U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2022
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • A Different View Of German History
      • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
      • Demystifying Psychology
      • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
      • Zoom Short Course
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet >
          • + Ian's Blog
          • + Links and references
      • O - Z >
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Tech Savvy Drop In
        • Travel Group
  • A-Col
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Armchair History
    • Armchair Traveller
    • Art Appreciation
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • 'On Friendship'
      • 'Trees'
      • 'Childhood Memories'
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Com-G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Lessons
      • German - Beginners
  • I-P
    • Investment
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meditation
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork >
      • Patchwork Home
      • Patchwork Exhibition 2020
      • Patchwork - Beginners 2019
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
  • R -Z
    • Recorder Group
    • Russian Literature
    • Saturday Cards - '500'
    • Singing for Fun
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Apple
    • Tech Talks
    • The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Wine Appreciation
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Program Guide 2022
    • Membership Application 2022
    • Month Overview Semester 1 2022
    • Full Timetable with Dates Semester 1 2022
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • May Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

'If Only I ....' hadn't been distracted!   Ray O'Shannessy

27/9/2021

0 Comments

 
On the last day of winter, being in lockdown, I had settled in to watch the Paralympics on T.V.  Being a lovely day, Bernadette was doing outside chores in the sunshine.

Next thing I knew, she entered the lounge room, trembling and in a state of frenzy.  "Didn't you hear me?  Didn't you hear me?".  I blissfully hadn't heard a thing but the television.  After some time she calmed down and told me the story.  It goes like this:- In the back yard she had discovered a plover chick, stranded.  She tried to console it and was attached, not once, but many times, but the mother plover which was diving viciously at her.  Somehow she escaped and came inside.

After hearing the story, we both went out to the laundry back window and gazed out into the yard.

We saw the chick, not moving, just lying on the lawn in the sun.  There was the occasional magpie flying over the yard, and then, out of nowhere, a squawking plover descended and hurriedly ran to the chick, nextling it lovingly, still squawking.  Enchanted, we stood there for some time by the window, wondering what what would happen next.  Eventually, another squawking plover flew over the yard, came back and landed, out of vision of the mother, and tentatively strutted sround.  Both birds were making a lot of noise but no progress in getting together.

Then from the T.V. in the lounge room came the sound of a band playing the Australian national anthem.  Another Australian Gold Medal!

Distracted, we left the window and went to see who had won the medal.  After listening to the anthem and the subsequent interview with the victor, we returned to our viewing position.

Nothing to be seen!  Both plovers and the chick were gone!  How did this happen?  However had the adult birds managed to move their chick?  We will never know!

IF ONLY WE HADN'T BEEN DISTRACTED!!

Since that day I have constantly wondered!  I am intrigued by nature, by the bird world, by the animal world, by humanity, by the universe!  I feel assured of a deity!  Indeed, I have experienced an epiphany!


Ray O'Shannessy
8th September 2021
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Our Stories

    If Only I ... 

    ‘If only I’d…’ Even though we are advised not to dwell on ‘if only’s’… we often do!  Write about an ‘if only’ moment in your life in 500 words, describing the context surrounding it as richly as you can.  Choose something which won’t make you depressed, something you feel you have ‘dealt with’, but at the same time something which shares the impact of even a brief moment in your life.

    ​

    Banner Image - sometimes, dreaming while sitting by the fire, we reflect... 'If only I...'

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021

    Categories

    All
    Barry O'Connor
    Beverley Lee
    Gary Edwards
    Joy Shirley
    Marg McCrohan
    Michelle Aitken
    Ray O'Shannessy

    RSS Feed

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
COVIDSafe Plan
U3A Benalla & District Flier 2022
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2022
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2022
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2022
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria