pain.

We were able to sleep in for a while and didn’t go for a walk before breakfast. After eating I wrote several long emails, including a newsletter to family and friends.

At 9:45am we all bundled into a school van to go shopping for the day.  One of the staff members was the designated driver. His wife and two of their three children came too, as well as another of the teachers.

Mat maker at ALERT Leprosy Centre

Our first stop was at the ALERT Leprosy Centre. Our main interest was to visit the shop to buy some of the craft work made by the patients. We also watched some of the people doing their craft work, including an endearing man weaving mats despite having no fingers. My wife bought several items but had to leave some things she wanted due to not having enough cash. We decided to hire a driver next week to return to the shop.

Women doing crafts at the ALERT Leprosy Centre

From there we visited a silk shop attached to a very nice private house with a magnificent garden. I took a few photos of the garden and several birds while my wife bought herself a silk scarf and a bead necklace for her birthday.

In a private garden in Addis Ababa

Despite much confusion and several phone calls to other teachers, we eventually found Sishu, a lovely restaurant near the centre of the city. Our hamburgers were great despite waiting a long time due to many customers.

We then drove the short distance to the craft shops near the main post office. These catered for the tourist trade and were amazing for the variety of things sold, from T-shirts to swords. We bought several carry bags while our daughter managed to find several items on her Christmas shopping list.

This random act of kindness got me to thinking; what if everyone set out every day to display one act of random kindness to someone else, preferably a stranger? What a better world this would be?

How about it?

Here’s the challenge: try doing just one act of kindness to someone else every day. Not only will those people be especially blessed by your action, you, too will be blessed in amazing ways by making this world just that little bit better, kinder and friendlier.