There are showers today which makes it a good day for photo scanning. I got a photo box out of the pile which is like a mini set of drawers but holds photos. There are four drawers but also a loose pile at the bottom. They are a mixed lot built up over time with a bit of travel, birthdays and family. The one of the Liberator Bomber is good. I worked right next to this hanger for years but never went inside.
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| Libertor |
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| Werribee Mansion Hotel |
Conditions have not been very good for the snorkel lately but in between cloudiness, the Sun can get in a couple of hours. We have not walked the Eastern part of the shoreline this Summer and as there was a Westerly breeze thr rocks gave us some shelter. Also it was low tide otherwise you will get wet. We found a pink blob that was still alive and rather than wait for the next tide we moved it closer to the water. My Seashore Guide says that this is most likely a sponge. These are simple animals that suck water through their many pores filtering out what they can eat.
The weather has rained in again this morning so an indoor job like grappling with the Vic Gov power comparison website could be a good use of time. We did not bother with this scheme last year but it has been renewed and the payback increased as well and you never know we might switch to a cheaper provider. I did the Clifton Springs address first then the Williamstown one. I have never paid much attention to these bills but there is a lot of info on there. Back in the day, Logica got a large contract to perfect the software behind the smart meter installation. There were some meetings of staff to explain it in general terms but I was not involved in that project. We are all meant to be able to logon to a website and get very detailed info on where the power is being used.
As for this comparison, our RED bills are $950 at Clifton Springs and $750 at Williamstown for a year's worth of electricity. Our meter was replaced recently at Williamstown so the results maybe off. As for the comparison, in both cases there were the same six providers in the same order who were offering to do our electricity on cheaper rates. Simple Energy for example, claim they can do it for $200 less per year in both cases. In the meantime the Gov are verifying our bills to see if they will give us $500 back. Our taxes at work.
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| The Sun came back in the afternoon yesterday. |
The roads have dried out today so I got the bike out for a short spin of about 15km, this time going across to the bypass road. I cut through Drysdale Station and the expanded yards there are looking good. It is a slow project and most likely done by volunteers who work the steam train. Mind you the food train will benefit ,so they must have put some money in. The bike track is getting squeezed at one point by new switches and rails. The other project is the new library which looks complete, except for some gardening works. Not sure if there are any books in there as yet. What is the collective name for a gathering of bogies?
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| What about a shunt of bogies. |
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| I got a feeling the bike track might be closed off here |
Never tell a grandie there is a play session coming up and then have to change that idea for some other reason. All Asher knows is, that is a play session I am not going to get back. However due to some hasty rescheduling she was able to visit for 90 mins while we got the toys out. In the meantime Kaia is busy doing some growing of her own, with a kilo put on since birth via a combination of bottles and boobs. It is an overcast day with drizzle, so indoor play was the go. Good thing Debbie was packed to head off on the Melbourne leg of the ICB conference. As soon as Asher went back to her van, Debbie was out the door to Williamstown for some preliminary work before manning the booth tomorrow.
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| Kaia likes a feed |
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| The farm animal express |
My toes are telling me it is getting colder, must be time to start putting socks on. I have not read much of Agatha Christie and it seems this one is a rare foray into writing a spy thriller. The usual ingredients are there. Dead people turning up (spies) becuase of the secret bad guy organisation (kaos) but the British (Penelope) are onto them disguised as archeologists (Indiana Jones). Not a bad effort written in 1951. Cristie married an archeologist and did many trips to Baghdad so had plenty of research material.
Our coffee shop wish has come true. We now have an ice cream shop (since last year) and a coffee shop, 5 mins walk away. They have local food stuffs like Otway Pasta, Beck's Honey, Daryl's Peanut Butter and Ridiculousy Delicious Chocolate, whoever they are. Other things I don't understand like Tony's Chocolonely. The main thing is they sell the newspaper and have tables and chairs inside and out. I tried a takeaway large cappucino. It is the real thing and cost me $5.50 so that seems to be what they go for elsewhere. It is a quiet location but they come from everywhere for the ice cream. Mr Jones was flat out keeping the coffees coming on this Saturday morning so I guess it will be a winner.
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| take your pick |
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| 7:00am |
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| 11:00am |
The NBN guys are digging up the naturestrip looking for old Telstra pits. So there will be no mowing today. They are trying to workout the cost of running a fibre cable through the existing copper network conduits. I have never seen a Telstra pit here but the two houses either side have proper pit covers, trust ours to be buried. I used to mess around in pits like these back on Melbourne Water sites trying to map out where network cabling ran. We paid $500 for a quote for a fibre upgrade when we first moved here. They said $20000 will get you an upgrade. Seems good things come to those who wait. I think we will be waiting a bit longer as this is just a preliminary investigation.
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| They never found the pit but its near this pole somewhere. |
Yesterday I was holding down the fort while the maintence man was hard at it. Fiddly time consuming jobs took another 8 hours solid but we have gates that open and shut and a clothesline that holds clothes. I woke this morning to thunderbolts and lightning at 7:00am. I promised myself yesterday I was going for a ride today. There was a break around 10:30am so I got the bike out. I have had a dodgy back for a week but it was time test it out. I did a reverse circuit to the loop I have done in the past. Almost seems like a totally different ride when you see it from the other direction.
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| flipper with broken heal strap |
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| treed section of bike trail |
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| palms and posts |
Each time I swim lately I break something. This time it was a strap on the back of a flipper. I have done this before to a previous set but I have retrieved the old good one so now I have different colours on each foot. Another retrieval was for the old Gopro. I gave up on this one some years back, as I had to use a waterproof case for it and it was a fussy camera to use but I have resurrected it for the time being. It is still a temperamental unit. I tried the swim with no flippers after I broke one, its like someone is holding you back as you are trying to move without flippers.
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| Another camera rescue job. This is Beryl's old camera. |
Not bad considering it hasn't been used for years. I can remember getting hundreds of photos printed via the internet from this camera. Those one's I am not scanning.
I know cricket has problems with rain and golfers always want to come in out of the rain but our repair works have to wait another day because of the rain. I knew it was going to be longer than a day and now we will be dragging into a third. Yesterday's hold up was all about not being able to pull the pin as opposed to today where the metaphorical pulling of the pin was easy as. Not that we should be advising how to do the job, but if you have very rusty hinges why wouldn't you buy the whole hinge with a new pin included, rather than trying to salvage the encrusted rusty one. At least the other jobs have continued with a new endpiece for the clothesline attached, as well as another rotten eave removed and replaced.
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| Done to a T |
It's hard to get good help. This is often said where pure Bookkeeping is concerned. We have a builder type who lives three doors down, whom we have been trying to entice into our front yard for some awkward to access repairs. We did not want just anyone with a rickety ladder to get up there and this guy does good work, as we have seen it on other houses around here and he has proper scaffolding. This has been on his book for a year, so we went around picking out extra jobs like gates with broken, rusted hinges. Other gates not fitting any more. The clothesline is a cross to bear. Literally a cross which has weathered over time and can't bear the weight. So its seems this will all fill one day now and today is the day. It has taken all morning to assemble the tower under one eave to do the job, disassemble it, move it and re-erect it under the otherside. Still got half a day to finish the rest.
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| before |
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| tower time |
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| after |
I finished reading the Jawbone Sanctuary book. It was put out by the Jawbone Care group who are a volunteer group formed in 2008 to help look after things. The sanctury is Victoria's smallest at 30ha and was established in 2002 right adjacent to the rifle range site. It seems that the existance of the rifle range since 1878 meant that humans were banned from that coastal fringe for 110 years. The retirement village snuck in before they thought of making the area a park, otherwise the land probably would have been included. I want to try a snorkel around there at some stage.
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| The Jawbone name might come from the shape |
It's meant to be hot today so I went across the way early but it was choppy unclear water. Not like yesterday where it was very clear late afternoon, so I went across to test the new waterproof door. It let in water! The camera is now completely dead. I can't get anything from it not even a power on LED. I thought I was clever now it is never. Except for getting the contents insurance to pay for a new one, minus the $100 excess. As for this morning I switched to rubbish mode as the conditions were not good and picked up yet another bag full. Biggest items were cans and a bottle with the usual small stuff but the standout was a large lure with four nasty hooks. Don't step on that one.
James is here at the moment and two weekends back we went to Portarlington where we spied numerous fishermen throwing a line off the pier, so he has gone back there to try his luck. Maybe it is fish for dinner.
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| Don't think James could use this one |
I have been trying to track down what the brownish gloop is that grows everywhere in the water towards the end of Summer. As the water warms up this stuff thickens up. I have been reading a book about the Jawbone Sanctuary in Williamstown. It talks all about this stuff called Hinksia which is an algae and can bloom quickly with warm water and nutrients washed thru after a storm. I have seen it each year and clouds the water with blobs that have peeled off from the foliage below.
I have a new replacement door on my Gopro so I am back in business for underwater filming if the weather allows.
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| Colour does not match but it closes nicely. Haven't tested it under water yet. |
I got back to some stamps today. We thought about some beaching as it was warm enough and also Debbie went shopping for new replacement chairs, after we lost them in the Fitzroy gardens. Or should I say they disappeared somehow. The wind was against us so we hung out on the balcony but it did not stop Debbie from having a snooze there. My more recent Australian stamps are still on paper eg this century's stamps. However there are some albums I received which have Aussie stamps that are neatly filling in the gaps. Due to the printing style for this lot, I now have four copies of them, which are all different.
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| The top row is used, the second row is mint, and the bottom two rows are self adhesive |
Our garden/veggie beds are a bit of a jungle out the back. I did a quick tidy up and picked a punnet of strawberries although the bugs also had a feast. As for the beach cleanup, there were not large crowds over the long weekend so the cleanup was all about small stuff. The biggest items were two plastic forks, otherwise it was butts, tops, straws and other plastics. There must have been some high winds recently as another load of sea grass has been dumped at one end with sand contiuning to be washed out. The odd piece was a badge labelled LOLA. As soon as I picked it up I had that song in my head for the rest of the walk.
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| dog tag |
That's what it seems like so far today, a day of drowsiness. Might have to go across to the beach this arvo where some cooler water will snap me out of it. In the meantime I have trawled thru my phone's media and only found a few videos, as I did not get the bigger recorder out this time around. Charlie is four months old but he can tell something different like a camera is being pointed at him.
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| Bugs outside our window |
Having had extra time to sit in hotel rooms, then airports, then hotel rooms, then airports I was able to finish off this Hugo winning Space Opera cum Galaxy Saga which is a continuation of 'A memory called Empire', both Hugo winners. This time the heroes are confronted by an interloping neighbour from one galaxy across the way. These books would be hard to film as a lot of communication is via 'thought bubble'. There is plenty of space battle shoot em ups though.
We used Citadines in Paris a few years back. I do recommend them and this one has us sitting on the top floor at the bar with a view over the runways. We have a 4:00am wake up call for the flight tomorrow morning.
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| Not worth printing it |
We just finished a coffee/breakfast catchup with Loretta Barnard who I met in Tassie about a half a century ago. We have been corresponding since then and happens to live 5 mins from our hotel. I got her to sign her book that I brought with me and mostly talked grand children. We now have to make our way to the airport for afternoon flights.
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| This is the playroom at the Newport. Note the scrabble on the wall complete with librarian access ladder. |
I did the morning swim and had some breakfast across the road at Beco with Tim and Julie and a lot of the wedding crew. The morning was mostly spent with Charlie until it was time for the after party luncheon. Charlie has done well thru the whole event schedule. We left around 5:00pm for a swim back at the hotel pool.
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| Under the trees |
The bus got us to very picturesque spot for drinks on the grassy area by the water. This was where the ceremony was held at Church Point. I have not eaten as much good food at a wedding before. It did not take long to get sweaty after the photos.
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| From the point |
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| Mosh pit |
We had breakfast across the road with Laura and Charlie then went for a 1hr walk to Newport beach and back. The geography here is not flat. We have 3 hours before we get the special bus to Church Point. I also tried the pool this morning. It is a good size and deep but no shade.
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| Surfside |
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| Calmside |
First impression is good from our room with water views and plenty of space in the room. It has an upgraded air-conditioning unit but an old TV. Laura has an older room with bad air-conditioning and she has Charlie in there.
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| Sunset Western view |
I got held up at Avalon Security check with a pocket knife in my back pack. I had forgotten it was there and has been in there for quite some years and has travelled on numerous flights. It does seem like the X ray machine is a bit newer. This tablet machine has no usb connection so adding photos in the next few days will be via Google photos. We are having a snack type of lunch before boarding at 2:30pm. There is only one plane at the moment the airport is quite busy.
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| All packed including spare bed and pram |
I don't think anything I am wearing in Sydney is old. Even 'after parties' have to have new clothes. Between nursing Charlie for another two hour nail session and squeezing in a trip to Geelong for gladrags and handbags, I will need a week to recover before any partying. We also swapped over my shaver for a complete replacement as the one I had refused to charge up and it was only a few months old. So even the shaving is going to be new.
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| an old bag wont do |
We are now on wedding preparation countdown and for some reason that takes days to do. So while nails are being clipped someone is left holding the baby. Charlie will play with the mobile toys for a while but really wants to be picked up most of the time. The usual things like bouncing and rocking will work for quite a time but then a good trick is to let him gaze out of the window. I had to prop him on pillows for a while.
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| Just wait there while I attend to business |
It has been a week of double trouble with Evie and Charlie in residence but this week we will only have half the fun with Charlie here as Evie is heading off to go home today. We did get to the beach again yesterday in the afternoon and this morning we squeezed in another trip to the playground. Even better the Flying Fox pairing has been fixed so you can have fox races. The storm also cleared away all the haze just as the air show was packing up. What it did mean is that we got our best view of the planes as they were leaving to go back to base.
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| eating time quiet time |
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| boogie water |
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| sand sculpture |
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| Too Bright |
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| Thumbs Up |
We had a few wake up calls, like at midnight, 4am and 6am with no chance of getting Evie back to sleep after 6am. Estelle seemed to do better next door. After breakfast its was all off to Port Arlington adventure playground. Estelle and Evie are working thru their sharing routines. Sometimes it works until it doesn't. We also got them walking along the pier to see some boats and fish. James was quite interested in the fisherman there. One guy hauled in a small trevally. The afternoons have been beaching and it will be the same this arvo.
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| 2 yar old surfers |
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| Sunsets are back |
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| morning bright eyes |
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| Two for the Octopuss |
