Preface

I thought my new self-published book should include these haiku efforts with photos, perhaps, and I thought I might try to write some atheistical arguments in a terse format. Nail my colours to the mast.

I have been thinking of late how altogether risible the (Christian) theist position is. And that it would be worth saying why, given that Australia has retreated from its post war secularism and seems to be wishing to imitate a theistic America ("one nation under god"). The laws which Christians wish to impose upon me so that I cannot exercise my conscience have oppressed me since I was a young woman,...

It bothers me somewhat to "come out" in this manner, because some of the nicest people I know are Christian and their niceness is a function of their belief and their desire to be good and to be good to others. Nonetheless, from a philosophical viewpoint, I do find Christianity ludicrous in the extreme. So I am just going to have to put those arguments.


Walked for almost the first time along Whale Beach Road to get to Palm Beach pool. The beautiful Melaleuca quinquinervias I photographed a few years back have been savagely lopped and look like they will have difficulty surviving. There is a lawn at their base and the person who mows the lawn is ringbarking the trees. I couldn't bear to photograph them..

But this lovely casuarina was flourishing. On the base of the cliff on the eastern side, getting the water soaks from the sandstone. A beautiful tree.

To go with a photo of the swimmers:

We are jellyfish
subject to wind and current
thinking we control our fate.
we think we control our fate.

God loves us
But only those born since the year dot.
Others go to hell.
All others hell bound.

Can't get these right but this is as good a place as any to work on them...

For a state which is both religious and democratic
the logic of genocide is inescapable.

Bliss of no longer becoming anxious
Post menopausal state or brain-cells dying?


View from the house towards the central coast at dusk.

North Stradbroke Island

A Mangrove island in Moreton Bay. North Stradbroke Island in the background.


Pandanus. Cliff face, North Stradbroke Island.


Male pandanus in flower. North Stradbroke Island.


Pandanus & Casuarina. North Stradbroke Island.

Used the satnav to get myself to the North Stradbroke Island ferry terminal, yesterday.

My first taste of ocean water since coming up to Queensland. Swam regardless of the beach being closed, but with great care. I don't believe that there was no safe place to swim on Main Beach. In the end we swam in where it was probably far more dangerous. In a little narrow gorge with a very strong sideways and outwards pull. So I simply lay down in water about a foot deep and let the lovely incoming waves break over me.

Mainly took photos of the beach casuarinas and the pandanus. And saw for the first time that pandanus are dioecious. I find it really hard to find good botanical reference material on the web. So I haven't managed to track down the pandanus species despite it being found on every Queensland beach..

The mangrove island photograph was taken from the ferry jetty at Cleveland, with North Stradbroke Island in the background. Part of what makes Moreton Bay a water-bird refuge. It is truly an amazing bay. (Huge, and that is what makes finding a decent beach close to Brisbane virtually impossible.)