Earth Day 2020, on 22nd May, was especially poignant this year. As we humans navigate a dramatically changed world, where so much that we thought was permanent has become very transient, what remains?

My first introduction to Nuytsia floribunda was not a formal one. “This is a Christmas tree, Wendy,” my kindergarten teacher informed me. But it didn’t look at all like the Christmas tree that we had just decorated at home. I wondered if she was mistaken but didn’t dare to argue. After all, she was a teacher. She must know.

This week I am thinking about the anniversary to be celebrated – on 4th March in 1998, I climbed Mt Aspiring in New Zealand with my beloved husband, Rob. It was a huge gift for both of us.

A few months ago, I watched a tv show about German Jews leaving Israel and returning to Berlin. To live. Most were 3rd generation Israeli citizens. It was a most uplifting story.

On my walk this morning (much enjoyed after 10 days of illness and unable to enjoy walking), I spied a tiny daisy flower growing in an equally tiny crack in the tarred path. The golden of its exquisitely small petals was pale against the dark tar. And it flourished quite happily in its own little niche, each perfectly suited to the other.

Today I woke in pain. Nothing like the mornings after each of my knee replacements, nor the morning after my tonsils were removed, nor the morning after my appendix was taken out, nor the morning after my baby-making organs were surgically removed. But, where there was a little pain yesterday morning, after the complex tooth removal yesterday, this morning it was definitely sore!

When I was 16 years old, my first goal to change the world for the better wrote itself into my brain – to help open and respectful conversations about different belief systems. At that time our new school headmistress was leading us to have these conversations weekly. I enjoyed them and wanted to make them happen much more often. I thought that all I had to do to make our world kinder and fairer, especially about beliefs, was to change the way that others talked about it…

Looking back over the past 10 days since Donald Trump won the US elections, the topic has rarely been out of reach. As usual after such a significant event in our human story, many people are jumping in to analyse what happened and what it means for the future. I’ve been listening, and beneath the fuss and upset I have heard this…

After watching the movie “Still Alice”, a loving portrayal of Alice's journey through alzheimer’s, I wondered what is left when all we have is the immediate present and our innate response to it.

“Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance.“T.S. Eliot. For many years this quotation has sat in my mind, asking for my reflection yet never giving enlightenment.

In this video, Carl Sagan gives us a vision of Earth from space; how the tiny pixels of the image represent the sum total of all existence as we sentient beings know it.

Philip Hoare has some thoughts to share on our impact on this planet where we live...

Watching this video - "When I Die : Lessons from the Death Zone" - transported me back to my own experiences with death of my loved ones.

Today I read this article - "Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better."

One recent hot weekend in Perth, when the cool indoors called, I made my way through a pile of newspaper articles dating back to 1997. The first article was dated 20th December 1997 and called “Last Anzac fought for family values.” It told of the death of Ted Matthews a few weeks earlier. At 101 he was the last original Anzac. The journalist interviewed his daughter, Irene Phillips, about him.

“The Wolf that you give your attention to is the wolf that will lead you to your destiny.”

Last Friday I delivered the last of three sessions for this course at the University of Western Australia Extension.

I welcome you to these Messages from Mother Earth, from precious times on and near the ocean…