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Uncanny Aussie Houses
Wombat World All wombats are solitary animals and generally nocturnal. They spend most of the day sleeping alone in a burrow only coming out at night to eat grasses, plant roots and moss. Their strong teeth never stop growing and don't have roots. Even an old wombat has teeth that are strong enough to grind food. In times of drought wombats can go without food and water for a long time. They stay in the cool moist air of their burrows during the heat of the day, conserving energy. The Northern Hairy-nosed wombat grows to about 13˝ inches (34cm) tall and 39 inches (99cm) long and weighs about 77 pounds (35kg). It's soft silky fur is mostly brown with black patches around the eyes. It has short powerful legs with strong claws. The front paws are used for digging, while the rear paws push the dirt out of the burrow. Wombat noses are turned over to stop dust getting into them. They each have a short tail hidden by fur, and their heads are broad and flat with short ears. Wombats are marsupial mammals. The female gives birth to one baby at a time. The blind hairless baby climbs through the mother's fur into her pouch and clamps it's mouth onto one of two teats which supply milk. The wombat's pouch like that of the koala is rear opening. The young wombat stays inside the pouch for the first six months, only poking out its head to nibble grass. Wombats look clumsy with their lumbering walk but can reach speeds up to 25 miles an hour (40km) for short distances. Duck Bill Platypus Burrow 'Far from the trouble
and toil of town,
Platypus
Burrows
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Getting Your House in Order "I am getting my house in order: as without, so within.
House in dream intrepretation is the icon of self. 'House', says Emily
Dickinson, 'that uncanny container.' Some creatures - turtle, snail, pilgrim,
refugee - carry their house upon their backs. My 'house' is this archive,
honey hive, of papers carried around with me from place to place through
half a century. Now it is time to collect the honey from the hive..." Healthy Holiday House Ordering By early December I invariably begin to make lists of the things that I am going to do during the long summer holidays. I mentally plan that this will be the year that I will actually get my house in order. It goes without saying that the best laid plans go astray. Healthy House Ordering Exerises that provide self-insight 1. The house often is a symbol of the self, one's own personality. In this exercise you explore a house in your imagination You are walking down a road.... As you are walking, you see a house. Look at it. Notice its details.... Walk towards it. What do you notice about it?.... You start to walk around the house, looking at it as you walk.... Now you are halfway around. Notice the details of the house as you continue to walk around it.... Now you come back to where you were when you started.... As you walked around the house, you noticed a way to get in. Now go into the house.... What do you see?.... Explore the house, what's inside?.... As you were exploring, you noticed a secret door leading to a secret room. Go inside that room. What do you see?.... Now leave the secret room and go back into the main part of the house.... Now leave the house. As you are walking away from it, you look back at it one more time.... You are back on the road once again, walking. from John Suler When you have finished this exercise consider what the house has to say about your personality. 2. Draw a plan of a house you have lived in or the house you currently live in. Extend your sketch to include all of the property. Include the outdoor loo down in the back yard, the cubby in the tree, the garage, the vegie patch. When you have finished walk through the front door mindfully and write about your place. To see how an author has written about their place read My Place by Nadia Wheatley. 3. Create a sanctuary for yourself in a visual journal and take the time to get your house in order. Here is a template to get your started. Health Occupation Unlimited Prosperity Spiritual Expectations 4. "Create the house of yourself. Picture it through words or images as if seeing it for the first time from the outside. Look in the windows to the see the various rooms. Look through the windows to see what rooms make up that house, and what they contain. See the many things that make up those rooms. Then watch to observe what do you do in those rooms, and who else is there. How do the inhabitants effect those rooms, that are in them? What is hidden away from sight? Investigate all your rooms with honesty. When your narrative or image has been finished, reflect upon that vision. Maybe there is something to learn, or a change you can make. For those of the northern hemisphere,the winter solstice of this time of year has been a traditionally joyous time of rebirth of the new solar year, calling forth the anticipation of new life in the coming months, as the seeds lie waiting in the cold earth preparing to stir and be born upon warmer days. Participate in this rebirth by looking upon the vision you have just created, and seeing what seeds you wish to nurture and grow in this new year within yourself. Perhaps building upon a dormant passion, or bringing out to the light something hidden away in a dark chest. Maybe you see a neglected room, or actions you would like to bring more meaning to. Maybe some things come to mind you now want to add to your vision you just created, things you didn't see before. For those of the Southern Hemisphere, Summer is a time
between the birthing of seeds, and the harvesting when they come to fruition.
What seeds have you left neglected? Which have you been adamant about?
Re-assess where you are, and embolden yourself to nurturing that growth
even in the lathargy of that summer heat, and begin preparing for the
harvest season." Associated Links
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