Croatia’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday 12 August finally ruled on the Committee for the Defence of Croatian Vukovar initiative seeking referendum aiming at removing Serbian Cyrillic script signs from public office building – the Committee had gathered more than 650,000 signatures in their effort to seek a referendum and presented those signatures to the Croatian parliament back in December. They proposed to amend the country’s Law on National Minority Rights so bilingual rights in local government and public offices only applied in areas where the minority makes up at least 50% (and not 30% as is current). The Constitutional Court ruled that there will be no referendum on the matter and that the proposed referendum question was unconstitutional as the proposed change would undermine minority rights. In the same ruling, however, the Constitutional court said that no ban existed in principle on raising the necessary percentage of a minority in…

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I thought I would share one of my favorite poems. I rarely share a poem I didn’t write. I however was inspired to share this one as each time I read it, it has a new and deeper meaning I am quite amazed at the simple complexity expressed in this short poem. The Tang Shi is part of one of my favorite sacred texts, “The Book of Changes” I study as I expand my consciousness and my spiritual awareness. There are many lessons we can learn from the metaphors expressed in ancient writings.. We as humanity may have far more technology that our ancestors did even a hundred years ago yet the wheel has been around for about 5000 years. The truth is we have all but forgotten some of the treasures shared with us by our ancestors spiritually and our common desire for tranquility. “Oh to remain on…

Ben, the 2011 Rosabrook Cabernet, and Amy

Earlier this year Ben and I attended a Qantas epiQure wine night and our favourite wine of the evening was the 2011 Rosabrook Single Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  We got talking to Amy of the Calneggia family who owns the winery and after giving her our verdict, and telling her that we loved wine with a bit of age, she said that she would send us a few different vintages of the Cabernet to try.  And true to her word, 3 vintages of Cabernet arrived on my doorstep along with a Chardonnay and a Tempranillo and all of these were from their prestigious Single Vineyard Estate range.

She stepped into the surf, skirts gripping her legs in a fatal embrace like the problems that overwhelmed her. They say drowning is one of the easier ways and this way no one need know. They’d put it down to youthful recklessness, ignorance of the underlying rip tides.
Stepping deeper she looked out over the endless ocean, the waves beating timeless rhythms against her chest. Death embraced her in its folds encompassing her in comforting swells. The sun was setting, like her life. She paused to take in the blood red of its reflection as it painted bands of pink on a cerulean sky.
It had a beauty all its own. Troubles and torments melted away as she stood face to face with infinity. What lay beyond? She knew the landscape. Beyond the rolling Pacific waves lay tiny islands of hope and a whole unexplored continent, the mysteries of the…

She stepped into the surf, skirts gripping her legs in a fatal embrace like the problems that overwhelmed her. They say drowning is one of the easier ways and this way no one need know. They’d put it down to youthful recklessness, ignorance of the underlying rip tides.
Stepping deeper she looked out over the endless ocean, the waves beating timeless rhythms against her chest. Death embraced her in its folds encompassing her in comforting swells. The sun was setting, like her life. She paused to take in the blood red of its reflection as it painted bands of pink on a cerulean sky.
It had a beauty all its own. Troubles and torments melted away as she stood face to face with infinity. What lay beyond? She knew the landscape. Beyond the rolling Pacific waves lay tiny islands of hope and a whole unexplored continent, the mysteries of the…