November is Knocking!!! (formerly October Osculation)

[Fifi]

Hi buddies, and welcome to November! (it will be here in Oz tomorrow, at least).

Nice to hear from you Lefty, and glad things seem to be going well for you.

Cody, if and when you get a chance to relax, I found a tree for you to sit under today. My favourite jacaranda in the Botanic Gardens is starting to flower...



If that doesn't work, you could always sit awhile by the lotus pond, which is growing its foliage back rapidly...a nice place to meditate...



I have had a very busy weekend. Portrait workshop at the camera club on Saturday morning was very interesting, and run by my favourite professor who is also running the Portfolio project (the thing I have been taking pics at The Block for). In the afternoon it was the final Family & Culture Day down at The Block, so my last chance to get some pics for the portfolio presentation in less than 3 weeks' time. Last month there was no event, and the month before I was sick, so it's been a while since I have had much luck down there. Yesterday turned out well - the weather was really nice, and there were some special people there who are part of the "Stolen Generations"...a rather dark episode in Australia's history where the government policy to remove aboriginal children from their families "for their own good" left some very traumatic scars on many many people.

Towards the end of the afternoon I had a thought that it would be great to get a group picture of as many people as possible in front of the wall that has the aboriginal flag painted on it. I approached the organiser and he managed to get most people to co-operate. Here is the result...



I think it will make a fitting closing image to my project - helping to highlight the positive changes going on there, and the community spirit and resilience of the people who live there.

Now I just have to put the finishing touches on the audio-visual. I will post it on YouTube when it's done, and comments from my buddies will be welcome!

Wishing you all a great month.

Fifi