The Hut Lives

Great news!!! Yesterday I received a photo of the hut on the track to Deep Glen Bay. The hut lives. I made a painting of this hut in the late 1990s, included below, and found in the exhibition in the gallery at ground at Pawpaw, near the train station ~ Jaqi Art Explorer. A couple of years ago there were very fierce fires across Tasmania, including through the Forestier Peninsula, where the hut is found. I though it may have been burnt to ash. But no, there it lives, still found in the forest. ~ Maybe a gang of volunteers should gather and go into the forest to restore this hut.

Poem ~ Magic Honey Pot ~ 29 Dec 2018

Magic Honey Pot

Edward Bear was extra puzzled
staring bewildered at that special pot
it had been rather full of bee juice
but was now quite a honey-free spot

"Was there a hole in the pot?"
Edward wondered, checking it's bot
but nothing had run out of it, so .....
where's all that honey gone, the lot? 

Ed had heard of a magic vessel
that was always very full of honey
so he had a chat about this
with none other than his tummy

At the back of his cave was a map
a honey treasure marked with an "X"
just start here and go over there
to find a magic honey pot, sure bet

So off Ed set to find the treasure
of a honey pot that's never empty
Disty fairy came along for a fly
and help haul pot back, if too heavy

Fairy flew ahead to see what's up
as Edward ambled along with a song
pausing at flowers along the way
that seemed to have a honey pong

Then the bees began to gather
in a busy buzzing forest glade ahead
where buzzers were busy at work
around the hive of their honey bed

"That's a pot of never-ending honey!"
thought Ed at seeing the bee juice run
Just put me pot beneath the hive
for an endless supply of hon for tum

This magical honey pot would do
so bear picked it up to carry away
with a trail of bees buzzing along
the trail to his friendly forest cave

Hive was placed with special care
on an old tree stump outside his lair
now all he had to do each day
was step outside for some honey fair

To bed with Ted after his adventure
time to dream of endless golden honey
to make life happy to the brim
with golden bee juice in his tummy

In a boat he dreamed he sailed
to an island of honeycomb and bees
where bear was happier than happy
surrounded by the song of bees n zees

Jaqi 
Bluh

Saturday
29
December
2018

Note ~   This poem is in the theme of ~ Hun for Tum ~ which I have included in the blog at 20 November 2018. This one is for children ..... or for children at heart.

Poem ~ Mad as Mad ~ 26 Dec 2018

Mad as Mad


Dad went mad
found naked on the wood
holding an axe
wasn't good

All the chooks were beheaded
one still running around
nowhere fast
the cat was never found

The dogs had been hit by a car
both dead
waiting to be buried
"Would you like to be fed?"

Aunt Matilda thought that'd work
get the bugger down
but Dad was busy swearing
news had reached town

A siren could be heard
there may be no happy ending
the neighbours dog was barking
people were staring

Then Dad snapped out of it
went in for tea with gran
never happened again
just mad as mad

Jaqui 

Bluh

Wednesday 

26

December

2018

NOTE ~ I had this idea hanging around for decades, and wondered if it might become a painting. Then later, I came across the photo that matched the idea, and added the axe. We had an open fire as a child, and there was always wood coming into the yard, and wood needed splitting. Splitting machines are as common as prickles now, but not back then. So the axe was there by the chopping block, next to the chook run, where chooks were also beheaded for meals, and I remember the headless chook running around the yard. There is the story of one chook that was beheaded, and didn’t die, was fed with an eyedropper, and taken around country shows, until it did die. I had a dog as a child, called Buster. I loved that dog real bad. I went to the shop, and he wanted to come, but was left in the yard. Buster jumped the 6ft paling fence and cuaght up with me. We went to the shop. I told him to stay outside, when I went in, but he chased another dog across the road. Both were hit by a car. I touched Buster, and he bit me. He was hurting. Buster died. I was sadder afterwards than I had ever felt. Mad things happen. Some people go off the rails. Some come right again. Sometimes there is mad as mad. Sometimes it all comes good, before anything too mad or bad happens.

Old Poem ~ To Be Stung ~ 7 Nov 1992

To Be Stung

Seeing you reminds me of the Sun

bursting into the day

brightly

Forgive my appearance

all layers

stripped away

Emotions drip over me

like a shower of honey

on a hot day

It feels sticky

They feel sticky

I feel sticky

Bees gather .....

to be stung

Jaqi

Bluh

7

November

1992

NOTE ~   When visiting a friend, I walked across grass with sandals on, and felt a sting. Inside, I found a bee tucked inside my little toe. I had been stung.

Poem ~ Postcard ~ 24 Dec 2018

Postcard


A postcard arrived for Christmas
sent a hundred years ago
one of those strange delays that happens
amazing it should show

Sender was away in the Sun
of a European war
and was heading home soon
to find this door

But the old lady who lived here
waited for one who never came home
and now the mystery is solved
in a very short tome

"I'm off to California
to hunt me some gold
and then sail the Pacific
with a couple of chums of old."

So that's where the blighter went to
and there was the name
the same as a fella in Papua
who married a local dame

Never made it all the way home
maybe wanted to vanish away
went native in the islands
let a new life hold sway

Where the singing of the tribe
would be better than church hymns
where the crashing of the waves
would wash away those sins

Of war in the trenches of France
where men were driven mad
by gas and bombs and bullets
in an evil so vile, so bad

A new life under the tropical sun
could heal a shredded soul
and tame the inner demons
to make a spirit whole

Songs in the rhythm of heat and dance
humming with birds of paradise
strolls in speckled shadows
canoes in the bay at sunrise

Jaqi
Bluh

Monday
24
December
2018

NOTE ~   Visit the museum in Bremen, German, and find that it is packed with artefacts from New Guinea, from the time that Germany had a colony there. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Australia also declared war on Germany, invading the German colony in north-east New Guinea, and ending the supply of Papuan artefacts for German museums. An Australian returning from that horrendous war experience in Europe, may well have found solace in tropical New Guinea, and simply let the past go, to live in a dream. As years flowed by, the dream became real, and the past was blocked out by the nightmare of a war. The past may have become a strange dream, as the dreaming sun became life. And the postcard took its time, maybe stuck down the back of a shelf in a Post Office, then found, then delivered. You read can of mail delayed like that, for decades.

Star Cafe

Catching up with Starfarer in Star Cafe in Star City above Nautilus. Located near the Space Art Gallery, Star Cafe is the place where spacefarers can relax after a hard says spacefaring. The stars rotate around the inside of the room. Very spacey.

Second Dawn published

Second Dawn ~ has been published in the Tasmanian Times, included in an article ~ Is Space the Key to Peace on Earth? ~

https://tasmaniantimes.com/2018/12/is-space-the-key-to-peace-on-earth/

Spencer Tunick in Melbourne

Mind Carlberg's art project Naked with as Chair in Second Life reminded me of Spencer Tunick's many nude photo shoots around the world. 

Spencer Tunick's Melbourne nude photos released in vivid colour

Freya Michie, 15 December 2018, ABC News Online

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-15/spencer-tunick-melbourne-nude-photos-released-in-vivid-colour/10621714

"The 860 Melburnians who stripped off in the name of art for a nude photo shoot during the heart of Melbourne's winter will today see the works they took part in. The naked men and women joined a series of photo shoots in July by internationally renowned photographer Spencer Tunick. The final four selected images taken during the Return of the Nude photo shoots are being released today, and participants will receive limited edition prints at a gathering in Prahran, in Melbourne's inner south-east. A virtual reality video and mobile app showing the staging of the photographs will also be released. The photo shoots sparked controversy when supermarket giant Woolworths initially denied Tunick access to one of its Prahran carparks. The company said it was concerned about the impact on its customers at a weekend, but a compromise was reached when organisers rescheduled the shoot for a Monday morning. The photo shoot went ahead in streets around the busy retail strip, Chapel Street, with participants describing it as a "beautiful, respectful" experience."

EarthRise

The poem ~ EarthRise ~ has been published in the Tasmanian Times ~

https://tasmaniantimes.com/2018/12/earthrise/

Space Art

The first two examples of space art in the Space Art Gallery at Star City above Nautilus, have been developed from poems, exploring the connection of space with nuclear weapons and also space with climate change.

The images could be developed further as works of art, as a set photo, film, graphic and or painting.

Art can be used to explore difficult concepts, and indicate possible solutions to the strife we face.

Second Dawn ~ suggests that the arrival of nuclear weapons marks the beginning of peace, but this peace will only be fully realized when there are human communities living in space in permanent orbital habitats.

EarthRise ~ suggests that the carbon crisis that drives global warming and climate change, could have been entirely avoided with space development, and now, can only be fixed through serious space development.

Space Art Gallery

The Space Art Gallery is located at Star City, which is found via the teleport at the Space Pioneers embassy building at Nautilus.

The gallery will host art that celebrates space exploration and look toward the living spaces to be created in space.

The Space Art Gallery also tackles difficult issues, as with the first work on show, called ~ Second Dawn ~ wondering about the meaning of nuclear weapons, and whether their arrival marks the dawn of peace, but, a peace that can only be fully realized once humans begin to live in space, permanently.

Each work includes a Notecard with a poem and or commentary on the work.

Do you have any great ideas for space art?

Sedja Sky Gallery

The show in the Sedja Sky Gallery includes over 200 images of ancient nude photographs from the dawn of photography.

To look at these images is like looking into an alien universe.

Another world, as if innocent of the modern age.

The images are in sets, for different themes.

One set are photos from artist's studios.

Once the painters made all the great art, but in time, and with improved technology, photography has become a serious competitor to the brush and palette.

There is a board with a Landmark to an arm of the gallery in the Adult continent, where more adult images are placed.

There are a few old postcards scattered on the floor.

The Sedja Gallery is located at Nautilus City island.

EarthRise ..... poem

EarthRise

Their ship was a tin in the vacuum of space
three days from Earth in an alien place
when they rounded the Moon
all craters and dust
and saw the Earth rise with amazing grace

The Earth rising in space made the news
inspiring a whole new environmental tune
by people who loved this Earth
who hated the harm
and wanted to make everything new

But the Earth is old and has laboured long
delivering children to rise from the throng
to fly from the nest into space
to discover the beauty
of the dance of stars and celestial song

But the children could not see that space
was the next step in the evolution place
they clung to the Earth real bad
failing to see the price
of the trap of the Earth as a maze

The space people could see the power
of the Sun in space like a flower
shining bright with radiance
to create any dream
imagined in the celestial bower

But the oil people all said "No!" to space
and the coal people said "No!" to space
and the gas people said "No!"
and Earth people said "No!"
only space people said "Yes!" to space

Fifty times around the Sun to know
fifty years of carbon gas to flow
and now the heat rises
we wonder how fast
fifty years of delay when we should "Go!"

The Earth rise was a sign from space for us
to rise to the challenge of evolution we must
to run with the demands of survival
to find new ways in space
and to know the celestial beauty and fun

Now the clock ticks down for us on the ground
with an eerie silence from the stars around
as if to say you waited too long
as others have waited too long
so will we make the silence of the stars abound

Or do we stand a chance of winning our survival
by lifting our game, if a bit late on arrival
by running with Nature
running to space
to win a ticket to the celestial carnival?


Jaqi
Bluh

Monday
10
December
2018

Apollo Astronaut Shares Story of NASA's Earthrise Photo

NASA, 29 March 2012

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/earthrise.html

"I don't know who said it, maybe all of us said, 'Oh my God. Look at that!'"Anders said. "And up came the Earth. We had had no discussion on the ground, no briefing, no instructions on what to do. I jokingly said, 'well it's not on the flight plan,' and the other two guys were yelling at me to give them cameras. I had the only color camera with a long lens. So I floated a black and white over to Borman. I can't remember what Lovell got. There were all yelling for cameras, and we started snapping away."

"Earthrise" is the name given to a photograph of the Earth taken by Anders during lunar orbit on Dec. 24, 1968. Earthrise became one of the most famous photographs from all of the Apollo missions and one of the most reproduced space photographs of all time. It has been credited for inspiring the beginning of the environmental movement. In Life Magazine's 100 Photographs that Changed the World edition, wilderness photographer Galen Rowell called Earthrise, "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." Another boost of fame came in 1969 when the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the Apollo 8 mission.

ASTRONAUTS:~

Col. Frank Borman, commander

Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., command module pilot

Major William A. Anders, lunar module pilot

Note ~   When Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders took a photo of the Earth rising above the Moon's dusty surface, a new environmental vision erupted on Earth. 

That the Earthrise photo was taken in space appeared to be swiftly forgotten.

The space people had a vision that would keep this Earth safe, by building solar power stations in space, beginning energy transition out of fossil fuel to the power of the Sun, harvested in space, relocating heavy industry into space, and building orbital space settlements anywhere in the Solar System.

Our society would have become a much more advanced society.

But, the Earth people could not see the need for space, and the fossil fuel people did not want to know about space.

So we stayed on Earth, burning fossil fuel like there was and is no tomorrow.

But, there was and is a tomorrow, and now the world knows that with atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) above 350 parts per million (ppm) we will get a planet temperature rise above 1.5C.

James Hansen, who first warned the people of Earth about global warming in the 1988, in an effective way (there had been warnings about CO2 since the mid 1800s), later concluded that with CO2 in the air above 350 ppm, the temperature of the Earth would go beyond 1.5C above pre-industrial levels (Storms of My Grandchildren, 2009).

The people of Earth have come to accept this equation (350ppm = 1.5C), but there is a monster in the room.

350 ppm CO2 was a level sailed past in the 1980s.

It is now bizarre to look back and see that the space people could have had solar power stations in space up and running in the 1980s.

CO2 in the air is now going beyond 400 ppm, and rising at 2 ppm per annum.

This is a huge tonnage of CO2.

If 350 ppm CO2 in the air will raise the Earth's temperature by 1.5C (now going beyond 1C), how much will 400 ppm, or 410 ppm, or 450 ppm, or 500 ppm increase the Earth's temperature?

It is not known how high the CO2 level will rise, but it is known that once CO2 is in the air, it can stay there for a century or more.

As the Earth gets hotter, other greenhouse gases are being released, including methane, which is a far more powerful greenhouse gas.

Methane is now being released from fast melting Arctic permafrost, and there are humongous volumes of methane hydrates (a form of ice high in methane that can burn) on the ocean floor.

Much of the heat generated by CO2 in the air so far, as been sucked into the oceans, and the oceans are getting hotter, at depth.

Should hotter ocean water reach the methane hydrates, will methane be released from these beds?

This release of methane into the air is feared.

Further CO2 will also be released with fires predicted to get fiercer as the world warms, and such fires have been seen in California and Queensland, even burning into the rainforest, which are supposed to be fire resistant.

A couple of years ago 700 kilometres of mangroves died along the northern Australia coast, due to heat.

The Great Barrier Reef has had two major bleaching events in the past couple of years, with a third predicted in coming months, due to ocean heat waves.

Conditions are now seen to be too similar to the first great extinction event on Earth 252 million years ago, called the Great Dying, when most of life on Earth perished, with hot dead oceans releasing toxic hydrogen sulphide gas, killing more life on land and damaging the ozone layer, which then allowed higher levels of solar and cosmic radiation to the ground, killing even more life on Earth.

Part of our strife now, is that CO2 is rising faster than happened in the past, which destabilises the Earth system.

When James Lovelock examined the carbon problem, he concluded that the Earth could make a sudden shift to a permanently hotter state, one that would be hostile to humankind (The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning, 2009).

Since working on ways to detect life on Mars with the 1970s Viking mission, Lovelock had been aware that the Sun was getting hotter, slowly but surely.

The Sun is now 35% hotter than at its birth 4.5 billion years ago, and has so much fuel in reserve, it will burn fiercely over the next 5 billion years, until expanding to the orbit of the Earth as a red giant star (this is basic astronomy for a star like our Sun).

The Earth system has been able to keep our planet's temperature relatively even, in part by sequestering carbon into the Earth.

With the carbon level on Earth now destabilised, and pressure being applied to the Earth system by rising heat due to increasing levels of CO2 in the air, the balance could quickly shift to a hotter world, as warned of by Lovelock.

When environmental scientist Guy McPherson considered the carbon problem, he concluded that there can be a sudden rise in heat within this decade, resulting in an extinction level event, and the high probability of no humans left on this hotter planet.

Another warning from the stars predates the Earthrise photo.

Cosmologists concluded that there are so many stars in our Milky Way galaxy, that as many as 30,000 alien civilisations could have found their way to the Solar System.

But, we look out and see no sign or hear any sound of intelligent life among the stars.

Many theories have been proposed to explain this eerie silence.

When David Wallace-Wells was interviewing climate scientists for his long 2017 article, An Uninhabitable Earth, he found them speculating about the Great Filter theory, which suggests that an event in the progress of a planet civilization brings about their extinction before they can gain the liberty of the stars.

Once a sustainable presence in space is secured, and with direct access to the power of their star, any planet civilization would then be able to spread out across the galaxy, and on to other galaxies.

The only event that could end all planet civilizations at the same stage in their progress, could be the burning of too much fossil fuel for too long, leading to a rapid rise in heat, just as we are now warned is about to happen on Earth.

If a Great Filter event were going to happen on Earth, this would need to be in our very near future, as we are now close to gaining a survival presence beyond Earth.

As the upper safe level of CO2 in the air was left behind in the 1980s, there is enough CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the air and rising, to send temperatures skyrocketing.

We can hope that doesn't happen, and wait to see what does happen, or we can invest in cosmic survival insurance.

If we apply the precautionary principle and make a dash for space, this action can include:~

 

1.   Building solar power stations in space and beaming the energy to Earth to extract excess carbon from the air.

2.   With industry in space, construct an adjustable sunshade above the Earth, to help cool the planet as excess CO2 is being extracted from the air.

3.   Relocate heavy industry into space.

4.   Begin constructing orbital space settlements to further improve our survival options.

5.   Use the power of the Sun to deal with all problems on Earth, such as building robots in space factories that can be sent to Earth to clean plastic trash from the oceans.

6.   Develop a sustainable human presence on Earth, and allow Mother Nature to recover and evolution to resume.

7.   Design a stellar economy built on the power of the Sun in space, free of poverty in space and on Earth.

For anyone wondering about the cost of space, there is a simple reply.

Once there is a sustainable industrial presence beyond Earth, there will be no further cost to Earth, with an infinite return on the investment, from across the Solar System and among the stars.

Once in  space, we will be in position to expand among the stars, spreading the life of Earth among the galaxies, just as life has filled the Earth.

We need to mobilise within the year with a ten-year plan to secure our survival in space.

Lingering on Earth alone, this planet is steadily becoming a death trap.

Once secure in space, we can begin work on winning back a safe Earth.

We can also look toward transforming Venus into a second Earth, which would be far better than allowing the Earth to become a second Venus, with a heat that makes the rocks glow and can melt lead (James Hansen warned of the prospect of the Earth ending up as a second Venus, with CO2 in the air at 350 ppm and more).

Venus is nearly the size of the Earth, and once had as much water as our planet, but fell to a runaway greenhouse effect, with all water evaporating, rising into the air, and being blown away into space by the solar wind, leaving a toxic and hot CO2 atmosphere behind.

With the power of the Sun, anything is possible, whether transforming Venus into a second Earth, or turning the tide of death on Earth to win back a safe home planet.

If we wait on Earth, we may not have to wait too long to see what happens.

The heat is rising, and may simply leap beyond our ability to cope, or survive.

We can add to the silence of the stars, or we can celebrate life among the galaxies.

What will we do?

We can but look back now and imagine what would have happened, if the Earth people had awakened to the need to reach to the Sun, and run with Nature in the evolution of life among the stars.

If the Earth people had joined forces with the space people in the 1970s, they could together have said "Yes!" to space, and "Yes!" to a safe Earth, rather than allow the fossil fuel people to lock humans down on Earth and place our survival at risk.

It is late in the day, but while there is life, it is never too late.

If the Earth people will now join forces with the space people, they can both reach to the Sun, and the fossil fuel people will see that they have been deadly wrong, and turn to run with life in space.

All denizens of this good Earth can be invited to help reach to the Sun, to save the life of Earth, and help secure our cosmic survival.

That we can do?


References for these notes can be found in my document ~ The Message ~
https://stargategrid.forumchitchat.com/post/the-message-2-august-2018-9809502?trail=15

Is this a self-portrait ~ or Not?

I have a show of the avatar nude in my Sky Gallery ~ Jaqi Art Explorer ~ by Pawpaw train station.

One work is a self-portrait.

Is that an accurate statement?

Nope.

This is a portrait of an avatar called Jaqi Bluh, not me the human in real life, so it cannot be a self-portrait.

I wonder about making this work into an oil painting in real life, maybe using a model in real life to improve the details.

I quite like it as a work of art.

What do you think?

POEM ~ The Lost Poem

The Lost Poem

Talk ~ Tasmanian Times

My poem called ~ Talk ~ has been published in the Tasmanian Times, where folk can offer comment (mediated) if they would like to. Reading this poem again, by an older self, it works for me (or is that a younger self, or an older edition of me, which would make me younger, come newer, in reverse). Does it work for you?

https://tasmaniantimes.com/2018/12/talk/

Stjarna's Eirie

Stjarna's Eirie, Verbier (142.818,156.448,168.82)

I love the Alpine regions, which can feel cool on a hot day in real life.

On our small patch in Verbier, located by trails, there is a tubby spaceship rezzer, A Stargate teleporter that connects to our other locations in Second Life, a Bus Stop that will take you on a magical mystery tour of other Bus Stops around Second Life, and a board with a Notecard, which includes Landmarks for many Alpine attractions.

One day we may buy enough land to have a chalet in the snow, and an Alpine art gallery, a place with a large raging fire to snuggle in front of.

Apmel found our Alpine location, and made a story about it ~ 
https://apmel.blogspot.com/2016/10/apmelsprivatabankman-jumped-on-bus-to.html

Race Day ..... poem

Race Day

With a huge hollow tree, unique

towering high over the town

Lava Tree folk held an annual race

which drew in heaps of renown

With a race like no other, ever

held every last Sunday in May

the folk would test their wit and mirth

in a most unusual way

Crowds gathered in town from miles around

some to race, and some to rage

and news hounds came too, with cameras

to report from the country stage

The sheep parade came first

to select the prettiest ewe in the land

freshly washed wool, and coloured ribbons

made them all fluffy, alluring and grand

Then came time for the unexpected

with the sheep that were taught a tune

trained to bleat songs with a range of barrrs

they were thunderous when in the mood

As if no act could beat the ewes

the dancing lambs were extra cute

it doesn't take much to make a lamb jump

and prance to a spirited tune

Then the hour came for the race of the day

that all in the town were expectin

when the competing thrones were revealed

the outhouses rigged up for racin

The farmers sat in their dunnies on wheels

with seven strong rams for the pullin

and a dog on their backs for the barkin

to make them go faster than sinin

Poised on the line for a run round the town

the rams all frisky and ready to go

the dogs making circles on the sheep's backs

and the farmers all poised for the show

Never had there been such a colourful field

of outhouse painted like jockey race tops

all of the rainbow, with pennants to fly

and ready, set, go from the stops

Then the pig was released. But why?

There was never a reason, just tradition

to tell the field that its time to fly

to leap to the fore, and no hesitation

Distracted by pig, sheep stood and stared

despite canine bark, snarl and goad

then farmer Maple gained the jump

and her rams were off down the road

But poor farmer Maple was on her back 

in an outhouse now left on the road

as her rough team of rams led the field

and all she could do was go home

Penants a'flyin and outhouses jumpin along

farmer Cripes missed the turn with a streak

takes to the air like a mythical god

and makes a mighty splash into the creek

At the turn by the tree, farmer Muddle

left the road, where the rams ran inside

the hollow tree, which was busy

where squeals and screams ends his ride

Surviving outhouses were flying with zest

in a cloud of barks and barrrs

where farmer Doom took to the lead

until losing a wheel midst a flock of galahs

The home stretch came into sight

with crowd roaring the teams along

dogs barking with all the  excitement

as rams barrred louder and strong

The finish line ribbon was snapped

and the winner awarded the prize

in tradition a tiny outhouse, in bronze

as a reminder of a jolly good ride

So ends the Lava Tree race day

with everyone gone to the bar

singing songs from the old days

leave'n the sheep outside to barrr

Jaqi

Bluh

Saturday

8

December

2018

NOTE ~   A great day!!! This is poem number 21 in the Poems Galley. If you haven't read ~ Lava Tree ~ it may help if you do, as this poem is the second in a series about a country town with a very large hollow tree.

"With the invention of indoor plumbing, outhouses have mostly become a thing of the past. Yet many frontier cities in the United States still hold an affection for the wooden sanctuary, paying it a special kind of homage each year."

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20130605-toilets-take-to-the-streets-in-annual-us-outhouse-races

And there be rules for Outhouse Racing in the Iowa State Fair ~

https://www.iowastatefair.org/upl/downloads/participate/contests/fairtime-contests/outhouse-races.pdf

While asking Mr Google about “outhouse racing”, try the Images, and you will see that it even happens on the snow.

And in Canada.

I like the steam train version.

And a TARDIS.

And one loo in a prison cell.

Toilet paper for a finnish line.

Will there be outhouse racing in space? ~

https://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=38953&src=pin-toilet-lift-off

And also ~

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/video-portable-toilets-make-surprisingly-good-rockets-2014-12

There’s a whole other world out there in the crystal ball for outhouses …..

When living in Murdunna in the 1980s, the owner of the service station in Dunalley asked me to make a drawing from his house across Boomer Bay. It was quite a wonderful scene. But round to the right, in awesome view, was an outhouse on a an upraised platform as high as the outhouse. Ummm. I wrote a poem about that, on the spot, likening it to a rocket on the launch-pad, ready to go into space. Later, after receiving the drawing, and paying for the artistry, the service station owner went home with his sketched prize, and after a while, notice the poem that I had left behind. Well, that's one way to crack somebody up (which means, to make them laugh).

Listening ..... poem

Listening

OK, I hear you
so, please speak
and tell me your story
What happened up the creek?

Saw a car in Mountain Creek, one day
with a number plate that read "UP THE"
took me 3 seconds to get that
the car was UP THE creek

Sorry, it was your turn
you were going to say
something about XXXX
and the barbed wire way

of building a canoe
that can also leak
and no paddle needed
what a crazy feat

I'm listening
do tell
I won't interrupt
it was a bit like hell

that proverbial creek
no place to be
without a paddle
and leaking free

It's up the hill now
without a creek
but it was up for a time
in Mountain Creek

A canoe, you say
that's quite a whopper
made of XXXX
and wired up with copper

So what's ya story
I'll stop to hear
promise to listen
would ya like a beer?


Jaqi
Bluh

Thursday

6
December
2018

NOTE ~   Have you ever met anyone who talks, and talks, and talks? They never seem to stop. They can be very nice people, but they are compulsive speakers, and they are not always very keen on listening. Or, have you been in a crowd and tried to catch on to a story being told, only to hear disjointed fragments, hear enough to know there is a story, but not hear or get the full story. This poem is a bit about both of those things. And the poem is twisted into a story about an old expression, called “up the creek”, or “up the creek without a paddle”, or “up shit creek without a paddle”. When I made a barbed wire canoe in Tasmania in 2005, I began investigated the origin of the saying. The Wiktionary description below sums up what I found at the time, except for the detail that I had built a barbed wire canoe, to fit the Australian version, “up shit creek in a barbed wire canoe without a paddle”. So, where did the "barbed wire" come from? An extensive search showed no evidence for the “barbed wire” addition, until an Australian movie called The Adventures of Barry McKenzie. I once wrote to the Producer of the movie, Phillip Adams, but he could shed no light on whether barbed wire was added to the saying for the movie. On the long running Late Night Live show on Radio Nation on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission), hosted by Adams, he would often use the polite version of the earthy saying, with “inadvertently detained in the upper reaches of a proverbial creek in a well-known means of conveyance without any method of propulsion”. When moving to Brisbane in 2007, so did the barbed wire canoe, and then north to Caboolture, and then to Mountain Creek on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, further north of Brisbane. So, my barbed wire canoe has genuinely been “up the creek”. How many barbed wire canoes built by crazy artists can boast that? The canoe returned to Tasmania in 2015, and now sits up the hill above Ross, overlooking the town, but with no creek. Have barbed wire canoe, will travel, even up the creek.

My investigations revealed a separate origin for “up the creek without a paddle”, in the United States of America, referring to a paddle steamer getting stuck on a sand bar. I also looked into the origin of barbed wire, but could find no use of “barbed wire” in the US version of the term, before the Australian movie, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie.

XXXX ~   This is a Brisbane beer, and is also a slang term for barbed wire, and other expressions involving 4 letters.

Up the creek without a paddle ~   "This phrase may have come from England's Haslar Creek in Portsmouth harbour, a 'salt' creek. (It may also be the origin of the alternative 'up shit creek'.) Wounded sailors during the time of Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson (1771–1805), were taken there to be transported to the Royal Naval Hospital in Haslar to die or recover. The ships moored up in the Solent and the wounded soldiers were transported up Haslar creek by tramline hence 'Up the creek without a paddle'. They were held prisoner so that they would not desert while being treated, and some tried to escape by going through the sewers to the creek (another suggested origin of the alternative 'up shit creek'). Without a paddle this would be hopeless, hence the phrase 'up the creek (without a paddle)' to mean being trapped, stuck or in trouble. Some very obscure navy related jargon entered the popular culture of the seafaring peoples of the British Isles, and thus entered the English language as a whole.”

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/up_the_creek

Haslar Royal Naval Navy Hospital

https://www.qaranc.co.uk/haslarroyalnavalhospital.php

The Adventures of Barry McKenzie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Barry_McKenzie

Barbed wire canoe in Ross, Tasmania ~

Silence ~ Tasmanian Times

The poem ~ Silence ~ has now been published in the Tasmanian Times ~

https://tasmaniantimes.com/2018/12/kim-peart-silence/

Buried Man dead and buried

Now the Buried Man art region is truely dead and buried. ~ All gone. ~ I was so looking forward to making more art images there, like the one above, and those below .........