Geelong Library and Heritage Centre (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

The Word for Word Non Fiction festival in Geelong is fairly new as festivals go: in its fifth year now, it’s established itself as a must-go festival in our literary landscape.  It takes place in Geelong’s Arts Precinct (which is handy for dropping into the arts centre next door to see the touring Archibald Prize exhibition) and the sassy purpose-built Library and Heritage Centre venue is brilliant.  Although Geelong is an easy two hours from Melbourne I stay at Rydges Geelong for the weekend so that I don’t have to get up early to get there – it’s not expensive and the service is efficient and friendly.

And this year, my arrival on the Friday night coincided with Anita Heiss’s, so I got to meet my hero at last.  The hotel bar was full of authors dropping by, and one of…

The San Diego Zoo has a remarkable number of raptor species from all over the world. The Eurasian eagle owl is the world’s second largest owl with wingspans of almost 6 feet.

The eagle owl is an old-world owl found in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Gorgeous aren’t they?

They are an adaptive species and nest in The Sahara Desert, the equatorial jungles of Africa and the northern reaches of Siberia.

The owl preys on rodents, rabbits, foxes and even young deer. It also preys on other birds.

Populations are increasing due to increases in the feral rabbit populations in Eurasia.

I think The Holler red-tailed hawks would be most pertubated if one of these guys escaped from the zoo and mosied over to The Holler!
Imagine the photos though!
Cheers from The Holler!

Every week or so I get a little closer to the obscure object of my photographic desire, the awesome, aerial, red-tail hawks.

The red-tails are always getting into aerial combat with other birds, especially Ravens and other hawks.

Of all the creatures in The Holler, the aerial feats of the red-tails are the most incredible to watch.

The red-tails have so far successfully driven out passing Golden Eagles and even a Bald Eagle.

Hanging out with the hawks is one of my favorite things to do!

Cheers to you from The Holler red-tails~

There are several lakes surrounding The Holler that provide wonderful places to hike, picnic and birdwatch.

This osprey was vigilant,

intently watching the lake for her next meal (despite the feather stuck on her beak.)

Bald eagles are congregating in greater numbers around Holler lakes,

which thrills me to no end, because they were almost wiped out locally, and I went decades without seeing them here.

Brewer’s Blackbirds are common at The Holler. They are very friendly birds and often eat out of my son’s hands.

Ring necked ducks were on the lake in force,

resting from migration.

The area around The Holler burned extensively in 2007, destroying 1000’s of homes and extensive habitat. You can see the progress of regrowth and the burned trees on the horizon.

Cheers to you from beautiful, burning, California, my native state~

A number of influencers today talk about what you bring on the table. In fact they simply mean what skills do you have? what ideas can you bring in a particular industry? what the special thing about you that will make people choose you over others?

People often get confused about this concept. The first thing to ask yourself is which table do you want to join? which industry, project, company, niche are you passionate about? Find a table which speaks to you, where you know you will add value. If there is no table available or none of the tables attract you, bring your own table. Bring up your own ideas, create your dream business. Provide a table for other people to join.

We are all different in nature. There are people who create tables for others to join and people who join tables which exist already. The choice…