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Pelican Yoga Posts

Deep South WA, Feb ‘25 (#5 in series: flaunting it)

 

 

 

No prize for guessing that you are looking at a male of its species.

This species – Malurus elegans, the Red-winged fairywren – can only be looked at in Australia’s southwestern corner.

Shy and secretive. Difficult to observe, says The Complete Guide to Australian Birds.

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Word Power: is “The Donald” a “Don”?

 

 

A: yes, in the Mafia/ Crime Boss sense of “Don”, according to a seasoned, well-respected observer of US Presidential politics.

Behold Donald Corleone, the US president who behaves like a mafia boss – but without the principles. Of course, one hesitates to make the comparison, not least because Donald Trump would like it. And because the Godfather is an archetype of strength and macho glamour while Trump is weak, constantly handing gifts to America’s enemies and getting nothing in return.

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Word power: longer term, global consequences of “the Trump White House”

 

Pictured above is a satirical carnival float in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The essay below was written by David French.

Its opening paragraph:

President Trump is doing damage to America that could take a generation or more to repair. The next election cannot fix what Trump is breaking. Neither can the one after that.

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Deep South WA, Feb ‘25 (#2 in series: Harewood Forest walk)

Harewood Forest is definitely not “virgin”.

Until well into the 19th century it was a pristine, very tall, Karri-dominant forest

By circa 1900 no grand trees remained; all millable timber had been “mined”.

Happily, however, the forest has regrown well.

Magnificent as are southwest WA’s tall trees – all, WA-endemic –  they are far from their forests’ only “WA-only”, wonderful/wondrous-strange plants.

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Deep South WA, Feb ‘25 (#1 in series: deepest south)

This series is the fruit of our most recent trip to our favourite part of Australia.

The featured image looks east from Wilson Head (which is immediately west/southwest of Denmark’s Ocean Beach and the Wilson Inlet) over to West Cape Howe.

Torbay Head – on the far/hidden, southeast tip of West Cape Howe – is Western Australia’s southernmost point.

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Grand sands (final episode: Muttonbird Beach + musical bonus)

 

Where else in the world could one be less than 20 kilometres distant from an eminently civilised town of more than 40,000 permanent residents (plus a large number of tourists) , and enjoy the pictured experience?

My beloved and I are not visible in the featured image.

It does, however, show all other humans present at Muttonbird Beach during the late afternoon “golden hour” on 21 March 2021.

To reach this glorious, safe-swimming spot, on a perfect “beach day”, we drove for less than 30 minutes, on good roads…

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Grand sands (#56 in series: coral sands, Raja Ampat)

 

 

 

Silicon – usually, as quartz crystals – is the primary component of most of the world’s  light-coloured ocean beaches.

However, in tropical and subtropical waters where coral reefs thrive, calcium carbonate is more likely to be a so-called “white” sand beach’s “hero” ingredient.

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