Out to play

 The wind has dropped and the Sun is shining even if it is just for the morning. I even got my socks off for an airing of my toes. It seems like they have been in moccasin coffins for weeks. Is that too much information?  The dolphins have been out as well although I assume they don't care what the weather was doing.  I also got the lawn mower out but there is not much Winter growth to cut off. The succulents are a slow moving item out the front even though there is beach traffic today, no plants have been taken. All of this in between Olympics sessions. PS I recommend watching the Australia v Great Britain Women's soccer QTR final.  That game has got everything.

        The birds are a clue to location in the water but they were all over the place this time around

Weather Wind

 We are on a high spot here and it makes it interesting when the watery weather blows thru. I spied one woman walking the dogs when she got a squall full on. Those dog walkers stop for nothing. There was another guy who got out doing some kite surfing before the rain came. There were some big jumps at the turn of each leg.  PS our lemon trade is now up to the third tray full and a new commodity has been started with succulent plants, as a line of them has been placed along the front fence.

succulents all in a row

Nature's lawn mower

 The wind came thru again yesterday and when it drives the waves that cuts the seagrass and all manner of weird shapes appear on the shore. So does a fresh layer of rubbish.  I went prepared this time with a bigger bag but it seems there was another lady ahead of me according to an interested woman who says she would love to pick up stuff but doesn't want to get her hands dirty.  So I was left with the smaller, ugly, half buried stuff and this bag full was ugly, so I wont list the contents but COVID has something to do with it. 

Always suspicious of spray can markings with crosses and arrows pointing out to sea as appeared two days ago

seagrass sculpture

5 Shillings

 I have had a few stamp days of late with crap weather and lock downs etc so I got around to a box of stamps that has been sitting on the side for a while.  At the very top was a packet of unopened stamp packs. Some have envelops, others have printed cards but all different sizes.  One was worth $140 on account it was a rare one printed in Japanese for  Osaka Expo 1970.  So I was poking around for a box to store odd sized stamp packs in  and I found some documents from primary school. It was right at the time of decimal currency.  Very officious paperwork says that Debbie is entitled to 5 Shillings worth of merchandise.  I wonder what she got. 

This report is written on tissue paper. I see a perfect score but only equal 1st in the grade

original cost 25c now valued at $140

Olivine

 I think the olive tree gave us more output the year before last and after last years very hard pruning we lost maybe 20 kgs of fruit.  We have had the garden man here today for a few jobs like getting on the roof to cleanout the gutters. Better him than me.  So the tree still got a haircut but hopefully allowing for enough new growth to bring on the harvest.  There was also the new garden bed out front with its large volcanic rock. This may have been decorative at one stage but when you don't have a trailer, hire someone else's.  If he didn't take it then we were considering rolling it down the slope across the road. 

It could be a Japanese style but that rock has now gone

half way haircut

Oh Bouy

 We watched the Olympic triathlon this morning and straight afterward we went out on our own triathlon minus the swimming and the running.  Plenty of biking still to watch today with the mountain bikes. Yesterday's women's road race was a great experience for Sarah Gigante being the second aussie to finish out of four.  We could not see the wayward bouy from yesterday but sure enough we found it out on our ride attached to the back of a truck. That was quick work fishing it out of the water. We talked to the truck driver and he was about to put it back at Point Wilson. 

Woolly mammoth seen on beach

 We spied a marker buoy that has been loosed from its mooring and heading towards our beach. We have seen this sort of thing before as when a huge marker was shifted onto the sand at Collendina some yar ago. Everyday despite wind or rain there are people out walking dogs so we thought, blow it (haha) we will go down and check this out.  The beach itself had a bit off flotsam but was not overwhelmed in seagrass. The wind was cutting, so we only picked up larger items like cans however then we came to a hat, then a shoe. My conclusion is that some bloke was clinging to the marker overnight. It broke free and he rode it in, swimming the last part to shore and losing his shoes and hat in the process. I suggested this to a dog walker who thought it was perfectly feasible. Elementary!

Moon Morning

Point Wilson exclusion zone is much further West

is it a hat?

grass balls

just passing

flotsam - never picked up a shoe before

Corio Action

 We have had some cold days and blustery but it does not stop the doings out on the water. I am typing this up with one eye on the Olympics on the other screen. I have not gotten the 7 Plus dedicated channels to work but the main channel is OK.   As for out on the Bay, a large construction barge was moved across and most likely is going to Port Arlington where a huge upgrade of the Terminal is happening for the ferry there with a new pier and buildings at its end.

Kindred Chords strikes a note

 I met Loretta Barnard in Tassie about 45 yar ago and have kept in touch. One of the activities we did was go to her son's music shows in the Melbourne Jazz club (now closed).   Her father is a well known musician Bob Barnard and she has written a book exploring the family musical connections of Australian entertainers.  She asks one main question , 'Is music passed down thru the genes?'  My answer is no and it is just plain hard work, like anything else successful but it does help if others in the house can play. One of the stories was about Graeme and Roger Bell who formed a band with such songs as Swanston Street Shamble from the 1940's.  A good read.

garden grow

 The garden is getting a spruce up in between rain over the last week. A significant patch has been cleared out front for more succulent expansion.  Debbie was going to get the garden man over but she cleared it herself. There is more for him to do with gutter cleaning and also olive and lemon trimming.  We have a lemon sale on at the moment. We are onto our second tray of lemons and so far there has been no money left in the letterbox. Hooray.  I have been typing this with the Olympics running on 7plus on the other screen.  This is a good system with a choice of 25 channels. I watched Australia beat New Zealand  but it is quite distracting if you are trying to enter some stamps in the database on this screen and goals being scored on the other screen.  The whole Olympic feel has been spoiled by the lack of crowds.  Sarah Gigante rides for Australia on Sunday.  Go Gigante Go.

succulent crowd

expansion room

No Art Today

 Debbie's final art class today has been disrupted not sure if it is rescheduled or cancelled. In the meantime the new studio is now setup in the office near the light filled window.  My green screen did not work so well, as a green edge bled onto the target. I probably did not have strong enough light shining onto the dais. Also my old software required a manual removal of the background rather than an automated approach. Also my elbow was becoming a pain thru the gripping of the mouse so I will stick to taking photos without too much messing with them. 

urn

easy easel

ride a grass horse?

cactus flower

Rainbow's End

 This is one of your more recent Hugo winners from 2006 and is trying to predict the world as viewed thru devices that are available now, such as spectacles with embedded imagery, wearable computing power like cameras sown into the fabric using flexible printed circuitry. So you walk around with images in front of you that enhance your surroundings. It has been done in films before and I saw an add this morning for a film called Free Guy which turns it around a bit as he is in the virtual world trying to get out.  One theme in the book is the destroying of old documents after they have been digitised so you can save space and put them online for everyone. This is exactly what happened to our title deed back in Essendon.  Original thick vellum paper with the whole history of the property and it was shredded.  I would have kept it if I was allowed.

Green Screen

 We went out for an early ride before the rain came.  Not sure if there is a lockdown when the local realtor is having a final vendor meeting and putting up the Sold sign on yet another house in our street sold to new neighbours.  This guy is only moving to Geelong.  Most people were not wearing masks.  I put up the green screen and took a few more travel type photos.  This time I have zeroed in properly to the target. Not sure exactly what the advantage is but I assume it is easier to add a new background.  I have located an old copy of PaintShop on an old laptop with a broken keyboard.  Maybe I can try something with that.

Cactus

Pisa la Piazza Dei Miracoli

Little Mermaid

Grecian Urn

Lockdown Loonies

 I came up with a pretend way of being in Europe when the Tour de France is on and you are not allowed to travel.  There has been a photo studio in our garage for some years after Laura went to QLD and I have often thought what it might look like if it was set up. I spent  a couple of hours putting it together but I still don't have some of the lighting shades working properly but I was mostly using it as a prop.  Although tomorrow I will change the backdrop to green and try some more serious still life articles. Today however we just goofed around. The clothes were bought in France some years back and there is also a beret somewhere here but we can't find it. The Moet was given to us a while back as well so that completes the scene.

Globe Pointer rather than Globe Trotter

Kestrel Korner

 The Kestrels like the windy conditions but not too windy. They can hover and pounce when the breeze is just right. Today for the first time we think the parents of the younger bird have made an appearance.  The wind seemed to be blowing them all over the place before the rains came.  Trying to film a moving target is one thing but three moving targets does not work.  There was also another bird defending its chicks and was mostly trilling disapproval.  

 

DVDs

 For some reason our newish gym contraption comes with DVDs as a way of demonstrating workouts.  We have a lot of old DVDs including most of our OS travel published as hard copy DVDs, but for some years now we cannot play any as the players have broken. I think you can still buy them for $50.  I found an old player in a box we never unpacked. There was also an old laptop with DVD in there as well as a TV set. I fiddled around for an hour. The laptop booted up once then died. The DVD player opens and closes, then opens and that is all you can get out of it. The TV works but has no DVD option so strike three.  

muscle mania

Correction. I just found an old Blu Ray player in a drawer and went back and dragged out the one that doesn't work as I needed the cables off it. Now I have a working system at the gym site. We only got Daniel to put power into this area the last time he was on the job.  Now we may as well get the internet and TV hard wired into here as well.  

The Lucie

 There has been a lot of drawing around here lately and much buying of paper, pastels and art books. There is also the course Debbie is doing at the local art school so I spent some time today messing around with my own pencils or one at least.  I picked a water scene which you can often see out our balcony but drawing lots of splashing water is tricky. Also maybe I needed to press the pencil a bit harder to the paper.

The Lucie

Consumer Affairs

 I buy a lot of stuff online and somewhere along the way at least one of those transactions was not going to work.  I may have mentioned buying a book (Kindred Chords) last year which has still not been delivered. I have had emails back and forth with the author Loretta Barnard, who is really disappointed with this whole shemozzle. There are others who have paid and not received anything including one guy who decided to pay the money again thru a second order and still has nothing to show for it.  I have looked up the Consumer Affairs Department. There is an online enquiry form, rather than a complaint form but I gave it a try anyway.  Not sure how long it takes to get a reply.

Home Grown

 I have been tucking into the Taylor's garden variety mandarins in the last few days. We did nor take them all to the 'Produce Tree'. They are small but sweet. I read somewhere that half of all produce is rejected by supermarkets because of blemishes, size or odd shapes. Someone has started a business selling this stuff cheaply online. I remember the apricots back in Gaffney street over 50 yar ago. They were the best and the tree was forever being hit by something, later surrounded by concrete to its base and losing branches where eventually even just a trunk still managed a few apricots. I digress. I can't remember what I was going to type, maybe just that the mowing and the bed making was done today, which means the elbows need a rest.

We've never grown pointy tomatoes

but we do like strawberries - thumbs up

Wind Ride

 The Sun is out again today and fairly mild for mid Winter.  We went for a shortened ride because of the wind. It was a stiff northerly which meant it was in our face on the way back.  The Drysdale station upgrade continues which has blocked the rail trail so we cut the ride in half by going thru town. Otherwise we have a had a quiet day which means a few stamps and a bit of book reading.

always lead a balanced lifestyle by staying on track

InverLeigh revisited

 We went back to our favourite flora and fauna park. We did not find any orchids this time although there was some interest in various fungi, mushies and toadies.  September into October is the best time to hunt orchids There was also the curious incident of the missing person search being conducted thru the bush there. Suddenly we were being instructed on where to go and how, so as not to contaminate the trail that had been left not 30 minutes before we stumbled across their incident scene. However the whole thing was a test for a new sniffer dog that was being put thru its paces.  The town itself was very busy. No we could not get into the pub without a reservation and the bakery was queued up out of the door.  We did get an old fashioned pie and sauce across the road.

Fungi on Sundi

follow the dog sniffer's lead

going bush

Federation Bridge

The Other Taylors

 We went for a luncheon outing with the other Taylors.  We started at the Saints & Sailors and I recommend this as a good food location.  I took numerous photos of Anna. The after lunch stroll was down to the pier and back. I took more photos of Anna when she wasn't looking. They also brought their excess lemons and mandarins so we took a detour to the Produce Tree after extracting a few for ourselves.  Anna was photogenic here. The tour continued as it was time to pick up the painting we bought some weeks back, but because it was coffee time we had some of that as well. You guessed it Anna appeared in a few photos from there as well.  As we were heading off we took a U-turn to Aldi for a photo session with you know who.  Lastly the afternoon was spent on the deck watching the Sun set, with a few photos. Hopefully I will get some comments on the attached photos.

Spin

 I went across for another waist deep wading session.  The air temperature was cooler than the other day but absolutely still.  I also finished reading another Hugo, this one being a more recent one from 2006. It has a time travel twist in that everything outside the Earth is sped up eg if you land some encouraging chemicals on Mars in just a few years it will have an atmosphere. Simples!  There are complications, like the Sun getting much bigger during this same time period but some friendly aliens help out with an extra layer of sunscreen.

Bird Life

 Another picture perfect day here which is meant to last into the weekend.  Have had a few book deliveries except for that elusive one I ordered last year. My Hugo list is getting closer to the complete catalog. Another three titles delivered this week. They are arriving faster than I can read them although I did finish reading a Hugo today.  Our resident Kestrel seems to be mixing it with all manner of feathered friends. Directly above me sits our Dish which the birds just love to hang about on.  Crimson Cockies moved in and when the Kestrel got involved it was quite a racket.  Good thing they are not the screeching kind like the white cockies. 

or is it a galah

the roof is not room enough

Winter Water

 After yesterday's ride I had to resort to the painaway cream. I am still having elbow trouble particularly when there is any gripping involved, like handlebars.  The smell of it reminds me of football days when you would have all kinds of liniment  in the change rooms.  I have been waiting for conditions like today's, a bit of sunshine and very calm. I went into the water waist deep for about 10 minutes.  I find it gives my feet a good change from layers of socks and now Ugg boots this Winter.  It was cool but with a bit of a jogging motion you can get used to it.  The water is a s clear as ever and seems that all the sea grass on the shore has been taken from close in as I could not see any grass beds close to shore just stretches of sand.  Once you get out the sensation in the legs is hard to describe.

cool calm clams keep clean clothes 
say this three times fast