Day two of the grand grandies day. We took Asher on a road trip over to great grandpa's. It's all so confusing these Pas and Grandpas. I delivered a USB of the digitised photos plus received one back with a complete history of the Roberts' tree and all its associated files. Asher got a unicorn which doubles as a bed warmer. It says 6° outside as I am typing this so a bed warmer could be good. Asher is very good with toileting especially when we were out and about.
Another day another baby sit. With full on Wintry weather there was no outside activities today so we borrowed Heidi's car and went to the shopping centre. We spent 2hrs including some lunch and some K Mart shopping pushing Estelle around the Greensborough centre. She loves just watching the action and all the activity as we moved around. We got her a stroller with a doll, so when we got back she was pushing it around just like the shops.
 |
| peek a boo |
The vege patch has had a complete clean out except for the row of strawberry plants which is still putting out fruit. The plan now is to plant a new apricot tree after foully being destroyed by root ball bugs a few years back. The final harvest of tomato and zuchini was a hefty tray full and could make up a good chutney batch. Also managed to do some shopping for a new shaver. I have been using a travel version for years. The new one is whiz bang and you would swear it could take me to the Moon. It connects to my phone via wifi, sends messages about charging, about cleaning, about head maintenance. It has a power dock and a cleaning dock and you can use it underwater ie shower. Hopefully it can shave.
I have spent some time trying to get a trip to the world cycling champs in Woollongong happening. We are making it a road trip with a maximum of 4 hours driving on any given day. I got a call this morning all bright and bubbly, 'I am 83 yar old and I built this hotel 45 yar ago and I sold it yesterday so you will have to cancel your booking. It will be demolished before you get here.' OK then. I have had a hotel destroyed by an earthquake before we got there but this is a new one. I have now squeezed into the nearby Motor Inn, nothing fancy but it is still just a 4 hour drive.
That's two Saturday's in a row we have been out to lunch, last week being at Basil's Farm and today at the Ocean Grove Bowls. Basil's Farm is the better venue and comes with a good view of Swan Bay as well as a higher price, although they seemed to be short on staff which is happening in a lot of work places after COVID. Today's is your typical club lunch venue with the gaming room, the bar room, and the dining hall. The Klyes were there and we had the usual discussion about the Collendina Park and its new owners and how high are the new fees going to be. I wont need a big tea tonight.
I have said this before that nothing goes unobserved here. You never know who is going to arrive at the holiday rental two doors down but every weekend it is in use and this weekend they have arrived early on Thursday with no less than 8 identical cars between them. One person per car and all wearing the same uniforms. They look like a sales force of some kind but when the number of cars start to spread out in front of us that's when we take note. Other than that they have been quiet so who can complain. This morning there was a pep talk out on the footpath and then every car was procession like in heading off around our corner.
 |
| Who's taking photos |
Not sure if this means birds who eat snakes or the otherway around. What it's got to do with chocolate is a mystery as well but they are a Melbourne company who make chocolate. I was reading up on this and decided to buy in a few of their sample bars. It seems nothing is as it seems. You can't have a simple piece of chocolate without somebody turning it into a problem. Various products squeezed out of Africa like cocoa beans are done so using child labour and also slaves on some farms. So these Birdsnakes only use ethically sourced beans. It is pricey stuff at $5 for a small sampler and tastes very very chocolaty. There, now I can go back to eating normal chocolate, although I haven't had any of that since Easter.
 |
| Peruvian |
 |
| Ecuadorian |
I do not know HA Mallaby. I do have a box that arrived last week that was most probably his. He was interested in stamps and kept a lot of envelopes during his life but never got the stamps off of them. But that does leave behind a detailed trail, so if you are ever security conscious, destroy the envelopes as well. I can tell you he lived on a farm as a youth in a suburb of Griffith called Lake Wyangan. He went to the Forestry School in Canberra and later became the Secretary of the Riverina Philatelic Society in the late 1950's. This is gleaned just from the envelopes and there are a lot more. I am cutting most of them up but I have kept a few in totality. I put these details down here because I have thrown those parts away. There are also the aerograms. These have the complete letter still attached and were all sent from aboard the 'Strathaird' a P&O Liner in 1959.
 |
 |
| WOW Turbo Chraged |
I went back out to the 'Anchor' that I found yesterday. Another ideal beach day for walking not for swimming, although we did venture out into the water for 50 metres. The tide is low so whatever it was is protruding at low tide. I have not noticed this before. There is a series of metal pieces covered in marine growth, most likely an old boat that has run aground and never recovered. Back over on the Collendina side there was a car that we could see from time to time and further down the beach there was a huge funnel that uncovered every so often. All good fun now but not when disaster struck.
 |
| patterns |
 |
| wreck |
 |
| Make like a frog - kneedeep kneedeep |
The weather conditions have been ideal for the last three days. The fog cleared early and when I checked the low tide it was only 0.3 m at 2:30pm so I timed the walk to suit. The Sun was warm and no breeze. Maybe I should have brought the wetsuit but the walk was leisurely. I covered all three beaches twice so the distance was 4.2km. It was more of a wander and for the last section I got out the rubbish bag for a cleanup. Blue is the colour of a lot of it including, bottle tops, biros and plastic rings for today.
 |
| follow the sand |
 |
| down below |
 |
| protruding anchor |
 |
| old Dell jetty |
I have finished one of the books I picked up at Clunes Booktown. Never Truly Lost are some recollections of Paddy Pallin from his adventure days. There are a lot of similarities in where he went I often followed about 20 years later. Some of those places include Mt Feathertop in Winter and Federation Peak which he stopped half way up due to weather conditions. There was an interesting section where his group was coming down from Mt Bogong on Staircase Spur and someone called his name as they were running up towards him. This was a complete bafflement to him. Others were running passed as well, he called out, 'What are you doing in just shorts and T-shirt? ' We are racing in the Conquestathon. When he got down, some had already finished and could not believe they had done 20kms in 3.5 hrs with Mt Bogong in the middle. We did this race at least three times, my best being 3hrs.
 |
| Wash your socks |
 |
| Beware the Cornice 78 |
 |
| Flooded 83 |
 |
| Dark Federation 83 |
 |
| Clear federation a year later |
We heard predictions about long queues, covid cleaning delays and staff shortages but voting was a breeze. No queue, empty booths and staff having coffees on the side. We were there are 9:00 am. On the way back we called into the local milk bar which has a coffee machine. In the four yar we have been here I have not tried their coffee. $5 for a takeaway from the milk bar is probably a fair deal and the coffee was a good brew. My sleep was restless with a dodgy arm but I went over to the beach this morning to revisit the wind blown wave thrown trash. I got a very full bag of all sorts quickly and there is more where that came from. There was another couple who could not resist putting some rubbish into my bag. Get your own bag.
 |
| Sunset Strip |
 |
| Full Bag |
 |
| Grass layer |
Don't think I have ever had two injections in the same arm at the same time before. We are living in a time of needles. I was going to do a beach patrol this arvo but my upper arm is a bit of a throbber. After the chemist we went across to the coffee in the wall shop which has been around for a few months but had not tried it til today. These coffees are good but a bit pricey. We paid $17 for a tea, coffee and muffin in takeaway cups and they mean it, as there was no where to sit down. We also got a message from the Postie to go to the PO Box for a pickup. There must have been 25 pieces of voting junk mail that we had already gotten at home. Is someone recycling this stuff?
We gave the new shoes another go, this time along the beach and out into some surrounding streets for 4.2km. The beach section had been hit hard by wind and there was a lot of washed up litter so will have to go back maybe today to clean up. On the upper reaches but closer to home we seem to have gotten the roadside bug. There was a whole box of books sitting out for distribution. I have always taken them to the op shop. In the space of three days we have brought back plants and now books from a walk. We were always the ones who put stuff out but never brought it back. If the book is no good I can't complain about spending too much.
 |
| High Tide jungle walk |
I took my new podiatrist fitted runners for a test drive. It was only a few kms squeezed inbetween meetings but they worked well and so far there are no feet issues. We need to get upto a 5km in length to really see what's what. As we went along, we saw two houses side by side in our street both up for sale. This will give us yet another indicator of what this street is doing. These houses are both on a par with ours, being two storied with balconies and gardens etc. The turnover in house sales in our street has ballooned. Also on the way back another neighbour was moving out and placing all manner of plants out the front. So it was our turn to lug a huge pot plant 500 m back to our place.
 |
| selfie via camera not phone |
This computer is in need of an upgrade. The SD card slot in its side is being temperamentel again. I can usually get around it by plugging a cable from the camera but this refused to work as well. The third try was using an old media card reader. This has six slots for different media types but it has to be level with its USB port to work. So after balancing it on a book at the side of the machine the contacts engaged and I could unload the the video files. This took just as long as the processing of the videos. I have another taken from the deck here, of a battalion of pelicans in formation. I will put that one up tomorrow.
Day two of Grand children wacky time. In keeping with the 'not on the floor idea' we moved the entire dolls house on to the tabletop. This worked quite well although bossy boots was never quite happy about how we were going about things. But we soon got the hang of it. Later she had a good sleep. The table games continued with phantom emails and sending of photos via a wooden computer. I will get some video going tomorrow.
 |
| seated doll house |
We had a full Estelle day today but I got up even earlier as I had not put the bins out, so they went out at 6:30am. Estelle is good to go when she has been separated from her parents and is fully into what ever you have happening. Especially getting her out the door then it is no problem, whether it is a walk to the play ground or to the shops. She is good on the swing and the slide but not ready to land her feet at the bottom. We have swapped hotels for the Comfort Inn in Mickleham Rd. I can recommend the chicken wellington.
 |
| action shot |
Went for an outing to Torquay this morning. It was a packed agenda, first of all detouring to the rock quarry to buy 12 pinkish rocks. These no doubt will be dusted, placed, shifted then balanced to wall off a garden plot. Next we moved on to the Torquay ocean beach. We continued our walk preparations by doing another 3km cliff top walk around to Jan Juc and back. Sunday mornings are busy for walkers. We were promised sunshine but the clouds came and they also did some spitting on us. After that it was back to Ocean Grove. There is a specialist podiatry shoe store where the staff are training as podiatrists. So now I have new runners/walkers for the training walking campaign. No excuses. We crossed the road to the Kyosk cafe for a light lunch. We have used this place before and shared corn fritters however the service is a bit slow. Still a tasty lunch.
 |
| high tide wash |
 |
| pedestal view |
 |
| take the high road at high tide |
Managed to walk around three Kms to the Dell and back without any debilitating feet trouble. It seems to me that if I have removed 4kg of body weight then I should be able to test that out on my feet. I have largely not been bearing my own weight with stuff like swimming or the bike. Walking has been minimal. We have the chance to do a 12km walk thru reasonably flat bush which we have not tried for some years. If this is going to work then it will need a build up to get near that distance. 2.77 kms to be precise is a good start.
 |
| Sundown |
 |
| Fog Bound |
 |
| Coasting along |
This is one of your more recent Hugo winners and what started out as one book has morphed into three. The story is one of those alternate views of history where in this case a lady astronaut gets to fly the rocket ships. It has similarities to the book Hidden Figures where it is often the back room team that keeps the whole thing together. Our new library is progressing and is now projecting out of the ground. Nothing like a closely held Federal seat to keep the money flowing. I am predicting the Liberal Asher to get this seat back after losing it last time. The main thing we need is to keep it a very close result. I need to borrow books two and three, so they better get this library up and running.
I have finished reworking all the slides from last century. The file sizes for each photo are larger than the first iteration, so there is a lot more information stored in terms of colour depth, brightness, pixel size etc. They will be less grainy than before. This means you can work with each one in an editor to bring up the brightness or dampen the exposure etc. I have done that already to some of them but most will be OK just the way they are.
The windows file system can be used as a pseudo database. I have added tags to each photo so that you can search through them. Previously the photo title and directory name gave a hint as to when and where. This time around I have embedded that info in the file properties. See each photo's details for that and for the tag list eg holiday,family,outing to name a few. I have attached a tutorial on how to search thru but I did not mention that the colon : is needed to start the tags list eg tags:1964 to find all photos taken in 1964. The tutorial can be seen better using the full screen button. ESC key to exit full screen mode. Now I just need to get some USB thumb drives to get copies of all this out there. I have also attached a slide show of one section that was separated out into an envelope.
Yesterday was the last day for applying the face eating cream after three weeks twice a day, although I do have another week to go applying it to a spot on my arm. That one is fairly mild and most likely not an issue however faces are a bit more tender and the cream has really bitten my cheek good and proper. I have got my pillow slip soaking in stain remover but I don't think it is going to work to well to clean that lot off. Now I have to heal it all up in time for the doc to get his knife out.
Another perfect day here cloudless with good sunshine but only 14° when I went across to the beach this morning. The poo present that was left there a few days ago was nagging at me. When I got out of the water yesterday I wasn't paying proper attention. I did scan the rocks but afterwards I wasn't convinced so I took my trusty rubbish bag and went back today. Sure enough there it was waiting patiently for somebody else to deal with it. I also got another huge haul of stuff including another two bags of dog poo. A dog walker nearby said she was disgusted by it. This time I was knee deep in slush to get at some of the plastic wrappers that were washed up. All in a days beach clean.
 |
| A poo present for me |
 |
| Just to balance things out. I could smell a different fragrance inside this morning. All these flowers had opened at once. |
Good conditions have arrived again like sunshine and no wind. It seemed like a good idea to test the water in May. I can report that it is too cold to try the swim now at least without a wetsuit. I did go in and do one of those training type exercises where you jog thru the water. I kept this going for 300 metres and the resistance really gets you puffing. Wading thru knee high sloppy grass soup to get to the clearer parts was tricky. Walking back along the beach also helps wake up the senses. PS I did not see the doggie bag from yesterday.
 |
| This could be any old photo but it was taken today. |
The wind has died out and there is a bit of sunshine around so I went across to the beach to check out the state of play. Firstly I notice the council has put the chain back across the access way and securely padlocked as well. Wonder how long that will last. The grass has been piled again at one end but still relatively clear for ¾ of it. There was a guy who went in briefly but I did not try the water myself. He was doing one of those football recovery 'stand in the water for a while' sessions. I picked up many items along the shore. It was littered with debris. There was even a bucket to help with the rubbish removal. A polystyrene fruit box had smashed overboard somewhere and there were pieces everywhere. A nice looking lure washed up as well. At the far end was a fat bag of dog poo placed nicely on a rock. I left it for the owner but I will have to go back tomorrow to see if it is still there. What a poop!
 |
| white sunset |
 |
| The clear end |
 |
| The lure of the beach. Get hooked on it. |
 |
| bottles cans wrappers butts plastic polystyrene rope etc |
