Dodo Au Go-Go

In The Artist's Way book, a workbook aimed at helping you (re-)discover your creativity, one of the exercises asks you to list your favourite movies. The logic is that, often, there is a (fairly obvious) theme to the kinds of movies and stories that we like, but that we are sometimes not aware of.  I'm a skilled procrastinator, so I've been reworking my list in my head for, well, long enough.

As I write this in April 2014, we are barreling through autumn here in the Blue Mountains in Australia. It actually feels as though autumn has been eagerly hanging around, trying to stake a claim on our corner of the world since mid-February. I find myself already pining for what feels like a very brief summer. And I harken back to one of the stand-out days of the summer: the day we did the Valley of the Waters bushwalk.

Lychees are my favourite-est fruit in the whole world. So imagine my joyous jubilations and delights when

I fully intended to do a quick follow-up to my initial post with one of those painfully necessary 'raison d'être' posts. But, for me, they're not the most inspirational of things to write about so... It is always easy to find reasons to not complete it.  This is extra ironic of course, given that one of raisons for this blog is to force me to write more (and procrastinate less).  So anyway, this is to confirm that this Dodo hasn't gone to 'dodo' - the French slang term for 'sleep' (you may have heard of the French phrase 'boulot, metro, dodo'? It refers to the daily commute/ daily grind of 'work, train, sleep' - anyway, give it a quick google).

The Dodo Au Go-Go is in flight. Well, it hasn't actually taken flight as such - you know, being a flightless bird and all. It is sitting in a hang-glider, enjoying the view of the world below. Its legs swing casually back and forth, as its bottom perches in a comfortable, customised seat. The Dodo looks around brightly and beakily, enjoying as always the fresh air that fluffs through its feathers. There are very few instruments on the glider. It is one of the ironies of the Dodo's life that, although it has wings unhelpful for flying (but don't call them useless! At least, not in the Dodo's hearing. For your information, they are perfect for helping the Dodo stay cool in hot, tropical climes), the Dodo has an excellent head for heights, an unerring sense of direction and can read shifts in wind and weather patterns effortlessly. The sun above sends the triangular shadow of the glider skimming across the landscape of mauve mountains, olive-green canopies, and squ...