This will hurt me...

Jen's question: "Can four-year-olds be menopausal?" My answer (which is really a question): "All four-year-olds are menopausal aren't they?"

Little house on the bay. King Street, Sandy Bay. August 2011. If all goes well weather-wise, we might decide to go off on an adventure today. Until then, please consider this poem: A Comparison Between Logs and Dogs , John Hegley Both are very popular at Christmas, But it is not generally considered cruel to abandon a log, And dogs are rarely used as fuel.

Ezra and I decided that we needed a little bit of adventure in our lives, so we decided to don the climbing boots and scale to the very top of Hobart's infamous Tasman Bridge ! Henry was invited, but at the last minute decided that he had to urgently wash his hair instead. The risk of dirty hair did not deter Brave Little Explorer #2™ though, as he intrepidly waltzed across all 1,395 metres (that's four thousand, five hundred and seventy six feet for anyone still trapped in the nineteenth century). Indeed, here he is looking down without a care from the highest point (60.5 metres), only disappointed by the fact that there was nobody to spit upon...

The view going onto the bridge. Tasman Bridge, Rose Bay. August 2011. Ezra and I decided to tackle the Tasman Bridge climb - and you'll be able to see photos of the little bloke atop tonight - and here are some photos to give you an idea of the experience (albeit without the noise of the cars zipping by). As ever though, it's time for books! (After this picture.) The view from the middle of the bridge. Tasman Bridge, the Derwent Estuary. August 2011. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather is a slow moving account of – wait for it – the efforts of a French Catholic bishop (and his mate) to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory of North America. Told through a succession of vignettes, the priests travel throughout the America west and meeting a wide variety of characters along the way. Their adventures often take on mythical and religious significance, which deepens their faith despite their differing personalities. This is a slow-movin

No Henry, we won't be seeing a Thylacine today.

Time. Home, Geilston Bay. July 2011. 1. Who are you? I am me. 2. What is your biggest goal for this year? To make it through unscathed. 3. Where do you want to be in 5 years? Somewhere nice. 4. What stage of life are you in right now? I am – according to the BBC – currently in the most expensive year of life. Somebody forgot to tell me! 5. Are you more child-like or childish? Childish. 6. What is the last thing you said out loud? “It will probably end up snowing all October.” 7. What song comes closest to how you feel about your life right now? Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey. 8. Does your life tend to get better or worse or does it just stay the same? At present we are kind of treading water. 9. Does time really heal all wounds? No, I don’t think that it does. 10. How do you handle a rainy day? Badly. 11. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you? Acutely so. 12. What is the trues

He has lost his faith in the organised political process (as we have come to understand it since the end of the nineteenth century)...

Some of these bricks seem out of place, and anyway, where are the windows? King Street, Sandy Bay. August 2011. "tired" ... always. "yours" ... mine. "owner" ... lender. "bank" ... blood. "donate" ... beg. "forgive" ... forget. "past" ... history. "time" ... lost. "loose" ... women. "evil" ... men.

We've had a bit of sunshine around these parts for the past week, so I thought it a timely reminder to post this picture of some cool cats sat up top of the local mountain. Check out the look on Ezra's face and tell me whether or not you reckon he's enjoying that blustery wind slamming into his face!

Political comment. St George's Terrace, Battery Point. August 2011. Two points: 1) While the use of technology to enable mass production has engendered a number of serious spill on effects - i.e. the rapid expansion of population, the reliance on external energy sources and the creation of mass society - I am reasonably certain that pre-Industrial patterns of life like the (presumably) idealised agrarian might not have afforded the luxury of skipping your 10 am 101A Introduction to Government lecture to scribble some pseudo-anarchic commentary in public property. Certainly, if it did, the punishment for dissenting against the established order offered something of a deterrent . 2) We are already deep into a transformative phase whereby the industrial society (as found in Australia) is evolving into a post-industrial society. If steam power was the trigger for the shift from agricultural to industrial organisation, globalised information technology is driving the new

That is the stride of a determined man.

Why indeed... Top of Nanny Goat Lane, Battery Point. July 2011. You would think that a concept like 'Genocide' would be relatively straightforward. As always however, it is anything but. Like the seemingly perfect couple from a film who never managed to get it together, it's... complicated. Definitional war? Top of Nanny Goat Lane, Battery Point. July 2011.

For some reason Henry hates the nickname I've given him: Handsome Henry . Oddly enough, he seems to have no problem with my other staple: Cranky Hanky .

Some kind of little itty bitty things on a plant. Regent Street, Sandy Bay. August 2011. Five Places I Would Consider Leaving My Children If They Were Excessively Naughty While On A Family Holiday! Yakutsk St. John's Oulu San Salvador de Jujuy Sekondi-Takoradi