Beach Bon Fires

 There have been a few fires lit on the beach of late. I remember taking a small bushwalking stove and a pan and cooking up some snags on a warm evening over at Collendina some years back and nothing was left behind.  These fires aren't too bad being small enough but yesterday I spied the remains of one in the middle of the rock seating area. We use that spot a lot.  So I went back this morning with my small spade. I have filled in holes before but trying to remove all the old coals with this spade is another matter.  I took half an hour on it then I moved to another fire place for a second go then I finished off filling a big hole in further down the beach.  I have had my exercise for today.  There is still a burnt smell around but at least it is better dispersed.  

PS I have a theory about all the golf balls the other day.  The grasses have been heavily stripped back by the wind recently. I think the golf balls had gathered with tidal movements in a hollow hidden by the grass and became exposed when the grass was removed.

nice when the fire is there but smells forever after that

Last night's time lapse Sunset

Snails, Rays and Balls

 The clouds have gone and it was good timing for a slow jog along the beach at around 9:00am.  There is still a lot of seagrass piled up but there is plenty of sand for a jog at low tide. As I was moving along I spied golf balls, lots of them.  The official collective noun here is a 'flight of golf balls' however these are way off course, so maybe a 'loss of golf balls'. They are also submerged and gathered by the water movement so perhaps a 'flow of golf balls'.  I got back and immediately returned in my swimmers to wade in for them. I got 13 balls the biggest single hall yet and there were more further out but were guarded by a ray. He was so close but never moved even with my foot just nearby.  I went back out to fetch my camera and he was still in the same spot for a few above water photos.  I also took some shots of the balls as they had snails on them.  This is the first time I have seen snails in the water. 

Asher flips out

 Got the videos from yesterday. Asher makes do with battery dogs as her house is not dog friendly. It is card night tonight and I also found a photo of how tricky it is getting when you have the card session on one screen and Bill's niece Sarah riding in a race on the other screen. Today's drama was a last minute cancellation of Debbie's plane to Brisbane. Seems an incident with a crew member sent 200 passengers back to get their luggage as well as a mad dash to get on another plane.  The beauty of managing your bookings on the phone is that while the luggage is returned you can change the flight to another plane before you even get to the counter. 

double vision

Asher and the Dolls

 It was Asher's turn for a visit but with a 7:00am start I stayed in the hotel room and went across the road for an omelette breakfast.  Debbie picked me up about 9:30 am for a short trip to Granma's.  We had homemade date scones and a babycino for Asher.  The usual mayhem ensued with a complete scooping of every backyard leaf that was visible. You only have to do it once with Asher watching then she will complete the job, especially if it involves cleaning as she is a tidy freak.  We had a short stop at Nana's to give her a sandwich then it was back to her own bed for 2 hours sleep.  It took me over 2 hours to get back and just when you thought it was clear, some new roadworks out of Drysdale have squeezed the main road top one lane. 

babycino

Soft Toy stampede

Estelle sleeps it off

We made the trip to Watsonia for an Estelle visit.  She is still in the eating then sleeping stage however we got to say hello between sleeps.  James and Heidi have the house set up fairly well so we did not have to do much. I checked out the local library and shops and also spied out the train station. The RSL next door was very busy on ANZAC day and they could hear both the services on the day.  We had a barbecue tea and Tom & Jerry Phish ice cream.  Indulgence!  We have moved on to the Keilor Motor Inn and have a 7:00 am start for Asher tomorrow.

Time for feeding

Tree Tracks

We were on a mission while the Sun was out. We got to Queenscliff market at 9:00am as we knew there was a stall there that had some prints of the area, as last time we saw them in Drysdale, we had bikes so could not carry the frames back.  Also some stuffed toys and small plants were purchased to support the locals. Having got back, it was straight on the bikes for our 22km circuit of Drysdale but we did stop off at the driving range for a coffee.  No doubt the frames need to be hung and the plants planted and I have to do some packing for this weeks baby adventures but a snooze first.

Last night's Sunset

Blue Sky market

Tree Tracks

Lemon Scent

 Before the rains closed in we got some outdoor activities done like a jog along the beach, over the new walkway, up to the lookout and all the while stopping to fill our rubbish bag. We emptied this at the Dell bin then reversed it back the way we came for a 3.5 km jog in total.  As well, the lemon tree got a huge cut back. I do not think the lemon tree in Essendon had the same vicious spikes that this one does.  Lemon stealers beware or you could just go out the front where I have placed another load of about 24 football sized lemons.  Then in the afternoon it was a coffee stop at Ollies cafe and bar where you can specify to the degree at which temperature you can have your drink. 

coffee lid

the boardwalk from on high

Network Drives

 I have had the new 4 Terabyte network drive working well in the last few weeks.  The original 2 terabyte drive is 90% full and it was getting too tight to work on it. The new drive allows for me to rework some older stuff. EG in 2010 and 2012 we went to Europe taking a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorder and cameras that I can't remember.  Before the cameras died I removed all the stuff onto files on my computer.  These I have now converted to MP4 video films suitable for TV display and uploading to Google photos.  As well I am making short films out of photos from back then.  Takes a bit of time but I have one of the photo films below.  This one starts in Milan and I can see we took an over night sleeper to Barcelona.

                                                                             2012 Milan

Stamp delivery

 It can take up to 6 weeks to get a delivery these days from OS.  I have been chasing a few specific stamps and have forgotten which is which. Even when you buy them you may not know where they are coming from, like today's letter that came from Greece. It was so far back I could not remember it until I opened it.  I got two other deliveries yesterday, maybe they all came on the same plane or boat.  Most times there are more stamps on the outside of the envelop than what I bought on the inside.

from France

a map and a bike

More Olives

We had a few hours of Sun so I managed a short ride into Drysdale, and an hours worth of pathway and street gutter poisoning, as well as half an hour of olive gathering. I was in a rush because I could see threatening clouds way off which have now arrived.  The poisoning needs two hours of dry to be fully absorbed so I am hoping any rain stays away.  We have some orchid success this year and in more than one location. We were trying to work out how old the orchid plants were. We have had them for at least 40 yar and my Grand Mother Alice must have had them at least 40 yar and they are still flowering. I have found a customer for the first olive batch which is our neighbour over the road. I had forgotten they liked olives but it turns out she threw last years batch away after four weeks of effort. We suggested to try a different recipe but bottle them up for a year before trying them.

Sunset thru rain

One spike, Two spikes, Three spikes and more

Brisingr

 Did not get much over 10° today and raining non stop.  Another good pumpkin soup day and also a day to finish a book.  This is the third one in a series with one to go.  As usual it is the bad guys that get killed off and the good guys move on to the next bad guy.  This used to always be the way until Game of Thrones.  For some reason Laura's spark of joy test did not spark for the first three volumes so I inherited them. However the fourth one may have given the required spark as I could not find it here. However Amazon came to the delivery rescue last week.

Smoky Haze

 We have a lot of burning off around Corio Bay when the cooler days are happening. You know it is getting cool when I can have pumpkin soup for lunch. You would not want to be landing a plane at Avalon right now.  I assume they create a gap in the Avalon time frame to burn off.  I spied a tractor going down to the beach but it was only down there less than an hour. I went to snoop out the story later but I could find no tracks and no sign of any action. The beach has recovered a little from the grass attack and I found quite a few little urchins as well. (Even though school holidays are over.)

these aren't prickly but are too small for anything edible

Smoke gets in your skies.
Notice all the barrels in the foreground.
The one we hauled up the other day has gone already.

Curlewis Ride

 We took our ride out over 20km today by going to the driving range at Curlewis.  It is about half way and a good coffee stop. The setup here is as professional as you want, as far as practicing your golf drives goes. Each bay has a camera that tracks your golf ball as it sails out 300m in a dead straight alignment. I never saw anyone do that. Most of the time it grubbed along the ground or swerved into the fence. There were a couple of serious types who consulted the screen after every shot.  Replayed it. Zoomed over it. Analysed it.  Or you can just go and play the mini golf.

Not driving for a living

Board Walk

 Our bridge over bubbly water is finished. The bubbly is the springs water which percolates up thru the sand. It will be a good vantage to watch this from above.  The wind of the last two days has died away but it has left our beach covered in severed sea grass.  While walking back, we extracted a barrel which had been tossed up from the oyster beds.  We had to move it about 1 km to get it to a bin. Fortunately the rope attaching it to the beds was still on the barrel for an easier barrel tug.

grassy shore

There was a lot of fish being eaten

one side rail one side not

effort over a barrel

Auction Action

 Originally there were going to be two stamp auctions on today and they are the two I generally pay most attention to. Fortunately one ot them saw the light and postponed for two weeks. I had two bids today and the first of mine was the third lot No 926 to start the second day, so was on full display for all to see, as the count down zeroed out to start the day's 700 lots.  Fortunately no one else was interested, however my second lot needed more attention as I had to go from $90 to $110 to beat off the competition.  This lot was a section of a retired dealers inventory.  My lots were early and all done after 10 minutes. Much better than hanging around observing bids for the rest of the day.

last night's Sunset

Asher has a cook up

 Another cold showery time of it here so we are doing some paperwork.  The Vic Gov have grants for industry from time to time which we have applied for before but never get. I found another package of grants which fit our upgrading of the PB website.  You never know they might grant us a grant.  I have also unloaded the video camera from yesterday. Asher is in top form.

Late Ashter Bunny

 We did the drive for the Asher show today.  The cold snap is still here and it has taken me til lunchtime to get the ache out of my fingers. And that was just in time.  Asher arrived from the babycino coffee break all ready to go. At first it starts sedate enough with some book reading then it is out to lunch with some back yard running thrown in.  The Easter ears were a hit and chocolate is now fully understood.  The afternoon sleep is getting shorter and is down to just one hour. Then it is back to cooking pretend lunch, pretend dessert and finished off with lots of not pretend running.  

sharing

Olive Time

 I checked this blog going back a year to see when I first got into the olive tree to pluck out the ripe ones. It was the 14th so I was one day earlier than last year. This blog is becoming a handy reference for comparing the past. I got 2 kilos on the first go a year back and this time it was 2.5 kilos. However this time around James and Heidi are rather busy with Estelle so there will be no time for cooking up olives. So if anyone else is interested, I have a batch ready to go and there will be more in the coming weeks. We had the tree pruned back as we have done on previous years but it seems this time there is plenty of leafy growth but not as many olives.  I need to wait until the final weigh in.

Pelican Ride

 We are still timing activities between rain showers here.  We got the bikes out for a complete circuit of the Drysdale Bypass track.  The Sun was out for most of it although we kept one eye on some threatening clouds.  We also timed it well for a family of Pelicans who were rising on the thermals.  This manoeuvre allows for a number of chances to get a picture although with each rotation they are higher in the sky.  Most of the shots I got a half bird, or sky or clouds except for this one below.

Six finger like feathers on each wing

UGG

 It must be a cold snap if I am getting my first ever UGG boots out of their wrapping.  We got these at the Drysdale market only a couple of weeks back and I did not think I would be putting them on in April. Going outside has to be timed today between freezing showers. Debbie is trying to update one of her hanging basket creations. We did get the lawns mowed yesterday in between showers. It is good stamp day today.  I checked out an auction next week and placed two bids on "Exchange Sheets" and "Approval Books".  I used to get stamps sent to me  "on approval"  when I was 12. Not sure what Exchange Sheets are but I am bidding for a stack of them. Currently my bid of $90 is leading the way.

Garden Anemone

UGG with zippers

Saints & Sailors

 This is a venue we have tried to get into on a few occasions but was always full.   This time you could have walked in as there was plenty of space. It is located on the highest point of Port Arlington so has some water views but between the trees. It is one of those quirky restaurants with Mermaids on the walls and a boat for a bar and piano keys where the step is.  It presents an atmosphere and the prices are reasonable and the food is tasty. I tried my latest craze which is the pork ribs, although I was looking for pumpkin soup.  On top of that it is a music venue as well.

A thirst for TV

Post Card Archive

 We have been driven indoors today with rain although I can see some blue sky just now.  I have dipped into my letter box again eg archive of letters and plucked out three from 1984 or thereabouts. Readers of this blog maybe able to fill in the dates.  One is dated 1984, another references James in brackets so he might have been a recent addition.  One was sent from Ocean Grove to Essendon.  In 1984 that was a long way away so we just had to get an update. There were complaints about not enough Sunshine. Another comes from Perth where bikes were hired and ridden for the first time in 30 yar. The last is from Great Keppel where good food and beach running were the go.

Stamp says 1985

No stamp on this one

Board Walk update

 The workers are back on the job and they did not even wait for school holidays to finish.  They have been at the railing for three days. Everyone knows the universal law of being paid by the hour. Work expands to fill the time available for completion.  Debbie made it back from three days of appendix driven baby assistance and just had to get across to the beach.  We walked our way to the construction but they had left the site.  The railing is progressing but has a long way to go.  On the way back we checked out the abandoned table. Underneath there is a whole stash of chairs, rugs etc.

The Amazon Hub

 I got a message from Amazon that the book I bought just before Easter has arrived in one of the lockers at the Amazon Hub. These Hubs are appearing all over the place and they are similar to train station lockers that we have used overseas but these are high tech.  I got out the bike and rode there. The hub comes with a screen as the lockers are not identified and you do not know which is yours. You can scan a bar code in the message or type in the code number and voila one of the doors flies open, fast. This one was exactly at head height and there is a lot of passing traffic, so Amazon tip, wait until the coast is clear.  At just $15 it seems Amazon is going to be cheap but there are no delivery costs in this first purchase. The previous book in the series has a price tag of $38. 

Beach Inspection No 279

 I waited til after Easter for the rush to die down before I surveyed the scene. It was a fairly clean beach but I did gather a bag full of stuff like  butts, bottles and a thong. There was one huge problem I could not move.  There were a few fires lit in the sand and I could see drag marks so there must have been a bar set up near the fires.  Everything had been taken away except the table. I followed the drag marks at least 100 metres and there it was thrown over the back bushes. They did all that work to hide it rather than take it back up the hill. At least the rest of the mess was cleared out.  I also found a ray high up on the sand. It could not have got there by itself.

High and dry

Hide and dry

More Hospital

 I thought we were finished with the overnight phone calls. James drove himself to hospital with abdominal pains and they kept him there for an operation on his appendix. It has been a bit of a wait as there aren't the normal number of theatres available on a public holiday.  Debbie left early to do the baby assistance procedures and may not be back for a couple of days.  I checked out the vegie patch again and retrieved a large tub of tomatoes and strawberries.  We had about twenty lemons out the front of which there are only five left. The passing foot traffic has been a lot bigger due to a warm Easter.

Last night's after glow

I need to check the letter box for coins!!