You say winter, I say Djilba

Home, home we come and we three become four again.

Back home we are.  Back to school, back to work, back to vacuuming the carpet and washing the dishes.  Back to the ho-hums... if you let them be.  Do we have to?  What if we don't let it?  What if we take time to feel the...

 


 AND have some...

 Odd street art found on High Street, Fremantle.  Nice. 



What if we keep our travelling hats on, both figuratively and literally?

See the hats?  See how I did that?  Yeah. Esplanade Park, Fremantle

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 So, we go for walks and buy ice-creams and take photos and enjoy the sun, the sea...

At the legendary South Beach, dog beach extraordinaire

 the sand...

Freo... Fremantle.  That's home. At Port Beach.

the flowers...

Almond tree, our backyard.

 and the bees.

And you may well be looking at all this abundant flourishing of blue sky, sunshine, blossom and pollen and thinking that the Fremantle winter is pretty splendid.  And it's surely splendid, but it's only winter for those who subscribe to the idea that we could impose our Euro seasons on a completely different climate.  The Aboriginal people who have populated this south-westerly corner of Australia for a likely 40,000 years+, that's the Noongar people, noted 6 distinct seasons according to temperature, rainfall, the whereabouts and behaviour of animals and changes to the local flora.  They named this time of year 'Djilba' - a gorgeous word to say, I think, as well as a gorgeous season.  It's marked by cold nights, warm days, frequent rain, fertility and lushness.

This season wheel can be found on a sign in Kings Park, Perth

Happy homecoming.  Happy Djilba, everyone.  May it be lush.

Coming soon, some time, Ayesha's report on segway riding through Rome. Stay tuned.