The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.

On a clear day, from this boat ramp, you can see forever up to Geilston Bay.

and drift flung by the sea

Sea weed. Alone. On a beach. Little Howrah Beach, April 2011.

It's hard being tired all the time.

Sea Poppies, by H. D.

Amber husk
fluted with gold,
fruit on the sand
marked with a rich grain,

treasure
spilled near the shrub-pines
to bleach on the boulders:

your stalk has caught root
among wet pebbles
and drift flung by the sea
and grated shells
and split conch-shells.

Beautiful, wide-spread,
fire upon leaf,
what meadow yields
so fragrant a leaf
as your bright leaf?

The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.

The life of a daredevil is never easy. Cliffs on one side; rocks, sharks and God knows what else on the other…

It’s a good thing that Henry has nerves of steel.

We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice.

A quick meeting is usually a good meeting. St Johns Park, New Town, April 2011.

A trip away does not stop the run of books. Mixed fortunes in my selections this week.

The first, Double Indemnity is considered a genre – crime – classic by James M. Cain. The film is probably better known than the book, but both are excellent. A brief but complex novel captures beautifully the tale of ordinary-guy-gone-wrong-at-the-hands-of-a-woman.

It’s a gripping read, and (if you’re lucky enough to have the luxury), the kind of novel that you could pick up and finish in one sitting. Highly recommended.

Decidedly not recommended is James Buchan’s Heart's Journey in Winter. Another genre novel (spies, Cold War and whatnot), it’s a dull read, poorly told. I can’t summon up the effort to say any more about it…

The place where optimism flourishes most is the lunatic asylum.

Note that technique. Delicate, ‘soft hands’. Tender, yet secure.

Yes, here is someone with advanced skills in toddler-wrangling…

A platitude is simply a truth repeated till people get tired of hearing it.

Seal at play #1. Melbourne Zoo, April 2011.

As I might have mentioned previously, we’ve just spent Easter in Melbourne. One of the delights that we took in during our stay was the zoo.

Of all the animals on display, I particularly liked the seals


Seal at play #2. Melbourne Zoo, April 2011.

We got a good look at the Australian Fur Seals, from both above and below.


Seal at play #3. Melbourne Zoo, April 2011.

It’s a large display, with plenty of space for the critters to swim about the place, in both sun and shade (hence the different tones of the photographs).


Seal at play #4. Melbourne Zoo, April 2011.

If you do find yourself in Melbourne, and enjoy watching animals at play, you could do worse than a day at the zoo!

Without music, life would be a mistake.

Is it a beach or a quarry?

Not quite golden sands down at Blinking Billy Beach...

Woe to him who teaches men faster than they can learn.

Sunshine outside the Magistrates Court. Liverpool Street, Hobart.

Back home. A lot to say, not time to say it. Suffice to say, Jetstar, you are in my firing line...

There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob.

Look at that ear. Just look at it.

Isn’t that a great ear?

You don't change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.

It’s blue. It’s cold. It’s very, very big. Calverts Beach looking south to Antarctica. February 2011.

When I look out over this kind of vista, I tend to reflect on the sheer magnitude of the ocean; the vast and varied life that can be found within; the size and power of all that shifting water; our very fundamental insignificance in contrast to the enormity of the depths.

Or I think about boobs.

One of the two.

The perfection of art is to conceal art.

It’s official!

Henry is indeed blessed from above…

Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

Rock on. Little Howrah Beach, Howrah. April 2011. Last time it went something like:

Hobart → Sydney → Bangkok → London → Bath → London → Paris → Grenoble → Milan → Rome → Venice → Vienna → Prague → Berlin → Nuremberg → Frankfurt → London → Singapore → Sydney → Hobart

Next time I’d like it to look a little more like:

Hobart → Sydney → Bangkok → Munich → Nuremberg → Dresden → Berlin → Hamburg → Warsaw → Krakow → Budapest → Bratislava → Vienna → Prague → Kutna Hora → Berlin Singapore → Sydney → Hobart

When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right.

"Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse."

Can you pick it...?

Argument is meant to reveal the truth, not to create it.

There was this guy. And there were these chickens. Oh, and there were a bunch of rabbits.

So there was some kind of argument about something.

I think that it was over chocolate.

And eggs. T

This guy's dad wasn't happy.

It had something to do with fish as well. I’m pretty sure that it had something to do with loaves and fishes. Or chocolate fish eggs maybe.

Anyway, the rabbits eventually must have won and these chickens got nailed to this guy.

I think.

Anyway, his father wanted to prove a point.

Yeah, his dad wanted to prove a point and that’s why they nailed the chickens to him.

Because he sinned.

Or we sinned.

Or maybe the chickens sinned.

Or something.

The father sounds like a bit of an arse really. Nailed them to a cross I think.

Something like that. S

o we eat chocolate eggs delivered by rabbits in bonnets and there's nothing good on TV.