JL and Yoko Ono famously took out advertisements throughout the major cities of the world to proclaim 'war is over if you want it' which essentially meant war is unnecessary and only waged because 'some' want it, whereas the converse is true as well (if you don't want it, then there is no war) - How the hell do we get people to change their thinking from wanting it to not wanting it...if we look back over the past 100 years the world has not known one year without war so let's be honest peace is not hardwired into our DNA, violence is...that's just the plain simple truth - we strive to remain peaceful, we naturally revert to violence to settle disputes or to take what we want...the civilised side of ourselves is really a façade, we know it's the right way to act and 'be' but the caveman in all of us just comes to the surface every time there's disagreement or our innate inability to 'get along' with others is tested... we make mistakes and history proves we never learn from our mistakes as time being that great 'healer' actually doesn't heal, it just allows us to forget...However, this weekend is a time for celebrating for how ever long this ceasefire lasts as it's necessary and it is entirely welcomed at this point in time...

...war in Gaza been going on for way way too long now and finally there is a scintilla of hope, a speck of light, a hint of positivity and maybe a cause for celebration if all this holds...if the US has indeed brokered a permanent peace then all nations who believe in global harmony and the preservation of peace and happiness should be very pleased that this has transpired...let's hope it's for real and that the senseless death and destruction of the past couple of years is coming to an end...cause everybody's talking about ministers, sinister, banisters and canisters, bishops, fishops, rabbis, and pop eyes, bye bye, bye bye, all we are sayin' is give peace a chance, don't say it if you don't mean it...

so, my dear old Dad passed away over the weekend and it was sad but it was also an amazing time with him through the week prior being able to talk to him and say proper final goodbyes...not everyone gets that so I'm really grateful that we had that opportunity and were able to recount with him some of the great memories we share... Pop (as we called him) was 92 years old, several months shy of 93 and 2 years younger than his mother, who for a while there I thought he'd surpass her milestone but alas he succumbed to the dreaded flu, which then turned into pneumonia, which then started shutting down vital organs and once that gets a hold at that age there's no stopping it...age, what a cruel and unkind acquaintance to all of us...the Stones said time is not on our side; Railroad Gin (great Brisbane outfit from the 70's) said it would only be a matter of time and the great Dave Bowie said it may change him...what have do I know about time...? I know it discriminates and that it's unfair to a lot of people, but I can't say that about Pop - he lived a great, long life and was seen as a very kind man who loved his sport (he was Australian, what can we say...lol), family and even didn't mind the odd flutter on the fillies (we'd always ask him for his tip on the Melbourne Cup - he wasn't bad and he never bet heavy so the house was always safe...had a friend whose father almost bet theirs away...sad) He played tennis until he was 88 years old...man, can you imagine that...and he was super competitive even to the point of maiming people on the court (haha! lol) I'd tell him that he and his brothers who also were raised with the same kill or be killed attitude that they were nuts and I wouldn't play with them any longer as they'd headhunt you at the net...for those who play tennis you'll understand...So, understanding my face meant more to me than a point I politely declined to show up every Wednesday night...Well he's now up there maybe serving up an ace or looking to knock St Peter's block off with a sneaky pretend side-line shot deliberately intended to whistle through the air like an Exocet clipping one's ear lobe...lol, haha! He was also the gentlest man I'd ever met, who was raised 'tough' by his father but organically was kind and exceptionally fair minded - we get lucky with who our parents are in the instance they turn out to be really good people...I got lucky and stayed lucky for a long time...vale Pop!

..and all along it was always just like it had always been...in the immortal words of David Byrne’s ’Once in a Lifetime’, we see through his lyrics the mundane life of a person who goes through the motions and trappings of social constructs whereby he marks his milestones in personal wealth and status symbols..we chase these things thinking they’ll be seen by family and friends as important and of course they’re not but we seem to fall for it over and over and sometimes sadly we lose sight of what really matters and is truly important..we complicate life in order to do this and it’s crazy to think that we would do that when with just a little more energy and planning we could un-complicate our lives and lead a more simple and easy existence and reconnect with things like nature or history or culture or even our own past and find genuine happiness in ordinary pursuits..they say living is about feeling totally alive, so some jump off buildings with chutes or climb Mt Everest or solo navigate the world in a dinghy to give themselves an adrenalised awakening but you know, tracing your past back to an old picture theatre that used to be a general store which was owned by your family over 150 years ago, can also give you a sense of not only being alive but of how you got here in the first place.

Louie! - Ai composite done by my daughter of the infamous Louie (very formal portrait, lol!)