DATE: Thursday 9 November
PLACE: Bicentennial Park, Ballina
TIME: 10 am
The weatherman had a lot of trouble deciding what our day would bring, but all was well. There were blue skies, not too hot, and a new venue to be explored at the Bicentennial Park in Ballina, with picnic facilities along with some first-growth coastal forest.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers’ Spring Ginko (No. 71)”As this was the seventieth ginko of the Cloudcatchers, we met at the location where John Bird gathered a few poets together to form the group in December 2005. Since then we have assembled once a season at various locations in our vicinity, except for those Covid months, when virtual ginko were undertaken in our own homes or surroundings, on the same day, at the same time, followed by a Round Robin discussion of each others’ haiku written during the one hour silence.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers’ Winter Ginko (No. 70)”DATE: Tuesday 23 May 2023 (autumn)
PLACE: Pop Denison Park, Ballina NSW
It was a perfect autumn day for the Cloudcatchers’ sixty-ninth ginko. The venue was Pop Denison Park, recently revamped, at Shaw’s Bay, Ballina. The new amenities include numerous structures for kiddies’ exploration, and there were many little ones there, with their adults, enjoying the thrill of adventure, while their minders revelled in the warmth of autumn sun. Not a cloud in the sky, as we explored pathways through the littoral forest.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers Ginko No. 69”Date: Thursday 9 February (summer), 10am
Place: Victoria Park, Alstonville, NSW
With Covid restrictions over, and weather limitations now abating, the summer ginko was organized with enthusiastic expectations. It was our ninth visit to this stimulating venue since our first in December 2006.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers Ginko #68”Tricky weather and various personal issues among our members pushed the spring ginko into the very last few days of the season. This time the sun shone, and though we numbered only five, it was a gratifying event.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers Ginko #67 (spring)”Alstonville NSW, Thursday 25 August 2022
Once again health problems of some of our older poets limited travelling further afield, and once again the Cloudcatcher winter ginko for 2022 was held at the Alstonville home of Quendryth Young. There were five poets in attendance, with three others joining us in virtual participation from their own homes.
Continue reading “Cloudcatchers Ginko # 66 (Winter)”
Alstonville (northern NSW) on Thursday 2 June 2022
Because of constant rain, with no hope of a fine day on the horizon of the weather forecast, the autumn ginko was pushed into the first week of winter. As all of our favourite local sites for a gathering were water-logged, knee-high in grass and debris, or otherwise not suitable (pot holes, or water over the access road) we met at the home of Quendy Young in Cedar Court, Alstonville.
Thursday 24 February (summer) 2022
Home of Quendryth Young, Alstonville NSW
Present:
Laurel Astle Coffs Harbour NSW
Robbie Braithwaite Tregeagle NSW
Nathalie Buckland Lismore NSW
Helen Davison Lismore NSW
Quendryth Young Alstonville NSW
Norma Watts Ballina NSW (part-time)
Angela Smith Byron Bay (virtual ginko)
Somehow it had been difficult for the Cloudcatchers to settle on a suitable date for our summer ginko this year, but eventually six of us were able to gather on the last Thursday of the season, with another joining in by participating in a ‘virtual ginko’ at that time.
Here on the Far North Coast of NSW the weather has generally been kind this year, with no long stretch of heat, and no bushfire warnings. However the dreaded summer rains descended this week, with rising waterways and flooding, but fortunately none of our members was water-bound.
