Hakea Laurina, one of many Hakeas. A prolific flowering tree, and a beauty to behold, one the glories of the Australian bush.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Small Is Beautiful
(Photo: © Hayden Cannon)
Coccinellidae, or the humble Lady Bug as most of us would say. Definitely not micro, but definitely small. One of nature’s equalizers, it feeds on aphids, and therefore helps the market gardener, the floriculture industry, and the home gardener. Small but critical to the balance of nature.
Humans are not micro either, but we are the species that has an impact on the environment beyond our size. The creatures bigger than us have less impact on the environment. We are not particularly good at keeping a balance in nature, in fact, since the eighteenth century, humanity has pushed nature hard. I’m quite certain that if the Northern White Rhino had been crucial to agriculture or market gardening, or if the rhino could produce honey, or tea tree oil, it would still be with us. But, if we can’t save the rhino, what can we save? Or, more pointedly, what are we willing to save?
The way I see it, our carbon foot-print has to become micro in order to create a balance in nature that will enable all life forms to co-exist naturally. It’s not all doom and gloom though. There is some excellent work being done in alternative agricultural and horticultural practices, and in manufacturing too. The use of technology to resize and reorder how industry and commerce work (drones, micro-computers), where machinery cannot be decreased in size, it is streamlined and made more efficient. The attention to urban planning and using density as an option is (though hotly disputed by some academics) working well in cities like Melbourne (and, as yet, on a small scale). It seems we are coming to grips in some areas with the largess of our
The Lady Bug doesn’t just live for itself, it lives in a critical relationship with its predators and with its food sources as a predator. The Lady Bug is a great natural example (among many) for us, to live in a balanced, reciprocal, relationships. That sort of harmony is sacrificial, and if we want to live well, and if we want nature to survive, then we need to adopt the give and take of the Lady Bug, and the principle of sacrifice.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under environment, farming, life, mindfulness, nature, Uncategorized
Nominated for: Mystery Blogger Award
A shout out to David Fisher at Removing The Veil for the nomination.
Mystery Blogger Award” is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging; and they do it with so much love and passion.
The Rules:
1 Put the logo/image on your blog.
2. List the rules.
3. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
4. Tell your readers three things about yourself.
5. Answer the questions you were asked.
6. Nominate 10 – 20 people, and notify.
7. Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
Three Things About Me:
1. I love the bush and would prefer to be out in the wild.
2. I enjoy gardening.
3. I get great pleasure from my craft in model trains.
The Questions Asked Of Me:
- What is your real name? Paul Vincent Cannon. My mother, being religious, want Paul as of St. Paul, and being a keen painter, she wanted Vincent, as in Van Gogh.
- What are your passions? Where do I start? Bush walking, painting, writing, reading, model railways, gardening, hiking, camping, kayaking, good wine …
- What is your relationship with God? I am a spiritual person, my relationship with God is through the contemplative modes, and I am persuaded that the apophatic way is my way, that is, God cannot be adequately understood or described, but it is a relational experience.
- What is preventing that relationship from growing? In one sense, nothing, in another sense, it is time priorities.
- Who and what inspires you? How many pages have I got? The list of those who don’t inspire would be shorter. Jesus, Ghandi, Tutu, Mandela, Malala, Aung San Suu Kyi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maximilian Kolbe, Schindler, Martin Luther King Jnr., the Chinese student who stood down that tank in 89, Buddha, Rumi ….
I Nominate the Following:
Questions for those I nominated:
- What was your most recent read?
- Who inspires you?
- What/who encouraged you to start blogging?
- What matters to you?
- If you had a day off with no ready made plans, what would you do?
Again, thank you david 🙂
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under Uncategorized
Pay It Forward Thursday- March 22, 2018
A generous gift
Welcome to Pay It Forward Thursday. All Go Dog Go readers, guest writers, and baristas are invited to post one link to one specific post (750 words or less please!) from someone else’s blog in the comments section below. We encourage you to give a shout-out to someone who has wowed you as a reader, creatively inspired you, and/or to introduce a new writer to a wider audience. We will be choosing a Weekly Barista Favorite and inviting the author to have their piece published in full on the Go Dog Go Cafe with a link back to their personal blog.
If you post a link below, be sure to read some of the other great writing people have linked to.
Filed under Uncategorized
Patience
Emerson was a passionate critic of rationalism (more so after visiting Thomas Carlyle) and materialism. He eschewed the notion of progress, and sought a slower pace. I love this quote, comparatively, nature does have a slower pace. Nature doesn’t subscribe to Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time for its completion.” Something we humans have artfully perfected. Within its own domain or context nature is probably zooming along, but compared to human endeavours, it is slow. Not all, but many species of tree take decades to reach maturity, some smaller plants, the humble asparagus are slow growing. The response of flora and fauna to the force of nature, its rhythms, its normal abnormalities like storms, fires, are at times, positively stoic. In Australia the ubiquitous eucalypts are survivors. In recent bush fires near us that generated a ferocious core heat, the trees were seemingly destroyed, but within a month, the appearance of green shoots told a different story, the trees had survived and were slowly coming back.
I wonder that we need to change tracks, collectively, across societies. There are many, many people who are engaging mindfully, many who have taken a contemplative stance in the world as a counter cultural praxis, but not yet enough to create a tipping point, a force for change. I believe we are getting to that point but we’re not quite there yet. The main step would be for us to disengage with Parkinson’s Law, to take a step back and ask ourselves, what would be the real cost of investing in mindfully approaching life, what would it cost me to self-care more, to rest more, to resist the desire to compete often, to take time for relationships, to be less driven… ?
It wouldn’t cost, well it would as it might mean simplifying our lives, reducing income to achieve changes, but really such costs would be an investment in our wellbeing and creativity. We humans desire approval, acceptance, validation, and more, we compete to get these things. But in the end what we are driven to achieve is not always positive or good for us. We need more being and less doing. And as Emerson wisely suggests, if we adopt the pace of nature, we are adopting a patient ferment.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under Uncategorized
From Carol Hand
Carol makes a a wonderful point in discussing the “… odd synchronicity of disparate experiences …”
https://cacrolahand.wordpress.com/2018/03/07/connections-an-synchronicity/
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under Uncategorized
Liebster Award Nomination
My thanks and appreciation for this nomination go to Isha Marg of ishaisms.wordpress.com and the wonderful blogger Isha. Nominations by peers are a wonderful encouragement in the craft of blogging, and so I am thrilled to be nominated. If you haven’t been to Isha’s blog, then please make your way there, and enjoy.
The Liebster Award recognises and celebrates bloggers, their content, skill, and contribution to the blogging community. The rules for accepting a nomination are:
Acknowledge the blogger who nominated your blog.
Answer the questions.
Nominate 11 bloggers to encourage them.
Ask them 11 questions.
Let them know you have nominated them.
Answer the Questions:
- When did you embark on the journey of writing? That’s a good question. In high school I dabbled in sort story and poetry, then, after a gap I returned to poetry, and with my work I started to write reflectively. But I started writing in earnest in 2014 when I signed up to WordPress intentionally to write.
2. If you could live in and write about any era or planet, which would it be? I would write about living in a future era (sometimes I want to write about a steampunk 19th C. experience), and Mars would be my choice at this point. I’m very influenced by the advent of Mars One as a reality.
3. What inspires your art? People, narrative or telling stories, the Nazarene, Buddha, Rumi, science, social justice, mindfulness, creative expression, poetic imagination, the idea of community …
4. If you could be immortalised as a painting or poetry, what would you choose and why? I paint abstract and I would want to be painted in that way, a blaze of colour to show my energy and passion.
5. Is there a movie you could watch over and over again? If so, which? So many: Iris (the story of Iris Murdoch), Samsara (the story of a conflicted Tibetan monk), Chocolat (the story of transformation and letting go), Babette’s Feast (gratitude and humility) ….
6. If you could meet any author or artist, who would it be? Author would be Tolkein, artist would be Dali.
7. Have you ever been through the ‘writer’s block?’ If so, how did yo come out of it? Not yet.
8. Which one book would you recommend everybody to read? Lord of the Rings.
9. If you could go anywhere and do anything, where would you go and why? Into the immediate future and create communities of creative and compassionate people, I’d want to address the environmental and health issues as well as conflict issues and seek a better future for all beyond politics, religion and any other fundamentalism. I want to build a more mindful future.
10. Who is your favourite poet/poetess? Mary Oliver and Judith Wright, Charles Bukowski and Bob Dylan. R.S. Thomas. More a question of who I’d leave out.
11. How has the blogging experience been for you so far? It has been wonderful, I really enjoy the writing community and so many creative opportunities, the feedback is useful and supportive, and, well, its great to be with others.
Thanks Isha a wonderful set of stimulating questions.
My 11 Nominations are:
ankitthapa691258910.wordpress.com
timelessclassics.wordpress.com
daretodreambypayalchainani.wordpress.com
My Questions to the Nominees are:
1. Name your best travel destination.
2. What is the most extreme thing you have ever done?
3. What is the most extreme thing you would like to do? Why?
4. Who has been the most unusual person you’ve encountered?
5. What is you favourite poem/poet?
6. What is your favourite novel?
7. Which piece of music is most moving for you?
8. If you could be famous, what would you want to be famous for?
9. Name you favourite movie.
10. What inspired you to start writing?
11. where would you like to be in ten years?
The link for the Official rules for the Liebster Award can be found by following the link below:
https://theglobalaussie.com/liebster-award-2018/
Filed under Uncategorized
Profusion of Endings
Poor Mother My Earth I strain to rise, but I cannot move, I'm leaden. The pressure on my throat is growing, I can hardly breathe. I'm slowly choking, consumed by a profusion of gases. I'm diminished by seas, not of water, not now, instead, a dryness stretching out across my surface. Forests, once verdant, my crowning glory, gone. Icecaps spent. Diversity lost. I was an object to be plundered, no seduction there. They lusted after me till I was spent, too late was I loved, truly loved, as me. Come rescue me my lovers, that you and I may be. ©Paul
pvcann.com
Filed under community, life, nature, poetry, Uncategorized
Forlorn
Such a lovely place the marina, all the sounds and smells of the sea, the tavern on the deck, a beautiful lunch, great company. As I look out I see a few boats moving, but only three boats went out, another four different ones came back in during lunch.Sad, all that technology, all that cost, all that stuff, just sitting there, aging, useless, forlorn, waiting to make a break for the ocean. But no, they have been left alone to sit, rocking at their moorings yet again, to dream of the wide open sea. Ah, perhaps next week if the weather’s good. For now, just forlorn, alone, waiting, yearning, to be.
Paul,
pvcann.com
Filed under boats, life, Uncategorized
Tanka
Eternal lover
Who fills my senses with life,
Like rain on dry earth.
How I desire your moisture,
That I may drink of your love.
Paul.
Filed under Uncategorized
