This will hurt me...

Officer... I'm sorry.

Day of the Triffids? Quayle Street, the Battery Point/ Sandy Bay border. February 2012. A blue sky? It's been a few days since we saw one of those... Full Moon and Little Frieda , Ted Hughes A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket - And you listening. A spider's web, tense for the dew's touch. A pail lifted, still and brimming - mirror To tempt a first star to a tremor. Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the hedges with their warm wreaths of breath - A dark river of blood, many boulders, Balancing unspilled milk. 'Moon!' you cry suddenly, 'Moon! Moon!' The moon has stepped back like an artist gazing amazed at a work That points at him amazed.

One benefit of sleeping with your door open is that it can afford a nice photo opportunity every now anf again...

Snake in the grass #1. Fern Tree. February 2012. The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati tells the story of a young officer and his life spent guarding an old, increasingly neglected border fortress on a dull frontier. It's a slow book. Very little happens: our protagonist misses his chances to escape the drudgery of this post, and slowly drifts into the monotony of barracks life. His career, and (more importantly) his life slides by quickly. Then, almost suddenly, he is old and ready to die. This is a tricky book to categorise. Slow moving almost to the point of catatonic, it's about the need to seize chances when they emerge. The risks of being locked into dull routine and letting life slip away are more than displayed here. Not for the faint hearted! Second up is The Death of Napoleon by Simon Leys. The conceit of this short, but complex novel is that prior to his purported death in exile, Napoleon Bonaparte manages to switch identities with a noncommissioned officer by those p...

Poseurs ...

The gang is all here! Argyle Street, Hobart. February 2012. Maybe I posted this on Theme Thursday to get a REACTION. My face is so rarely seen on this here blog that it usually causes a flurry of judgements, whispers and swoons belly-laughs. Yet that little internal conversation set me thinking (understandably) about the third of Newton's laws of motion. You know, the one about how forces occur in pairs. Actio et reactio . "Every action is accompanied by a REACTION of equal magnitude but opposite direction." So then I wanted to write it down. First, I thought that it looks like this: Action → REACTION But then I thought that it might be better expressed like this: Action ↔ REACTION That is not right though. Therefore, I thought that it must be. Action → REACTION ↔ REACTION However, even that does not seem right. Ultimately, I have settled for: Action → REACTION ↔ REACTION ↔ REACTION ↔ REACTION ↔ REACTION ↔ REACTION [repeat to infinity] But I'm still not certain. Ar...

Ezra proudly displays the latest in his series of Duplo creations that he likes to call Patterns ...

The onion field. Table Cape, Tasmania’s North West Coast. February 2012. This Watery Wednesday I reflect on the fact that pretty much everywhere I have live, an expanse of water has been nearby. By nearby, I mean within sight . I’m not sure what the psychological effect is, but I am reasonably certain that if denied that precious view of H²O, I’d struggle!

Here's a photo from the morning of Henry's first day of Prep. No nerves, just plenty of enthusiasm!

Clean your windows! Princes Street, Sandy Bay. February 2012. Tuesday Q and A and we continue to trawl our way through The 99'er Meme: Final Part . This week, I reveal the origin of my marriage! 76) In your opinion, what makes a great relationship? In the immortal words of Bananrama: Love, Truth and Honesty . And lots and lots of hot, steamy sex. 77) How did/ could someone win your heart? Aside from the lots and lots of hot, steamy sex? 78) In your world, what brings on more creativity? Being relaxed and having time, space and a bit of peace and quiet. 79) What is the single best decision you have made in your life so far? Cripes, that is a hard question. Accepting the offer of a beer from a very attractive lady many years ago turned out okay... 80) Why did you break up with your last ex? I never really had a last ex. Alternatively, maybe I am fooling myself... 81) What would you want to be written on your tombstone? I’m not keen on tombstones. If I did it would hopefully be suitab...

Ezra's first completely unassisted attempt at writing his name is a great success!

Fluffy little duck. Christmas Hills. Tasmania's North West Coast. February 2012. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (as well as dancing hamsters.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning ... Take a dive 11,000m down an ocean trench with the BBC ! Let's not get silly people: birth control is about shagging! And THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! So what are people saying about the Gonski review ? So we can move our time zones around? What are the implications for time itself? Great news! Australian politics is morphing into a US-style of personalised vacuousness ... Cancel those meetings! Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.

Hard work...

A shed. Iveresk Railyards, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Launceston. February 2012. There's nothin' short of dyin', half as lonesome as the sound, on the sleepin' city sidewalks: Sunday mornin' comin' down. Comin' down from all day stuck in the garden landscaping the bugger, that is. 38 degrees Celsius. I've obviously offended someone in a past life... Which leads me to today's Sunday Top Five: My Top Five People Named Henry! Henry [Fitzgerald] McCracken . You might know this bloke... Henry [Joy] McCracken . Not to be confused with that [above] bloke... Henry David Thoreau . Civil disobedience bloke... Henry Every . King of Pirates bloke... Henry Miller . Pervert bloke in Paris...