Acrostic for Sufferers of Bovinephobia 😉

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 16 Comments

Acrostic for Sufferers of Bovineophobia

Beware the beasts
Out to get you.
Vibrations of rage, running deep
Into the heart of the ground.
Nimble thy feet will be to avoid the
Excruciating crush of the bovine burden.
Oppressed you will feel, it is only fair.
Pray for divine assistance –
Holy cow!
Oh Lordy, get me outta here.
Bovine phobia, yes
It’s a thing.
And the cattle cry – Alleluia.

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Note: for bluebee who is a sufferer 😀

Nuddernote: fear of cattle is justified 😉 they are huge beasties and can squish you without even meaning too!

Bundaberg Flood Anniversary (Haiku)

January 22, 2014 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 15 Comments

It is one year (this week) since the devastating floods of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia 2013.

The town is still recovering – roads are still being fixed, some houses are still empty, some residents are still displaced. But great progress has also been made and the people of Bundaberg are nothing if not resilient.

Here is a photo of a boat, out of place on a footpath near the Burnett River (which is the river that flows through Bundaberg); unceremoniously dumped by the floodwaters.

If you look closely (with a microscope 😉 ) you will see the owners have written ‘not abandoned‘ on the back of the boat. They are warning people to stay away from the boat as it is waiting to be salvaged.

not abandoned

blame the Burnett River

who stole you

Photos by Michael Bryden

For all those affected by the floods, keep on keeping on!

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aha moment

September 16, 2013 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 14 Comments

MB14 (800x529) — photo by Michael Bryden

sudden

startling clarity

the mist clears

sometimes we’re afraid of the wrong thing

September 9, 2013September 9, 2013 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 11 Comments

herd instinct

hear danger in the wind

and smell the fear

puffnstuff

August 7, 2013June 9, 2017 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 16 Comments

A calf was born a couple of weeks ago in our back paddock. Our neighbour asked us if he could keep some cattle on our property for a while to separate them from the rest of his herd.

He also asked the kids to name the calf.

Tessa came up with Buttons for the calf and Rose for the mother 🙂

I love those names.

I wanted to call them both ‘the calf/cow that cannot be named’ so that we won’t get too attached to them (for obvious reasons).

I’m always saying to the kids ‘don’t get too attached to the cows’. We’ve already bought one beastie off the neighbour to ‘save’ him from his final trip (Black Moo – you may remember).

Which reminds me, the other day Michael had a day out with a friend and when he got home he said to me ‘don’t get too attached to me Mum’.

hahahaha

I said ‘it’s too late for that son, I’m your Mum’!

Michael has been taking some happy snaps and was keen to share them with the world:

Buttons the calf with mum Rose (and friend) by Michael Bryden

Michael also got a couple of photos of the alpacas.

He was very chuffed with this one because it is very rare for both alpacas to have a rest at the same time in the day (one is usually standing up and on the lookout for predators – as you do, when you are a tasty herd animal)

Merlin and Spirit having a snooze by Michael Bryden

I prefer this one (because you can tell they are still alive):

‘Merlin spoils it’ by Michael Bryden

But Michael was unimpressed and hence the label ‘Merlin spoils it’ 😉

He cracks me up that kid!

Anyhoo, chaos is still upon us in Bryden land. We all had the flu which was great fun #not and Michael is off on Saturday for a 7 day bus trip to Canberra via Sydney (and even gets to go to a snow field).

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Michael’s Photos

November 15, 2011 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 21 Comments

crab mikey Jan 2011 — Photo by Michael Bryden

Give us a cuddle 🙂

Looking Devine 😉

It’s just a lazy day

October 24, 2011 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 16 Comments

flowers by MBcp — Photo by Michael Bryden

Spring is in the air!

Did I tell you the one about …

Look for the light side of life 🙂

What goes around comes around!

Having fun with photos

August 2, 2011August 3, 2011 by Gabrielle Bryden ♥ 15 Comments

My ten year old son Michael loves to use his camera, and this is a photo he took of me in the citrus/chook garden area of our backyard. He likes to use the ‘frames’ that come with the camera and I think they look great too.

He labelled the photo of me ‘great gardener’. Isn’t he a sweety!

I wish it was true, but I have been a bit slack in the gardening department in the last year. I plan to get stuck into it soon – promise ;).

I am trying to get Michael to be systematic with his photography, which includes downloading the images onto the computer and creating some sort of filing system for each download (eg., folder labels). He got a bit carried away one day and labelled individual photos.

I am only telling you this because it was so funny when I heard Michael mumbling under his breath about what a pain it was to label each photo. He’d taken some photos of discarded finch boxes and was getting sick of trying to work out new labels for each one. In the end he got down to ‘another old nest’ and ‘I’m getting sick of this’ – haha.