Tag: smile within

After Yasi 4 year Anniversary – nearly here

February 2nd in Australia.

It’s been  weekend of reviews and this morning a profound chat with Ali.

Tomorrow it will be 4 years since Cyclone Yasi made landfall.  Presently Tropical Cyclone Ola looks like it won’t be too much hassle.  One of our sources of information during Yasi, other than the BOM site and ABC, were Oz Cyclone Chasers.  I still check their site to see how things are brewing in the Far North.

There is just one more blog hop  for the After Yasi Virtual Book tour, and then a wrap up post and launch.

The final blog we’ll visit is of profound and compassionate musician, Melinda Irvine, who is herself now working in Aftermath recovery in the Phillipines.

Over the weekend Carol Campbell,  Gail Kavanagh and Owen Allen posted reviews of the ebook.

“The eBook is an interactive experience that links to blogs and sources that show how people coped with the cyclone and the aftermath. It’s a rich trail of material that celebrates the human spirit in all its facets – despair, pain, recovery, optimism and resilience.blghopchristine

Among the highlights for me are Christine Jenkins and the anchor she tied to her house; Mr Hardy and his chainsaw optimism; and the wonderful poem Cassowaries Can Fly.”
 Gail Kavanagh

GailKavanagh

“Having an interest in contemporary dance, I particularly appreciated that one of the recovery events that June documented was a dance workshop run by local dancer Danielle Wilson. Contemporary dance is still a less well-developed community art form in Australia.” Owen Allen

Owen

This morning Ali Stegert has shared her interview focusing on yasi and its impact on children and youth,  with thought provoking questions inspired by her background as a school counsellor.

ali

Don’t forget that if you leave a comment on any of our blogs included in the virtual tour you will have a chance to win a free copy of the ebook or copy of the photographic print from the book.  Your chance to comment for a prize continues until the 6th of February.

Photographing Tully

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I’ve been out and about photographing Tully events again. To see pictures of the Tully Biggest Morning Tea Event at the library you can visit.  Tully’s Biggest Morning Tea.

This is one of my favourites of the day.  It’s of one of our wonderful local library staff  and a dear friend making sure the tea and cake are ready for a fundraiser for cancer.   I now take my card with me to give to people to get in touch about the photographs.  If you have one of my cards, why not  leave your comment about the event and if you like request a copy of your photograph.  All I ask is a donation to the Smile Within Project, which is now entering book production phase, with the possibility of a tour of the exhibition to Cairns.

I went and made a tribute video to Food, family and fundraising, which you can see at my vimeo link  HERE. Love making these photostories and will be making some more involved videos in the upcoming months so look out for them.  I have to get started on some poetry films soon too.

Thanks to everyone who visited the Smile Within.  You will be able to order photographs and a book soon.  Watch this space!  Thanks also to those who purchased photographs,  you made me feel great!

Until next time, your roving Cassowary Coastal photographer and blogger.

June

For my Mother

orangeleaves

I have to thank my Mum for believing and supporting me for tomorrow’s exhibition.  The above photo is NOT in the exhibition, but I am putting it here just for my Mum.

Today I had a very long day hanging the exhibition but the mekeo yellow was vibrant and strong, as well as lots of orange, maybe the spirit of ABC Open (logo orange).   Both these colours on the wall made me feel joy even when the going got tough and we had challenges to overcome.

Sally who helped me hang the exhibition, was valiant and brave and solved any of our day’s challenges pretty well.  By the end of it we were all tired, but it was on the wall and it looks like an exhibition.  Sarah did an awesome job with the labelling!  Was lovely to arrive and see my pile of labels all ready to go.

Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.  A few people stopped to look at it whilst we were hanging, some friends doing a workshop with ABC Open even gave encouraging hugs for tomorrow or a smile – which was all appreciated.

My daughter, who’d come with me, and I ended the day eating berry cheese cake and singing at the tops of our voices in the car on the way home.

When I arrived home I found a comfy old chair in the garden and watched the birds flying overhead.

I was treated to a large bird flying really low,  not sure what it was but it looked impressive.  I was too exhausted for a camera trip and it went away so fast, instead I captured the moment in memory, and then promptly dozed off on the comfy chair.

My hubby brang me a hot cuppa and we had a short yarn until the mosquitoes chased us inside.  What a day! Tomorrow, Smile Within Opens- and the butterflies are strong, but a little bit of that Mekeo Dance is in my photos even if I am terrible at dancing.

Thanks Mum and also of course my friend Pam, and Helen and Bill at Ezy photos, who have been so good to me these last couple of weeks.   I have to let them know that people noticed something about the paper on the walls and wanted to know what kind of paper I printed on.  On ya Bill.  Anyway now I need to snooze before tomorrow!  Time to have just a little bit more cocoon time.

(c) June Perkins all rights reserved.

Final Selections, March Flies and Anchors

the journey
June Perkins – The Journey

Preparing for an exhibition is like preparing for a birth – only you know the exact date (not a rough estimate give or take a few) and you have to meet it. Everyone is there to watch, not just your partner or other nominated birthing coach.  The contractions of an exhibition are strong – time to select, print, mount, and add the text near the photos.  Deep breath, continue, another deep breath. Time to publicise, invite, cater — yikers get a move on girl!

Will people get that this exhibition is sharing a part of my family? Part of my community?  Our journey in the last year? If only I had more time to prepare.  How many about-to-be parents do you think have said those same words?

Preparing this exhibition has been a journey, enjoyable but just a bit nerve wracking as it comes to fruition.  I can’t say pregnancy was that easy though – especially the first child.

Labour in all my cases at the end part was fairly fast though – lucky we got to the hospital on time and stayed there awhile to wait even when they told us to go home.  Otherwise I’d have some baby born on a road by a canefield stories to tell.

During my pregnancy I remember almost permanently basing myself in a cold shower all that time ago – and wishing we had an air conditioner.  We were in Townsville at the time and it was so hot, and no rain! We were poor uni students living from hand to mouth. I wrote a few poems, might try dig them up and share them ‘Tropical Mum.’

Today we live in the wet tropics, and although it can be mighty humid, we are blessed with rain – like today – just enough rain to cool it off and not a big wet, just perfect wet.

Today we had surprise drop in visitors, keenly into photography and bookmaking, and headed off to the Murray Falls, and I took along my dearly beloved camera.

It was inspiring being with people who love photography as much as I do, and who take things slow so as to observe what is around them.  For once I was not the one at the back always stopping whilst my family call out, Where are you Mum?

It was amusing to watch the kids catching food for our pet bird – grasshoppers and march flies.  We all mused whether blue on tablecloths and hats really attracts March flies and how if you kill one March fly all its friends come around to attack you.  What wisdoms do you know about March flies?

bushgirls
Bushgirls just wanna catch bugs – June Perkins

The girls were full of zest in their quest for bugs for food for others.   Future naturalists or zookeepers?  I wonder which?

After we said farwell to our visitors at the Falls we went to take a photograph of an anchor.

The inspiring story of the anchor will be included in the exhibition.  I took several photographs of Christine, the owner and a few of my family interacting with it, and she took one of us.  I clicked this one of my son sitting on the anchor at the end.

Whenever we are busy it is a time to remind ourselves of the true anchors in our lives. What anchors us to joy or does joy anchor us?

anchorchristines
Anchored, by June Perkins

(c) June Perkins, all rights reserved.