Happy Easter!

In Australia, I've noticed that during Ash Wednesday celebration Christians would start greeting each other a "Happy Easter!"  Simultaneously, shops and other similar establishments would post this greeting or would exaggeratedly showcase an array of Easter stuffs during the entire length of the Lent.

My icing injector broke when I was writing on my mocha cake- the reason why the letters don't look very good.

During the Holy Week, the long weekend or public holiday Down Under would start on Maundy Thursday and, interestingly, wouldn't simply end on Easter Sunday but until Monday which is called Easter Monday; and in Tasmania they are on a holiday until Easter Tuesday!  Australia is always very excited for Easter, the reason why as early as Holy Tuesday, my mocha cake is already Easter-inspired.

This long weekend is not for the people involved in the livestock industry, though.  We still need to attend to the needs of our animals every day.  But honeslty, I don't know if the entire long weekend of those who are on a holiday is sincerely spent with the essence of the season because I've observed that more people are visiting the coasts and campsites than the church, and it seems to me that local children would directly relate Easter Sunday with bunny and with the colourful eggs of different sizes than commemorating Christ's resurrection.

I can't help but compare how Australia and the Philippines celebrate the Lenten Season.  Being religious is, indeed, not a guarantee of being prosperous.  I am sorry.

The chocolates at Haigh's Chocolates, corner Rundle St. and King William Rd., Adelaide City, South Australia

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Glamour

"While I was driving back home from Foodland-Balaklava, I noticed the charm of the railway crossing at Bowmans... at dusk it was boasting of its silhouette against the elegance of the early evening sky!"

Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line, Bowmans, South Australia.

I survived.

We’ve been very busy in the farm for the past seven days... It’s harvest time and we’re short of one worker after a workmate didn’t turn up one day without notice and decided to forever ignore my calls.

It was not a joke to run this half a million-capacity broiler farm 24/7- physically and mentally with only three people especially during the final third of the cycle when there were five times  a week night catches, daily bird sample weighing, heavier dead bird to collect, with the main water pump motor playing up.  I simply don’t want to see these chickens to gradually die of thirst or heat stroke because of inadequate evaporative cooling during warmer days. 

It was a great relief to find a replacement for the worker we’ve lost, but it was equally frustrating that after working with us for a day and a half (a third to be exact) this 20-year old recently-employed worker decided to quit simply because he cannot handle the burden and the smell of daily mortality collection.

This photo was taken after the chicken harvest; 12 April 2011 at 11:56PM...

I had to work day and night especially if it’s my turn to act as a watchdog during harvest; forgetting about my day off until this 16-year old local joined us yesterday.  I can only wish (though I am, honestly, fervently praying) that this guy will work with us for the next twenty years (as what my employer would usually say); while hoping that at the soonest possible time the immigration department will finally grant the visa to our much-awaited Filipino worker.       

 

Thank God it’s Friday!  No harvest, no bird weighing, no grain stocktaking, no feed ordering, no phone calls from the integrator’s broiler serviceperson, no emails, no fax messages... just dead bird collection and minor repair, plus rodent baiting- which is very important these days to get rid of mice that love to nibble our chook feed at night—in my estimate, they are close to or even more than a million!

This afternoon I decided to do my supermarket shopping in the nearby town- Balaklava.  But I needed to do it quickly so I could get back to the farm before it gets dark and cool (especially during these days that the autumnal equinox has already taken place) to shut the blinds at the cooling end of the sheds.

 

...and while I was driving back home from Foodland-Balaklava, I noticed the charm of the railway crossing at Bowmans—it looks absolutely ordinary under the bright, blue sky, but earlier at dusk it was boasting of its silhouette against the elegance of the early evening sky!  

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iCon

It's the 'kangaroo and the emu', the 'green and gold', the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge... and they say 'fish and chips' is almost an Australian icon.  How about the koala and the eucalyptus tree?

Koala's paw on a eucalyptus bark.  Western Australia's Caversham Wildlife Park

I am reading the Australian Citizenship Handbook for the fourth time now in preparation for the exam, and the contents of the book reminded me of this photo.

...twenty-four days more to go before I can actually get the eligibility; I wish the universe will soon grant it to me.  This ambition is very costly, I have sacrificed a lot of things in my life, I hope it's worth it! 


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In and Out

The maximum temperature was 38'C during the first day of my visit to Western Australia last February but the heat didn't stop me from exploring the city of Perth.  I went to Subiaco, the Swan Bell Tower, and the shops at Hay and Murray streets; and in the afternoon, when the daytime temperature was at its peak, I felt a great relief inside The Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Western Australian Museum.  It was cool and quiet, and the displays were magnificent!  Cameras were not allowed in the gallery, though, so I decided to take a photo outside.

The colours, lines and shapes outside the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, WA.

Inside and outside, there's an art in The Art Gallery of W.A.!

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