I wish you a Merry Christmas...whoever or wherever you are....

Christmas here in Australia (OZ) is nothing like Christmas in Sweden, 

where I originally come from.

I guess one could say it is almost the opposite, well, weather wise at least.

I am perched on the edge of my seat as I am writing this, 

because you see, Christmases here means thunderstorms, 

incredible electric-storms, as in lightning-shows that makes one 

wanna join the cat and go and hide under the bed, and rain that whips the

windows and everything else as if we were living in the days

of Noah.

The heat is stifling, draining, and we are told at a 100% humidity,

which begs the question: Are we actually under water???

I mean, a 100%?  Does that not mean water?

Funny, water is. In Stockholm the water becomes snow, as in a solid, 

but here, it becomes a mist, a liquid, and at times..... 

a ''wall'' of water that will find a way into your abode.

Snow, .....white, solid, glistening, quietly staying on top of whatever it 

falls on, .... tropical thunderstorms, cyclones, and hurricanes,.... 

not so much, they tend to re-arrange everything in its way.

You know the song ''White Christmas''? 

It starts: ''I'm dreaming of a White Christmas..'', well, right now, 

with beads of sweat trickling down my neck, 

I could do with a bit of that.

Although I have lived here in OZ far longer than I lived in Sweden,  

I still find it hard to get into the Christmas spirit while 

the thermometer sits on 36 degrees cel. 

and Mother Nature reminds me of 

who really is the boss of me.

Alas, even so, I will celebrate Christmas with my family. We will have the

aircon on full bore, eat Christmas food, 

exchange presents, and have tinkling lights

in our man-made Christmas tree.

We will light candles, and remember our family members 

still over there, and hope that they will have a lovely 

white Christmas, good food, and a

great time together.

I know, that for some of us Christmas can be a very difficult time,

and this for a myriad of reasons, but .... 

putting on my rose-coloured glasses,

I believe that it can also be a time for reconciliation, forgiveness,

healing, hope, making new friends, getting in touch with

old friends, getting in touch with people we have lost 

contact with,  and putting love first.

For me, Christmas is foremost about love and kindness, 

about sharing quality time together with others,

 whether they be people we have known for a

lifetime or met just a few minutes ago.

And this we can do, whether we are sweltering away in a heatwave

or shivering in a snow blizzard, 

in the middle of the desert or in the middle of an ocean,

in our own homes or in someone else's,

together with old friends,

 or with strangers yet to become friends.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Bonzai New Year, dear reader,

and thanks for reading my blog.

Citizen Z

ps: Bonza, is a play on words, it's an Australian word for Excellent.

The mystery of Crows

I opened the front door, and there it was....again. I was bewildered.

We locked eyes. It tilted its head back and forth a few times,

but it did not move. There was something about the bird, this big, very

black bird that had me quite intrigued.

 In a number of different cultures, crows are often associated with mysticism,

wisdom, and as messengers from the ''spirit world'', etc.etc. 

As this particular crow seemingly out of nowhere just showed up one day,

and then kept showing up, I began to wonder if there was something

more to it than just happenstance.

Since crows are often associated with death and dying, I started to

entertain the notion (yes, I know, silly perhaps) that the bird had

something to do with the death of my best friend, whom we 

had buried just a week before the crow's first appearance.

I decided to embrace the mystery, started to call the bird Tommie 

(after my friend) and then began talking to it.

(Not that it ever answered, but there was something

weirdly comforting in having the bird around to talk to.)

You see, the grief I experienced at the loss of my friend 

had somehow made me unable to vocalize my feelings to anyone, 

so whenever I could, I sought solitude.

I listened to music, watched movies, read books, swam laps,

and spent a lot of time at the waters edge. 

Deep down I knew that talking to someone about my feelings

would probably be a very helpful thing to do, but I

had a three letter word sticking in my craw preventing me

from doing so: WHY?

Until, something very strange happened after I had asked

 Tommie the crow: WHY?

I had a dream, so vivid it felt real.

In the dream, Tommie (my friend, not the crow)appeared before

me, looking so real that I reached out to touch him.

But before I could do so, he held up his hands and said:''stop''.

''Listen to me, you don't need to touch me to know that I am

still around. Every time you think of me, I am with you, the

only difference now is that I am with you in your memories

and every time you think of me, rather than physically.''

I have no recollection of what happened next, I guess I woke up?

All I know is this: After I had that dream, my feelings of grief

were replaced by a lightness of heart and a wonderful sense

of peace.

And Tommie the crow?

I never saw him again.

But, interestingly, I was asked by some of my neighbors what happened to

 the big black crow that used to stand at my front gate in the mornings.

When the whales stop singing, we are in trouble........

The other day some folks found over a dozen dead whales on one our 

golden beaches. They tried to save them, but it was too late.

These beautiful, gentle giants of the ocean, musicians extraordinaire, 

seemingly had become unfortunate victims of this planets greatest and 

most effective ''beast'/predator'' of all: mankind.

Supposedly us human beings are gifted with the ability to reason, and that

ability is supposed to separate us from the ''beasts''.

If being able to reason is a gift, I don't think we are terribly good

stewards of it. What I mean is, we often

 use ''reason'' to explain why A is better/truer and more logical than B,

as in ''I am right you are wrong'', and so convinced,

with self-righteous conviction and determination off we go to ''battle''.

As we are supposedly superior to other living creatures due to 

our ability to reason, what we need, want and desire, 

is obviously what matters the most....(sarcasm).

I don't know about you, but I am worried about what we, mankind, is

doing to this planet and to all living things we share it with.

We may view ourselves as superior, after all, mankind has produced

incredible feats of many a kind; in the sciences, medicine, art,

 literature, architecture,  etc.etc. but perhaps

 it may be wise for us to remember that our progress 

has not been achieved without costs.

(Well, you know what I mean I am sure, so I wont go any deeper into what

the costs may be.)

What kind of planet will we have if we exhaust every

ocean of all its inhabitants,

if we lay bare all the lands of its trees,

if we pollute and poison all our feathered and winged creatures of the air,

if we abuse our good earth until it can no longer yield a crop?

In our pursuit of more.....more, more of everything,

will we in fact end up with nothing?

But, so far,

The whales are still singing, the birds still tweeting,

the insects still humming, the fish still jumping,

the lions still roaring, the horses still neighing,

the brooks still bubbling, the wheat still growing.

If reason is a gift, perhaps it is time for us to put it to good use

and figure out how we can sustain all forms of life, rather than

insisting on being ''right''. 

(Most of us have a need to be ''right'' more than anything

else, well, so says the smart ones.)

(I had a thought the other day; while human beings were busy with

dropping bombs and other nasty, destructive things on each

other(two world wars), were the whales still singing?)

Give peace a chance......

Before I started to paint, I used to do a lot of photography.

I would head off in the morning with my camera (not phone),

a few rolls of film, and eyes wide open. 

I wasn't interested in ''snap shots'', what I was looking for was

the peculiar, the strange, the un-expected, the mysterious, the split

second occurrence, the odd, the beautiful, and the outward

expressions of peoples behaviours and expressions while going 

about their lives. 

Once a week I would hand in my rolls of film to be developed,

have a coffee somewhere nearby while I was waiting, and then

with barely contained excitement I would pick up my ''loot''.

-Have you ever used Photoshop? the assistant asked.

-No, what is that? I asked.

-It's a photo editing program. Once you get a hang of how to use it,

it's a fantastic program, and a lot of fun to use. You should give it

a try, I think you will enjoy it.''

Long story short, once I procured my own copy of Photoshop,

I spent all my free time learning how to use it. The shop assistant

was right, I loved it. Not so much because it could be used to enhance

images and fix lighting issues etc., I loved it because using it I was able

to create totally new images out of ''old'' ones. 

The above image is such an image. Originally the photo depicted a renaissance

 influenced bronze sculpture of a woman, which in itself was nothing special,

what caught my attention however, was the look in her eyes.

So I cropped the image and focused on the face, ran it through 

a bunch of different filters, and while doing so, the word ''peace'' 

popped into my mind.

Peace, a small word, but a ''big'' concept.

It can mean so many different things: freedom from disturbances, stillness, 

calmness, harmony, quietude, etc.etc.

Peace can also be: a state or period in which there is no war, skirmishes, conflicts, 

discord, fighting, hostilities, etc.etc.

On a personal level, what does peace mean to us?

We do use terms such as peace of mind, peace loving, making peace, inner peace, 

at peace, etc.etc. in common parlance, but lately I have been wondering if peace, 

as far as humans are concerned, can ever become a permanent 

rather than a temporary state of mind.

If peace is the absence of conflict, discord and or contention, are we capable

of pursuing it first and foremost?

Perpetual  and

               Energetic  dedication to

   Acceptance  and

Charity   often

Evolves    into

Peace of Mind

Peace of Heart

                      Peace toward self and others

To quote two musicians: ''Give Peace a chance'' (John Lennon)

''When the power of love overcomes the love of power

 the world will know peace.'' (Jimi Hendrix)