Cardboard Delivery

We  just received 145 cardboard boxes.  These boxes have taken up the entire hallway and they are still in their compact flat pack mode.  Where to begin?  There were 5 large art folder type boxes already preused so I stripped the walls and fitted everything into those five boxes.  Most of the wall hangings are already in storage.  That's enough for one day.

cardboard alley

Stamp Scanner

I have finished scanning the contents of my Australian Stamp Album.  I now have 1150 stamp images which took me about three weeks to scan, requiring around 3 hours per day.  I used a 600 dpi setting which produces a good result as seen below. Other settings like 1200 dpi were possible but I would have been at it for another 3 weeks.  As it is, there are still many stamps to go, I just don't have them yet.  In 1977 I had a catalog which shows there were 433 Australian stamps that had been issued up until that time.  Last week I received the latest 2017 catalog which says Australia has now issued 3459 stamps and that does not include the territories which is approximately an additional 1500 stamps. So if you collect one mint and one used copy of each stamp, I will need space for around 10,000 stamps.

First ever stamp issued by the AAT in 1957

Paladin of Souls

The Hugos started out as SciFi only but in 1992 it was changed to include fantasy.  Lois McMaster Bujold is firmly in the fantasy camp and must know her stuff as she has won the award four times.  This book is a sequel and I seem to get caught out by this a lot. As you are reading thru there are references to a previous story.  The heroine here has the power to separate demons from their possessed hosts. 

Not sure why Dy Cabon is on the cover - he didn't do much!

A man and his Sheds

Fought off the urge to sleep by driving to Darraweit Guim.  It has been a couple of yar since I last checked it out.  The number of sheds has increased as has the number of cattle on this 200 hectare hobby farm.  I counted at least 20 vehicles including 4 or 5 types of trail and motorbikes as well as 5 or 6 machinery type vehicles including tractors, diggers, haulers and mowers. Not too mention at least 10 cars and trucks.  It looks good 4 years after fire burnt all the paddocks and fences.

Summer's high priority truck

One of the sheds

Steak on the hoof

Woolley Party

There are a few woolly heads to go with the Woolley party.  We gave the old house a sendoff but there were no happy birthday  countdowns.  I did not make it past 1:00 am but there were a few rabble-rousers that were disturbing the neighbourhood.

Park St clash of wheels

This place has had more names and owners than pram wheels that have parked here. Every time I go there, it has a different name. If you are pregnant and want to compare styles of pram then come here for coffee around 10:00 am.  Or any other time of the day.  I have got sore ankles from all biting.  Nevertheless the breakfast was good and the bread very crunchy.  The coffee mugs aren't mugs though.

Super bike lanes

Park St

Collendina Report No 7956

It clouded over today but the temperature was around 30 so we went back over to the exact same spot as yesterday. One advantage of the higher elevation is better phone coverage, although why make calls over at the beach.  We spied the normal ship traffic and a few extra people on the beach but overall a quiet day.  We have been using the Video-Ezy machines which have recently replaced the Hoyts variety.  I was getting freebies from Hoyts!  Anyway it was $2 Tuesday at Video-Ezy so I ordered the BluRay Blade Runner but no matter how we tried it did not play. So I drove back at 8:00pm and swapped it for the non Bluray but I had to pay the $2 again.

beach critter

flying car

Collendina Report No 7955

The earlier scouting trip worked well as we set up a good beach camp out of the wind and on a nice viewing platform of the beach and passing ships.  The temperature was 27 degrees and low tide was at 10:00am.  The trips to the van will be scaled back so we took a visit to a few places we hadn't been to in years like the basketball court which was only a half court the last time I was there 10 yar ago.

Windless

All Net

Collendina Report No 7954

Went on a short reconnaissance to check out dune centred, flattish, sheltered, easterly blocked, platforms but with a southerly view of the beach. Easy.  One of the best of these was already chosen to site a pillbox in the 1940s.  I haven't been there for at least 10 yar and it has deteriorated a lot since then.

pillaged

plovered

Collendina Report No 7953

It is a windy welcome here this time but no rain.  I have spied some preparations for a new van to be dropped in on the empty block  at our rear.  The one next door to it was craned over the top of ours so hopefully they will get a bit closer with the truck this time.  The beach was deserted and blowing hard but the wind has dropped off  now. 

Birthday Park

Rosehill park was a new venue for a birthday gathering and it was a physical one as well.  After the Finska and the cricket you just wander over to the skate park and if that is not enough then the half court basketball can keep you on your toes.  The public barbie worked quite well as well as the talking toilet block.

Cheesecake

Half Court Heavies

Settlement

Yet another settlement comes around.  The D&B show will not be rolling into this house until some renos are completed.  These are not the tearing down of walls but there are certainly many electrical changes planned and some floor and wall colours.  The bathrooms are in for complete upgrades as well.  The original townhouse is now going on the market so there can be no dawdling on these renos.
The nearby trains are an interesting feature. I guess its like planes, trains and automobiles, you just get used to them.

Art Deco lights the first to go

Bricks and Mortar

RMC Used Books

Rode over to this bookstore near Puckle St.  It is another of these dungeon like shops packed with thousands of books. This one also deals in CDs and Stamps.  The wading through the book piles here, is more tedious.  The SciFi is not separated from the Fantasy.  Also the shelves are stacked three deep not just two.  I spent an hour and perused the spines of 1000 books and did not find any on my list.  There are still two bookcases to go but this shop could be a gold mine, I just haven't found any.

Picture tells a 1000 books

Collendina Report No 5711

I can report that when I left here it was sunny but when I got there it was rainy, then when I got back here it was sunny.  There was no wind. I saw a person in the water so I went in as well and felt warm compared to standing in the rain.  The next door van on the corner has been sold so new neighbours but not sure if we will ever see them.  Some IT gear has been retrieved as the original stuff is buried deep in storage.

old view

Navy Blues

Its not football season yet although the women's league has literally kicked off.  The recent mad packaging of photo frames and move of the map drawers had uncovered a previously loved but damaged football memorabilia.  This gem is hand made back in 1972 by a relo of mine but I cannot remember who it was.  The frame had fallen apart and I spent time and money trying to get it back together. In the end I sent it to the pros and for $120 it is better than ever. It would want to be. The design is hand painted on the glass and silver foil provides the coloured backing.

Famous Old Dark Blues

Book Hunting at Brown & Bunting

I have ridden to this shop before and tried it again today. Brown & Bunting is easier to peruse as the books are not packed two deep onto the shelves. I am running out of time so am trying to frequent these stores before the countdown runs out.  I spent 90 minutes checking every book A to Z by author and found another 3 titles on the Hugo list that makes 27 out of 65.  The direct route via Victoria St is a bit narrow so if I was going again I would try Albion St.

Australian Stamps

I have started the scanning of the my entire Australian stamp album. The rough estimate seems to be 1 hour per page.  I have done two pages today so at that rate, for the remaining 30 pages which are fairly full, I will need another two weeks, at two hours per day.  Seems to be quicker than digitising Long Play records.  Some of these stamps had added patterned holes called "perfins" so that larger organisations could track the use of their stamps. No such thing as postage paid in those days.  Other stamps had over printing which changed the price of the stamp at the last minute, before it was issued.

Not only overprinted but a straight edged corner as well

Perforated Initials  VG   - Victorian Government

"Death comes as the End"

I haven't read many Agatha Christie books. I was poking around the book stack and found this one which has been set in Egypt. It has tombs, canopic jars and embalming of bodies as they were being knocked off.  There was no butler but instead a head maid, who also got killed.  In the end after seven murders I still didn't get it until the last few pages.  I had been reading books from the Hugo list set 2000 years in the future so this was 2000 yar BC.  There was time for another search through the Book Exchange and I found three more titles from the Hugo list.  I limit the search time to an hour but I did get thru five shelves.

Nofret

the Taylors

The flying Taylors are passing through on their way to Tassie.  I have lost count of the number of times I have been to that state.  I remember spending 10 days one time just in the Cradle Mountain area.  The first four times, that mountain was covered in cloud but on the fifth time past we climbed up for a perfect view.

Bicheno 1978

33 next week

The Greatest Show

I can't remember if I have ever been to the pictures twice in a week. As musicals go this one was much better than LaLa Land.  There was plenty of poetic licence used but the show must go on.  Not sure what happened to Bailey. 

These guys don't look like they strut

Gumbuya Water Park

We think we went to this place around 25 yar ago.  It has been totally demolished and rebuilt as a modern amusement park.  There are four doors in a central intersection. Mind you two of those doors go to the same set of rides.  We had a look in there but did not try any rides.  The water park is the main feature with two gynormous climbs up to some water slides, which we did three times.  Also the lazy river has a set of rapids which i have not seen before.  The day was ideal at 27 degrees and mid week and a school day so no queues.  The lockers are a pain and the bread rolls were a bit chewy.  However the water park is of a high standard.  I haven't mentioned the Wildlife trail which wasn't bad but the water park is the main attraction.

Boomerango

Bucket Drop

Think Pink

Stamp database

I have perfected the "scanning of stamps" process.  It takes a bit of time but the results are detailed, so much so that you can pick up hidden info on the stamp.  A bit like searching a Jeff Hook cartoon. Like what year the stamp was released.  Check out the below examples for the small print.  Allocating the tags adds to the time but you get multiple ways to search and display the collection.  The appropriate tags are added by observing or describing the stamp without referring to outside sources.  However I am still pondering how to give stamps a location.  Each stamp is designed by someone so maybe their birthplace?  This is a layer that requires info other than the stamp itself.

Three Billboards

This film has a hard edge with a few funny moments.  I am always playing a game around spotting the "Game of Thrones" actors in other films.  However there is one actor you can never miss being a bit short on stature.  Films based in the south of the US always have their rednecks and there are plenty in this film.  There is a classic speech where a priest is accused of being in a religious gang and if one of those gang members is culpable then they all are.

Female Redneck

The Junior Common Room

This is straight out of Hogwarts and if its the Junior Common Room then the senior one must be even more turtleneck and brandy.  Wall to wall mounted paddles with previous winners of this and that plus numerous other plaques.  I doubt if many funerals services would have been held here but I am impressed, after only 4 years of work, Anthony has proved so important that the Uni provided such great venues for the services.

for the Queen's Juniors

from the 10th floor of the Law Building Faculty

Dear Abbey

I would like one black tea with milk and a hot capuccino in a mug with a largish handle so I can get my fingers though. Also can I have a muffin slightly warmed. Thank You.  This abbey is a converted church and the cafe/coffee/yuppie set have found it big time.  Dear Abbey where can we put our bikes?  They do have a good price. $11 for the above.

The very end of Moonee Ponds trail

Abbey Muffin

Debra Zebra

We stayed in the Zebra Room overlooking the savanna.  The evening meal was good and a bit spicy, in the morning it was a standard scrambled eggs, bacon and tomatoes.  We had a behind the scenes look at the hippos. Where does a hippo go to learn medicine? ......the Hippocampus.  The whole place was built like Jurassic Park. Huge separation rooms for each hippo and steel sliding doors between each area.  That was the end of our tour but we revisited the Lion's Den as two sets of cubs were playing around.  They had not been born the last time we were there.

Zebra Room

HippoCampus

Lion's Den

African Safari

Not quite but a good approximation.  I recommend glamping on the savanna at Werribee plains. The Australian native animals are just below and the noisy lions are in the distance.  We got a close up of the white rhino, so close we could touch it.  The sunset over the You Yangs was straight off the deck.

Stroking Kapamba

Oryx

Philately Updated

When I was in school stamps were a hobby you could do with other kids.  Collecting them, swapping them. There were some problems like their display.  I would hinge them to a page but later would want to change the display but was too much trouble to get them all unhinged.  Then hingeless albums came along so I would fill up a page but then I would want to insert one but the whole page would have to be shuffled. It seems to me I could use the computer age to aid the stamp collector.  If you got an image of the stamp by scanning it, the resultant file could be tagged with country, year, and a few descriptive theme words for its subject.  This way the collection could be displayed in all manner of search themes.   If I could find a consistent way of allocating a map grid they could also be displayed on a map.  The examples below have been separated from the envelope today but photographed not scanned.

Tags: Germany; 1987; bicycle; train

Tags: Germany; 1989; Bonn; anniversary; architecture