This will hurt me...

Nothing beats a good, old-fashioned, homemade chocolate self-saucing pudding. Well, Ezra agrees with me anyway…

Lego: it's a way of life. Home, June 2010. Those of you who keep an eye on my reading list on the right [there… →→→ over there… →→→ ] will have noted that I have recently gone back to one of my all time favourite writers, Graham Greene . I read most of his ‘literary’ novels in the period 1996–99 (the undergraduate life is a good setting for catching up with the canon), and have determined that now might be a good time to revisit an author I haven’t read in a while and reflect on whether time (and experience) changes my assumptions of the work. Well, The End of the Affair and The Quiet American later, he’s even better. It is odd how an observer of human behaviour manages to quite so efficiently and effectively nails it. Honestly, his observations from 1951 on US ambitions in (then) French IndoChina could be applied across the board right up until today. The jaundiced European post-colonial malaise-influence rejoinder also resonates today. On top of it, we get a cracking good yar...

A thirst for knowledge begins early, and is the mark of a remarkable person. Being interested is one path to being interesting . My boys are interesting .

A sprinkling of snow on Mount Wellington. New Town, July 2010. I'm not sure that the skiing up there is all that good. Perhaps I should take an extended lunch break and take a stroll up there and see for myself...

As expected, I am missing the Grand Old Dame terribly . I am getting a sense of what life will be like when the knock her down for good. However, we shall always have our memories.

An odd place to PARK. Geilston Bay, June 2010. What a place to PARK! That should be a ticket… Yes, Theme Thursday today, and PARK is our theme. I was going to go with “St Johns PARK” – the new worksite – but I have already just done that. Ideas are often like that; they come and go too soon. Which leaves me with today’s photograph. This poignant little vessel, stricken and forsaken on its side like a metaphorical Minke whale stranded on the pebbly-beach of misplaced and premature creative expressions. Artistic endeavours can get quite messy sometimes, to the point that not even the most ingenious of metaphors can redeem it. What You should take from this is that the tricky Theme Thursday topic can be fudged with just a little bit of imagination.

As my wife can attest, keeping a three-and-a-half-year-old and a two-year-old in one place at the same time can be a challenge. One solution: seek out large tracts of land.

Whatever could you need an antenna this big for? Geilston Bay, July 2010. With all of this talk of Russian spies deeply embedded in suburban life, I am wondering if the guy that set this aerial in his backyard is being subtle enough?

Why Ezra, you're so HANDSOME. Smart too...

The copy reads: Foster a correct spirit, resist the evil spirit, resist corruption, and never get involved with it. Say what you like, but modern-day ad execs have nothing on Chinese Communists when it comes to snappy slogans!

You'll find me in Carruthers. New Town, July 2010. As I indicated in the Comments yesterday, there are a number of worthy opportunities for photographs to be found around my new stomping ground here in New Town. Regrettably, prudence demands that I omit a number of such opportunities however. I have already mentioned the girls’ only high school located at the entrance of St Johns Park. Thus, I’ve judiciously avoided snapping away at the young ladies, lest I am labelled a filthy old man with a dubious taste in school uniforms. With Ogilvy ruled out as a subject, the State’s only alcohol and other drug Withdrawal Unit is similarly off limits, in the interests of protecting the privacy of staff and patients. Sadly, the object/subject probably of greatest potential for fascinating tranche de vie – the largest public opioid substitution program dispensary in Tasmania – also belongs in my self-imposed prohibited zone. That said, as the sign at the entrance indicates, there is an eclect...

After seeing Australia's decidedly dodgy World Cup performances, the lads have decided to offer there services to the National team when they get back from Mawson's Hut. By that point, Soccer Football Soccer Australia may have even arranged some nets... Also, for the record, Ezra was born TWO WHOLE YEARS ago today, about 75 minutes after this post goes live. Happy Birthday Ezra!

Clattering throughout the day. St Johns Park, July 2010. I've been slowly building up some new stock of photographs of the surrounds of the new workplace. However, while I do so, you should watch this video...

So today was the littlest Aussie battler's second birthday party. Of course, Master Ezra will not actually be TWO until tomorrow, but Sunday generally draws a better crowd than Monday. The cake represented one of Ez's best friends - the man non-gender specific person in the moon - and was politely received the the audience in attendance. While not quite on a par with the previous crocodile from Henry III , it represented an advance on " sickly Elmo " of Henry II. We can all agree that it was a step up from the "sunken apple tea cake" of Ezra I . As I am increasingly finding, the combination of hosting duties and wrangler to two energetic and fearless specimens does not leave much time to snare many good snaps, particularly on a winter's day not braced with much in the way of good light. As a consequence, I've not come away with much of a haul in terms of photographs. That said, I have got a few here, and if you check back for tomorrow's morning...

Inspiration for Ezra's birthday cake. June 2010. A quick Sunday Top Five today, as we have Ezra's second birthday to host, but no doubt a controversial list! My Top Five Painters (Off The Top Of My Head)... Paul Klee Claude Monet J.M.W. Turner Wassily Kandinsky Natalia Goncharova