ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

TOUGH ENOUGH ?
Tough ? tough as an old boot !
With a story to tell,
the ol’ galoot.
Sittin’ there,
in ‘is bush rockin’ chair.

Thinkin’ of the times that was,
when ‘e was young and thats because
‘is eyesights gettin’ very dim
and memories of long ago
still come to ‘im, but very slow.

Tough enough to work the plough, milk the cow,
shoe the ‘orse and that’s because,
couldn’ afford a farrier then.

Tough enough to walk the paddick,
swing a pick throw the mattick.
Grow some vegies, fix the roof,
repair the dam and still say - “ Strewth”.
“ They were times when livin’s easy,
but there were times, not quite so breezy.“

Tough enough to fight the flood, southern storms, locust swarms,
bushfires blazin 'cross the ground, tree to tree, couldn’ see.

Lost a life. Lost ‘is wife. Now ‘e sits in reverie.

Tough Enough ?


(c). Rimeriter.
3/11/00.
Graphic - Joseph Sayer.

HELP.
Would like the title to be larger and the image to be smaller.
Comments please.
Jim.

Easy enough Jim - go into edit and run the computer highlighter through the title(left click on mouse and highlight the words) then click onto the little box that says font size and just pick Larger or Extra Large then go onto the box with the little B and check that and that will make it darker for you.

As for the illustration you will have to take it off and reduce the size using whatever program you use - I use Microsoft picture manager which mean opening it in that and then choosing the option to reduce the size usually for arguments sake say to email size or small web size and then repost it.

Hope that helps you - good poem to by the way and I liked the pencil drawing.

Couple of small glitches - should be (s/b) spelt as paddock and mattock - unless you are trying to get a pronunciation variance across, in which case I would probably use italics on them, to indicate the difference - and although not incorrect I think that plow the way you have used it is the Americanized version...more often in Australia I think you would find people use plough - but just to confuse everyone we would write that he intended to plow the paddock with the plough...isn't the English language wonderful. However that may be just my preference creeping out according to the dictionary both versions appear to be correct.

Cheers

Maureen

"G'day" Maureen,
re para 1 - Mate, did all that three times prior to posting, no dice.
para 2 - Roger (message received and understood).
para 3 - Thanks (Joe Sayer thanks you also).
para 4 - Do not understand what s/b means? However, my spelling is indicative of my pronunciation.
Thank you for correcting plow/plough for me. Mate, I put it together back in 2000 and never ever noticed. I will change that 'un momento'.
"ooroo" for this time. Must 'ave a cuppa billy tea sometime.
Jolly Jim.