there was a moment...

pic.twitter.com/D6FLwPEACA

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 30, 2023

precious thoughts for difficult times...

Precious thoughts for difficult times...

📸 Look at this post on Facebookhttps://t.co/UvgIMPEbYZ

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 27, 2023

moving the books...

Miracles need not be glamorous...
They may simply evolve on a humble street...

📸 Look at this post on Facebookhttps://t.co/nq4jQnODIr

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 26, 2023

a few thoughts for the weekend on heaven and hell...

A few thoughts for the weekend...
📸 Look at this post on Facebookhttps://t.co/U9kmdSBqin

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 25, 2023

synchronicity...

Recently, I've felt the universe smiling, sometimes pushing me along. Dreams of giving creative writing in the digital age a place in country-town Temora are coming alive. This morning, Linda's Bakery gave me a recyclable cup because I said I loved the beautiful artwork on it. pic.twitter.com/oZxACRHcdi

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 25, 2023

who taught you...

Who taught you just finding and knowing your real self is meant to be easy... https://t.co/qZBHoGJAXR

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 25, 2023

I was not in any of your songs...

'But I am still right here in my madness
And I'm not gonna let you love me while you're gone'...
The power and the passion of those words...stirring... https://t.co/SoQRIOeyl1

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 22, 2023

old memories...new memories...

You can't go back and change the memory, but you can start where you are and make new memories... https://t.co/DfDxykENb8

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 21, 2023

we live in a packaging, throwaway world...

We live in a packaging, throw away world...of both the inanimate and the animate...
📸 Look at this post on Facebookhttps://t.co/VxfMOz0LxN

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 20, 2023

South Korea's monochrome cafe...

How incredibly peaceful....soothing...
The only colour decor = what patrons bring...so ever-changing...
A lovely idea... https://t.co/xsjtpYMibq

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 20, 2023

Tootgarook art from yesterdays...

I have always been intrigued by unusual art.
When I lived on the Mornington Peninsula, I loved to visit this tiny gallery at Tootgarook. Always a range of challenging, intriguing art greeted me.
This particular artwork welcomed visitors in November, 2011. pic.twitter.com/VILstQiDmG

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 19, 2023

old mulberry tree's waterfall...

There is an old mulberry tree approximately150years old in the village of Dinosa in Montenegro. This tree has been gushing water since the 1990's

It sits on underground streams and its hollows act as a relief valve for the pressure that builds up after heavy rainfall… pic.twitter.com/1IFOztmXlF

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) November 18, 2023

a little wonder...

Cigam was only a tiny unicorn. Dick Whittington, a long time ago, had to leave this precious baby all alone in the countryside. Master Whittington made his first adult decision. The big city lights were no place for a little white unicorn. Unicorns cannot be leashed to stroll streets and slumber in garret rooms. And so Master Whittington took his cat to London for company. Cigam was all alone?

Suddenly, he was NOT alone. Dorothy had just arrived from the Land of Oz. She often liked to revisit that wonderland, but she had a little problem. Those fantastic red shoes were getting a little tight. When she clicked her heels, Dorothy often found that her feet were in great agony. The agony of blisters being scrunched together often brought tears to her eyes. All she could do was sit under a tree, crying in pain as she tried to ease those red shoes from her feet. However, she was not just suffering from blisters. She was suffering from the terrible disease of growing up.

Quietly, Cigam wandered over to this strange person, sitting down under a tree, weeping. He wanted someone to care for him, to care with love and attention. Most of all, he wanted someone to remember him, always. But first, he decided this girl needed some care. Gently he offered the only possession he had a soft, fluffy dandelion from high in the distant mountains. It was a rare flower. Not many flowers grew on snowy heights. When the flower touched a soul, it would soak up the pain of the soul and then die.

Cigam offered the flower. For a moment, Dorothy stopped, a little shocked, but only a little. I guess she thought she was still in the magic Land of Oz. Dorothy drew the flower close and felt sweet scents fill every fibre of her being. She felt her tears dry. The flower glowed, for just a moment, and then sank limp in her hand.

She turned to Cigam.
"I do not know who you are or where you are from. But I so wish I could care for you, as you just cared for me. I wish..."
But something strange was happening to Cigam. He was glowing with a strange aura of light.

The unicorn whispered, " I am...I am...My name is MAGIC! MAGIC!"
The final words seemed to echo and echo round Dorothy.
"You have given me something, dearest Dorothy! Yes! I know who you are! Now! You have given me the gift of caring, right from the very heart of you. You care! And at last my name means something! I AM MAGIC! I know at last! You have given me a precious gift too!"

"One more thing, Dorothy," the unicorn continued smiling. "Take a moment in your life to remember me. That's all I need. Show me you care by remembering me. Then, while you grow, I will grow with you. You will always have MAGIC with you! You will never fear growing up! And those shoes will always fit. Just remember me!"

But Dorothy was drifting. She was looking at her red shoes. They were definitely larger. And a little different! They now had shiny silver buckles on them in the shape of a tiny white unicorn.

 - Gemma Wiseman

I wrote this story in May, 2007 for the website Helium...

Thought it was time to resurrect it...

celebrating Anne Louise Avery...

Such an elegant gentleman on my walk today 🍁🍂 pic.twitter.com/OccUWIEltv

— Anne Louise Avery (@AnneLouiseAvery) November 16, 2023

 More and more, I am finding my day is not complete without an injection of 'Anne Louise Avery wonder'... 

  Usually, that injection involves her magical stories...

  But sometimes, she takes us for walks in her world... 

all in the mindset...

It's just all in the mindset...https://t.co/rLOmAyVc8O

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 13, 2023

summer evening water cycle begins...

And so the summer evening water cycle begins...In such a short time, grass browns...It only took a couple of days of late 30's degrees Celsius in Temora. pic.twitter.com/uZd3MmkOw6

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 12, 2023

kind words to a hurting soul...

Enchanted by these beautiful words to a hurting Anne Louise Avery... https://t.co/A23enpYVv4

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 11, 2023

Just want you to know I regularly return to get a daily dose of your stories...even if it means I revisit one or two...(which I do anyway)... They touch the child wonder in me, admittedly somewhat buried deep down...

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 11, 2023

a heated afternoon and a brewing storm...

Currently 36 degrees in this Temora, NSW Saturday afternoon...
Usually, I love being able to see out into my garden...from my lounge room chair... But not today...
The fan blades are whirring and the shutters are closed... pic.twitter.com/SBzcy8Fx5l

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 11, 2023

Grumbling rattles of a brewing storm...
Relief after Temora's afternoon temperatures reached the heated, heady heights of 39 degrees... pic.twitter.com/yMFCzMqDrx

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 11, 2023

Twit

Remembrance Day 2023...

Hiroshima's ghosts
paper cranes in folded flight
hope born from ashes#haiku #RemembranceDay2023 pic.twitter.com/ez0AUtctZf

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 10, 2023

gently swaying poppies
fields of scarlet memories
soldiers drift in peace#haiku #RemembranceDay2023

'The Red Poppy' - A sensitively-written World War I story set on the Western Front. It demonstrates the similarities between men on both sides. pic.twitter.com/u5tJigd5gv

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 10, 2023

I went out early to have some solitude this Remembrance Day.
The Pool of Reflection and the ANZAC War Memorial are always special, and on 11/11, I ponder the futility of war and can’t see we will ever be at peace. pic.twitter.com/XvAhA1BQvS

— tim ritchie (@timritchie) November 10, 2023

The Last Post - new version - didgeridoo + bugle - will be performed outside the Opera House today at 11am...https://t.co/jqklLyreEl pic.twitter.com/L1pBYgBD7L

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 10, 2023

Sensitive winds of change at the Sydney Opera House honour Remembrance Day...https://t.co/dXg6IGTQDi

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 11, 2023

Optus outage...

Cats are notorious for respecting (demanding?) routine... esp when it comes to food.... https://t.co/XT9iZkvaoG pic.twitter.com/mhL9GEiUL3

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 7, 2023

I leave little poems in public places...

What a wonderful idea...I think I will be borrowing this one... https://t.co/ujtyIaYWpA

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 6, 2023

my sails...

my sails
are puppets
in the winds#haiku

📷Mornington - January, 2016 pic.twitter.com/XMZmIT7BFX

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 5, 2023

morning winds...

morning winds
a whining orchestra of
tuning strings#haiku

📷Credit: Fentino / Getty. pic.twitter.com/xx87pTCFuB

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 4, 2023

burnt coffee...

burnt coffee
the scent of crumbling
yesterdays#haiku

📷Larry on Flickr - Old barn along Hwy 61 in Scott County MO https://t.co/epdjHt6srF pic.twitter.com/KQzb89rN8f

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 4, 2023

still blogging for peace...

our hearts yearn for
the regular pulse
of ongoing peace#haiku pic.twitter.com/sdIkmfjAQe

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 3, 2023

a furry friend...

a furry friend
the priceless gift
of shared happiness #haiku

📷(my daughter's photo of her beautiful Bella in the Temora main street outside a coffee shop) pic.twitter.com/vDSO2byozJ

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 2, 2023

free fruit...

It's not uncommon to find freebies in Temora...esp outside shops in the main street...
Today, free fruit was available outside a cafe... pic.twitter.com/N8vmqYFE60

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 1, 2023

map out your future...

Love the ever-changing, interesting signs outside shops in main street, Temora, NSW.
Today, I found this one outside Nel's Fabric Place - a quote from Jon Bon Jovi...
' Map out your future
but do it in pencil'... pic.twitter.com/nlMVgRfb5h

— 🇺🇦🌻Gemma Wiseman-on Wiradjuri land (@AuraGem) November 1, 2023