To do or not to do
2011-09-26 22:18
We are still discussing whether we should import our Austrian dogs or not.
Giant Schnauzer 'Andras'
American Staffordshire Terrier 'Hannibal'
Pug 'Lin'
Mix breed 'Sydney' called 'Zwutschki'
They all have their special history but their problems too:
Andras, Hannibal and Lin are already 10 years old and Sydney developed seizures in the last couple of years and needs medication. They have to stay for 4 weeks in quarantine in Melbourne and we are not sure whether they will make it. Another reason not to bring them to Australia are the restrictions on dog keeping:
"By-Law 5 Dogs and Cats.
... Under the provisions of the Council’s By-Law, the limit on
the number of dogs in a dwelling in a township is two. Outside of a township ... the limit is three dogs...This Council By-Law also restricts the number of cats kept on any premises to two." Really tough rules. The native Australian doesn't care but we are foreigners and we are watched carefully.
Giant Schnauzer 'Andras'
American Staffordshire Terrier 'Hannibal'
Pug 'Lin'
Mix breed 'Sydney' called 'Zwutschki'
They all have their special history but their problems too:
Andras, Hannibal and Lin are already 10 years old and Sydney developed seizures in the last couple of years and needs medication. They have to stay for 4 weeks in quarantine in Melbourne and we are not sure whether they will make it. Another reason not to bring them to Australia are the restrictions on dog keeping:
"By-Law 5 Dogs and Cats.
... Under the provisions of the Council’s By-Law, the limit on
the number of dogs in a dwelling in a township is two. Outside of a township ... the limit is three dogs...This Council By-Law also restricts the number of cats kept on any premises to two." Really tough rules. The native Australian doesn't care but we are foreigners and we are watched carefully.
This Poem by Dorothea Meckellar
2011-09-26 21:29
describes my feeling to Australia and the reason why I immigrated:
My Country
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
My Country
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
