Reality

Decisions as I go, to anywhere I flow

Sometimes I believe, at times where I should know

I can fly high, I can go long

Today I got a million, tomorrow, I don't know

Decisions as I go, to anywhere I flow

Sometimes I believe, at times where I should know

I can fly high, I can go long

Today I got a million, tomorrow, I don't know

Stop crying like you're home and think about the show

We're all playing the same game, laying down alone

We're unknown and wrong, special when I come.

Hate will make you cautious, love will make you glow.

Make me feel the warm, make me feel the cold.

It's written in our story, it's written on the walls.

This is our call, we rise and we fall.

Dancin' in the moonlight, don't we have it all?

Decisions as I go, to anywhere I flow.

Sometimes I believe, a time where we should know.

I can fly high, I can go long.

Today I got a million, tomorrow, I don't know.

Make me feel the warm, make me feel the cold.

It's written in our story, it's written on the walls.

This is our call, we rise and we fall.

Dancin' in the moonlight, don't we have it all?

© Lost Frequencies - Reality

Get a life

© Michael Leunig - Saturday "Age" 30 January 2016

Eucalyptus flower

Eucalyptus flower © Jennifer Phillips

R.I.P. David Bowie - "Space Oddity" & "Ashes to Ashes"

Ground Control to Major Tom

Ground Control to Major Tom

Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom (Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six)

Commencing countdown, engines on (Five, Four, Three)

Check ignition and may God's love be with you (Two, One, Liftoff)

This is Ground Control to Major Tom

You've really made the grade

And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control

I'm stepping through the door

And I'm floating in the most peculiar way

And the stars look very different today

For here am I sitting in my tin can

Far above the world

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles

I'm feeling very still

And I think my spaceship knows which way to go

Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Can you hear And I'm floating around my tin can

Far above the Moon

Planet Earth is blue

And there's nothing I can do."

Songwriter: David Bowie

Space Oddity lyrics © T.R.O. INC.

Do you remember a guy that's been
In such an early song?
I've heard a rumor from Ground Control
Oh no, don't say it's true

They got a message from the Action Man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too
I've loved all I've needed, love
Sordid details following"

The shrieking of nothing is killing, just
Pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low

Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light but no smoking pistol

I never done good things (I never done good things)
I never done bad things (I never done bad things)
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low

My mother said, to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mother said, to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mother said, to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mother said, to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

Songwriters
Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, David Bowie

Published by
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

At the beach

Point Leo Foreshore Reserve © Jennifer Phillips

Point Leo Foreshore Reserve © Jennifer Phillips

Point Leo Foreshore Reserve © Jennifer Phillips

Juicy peaches

Ripe juicy peaches hanging off my daughter's tree © Jennifer Phillips

Wishing bone hands

Under the mistletoe

Cuckoo shrieks

And Woodswallow

I'll make my fire with you

Going to make my fire with you

Under the curious gaze

Of a moon in a headlight haze

Townspeople are disgraced

As you make a lover

Of me you do

Make a lover

Oh how beautifully tied to you I am

Oh, your fire

Your wishing bone hands

Oh how beautifully tied to you I am

Oh your fire

Your wishing bone hands

Under his black beard I'm sleeping 

His heart is a gambler 

And me I'm a weeping willow 

With my limbs so long

And I carry his heart in my song

Under a roof top steepled

A whittled girl meets her wooden maker

Oh carve a heart out of me sir

With your name writ in me 

I am stirred

Oh how beautifully tied to you I am

Oh your fire

And your wishing bone hands

Oh how beautifully tied to you I am

Oh, your fire

Your wishing bone hands

by Inga Liljeström

Chinese whispers

I sit at my table and I count my chips

I think of trains and aeroplanes and sailing ships

and I know that I could go 

to Paris, Spain, San Franciso

(Chorus)

Chinese whispers told me to try

when you play snakes and ladders you cannot cry

when you slide

when you slide you'll be alright.

Sometimes I think that I'll say 'so long'

go away to a place where everyone does everything wrong

and I'd see they're just like me

yeah, I'd see they're all just like me

But I'll stay anyway and watch it like a movie

and if my chips are down I'll keep humming like Louis

if I stand by I know I will

watch it pass from my windowsill.

(Chorus)

Chinese whispers told me to try

when you play snakes and ladders you cannot cry

when you slide

when you slide you'll be alright.

Sometimes I think that I'll say 'so long'

go away to a place where everyone does everything wrong

and I'd see they're just like me

yeah, I'd see they're all just like me

by Emily Lubitz (Lyrics to "Chinese Whispers") Tinpan Orange.

I hate those annual roundup Xmas letters

I can't stand those letters some people feel they have to send around at the end of each year, detailing their family's successes and achievements. It makes me sick. No-one can be that perfect. In fact I think the people who have to send those letters around probably have the most cracks beneath the surface! Anyway, here is an annual Xmas letter I read, and actually enjoyed...

How to live a rich and rewarding life, just like me

It's not that hard: just follow the Danny Katz life lessons.

Dear Friends and Family, near and far: Time again for my Katz Family End-Of-Year Wrap-Up Annual Highlights Newsletter Update of 2015!!!

I know you all love getting these letters, because I never hear back from any of you, so I figure I must have covered all the important matters in such fascinating detail, you have nothing more to ask!

But just to quickly fill you in on the latest Katz family news: the kids are great, my beloved is wonderful, and I'm doing amazing apart from long stretches of anguish that claw at my heart in the blackness of night when I lie awake and contemplate the impermanence of life, but then the morning sun rises and I'm good again! Crazy stuff, haha!

Anyway, for this year's letter, I thought I'd do something a bit different and share some of the big life lessons I've learnt over the past 12 months, in the hope that you'll reflect on them, learn from them, and maybe your lives can become as rich and rewarding as my own (as if! Haha!).

Life Lesson No. 1: If your mobile phone gets wet, you can dry it by immersing it in rice for a few days – BUT make sure the rice is uncooked. I did it with cooked rice and it only made the phone wetter. Also, don't eat the rice after you've finished drying your phone, especially if the phone got wet from falling in a toilet. I didn't taste anything weird, but in hindsight, it was probably unnecessary.

Life Lesson No. 2: If you want to get rid of unwanted body hair, there may be a better method than to burn it off with a barbecue gas-lighter when you're at home by yourself. Unwanted body hair burns very quickly, and it also tends to grow alongside wanted body hair, which burns just as quickly. But you'll be pleased to know that all is looking better now, everything is growing back nicely, and I may not have to wear a long-sleeve hoodie for the whole summer.

Life Lesson No. 3: This is more of just a general safety warning, but it needs to be said. Over the past 12 months, I've noticed that sinkholes have become very angry with us for some reason – maybe it's a historical thing, maybe it's our government polices. Anyway, they're popping open everywhere, trying to harm us and destroy our personal freedoms. So just stay alert during this global geopolitical crisis and keep right away from sinkholes (same goes for sharks and air shows).

Well that's pretty much all the lessons I have, friends and family, so let me wish you all a happy, peaceful 2016, and let's hope next year is a more peaceful and happy one for the whole world. In fact, we should reflect on the wise words of John Lennon when he said "Imagine there's no heaven" – because maybe the human race would be less self-destructive if we all realised that this is the only life we get, and if there is an afterlife, it's just our decaying corpses feeding millions of plants and insects, like a resort-buffet meat carvery with a kid's menu for the prepupal blowfly larvae. I think it's a beautiful sentiment and one I will leave you with.

No wait, one more important life lesson: Be gentle when unwrapping Laughing Cow Cheese portions. Lately, I've noticed the little red pull-tags have been breaking off and you have to squeeze the cheese out of the foil corner. Very frustrating!

© Danny Katz - Columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald - "The Age" Saturday December 26, 2015

Flinders sunset series

Flinders sunset 3 © Jennifer Phillips

Flinders sunset 2 © Jennifer Phillips

Flinders sunset 1 © Jennifer Phillips

Flinders sunset panorama

Flinders sunset panorama © Jennifer Phillips

Me

Low tide at Flinders, Victoria - Australia

Inventions

© Jim Unger 

© Jim Unger 

© Jim Unger 

© Jim Unger 

Time to us

We lay in bed

and watched the clocks

around us dance

until time to us,

was only the rise 

and fall of our

ruptured heartbeats.

We kissed and we kissed

until we knew no other taste

and we no longer understood

the pattern of a day as

we fell in love with the 

colors and the world

between each other's

eyelids.

by Christopher Poindexter

Doom, gloom and trivia

© Michael Leunig - "The Age" Saturday, 26 December 2015

Sea castle

I could build a big machine

Draw pictures for the walls

Hang up all my fragile thoughts

Displayed that you might see

A space a drop a cloth a comfort of

Frailties in me

A space a drop a cloth a comfort of

Frailties

Baby why don't you see, see my sea

Make slow, get inside and pull on my sea

Get inside and build your castle into me

Baby why don't you see, see my sea

The moon is dead but she still pulls on me

Get inside and pull on my sea

Take time make slow

Where have I been

Why can't you see me

Take time make slow

Where have I been

Why can't you see me

I could give you petty rhymes

Of worlds that I contrive

They're in my sleep my dreams

I speak them slow so you can read

And not stand back and stare and fear

Foolish devouring things

And not stand back and stare and fear

Foolish devouring

Baby why don't you see, see my sea

Get inside and pull on my sea

Take time make slow

Where have I been

Why can't you see me

Take time make slow

Where have I been

Why can't you see me

I could push a house o'er

Throw iron on the fire

I could taste your vulnerable parts

Slow so you will start

To shut out what's destructed 'round you

Look at me I'm a see I'm your sea

I'll shut out what's destructed 'round you

Look at me I'm a...

by Purity Ring

Hold

I love the way you tie me down

Those words would never be allowed
When I am yours
When we are home

You loved the many faults you found
You cared what was worth keeping around
When I am yours
When we are home

I have broken that heart so many times
You have a hold of it now
I need you to breathe your life into me
You have a hold of it now

I tried to loosen off your hold
But you stayed and nothing made you fall
I knew when you took me over
That you where not like the others
I can be young and reckless

But you stayed
I have broken that heart so many times
You have a hold of it now
I need you to breathe your life into me
You have a hold of it now

All of these times I've tried to make you forget me
But you stayed
You stayed
All of these times I've tried to make you forget me
You stayed

When I am yours
When I am yours
When we are home
When we are home

by Vera Blue

The moon merging with the sun

The moon and the sun by my 9 year old son © Jennifer Phillips

A sea inside

Gripping shower stall top

water slaps my face

eyes closed, I see you - 

a moment of grace.

The water tracks 

blurred lines, our future

our history, a mystery

It paints me opaque.

My contours blur 

in a waterfall cascade

watery paths run 

urgent to the sea.

My tide washes out - 

there is a sea inside.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

The road

The road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet,

And whither then? I cannot say.

by J.R.R.Tolkien

Image from http://www.copyright-free-images.com/

An American's view of Australia

David Mason is a US writer and professor, and poet laureate of Colorado. 
Someone gave this to me, the annotations are not mine.

Home made apple pie & roast chicken

Best car bumper sticker I've seen in a long time...

"If you think this car is dirty, try a night with the driver."

Five terms used by a woman (and their true meaning)...

© Jennifer Phillips

Hairstyles

My 11 year old daughter has been practising hairstyles on me © Jennifer Phillips

Magic

Call it magic

Call it true

Call it magic

When I'm with you

And I just got broken

Broken into two

Still I call it magic

When I'm next to you

And I don't, and I don't and I don't, and I don't

No, I don't,

It's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

No, I don't,

It's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

Ooooh ooh ooh

Call it magic

Cut me into two

And with all your magic

I disappear from view

And I can't get over

Can't get over you

Still I call it magic

You're such a precious jewel

And I don't, and I don't and I don't, and I don't

No, I don't,

It's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

No, I don't,

It's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

Wanna fall

I fall so far

I wanna fall

I fall so hard

And I call it magic

And I call it true

I call it magic

Ooooh ooh ooh

Ooooh ooh ooh

Ooooh ooh ooh

Ooooh ooh ooh

And if you were to ask me

After all that we've been through

Still believe in magic

Oh yes I do

Oh yes I do

Yes I do

Oh yes I do

Of course I do

by Coldplay

What if I forgave myself?

“What if I forgave myself? I thought. What if I forgave myself even though I'd done something I shouldn't have? What if I was a liar and a cheat and there was no excuse for what I'd done other than because it was what I wanted and needed to do? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done? What if I'd actually wanted to fuck every one of those men? What if heroin taught me something? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?” 

by Cheryl Strayed, "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail"

Luck

Luck is like the Tour de France.

You wait, and it flashes past you.

You have to catch it while you can.

From the movie Amélie: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

Step

by Vampire Weekend

Back, Mac

Something has been knocking 

at the door of my mind, trying to get out.

Not really a poem, not really prose.

I propose, I suppose.

Sometimes I feel like a piece of flotsam

washed along on humanity's tide.

As if a clever bit of writing will save me.

Fuck that.

If you're lucky in love you'll diverge 

in a few glorious eddies

Oh, but caught up in kissing 

drop Charon's coin.

So many different people, so many different lives.

I want to snatch a piece of what they're having.

Maybe I'm greedy.

Maybe I'm starved.

I'm a fan of experience.

I experienced forceps, 

forcibly forced

into the world before my time.

I seek to go back 

pick up those lessons I missed

so I can go forward 

and not fall.

Watch me, see me? 

Monitor me

hanging off this open door

while you eat your Apple, Mac.

Now watch me fall, forwards

fall for you...

Catch me, 

are you ready?

What if you know you're in the wrong place

and time's made of you a laughing-stock?

Life's a waiting game.

Games are fun?

Feels like I've been asleep 
100 years waiting on 
Prince Charming's kiss.
I want-can't-wait to feel it.

Careering around corners 

windows down, trying not to feel.

Wicker basket, 

fried chicken in the back.

© Jennifer Phillips (All rights reserved)

La barca de Caront, Josep Benlliure Gil, Museu de Belles Arts de València