Happy 10th birthday to Trevor’s Birding
Australian Pelicans, Mallacoota, Victoria
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to TREVOR’S BIRDING.
10 YEARS OLD TODAY
I started blogging about Australian Birds ten years ago today.
What an interesting journey. It has, in part, satisfied some of my writing dreams. Even though I have published over 4000 blog articles in that time, on this and other sites, it has still amazed me of the result. Over all of my sites I have had over a million pageviews, over 7000 comments, over half a million readers from over 200 countries and a steady, but modest, income stream.
Trevor’s Birding, a companion site to this one, features photos and articles about Australian birds. Over the years I have travelled to many places here in Australia to capture photos of our wonderful and colourful birds. I have also taken photos and written about some birds I have observed in other countries, like Thailand, Nepal, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Spain. This site actually started on another platform and has had several upgrades over the years. I am hoping for some exciting new developments in the coming months, so stay tuned.
Trevor’s Travels, another companion site I write, and this one features articles about and photos of places I visit. These articles cover several states of Australia as well as Thailand, Nepal, Ethiopia, Morocco and Spain. I have many more photos yet to share on that site too. This site celebrates its 10th birthday late this year.
Of course, the site you are reading at present, Trevor’s Writing, has its 10th birthday in March next year. Many more articles to come and some interesting developments in the coming months.
And did I mention I also maintain and do some of the writing for our church website here?
This all keeps me busy writing.
You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
I hope you like the bird photos featured today.
Happy writing
Trevor
Further reading
- Trevor’s Birding – where I write about Australian Birds
- Trevor’s Travels – articles about and photos of my travels in Australia, Thailand, Nepal, Ethiopia, Morocco, Spain.
Flame Robin, Mt Macedon, Victoria
Rainbow Lorikeets, Taronga Zoo, Sydney
Writing prompt: barking up the wrong tree
Peeling bark on a eucalypt tree
I enjoy the challenge of getting a good photo of many things in nature. One of my minor interests is photos of trees, especially the trunks of trees and in particular those with interesting or arresting colours or patterns made by the bark.
The above eucalypt tree caught my eye while birding in a park near my home some time ago. The colours stunning the bark are quite special. When combined with the light and shadows cast by the sun, this is quite a noteworthy picture in my opinion.
While looking at it the idiom “barking up the wrong tree” came to mind. (For a definition of an idiom click here.) It’s an expression we use, especially here in South Australia, to indicate that we – or another person – is wrong, or misguided in some way. For example, if I was adamant that we had been to a certain restaurant on a certain date, and keep on insisting that this was correct only to find out I was wrong when later my wife produced proof that we were actually interstate on that day, I could be said to have been “barking up the wrong tree.” Plainly, I was wrong.
Writing prompts:
- Write a story about a time when you were completely wrong.
- Use the expression “barking up the wrong tree” in a short story.
- Have a character in your story use this expression – but incorrectly.
- Write a descriptive piece about how a dog chased a cat up a tree – but kept on barking at the wrong tree.
- Write an imaginative piece explaining how you think this expression was first used.
- Write a poem which is an ode to trees.
Good writing.
Writing prompt – colourful vegetables
Vegetables on sale at a farmers’ market in Morocco
A few years ago my wife, daughter and I travelled through magical Morocco for two wonderful weeks. One of the places we visited was the village of Sefrou which is about 30km from the city of Fes. It was one highlight in 14 days filled with many highlights. You can read more about my journeys on another site I write for: Trevor’s Travels (click here).
On our visit to Sefrou we wandered through the local farmers’ markets, featured in today’s photo above. Farmers from the surrounding districts had brought in their produce for sale, set up on stalls in the streets, squares and lanes of the town. The locals crowded into the cramped spaces buying up delicious looking vegetables and fruits. We bought some yummy bananas and mandarins as a treat. Other fruits included oranges, apples, dates and many more. The vegetable range was even more diverse, with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, silver beet, cauliflower, capsicum, beans, cucumber and much more.
The displays, like that shown in today’s photo above, were colourful and inviting.
Writing prompts:
Here are some ideas for writing. Use these prompts as an exercise in warming up your writing at the start of the day, or perhaps even as the start of a short story or poem.
- Describe the scene shown in the photo above.
- Imagine being one of the vendors shown in the photo. Describe what you are feeling.
- Write a short story from the point of view of a young child lost in the marketplace.
- Tell the story of the journey from the farm to the home of the buyer. Try it from the point of view of the farmer – or perhaps even a vegetable.
- Write a poem describing the sounds, colours and smells of the market.
- Write about how you would feel if you had no money and was starving and you saw the above scene.
Good writing.
Happy birthday to me
Flower in our garden
To all my regular readers I’m sorry there has been quite a delay since my last post here. I’ve been busy finishing off the academic year and getting snowed under a little with all the end of semester marking. Nearly there.
I ignored the assignments waiting for my attention today because it’s my birthday.
I had a relaxing day, didn’t pressure myself in any way, enjoyed the lovely spring sunshine and gentle breeze. The highlight of the day was chatting via Skype with my grandchildren in Sydney. Precious times. Nearly went out birding, but didn’t in the end. I did manage to get a few nice shots of some of the flowers in our garden. I find our native plants and flowers very inspirational for writing, especially poetry.
Flower in our garden
Wonderful words and beautiful photographs
Rose flower in my son’s garden
From time to time I’ve shared some of my photographs here on this site, often illustrating one of my poems.
Today I hope that your attention is grabbed by these lovely flowers photographed in my son’s garden in Sydney.
I don’t want to feature one of my poems; instead, I would like to draw your attention to a beautiful poetry site called Conversations with Nature.
One section features wonderful poetry illustrated by beautiful photographs. Click here to enjoy.
Rose flower in my son’s garden