Gaia Reading Challenge – Diary of a Young Naturalist

“I have the heart of a naturalist, the head of a would-be scientist, and bones of someone who is already wearied by the apathy and destruction wielded against the natural world.” Dara McAnulty,2020 From Goodreads... Diary of a Young Naturalist chronicles the turning of 15-year-old Dara McAnulty’s world. From spring and through a year in …

Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker

Alice Walker is probably best known for her novel The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize for 1983. Now is the Time to Open Your Heart was first published in 2004 and dwells on themes of ageing, spiritual enlightenment and the impact of the modern life on the human spirit. The novel follows the …

Queens Park, Toowoomba

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter. Rachel Carson There is an old Chinese proverb that says the three greatest physicians in life are nature, time and patience. I think it is interesting that nature is listed first. It …

World Wildlife Day

It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth. David Attenborough World Wildlife Day is a celebration of the incredible diversity evident in our world’s plant and animal life and the theme for this year is …

Growing African Violets

In our increasingly digital world, we often find ourselves spending long periods of time indoors trapped in front of a screen. Much as we might prefer to be wandering through the bush or splashing in the ocean, duty calls us to spend long hours gazing at a screen and tapping away on a keyboard. It …

Travel Challenge Day 9

I am not usually one for making New Year resolutions. We start out with great intentions, but it isn't long until most of them fall by the wayside. If I was going to make one for 2021 though, it would be to get out and explore the National Parks in our region. After so much …

A Bird in a Tree

This week we have experienced the extremes of Toowoomba weather. Monday was bitterly cold. We had the fire going all day. Today fluffy white clouds slowly drift across a beautiful blue sky. The sun is shining and we can go outside without a coat.  For further proof that Spring is finally on its way, there …

#BookBingo – About the Environment

I have just finished reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson which fits perfectly with the Environment theme on the Book Bingo card. First published in 1962, it is still just as timely as it was then. Carson exposed the devastating effect that the wide scale use of chemicals such as DDT was having on the …

#BookSnapSunday & Gaia 2020 – The Birdman’s Wife

Melissa Ashley’s book The Birdman’s Wife has been on my mind for quite a while as a candidate for both Book Snap Sunday and the Gaia Reading challenge. The novel is a fictionalised account of the life of Elizabeth Gould, the wife of taxidermist and naturalist John Gould. While John garnered most of the attention …

Gaia Reading Challenge 2020 – Watership Down

Sharon from Gum Trees and Galaxies is hosting a reading challenge this year that is most appropriate for these times. The Gaia Reading Challenge draws our attention to books, both fiction and non-fiction, that focus on an environmental theme. The environment is high on the agenda these days, as it should be. From the catastrophic …