Piece Of My Heart

Poster by Michael DuBois

I'm pleased to relay news of two celebrations on Monday 12, 2012:

(Details may be found at: Owsley Stanley Foundation events)

• Piece of My Heart – the Owsley Stanley Party in Woodstock, New York
• Owsley Stanley Remembrance and CD Release Party in Mill Valley, California

All friends, family and followers of the late great Owsley Stanley are invited to celebrate his remarkable life, and to be among the first to hear Columbia/Legacy Recordings release, the first of “Bear's Sonic Journals”: Big Brother & the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968. Recorded & Produced by Owsley Stanley (“Bear”).

We can get across the creek but we won't make it to either party in the USA. If you can make it, enjoy yourselves! We'll be there in spirit and shall remember old times.

Tis the season for speargrass here in Far North Queensland. It grows taller than my head. Thankfully, there are no lions lurking there, but when I walk through this tall grass, some ancestral worry does get activated. I'm waiting for the winds that blow down the grass.

Despite Australia's lack of large felines, our region does have so-called native cats, more properly named quolls. The local variety grows as big as a small house cat. Quolls are fierce. One raided the neighbour's chicken house. The quoll managed to pull one chicken's leg through the wire mesh cage and was determined to pull the rest of the squawking chicken through as well. We don't raise chickens, so it's always a treat to spot a quoll.

J took the pump out of the creek as we expected the creek to rise. We don't want the pump to get washed away in flood waters. But the creek hasn't gotten very high at all, so far. We've had less than normal rainfall this season. Last year we had twice the normal rate by this time. We decided to put the pump back in the creek in order to replenish our water tank. Now, cross your fingers that we can get the pump out again if one of those “local moderate to heavy falls” happens to centre on our place.

“To seek joy in the saddest places.” ~ Arundhati Roy

post and photo editing by M in JaM

photos by J in JaM