Drifting

Hi Everyone,

This week’s blog is about those feelings and that certain space that doesn’t really have words. I hope some of you enjoy it.

Wishing you a bright and blessed week to come.

Tikarma. xxxx

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Drifting.

Silent.

No words for this feeling.

Emptiness.

Like a cooling angst.

A breeze.

Water to tame the fire.

Cooling.

I take a wish, for a falling star.

Drifting upwards.

To lie in the embrace of the moon.

Drifting.

Still.

Unexpressed emotions.

Denied a voice.

Void.

Like a damp darkness.

A space in no particular place.

Fire, heats water to boiling.

Though I am cooling.

Taking a wish on a falling star.

Drifting upwards.

Drifting…

…Nowhere in particular.

In no particular time.

There is no space that can fill me.

Water quenches the fires’ thirst.

I count every wish for every falling star.

Drifting…

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© 2001 Tikarma Vodicka

P.S. On a personal note I’ll be having some minor surgery tomorrow. I’ll only be gone a couple of days, you won’t even know I’m gone.       As some of you know I’m having some health problems at the moment and this surgery will ensure my surgeon is doing the correct surgery for me so I get back on the road to good health.

Zoo Day

Hi Everyone,

Last week I said I would post something new. It also turns out to be something completely different. I’m not sharing a great deal of my life these day choosing to take a break from social media so I decided this week I would share some highlights from my trip to the Adelaide zoo. I’ll try to keep my chatter to a minimum I’ve never actually “blogged” before…oh dear :-O I hope some of you enjoy this photo essay.

I haven’t been to the zoo in over ten years. So this is an event for me!

Adelaide Zoo is the second oldest zoo in Australia and the only city zoo in Australia to be funded and run by donations alone. It’s undergone a lot of changes since it opened in 1883. It’s focus these days is animals in our geographical region. So there are many animals from all over the Asian and African region as well as many animals native to Australia. The prize attraction at the zoo are the two giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi.

If I knew I would be blogging this I would’ve made sure to take more informative photos…next time maybe.

My sister, Andrea is down from Queensland on holidays and very much wanted to see the Pandas Wang Wang and Funi so this was a great opportunity to spend some time together and see how the zoo has changed since they bought the Pandas to the zoo.

It was an early morning start as we wanted to see the pandas first as they are most active in the early morning. We went in as soon as the gates opened and immediately Jamie ( who was driver and photographer for the day) spotted a very familiar native animal

the Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

After that brief stop it was straight to the Pandas. We were the first in *lol* but not for long. We were also very lucky as this morning was the first time Wang Wang and Funi were out together (they must have known we were visiting *cheeky grin*) unfortunately they were far too busy eating and roaming to sit together but it was still nice to see them both.

Wang Wang the Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Funi the Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Tikarma and sister Andrea.

Red panda ( Ailurus fulgens)

Australian pelicans  (Pelecanus conspicillatus)

Me being greeted by a very friendly Red Tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii),  in the walk-through aviary.  We have Red Tailed Black Cockatoos who fly over our garden but I’ve never been this close to one before.

Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys)

Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus). These gibbons make very loud calls and filled the whole zoo in the morning with their hooting.

Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) The red light on the left side of their hut is a heat lamp to keep them warm during Autumn and Winter.

Meerkat or suricate, (Suricata suricatta)

Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii) Karta And Kluet sheltering from the morning rain.

And last but not least myself and my sister Andrea (Homo sapiens) *lol* sorry I couldn’t help myself  with the giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) Dharba and Kimya behind us. Next stop meet back up with Mum for coffee, lunch and a browse at Flinders Street Market.

If you’re still with me thank you.  If you’re thinking “Gee it would be nice to see a larger photo.” You can view a larger image by clicking on the photo of interest. Don’t forget to click the back button on your browser to return to the blog.

May your week ahead be filled with many an interesting thing and much beauty.

Tikarma. xxxx

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Photographs are © 2012 Jamie McPherson and are used with permission.

Whatever and Me

Hi Everyone,

This weeks blog is a little self-reflection.  I first posted this in the days I frequented MySpace. I hope the literary references and musical references won’t be too confusing.

I do hope some of you enjoy it and if you’ve read it before, I hope there is still something to enjoy again.

Next week will be something completely new!

Wishing you all a bright and blessed week ahead.

Tikarma. xxxx

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Whatever and Me.

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Shelley never meant much to me.

Not as much as he should’ve done.

Too pre-occupied with irreverence,

With the Wilde

That captured a part of me

That had not yet language to speak.

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So I played my guitar.

 I scribbled, I scratched, I drew.

Threw myself “out there”

To crash back with a tome of an

Inferno

On my lap.

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I wanted a piano lesson.

I sang in spite of his begging me not to.

I tried.

I fell on my face and cried

To look upon a question mark.

Reality or the Illusion?

My choice to make.

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I lamented over a black clad Jesus.

Borrowed faces to call my own.

Wore everyone’s shoes without asking.

I left ‘Thankyou’ playing though quietly on the stereo.

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I sat in front of a microphone with my own inferno’s encased.

I heard my voice.

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I haven’t stopped to looked back.

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I may never be Shelley.

My wit may never be Wilde.

Tennyson, long ago I left him behind.

Reaching a point of mindless abandon.

Where I’ll laugh really loud.

Content

Within my vein of melancholy

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 Content with

Whatever and me.

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© 2010 Tikarma Vodicka

Interlude

Interlude pt 1

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There is space between sunset and dawn.

Where faith rises in the darkness.

Reveals another world, another truth.

There is a place in the black night

Where hope re-births anew.

Where soul can take new breath

In the dawn of Moon.

There is space between sunset and dawn.

A place of comfort amongst burden.

A space in the stillness

For peace.

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Interlude pt 2

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A moment, brief,

Where all of day is condensed

In a vision of colour.

A space to stop.

A place to take in breath.

A space for gratitude.

A moment lies in each sunset

Where the day speaks its glory

Praises its existence,

Before it folds with grace

Into the eternal.

A space lies in this moment.

To be as the day.

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Paintings Interlude pt 1 and pt 2 © 2010 Tikarma Vodicka

Poems Interlude pt 1 and pt 2 © 2010 Tikarma Vodicka

Hi Everyone,

This weeks blog is not what I expected. I think though, more importantly the words are what I’m needing. It finally happened, a week where I have been scattered in so many directions and left so tired I haven’t had time to sit down to write let alone think of something worth writing about. So my apologies for the double repeat of poems.  Hopefully as I now enter my painting week a sense of peace will descend for me and the space to be a bit more creative than I’ve being able to be of late. I hope some of you will still enjoy these paintings and their poems and maybe for some of you they’ll be new.

Wishing you all a bright and blessed week ahead

Tikarma. xxxx

Stargazing

Hi Everyone,

This week’s blog as you may guess from the title is about stargazing. Astronomy is a hobby of mine I don’t get to indulge in nearly enough, so this poem and the constellations as metaphors for individuals was fun for me to construct. It’s from 2006. It only seems like yesterday I was reading this at a poetry meet with knees wobbling like crazy…thank goodness for lecterns to hide behind. I hope some you will also enjoy this walk through my night sky.

Wishing you all and beautiful and inspiring week.

Tikarma. xxxx

 (Night sky from the painting ‘ Libushe Dreaming ‘)

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Under a canopy of diamonds.

Dreams do survive.

While there is no moon.

We are hidden.

We can desire.

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 And if I choose.

I can point my mirrors to the sky.

If I want to.

I can watch.

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Scorpio setting on the horizon.

Diamonds sparkle and shimmer.

Stars twinkle in brilliant affirmation.

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 They have been.

 Now they are faded.

On the light haze of civilisation.

They die in a flash.

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I am blinded.

I cannot watch this.

Death is not for us yet.

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******

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In the canopy of beginnings.

Where stars truly shine.

Where the mists of clouds reveals a galaxy.

Life holds out an arm.

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In this cool space.

 I can wait.

 I can choose again.

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Hills become the abyss from which we begin.

With mirrors ready and buttons pushed.

I can watch.

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Sagittarius descending from the arm that blocks the deeper vision.

As she struts down the runway of diamonds Scorpio bites.

She falls to the band of reality’s fire.

Scorpio winks in final triumph.

The eyepiece glows white.

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Stars fall.

Sometimes it is too much.

The clouds for now end the show.

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*****

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In this canopy of aspirations.

There is the cold and there is the fire.

Where the wave of light collective,

Makes these diamonds swim,

Come alive in life’s fire.

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While dawn is still sleeping.

We can dream one more time.

We can feel the last rush of desire.

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With jacket zipped against fresh breezes,

Mirrors are angled low.

I can watch.

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 Pisces trailing the horizon,

Swimming against our pull.

In the emotion of endings,

I see the Phoenix still flies.

An ember of fire to remind me,

All life,

All time,

Is just a moment.

Just for now.

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In a flare the band rises.

The flame of the Phoenix scorching Pisces tail.

He is swallowed whole.

Lost in the rising of the world.

The display is blank.

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I sit back.

Another gone in coldness.

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The new days rays upon my back.

 I close my eyes one last time.

Packing up my mirrors,

Early eagle on the wing.

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In this canopy of fading life.

Dreams are wanting to be born.

Dreams die.

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 © 2006 Tikarma Vodicka

Night sky  from the Painting ‘ Libushe Dreaming ‘ © 2006 Tikarma Vodicka. All rights reserved.

Friends

Hi Everyone,

This weeks blog is about friends..of the teddy bear kind. It’s their point of view on the matter of being a teddy and a bear.  It’s not your typical teddy bear story but then I’m not typical :-D and neither are the three special bears who inspired this poem.  I hope some of you will enjoy this poem, you may never look at your teddy quite the same again.

Wishing you all an inspiring and beary good week *goofy grin* .

Tikarma. xxxx

(Left to right: P.J. Jackie Bear and Jazzy Star enjoying a lunch date at Cafe 11)

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When your once sleek fur becomes a little scraggly

And another stitch comes loose in your arm…

When the chocolate stain means a trip to the wash and tumble

And you’re dented in one side from a thousand late night cuddles.

That’s when you need your friends.

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When your foot gets caught in the school bag zipper

And you’re thrown around the classroom for a laugh.

When you’re accidentally dropped in the mud puddle

And you’re left dangling alone on the washing line,

That’s when you need your friends.

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When you’re caught with your paw in the cookie jar

Left on the shelf to dust.

When you’re cast into the bear seconds box

Wondering why you no longer seem to be able to be loved,

That’s when you need your friends

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When your honey pot is half empty

And your bear charms can’t lift your human companion out of the dumps…

When only half a rainbow lights the sky

And your fairy bear magic doesn’t seem to make them smile.

When you’re left with your back towards the window

So you can’t wish upon that big bright star,

To make your companion better again with your big bear cuddles

And special teddy dance.

That’s when you need your friends.

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It’s a big world when you’re just a little bear

There’s always so much to do.

For every body needs a teddy,

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And every teddy needs a bear.

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Good bear friends

To share in hugs and the giggles

To share in many a bear tale.

Of movie nights, whispered secrets,

Of being the lookout and the friend who’ll listen

Through all of life’s adversities.

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It’s a big world for little bears but we love it with all our hearts

As we turn heads making people smile as we’re carried through the town.

 Friends make being silly joyful with bunches of flowers and glitter crowns…

Good bear friends remind you how good it is to be a friend.

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You cry when your companion cries

You laugh when they laugh too.

You’re warmed by your companions hugs

As you keep their heart warm and young.

Good bear friends remind you,

Lift your spirits when you’re feeling the bear blues,

That being a teddy is awful special,

The most important job in the world.

Good bear friends remind you,

How great it is to be a best bear friend.

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© 2012 Tikarma Vodicka.

Dedicated to Kym-Maree and Antonia.

Photograph © 2012 Kym-Maree Kuijpers. Used with permission.

Of Truth And Fairy Tales

Hi Everyone,

This weeks blog is a fairy tale of kinds from 2010. You may recognise many characters from many stories. Suffice to say the story is fictional. I hope some of you enjoy the poem.

My best wishes to all for an enchanting  and blessed week.

Tikarma. xxxx

 

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Sleeping Beauty sleeps.

Turbid blue night-scapes

Rent with disturbing feelings.

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Dreams filled with lighting bolts

Of another reality destroying her

Enchanted realm.

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Did Prince Charming ditch

Rapunzel

For the chance of romance

At her lips?

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Is she crying now in her tower,

Having cut her golden tresses

 So short,

Lest another try to chance it

With her heart?

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Is Cinderella all alone?

With just a pumpkin for a friend.

Weeping over crystal slippers

That hid the charmer’s true agenda?

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To run, to flee commitment

In the castle for another damsel

In distress.

Another badge of honour for

Slaying yet another dragon?

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Time weaves impossible tangles.

Memories of cheeks flushed

Dashing through the forest.

Crumbling under the mighty gaze

Of wicked witches and

Step mothers with their poison apples.

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Is their jealousy and cruelty merely

Revenge?

Were they once princesses’

With skin so soft it would be bruised

By the smallest pea?

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Is this my fate?

Sleeping Beauty dreamed.

To be cast out ugly,

Bitter, mean?

For love that desserts another so easily?

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The ugly duckling quacks as

Dawns colours the horizon.

Sleeping beauty scoops him up

In an embrace of comfort.

“You are hope.”   She told him.

“Of all good endings.

This is what we

Are taught.

This hope a gift for every   Princesses’ heart.”

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Sleeping Beauty gazes out over her kingdom.

Prince Charming lost in the distance

Upon his charge far from home

On some emergency.

Over the hill-top to her right

An army approaches

With loaded cannons and

Dragons breathing fire.

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She spies Pegasus

This wise old stallion,

Ready to take flight.

Sleeping Beauty wonders

If she too should fly away.

Accept the reality these dreams are speaking.

Forget the lie of prince’s strong

Forever after.

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Turning to the magic mirror.

Sleeping Beauty frowns.

Shakes the blue birds from her sleepy ringlets

Sighs at her tear-stained eyes.

“Mirror.”   She asks.

“Which is the lie?

The love that is

Everlasting?

Or unwritten the destiny, that

The blossom of love flowers only to die?”

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© 2010 Tikarma Vodicka.