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Category: instrumental music

October 30 2023: Darling Range flora, “up close” (#14 in series, with musical bonus & Australian tour alert)

 

 

 

One of the nigh-infinite pleasures of walking in southwestern Australian forest/woodland/bush:

once “attuned”, you begin to notice that the “forest floor” – when viewed at or near ground level, up close – often looks like a multi-layered, uncommonly-colourful “forest”, in its own right.

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“Gunslinging” flora inspire a musical “interval”

This little interruption to the current “Darling Range flora” series comes to you via the trigger plants having accidentally made me think fondly of the most celebrated theme ever written for a “Western”.

The relevant film was a so-called “spaghetti western”.

Almost certainly, you have heard its theme, but you have probably not heard what John Zorn did to it in 1987.

To put it mildly, the highly creative Mr Zorn greatly admired Ennio Morricone’s “original”, but he was not the least intimidated by it!

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October 30 2023: Darling Range flora, “up close” (#5 in series) + musical bonus

 

 

 

The featured image’s flower heads and the musical bonus have no overt, particular connection.

Both, however, are uncommonly beautiful, exquisitely proportioned, and will reward your close attention.

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Word power: (un)common sense on cats as pets, in Australia (with cat-connected Namibian & Tunisian bonus content)

 

 

 

“Our” world is so oversaturated with sensationalism, misrepresentation, haranguing, intolerance, name-calling, “cancelling”, “virtue signalling” and the “100% this versus 100% that” school of argumentation.

It has become an increasingly rare pleasure to read a measured and sensible newspaper article, devoted to a highly contentious topic.

The relevant piece was published this week in the Australian edition of The Guardian.

Fully cognisant of cats’ devastating impact on Australian wildlife, it addresses this question:

can we have cats (as pets) in a sustainable and ethical way?

You may be surprised to know that the answer is yes, albeit yes, if…

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Quirky moments (#15 in series: mammalian avatar, with musical bonus)

 

If you are a Pelican Yoga regular, you have already seen Barbara Cartland’s and Barbie’s avian avatars. (in #10 of the “quirky moments” series)

This post’s “punkish” cub is a member of Africa’s most oft-misrepresented mammal species.

His kind are very much smarter and much more “social” than most humans realise.

Contrary to common human belief, spotted hyenas are primarily predators rather than scavengers.

Lions are much more likely to “steal” from hyenas than vice versa, and spotted hyenas are much the more efficient hunters.

Over the last several thousand years hyenas have had rotten “press”, but they are not rotters.

Nonetheless, the young hero of this post’s appearance and demeanour were decidedly “Rottenesque”.

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Quirky moments (#11 in series: white-throated kingfisher, with musical bonus)

 

 

 

Members of the kingfisher family are typically very confident; these predatory birds are not much preyed-upon.

Fish are not invariably their primary prey, and not all kingfishers live near rivers or lakes.

Pictured is the most ubiquitous of Asia’s kingfishers, Halcyon smyrnensis – the white-throated kingfisher.

By itself, this perky individual’s demeanour was almost enough to qualify it for inclusion in this series…

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Quirky moments (#8 in series: Madagascan lizard atop Madagascan “lizard”, with musical bonus)

 

Presumably, the living lizard had no sense of the pictured circumstance’s synchronicity, let alone any awareness that a human passer-by might find it quirky or amusing.

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