Since we don’t live by politix alone (I sincerely hope), what did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
First time in a while I’ve been able to have a lazy sunday, but as they say “no rest for the wicked” and so lazy has turned into wood cutting, shrub pruning and deerhound running to make up for less than ideal exercising of same.
Out walking the dog on a glorious wet, windy and yet sunny day I was feeling unusually worried and at first wondered why. I realized then that I have been carrying an undertow of anxiety with me all day about this morning’s Insiders program. Mike Bowers seemed to have no understanding of just how much personal hurt the segment on Godwin Grech could cause to someone already ill and entirely unused to public scrutiny of this sort, and who I imagine would be likely to watch Insiders and see himself so cruelly lampooned. I could kick myself for not reacting immediately and phoning the ABC to protest as I have done in the past and have belatedly done now. I can see now that my schadenfreude over the whole biter-bit drama of the past week caused me to forget the real concern I have and already shared here about the well-being of Godwin Grech. I trust there is someone out there looking after him.
Hmmmphh. Mock obedience trial, flipping dog kept breaking in the heel segment
Saw it through, then did the three set-piece exercises (stand free for exam, the recall and change of position (which is signalled from 2-3m away)–I saw the biatch got 97/100 for those! Did the 1 min sit stay and 3 min dropstay no probs, solid as a rock. would using an invisible leade be cheating at Gawler next Sunday he asks hopefully?
Shot off to Sa Canine Assn ground and had a go at Novice level Earthdog: dog goes into network of 9″ x 9″ tunnels to find the lure, a dead rabbit at the end of the tunnel system. I need to set up some practice tunnels at home but my Jack Russel/Silky Terrier bitch can shine in Earthdog–if you look at
http://jovialmonk.com.au/tom/demi/earthdog_7x.jpg
and get past the blurredness of the photo you will see she is a real earthdog
On the way home, had to detour from my direct way home: a bad accident (4 ambulances!) at the Torrens Rd/South Rd intersection here in Adelaide. A marvel there aren’t more such, the absence of police cars on the roads means impatient motorists will run a late amber or even red light and with an equally impatient motorist waiting to turn right a prang is bound to happen. As one who was hit by someone running a red light I know any survivors will be battling shock and reactive depression for a while.
Anyway, relaxing with a bottle of Jim Barry “The McRae wood” 1999 Shiraz. not feeling any pain you know?
Oh, not Torrens Road again! And yes, that is a bad intersection, and the demented cowboy culture of driving in SA, where motorists think the speed limit signs are just suggestions, makes it lethal. We who learned to drive while living in Melbourne are still not used to the dodgem-cars approach to the rules of the road, even after 11 years back home.
Not that bad IF you go by the traffic lights.
I do believe, however, that we have the worst & rudest drivers in Australia!
And I have a complaint about this blxxdy site! You mongrels put me onto Neal Stephenson! i am currently 1/3 the way through what seems to be a ‘baroque trilogy’ This volume is called “Quicksilver” set in early 17thC, the time of the London Fire, Issac Newton, King Charles II etc. Just short of 1000 pages, so another 2000 pages to go after I finish this first volume!
I blame this site for the act I get buggerall sleep, reading Stephenson till the early hours of the morning!
hehehehehehehe
Hmmm, nearly time to cook that emu flat fillet and the chanterelles in cream sauce to put on top of it.
I agree about Adelaide drivers, rude and inconsiderate.
It was really windy today, I really don’t like the wind, but I managed to get a bit of work done in the garden. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to do around here.
This morning I watched three juvenile magpies stand defensively and eye off a large raven that had flown into a nearby tree. A small terrier had also seen it and was barking at the base of the tree, while a defiant boxer three houses up bristled aggressively and considered action. Later as I walked around our local footy oval and stood three metres from three young magpies at play, one jumped up into a low hanging branch and hung upside down, while the others jumped up to dislodge it, and once successful, changed places. When this game palled, they played tug of war with a small stick. Building complexity, they combined the two games, hanging upside down from the branch with the stick in their beak while the others jumped up and grabbed the stick, ending up swinging from it like circus performers on a trapeze.
Birds can teach us much.
Dined out on poetry at the Front and caught these guys performing an acoustic set as they travel around the country. So good has the weekend been that I even feel sorry for the puppets on the political stage as they strive to keep us afraid to enjoy the best parts of being alive.
Not much activity in any of the physiological functions..a deadbeat day.Although knowing the snow could be coming our way as near part of the New England Ranges.Got speculating quitely about how little research has been done on Bonsai ecology using Australian native trees..as a way to solve problems,if at all possible like honey production,and using wood coppicing processes,that is engineering trees to express their growth horizontally and other ways ,which as examples growing here and there are quite various,as the trees become used to winds twisting them around in the early stages of growth.Had these thoughts before,as I passed a sexy looking tree,that has a form at base that shows its strength by its low to the ground shape,and then carrying on as growth to be a very solid tree that needs avoiding . Anyone know any Bonsai Native Experimenters!? I am almost sure,there are bound to be many environmental enginnering solutions if practicality and enlarged Bonsai scales of size and shape can be done.
Studio studio editing editing overdubs overdubs synthesisers leslie cabs tambourines scotch.
Play him off, keyboard cat…
I invented a new cake.
Visited my Mum for the second time in a week, but this was a proper visit with the whole family. On Wednesday, she’d tried to take her evening pills in a blackout, and taken the wrong ones. Calls to Poisons Information, a drive over to Mum’s and then to Emergency (when did they stop calling it Casualty?). Fortunately it was State of Origin night and everyone was still drowning their sorrows, so we only had to wait for two hours. The very young, friendly and possibly No-Doz-hyped doctor told us he’d seen a case where someone had taken 170+ Metformins with no ill effects at all, so we were free to leave. Bed after 1pm. It’s taken the rest of the week to catch up on my sleep!
Decided that Sharman Stone gives me the horrors, but cannot think of a suitable epithet, apart from ‘rat’. She ought to be ashamed of herself. (That statement applies to a great many of our politicians, of course, but her pronouncements on boat-people are particularly appalling!)
That’s lovely, chookie, but what is a “native raspberry”? Do they grow in Victoria too? Do you grow your own or buy them?
(Assuming it’s not a rude noise made by an indigenous protestor on Invasion Day…)
the demented cowboy culture of driving in SA, where motorists think the speed limit signs are just suggestions
Yes Pav, but remember the Melbourne attitude to traffic lights? Green means go. Yellow means go. Red means absolutely, positively only five more cars.
Oh, same here, Helen, same here, at least for yellow and red. What green means here is ‘Oh. The light has turned green. I suppose I’d better put my foot on the accelerator. No, wait, get in gear first. Now, where are my glasses? Oops, the light has turned yellow, I’d better get a move on. Oh dear, there were some other people behind me!’
furious, one of the reasons I left Adelaide after living there for a few years in the 60s was the wind. My ears hurt. We rented up at Belair for a while and I can still remember pruning the roses one bitterly cold day.
Last night we went to hear (and see) my brother perform in the singing group he’s with. He was the featured artist. From Ol’ Man River through If I Were a Rich Man to The Carnival is Over.
This singing teacher takes anyone who walks through the door as long as they want to sing and will try to improve. They can be tone deaf and it doesn’t matter. Part of the learning is to sing in front of a crowd, which means friends and rellies. Last night they did well. If I could put the time in I’d join them.
Spent most of the weekend working on chapter 2 of my book. Haven’t done all-nighters like this since I was an undergrad. Doing another one tonight, I suspect. Should have it finished in a couple of days.Slept in till 11 this morning so I missed Insiders. (Patricia, I worry about Godwin Grech’s well-being too, even if he is a Liberal Party mole. He has apparently been in hospital. Sort of glad I missed Insiders, from what you say.) Watched some TV, commented on LP &c, &c, &c.
I went to the gym and sweltered in the British heatwave – at one point in my house today it got to 25C. This Tuesday it’s predicted to reach 33C, and the NHS is on level 4 alert. I also washed some white shirts today in anticipation of not having to wear 2 layers in Summer.
Tomorrow there will be notices on the tube: “Be sure to drink lots of fluid in these extreme weather conditions”.
Pity me, distant strangers, pity me! And pray that I survive this murderous heat!
British heatwave at 25C! NHS on alert for 33C! Makes you wonder how they ever sent their fair boys to Iraq for summers of 54C, or to the Botany Bay with convicts or with Kitchener to Sudan or with the Raj to India…..
Here in Canberra I am comfortable in an early morning of 8C – a relief from the usual frosty -5C. I go off to look after my house in the Gold Coast tomorrow and have a break from Canberra’s long winter. And to have a break from my Godwin Grechian type existence of only knowing three places in Canberra: “home, work and the road between”.
Worry not only for Godwin Grech’s mental state, the whole SES will be quaking as they focus extraordinary efforts of most of their staff to prepare to cover their arses in the next Sen Est.
Been reading Gillian Tett’s Fools Gold on the
Ambigulous @13, my previous blog post was about my native raspberry plant. Looks like there are at least half a dozen species, not counting the indigenous protestor’s type.
Philip Travers @10, the bonsai society people are having a lot of fun with native species, but their interest is primarily aesthetic. Had a chat with some bonsai people at the Royal Easter Show, and they said that you can bonsai almost anything, but a bonsai-ed gum tree with big floppy leaves looks pretty silly: the leaves are out of scale. It occurs to me that you might not need to bonsai anything as long as you pick the right tree for the conditions. With 1000 eucalypts to choose from, it can’t be that hard…
Post conference chillax in North-West Tasmania (behind enemy lines) and a spot of light walking. Braved the Interlaken on the way home.
Highlight of w/e – finding the Man O’Ross pub in Ross (natch). Best slow cooked lamb shanks I’ve had in a long while and the One True thought her curry was excellent. Pub owned by Sri Lankans I think so that explains it.
Friendly locals for the most part except for two shitheads who the rest of the local treated with contempt. They were driving an suv with anti-Green slogans painted on it. Natch.
I went downhill mountain-biking at Bikepark Bad-Wildbad. I was lucky enough to severely wind myself as well as fall off three other times. I’m spending my Monday morning at work question my skill as a mountain biker, the negative feedback loop seems to be getting stronger as such self reflection has prompted bigger questions about what I’m doing with my life in general.
Moral of the story, Mountain biking causes mental problems.
Got lost in Chiryu. Got off the train at the wrong station in Nagoya, and thus had an undiscovered rock band (watched over by their roadie — otherwise known as “Mum”) give me my own personal concert as a thank-you for my buying one of their CDs.
And, Caroline, the Beautiful Japanese Teacher will be in Japan later this week, after I return to Brisbane, and will come back to Brisbane when I’m in Ireland, and it looks like she’s heading for South America (so God only knows what that will do to the script).
Although it looks like I have a date to go dancing and sing karaoke with a beautiful ryokan receptioniste in Tokyo the next time I return…
No Internet access for me since Kyoto. Computers keep crashing.
Phil @8, loved your magpie tale. They are so entertaining. My mother used to feed a family, which, if she was late with the goods, would perch on the fence and stare meaningfully in the kitchen window punctuating their campaign with accusing warbles.
If she left the balcony door open, they’d march straight in and stand in front of the fridge to the great amusement of visitors. Cousins from England were so enamoured of these black and white burglars, they encouraged them inside so they could video them. She later discovered she was just one household in their thrall. Sadly, after she died, they had to find another mark for freeloading.
I had a pet raven who was the most diverting and irrepressible creature I’ve ever met. He would hide under the car and make sneak attacks on the cat and dog to his own great amusement and their great chagrin and would perch on my shoulder and tell me lies, while trying to pinch my earrings and pecking my teeth.
He stole every strawberry from my strawberry patch, as well as green tomatoes and he had my youngest son careering around gathering slugs, snails, spiders and other insects for his delectation.
When I went outside to hang the washing, he’d march all over the wet clothes with his muddy boots and a beak full of manky tatt, looking for places to stash it. He was such a bad bird and we were completely under his spell.
It as a very sad day when he flew off with his fellow delinquents; his willing slave was beside himself for weeks. Our lives were enriched by our all-too-brief sojourn with this enchanting bird.
Yeah the magpie stories are great.
In protest at having a Murdoch publication foisted upon me in the form of the free “community” newspaper, after ringing the publication to say I didn’t want it, after lobbing the offending publication back at the car from which it was flung and having a discussion with them about not wanting to receive it – this was met with a look of disbelief – I managed to get the delivery rate reduced to one every 7 or so weeks…I leave them there in the driveway in protest..anyway, I recently noticed the magpies are using it for nest building material…finally, I can say that a Newscorp publication is useful.
Brian, the Adelaide Hills are especially horrible when it’s windy – that regrowth forest moves very differently to old growth forest I reckon, it seems particularly violent. It’s really, really windy here today….I’m hunkered up in my office, but the forecast is for more of the same, so I’m going to have to go outside sooner or later. hell of a time to be in the middle of kitchen renovations, with the outside bbq my only means to cook. I had to set up my little MSR camp stove in the bathroom to make a coffee this morning. hmm, two minute noodles for lunch probably…anyone got any quick camp stove recipes I could use?
Got back home on Tuesday walking like an extra out of an old Universal Pictures horror film, with an arthritic knee which puts train driving out of the question.
“Good for sedentary duties only” is what the doctors’ certificate says, which would be useful if there was such a thing as ‘sedentary duties’ for a train driver.
So I come straight from holidays and into sick leave; and in less than two weeks’ time fly out again for two weeks’ holiday in Ireland.
But, seeing as I had bodgy ‘net access at best for the last half of last week, I’m using the “sedentary duties” aspect of my sickleave to update the travel blog that was neglected last weekend after I crashed three computers in a Nara hotel, only to have them respond by offering me a discount on accommodation.
Great weekend. Just relaxed with the family and cooked a bbq for the in-laws. Actually get on with the in-laws which is nice. Would have gone kite boarding but still waiting on my new kite to arrive off ebay. It’s been 7 weeks, think i might have got scammed on this one. Hopefully it turns up before next weekend otherwise i’ve definitely been scammed.