Before the Rain

Yes I went across with the snorkel again. The tide was low but the Sun was out and the breeze was slight. I went in without wearing my flippers.  It is a tight fit with a sore toe so I went barefoot.  I seemed to be going nowhere without the flippers on.   That footwear makes a huge difference and as well, I am very out of practise.  I did not spy any fish life just some ghostly encrusted poles but at least I am making some progress. The temperatures are still good, so there is hope for a bit more water action before the cold really gets here.

Irrestible Calm

It is hard to ignore when it is so calm especially first thing. We were already having a beach session later this afternoon but I had to go across even though it was quite shallow. I waded out passed the rocks and sure enough there were rays there just grazing quietly. The grasses were sitting in clumps on the bottom so if you walked between, then nothing much was disturbed, so they were happy to keep gliding around. I also got a report that exactly where we were at the secret cove the other day a large seal came up for a few hours rest. I think it was the same day we were there but it had swum off before we arrived. 

the seal came ashore here

hard to see rays at this angle

the calming effect

Estelle hits Five

 At last Estelle has made it to 5 and she let us know in no uncertain terms. Kids parties are hard work and we have been to a few lately. I think the highlight this time around was the face painter who also doubled as a balloon engineer. She was working solid for 2 hours with facial masterpieces everywhere. I think if she was asked to stay longer then I bet other skills like paper folding would have come out.  When did Pin the tail on the Donkey get replaced with stick the Hat on the Cat?  There is something wrong there. These days parties go off like clockwork, 11am til 1pm and everyone out by 2pm. We had to get the great grandparents home so it was a big day. Now Estelle has to work thru the mountain of presents.

face paintind

balloon queue

Dear Daffney

 We have had two daffney's one on either side of the front entrance.  Last year I cut one out because it was dying off. It's just what they do we are told, they die prematurely.  I took out the other one this morning as it was turning a moldy shade of yellow. The ground did seem a bit dry but the root system was all fresh and moist so basically we are giving up on those plants. Debbie turned her attention to another plant out the front which has the opposite problem. She tried to kill it off. Cleared the whole thing, digging out roots and shoots but up it comes again. It is some sort of daisy that invited itself. So now it is being coralled in a metal enclosure and will be severely cut back and shaped but not with the new gizmo which does not actually cut anything. We are not too cut up about it.

yellowed

a cutter NOT

after

on the level

Flotsam

 It was so calm and clear this morning you could see the cross on top of Mt Macedon. When you looked at the water there were formations on the surface. I have seen these before and I think they are grasses that have clumped together but I have never waded out to have a closer look. So in the afternoon the cloud was burned off and we went across to our secret bay which is largely protected in most directions. We thought we would check out the floaties but there were none to be seen. I waded out a bit into clear water but could see no sign of any jetsam. Beach was clean as well although we did do a snap and send to get an old garden seat removed.

secret cove

40,000

Another grey day so I have spent some time tidying up loose ends, by that I mean stamp loose ends or just loose stamps. When you have thousands of these lying around you have to keep on top of it. Some people take every stamp that ever comes their way and place it neatly into an album and to make sure they all fit, the stamps are placed ontop of each other. There are so many crammed in they cannot even be seen and the albums are weakened by the volume.  I have just cleared some old books where multiple stamp copies are poring out onto the floor, as the book is bursting. This approach never makes sense to me. I have been using tubs to hold the overflow and I have just filled one with the Australian variety. It weighs over 6kg and I am now coming to the top of another much bigger tub holding stamps of the world. Good thing I don't collect cars.

how many aussie stamps

Calm Morning Session

We have had two days of socked in light rain, mostly enough to annoy and not enough to fill the tank.  There are some people who have arranged time to go fishing and dam the weather. The guy below was out there for hours.  After it cleared this morning I went across equipped with a few ideas. I took the rubbish bag and did two laps of the sand as a warm up. It is a clean place lately with only one bottle, one butt and a few small plastics to pickup.  I have not thrown the shot for some weeks as my feet were wrecked.  I did maybe 10 throws this time around without over doing it.  Lastly I finished off with a dunking in the water. The temperatures are still ok but the low tide would not allow for a snorkle round the rocks. 

but are there fish