This will hurt me...

A frog kissed him.

Jen reconciles herself with mortality. Alexandra Battery, Jen, Sandy Bay. April 2012. Miracle Ice Cream , Adrienne Rich Miracle's truck comes down the little avenue, Scott Joplin ragtime strewn behind it like pearls, and, yes, you can feel happy with one piece of your heart. Take what's still given: in a room's rich shadow a woman's breasts swinging lightly as she bends. Early now the pearl of dusk dissolves. Late, you sit weighing the evening news, fast-food miracles, ghostly revolutions, the rest of your heart.

Here I am demonstrating the "women and children first" evacuation technique so helpfully introduced to the world during all of that Titanic business...

Corners of buildings. Collins Street, as seen from Wellington Plaze, Hobart. April 2012. Two great reads this week from two exceptional authors. First up is a sequel that I never knew existed, Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck. Following on from Cannery Row , it is set in the years following World War II. We reunite with those characters who made it through the war. There is a little more plot and less vignette in this one, and ultimately it amounts to a love story of sorts. Love, duty, happiness and loneliness are the central themes here and the story progresses at great speed to a satisfying conclusion. Although I enjoyed the book very much, and would strongly recommend reading it in companion to Cannery Row , I can't help but feel that it was somewhat slighter in tone. But maybe that was just the more upbeat ending! Highly recommended. Second up is Julian Barnes' prize-winning The Sense of an Ending . A tightly focused novel that relies heavily on a single narrative voice, i...

In the spirit of multiple photographs, have another two...

The top of Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington, Hobart. April 2012. I'll be frank. I've had better weeks. The top of Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington, Hobart. April 2012. Well, to be even franker. Better months. The top of Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington, Hobart. April 2012. Years The top of Mount Wellington. Mount Wellington, Hobart. April 2012. Decades. My apologies for another substandard Theme Thursday . All that I can offer you are these lovely IMAGEs...

Henry enjoys his second frog in the pond at the Lindisfarne North Primary School twilight fair. I was surprised that he didn't enjoy four or five...

Henry checks out the moss. Hastings Caves State Reserve. The Huon Valley. April 2012. Wordless Wednesday.

I do love the late afternoon light that occurs at the tail end of the daylight savings period. At the very least, I prefer it to the darkness that descends at 4 pm these days.

Green lines (don't do it). Table Cape, Tasmania's North West. February 2012. Tuesday Q and A which normally means theft from Sunday Stealing. This week, The OC 25 Meme ! 1. What is your origin of your first name? What about any nicknames? My actual name is a shocker. Apparently it was quite a common male name in Scandinavia, as Kristen is the Danish and Norwegian form of Christian . Unfortunately, around about the time of the late-1970s (funny that) it emerged in English-speaking countries as a female name. Yes, it caused me no end of frustration through my formative years. As for nicknames, well, my surname is McCracken , so what do you reckon they called me? Bitter, Moi ? 2. Have you any claims to fame? None that I am aware of. Perhaps one day one of my children will make a splash! 3. If you were famous, how would you introduce yourself to someone who had never heard of you? If they'd never heard of me, obviously I am not famous enough! 4. Which of your country's ach...

BIG HENRY!

Flower. East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. April 2012. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (as well as best of lists of best of lists.) 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... BBC News explores the work of the charity PhotoVoice , which seeks to raise awareness of issues through photographic workshops around the world . No alarms and no surprises... A series of studies indicate that homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires. I like the look of CCOKC: Child Celebrities Opposing Kirk Cameron ... What we talk about when we talk about bogans . The language of class distinctions tells us a lot about Britain and Australia.. Here is a question: Has Instagram made everyone's photos look the same?

Elvis ain't got nothing on this kid...

Rock, as viewed from above. Long Beach, Sandy Bay. April 2012. For today's Sunday Top Five I thought that I'd visit the subject of orations. Yes, today I tackle My Top Five Six Favourite Speeches From History! 399 BCE: The Apology of Socrates , Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates, who was defending himself against charges of corrupting the young, refusing to worship the gods, and creating new deities. 1851: Ain't I A Woman? , delivered by abolitionist Sojourner Truth at a Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. 1933: The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself , from the first inaugural address of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the heart of the Great Depression. 1949: The Light on the Hill by Australia Prime Minister Ben Chifley, paying tribute to the country's labour movement. 1956: On the Personality Cult and its Consequences by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, critical of the regime of Stalin. Also known as the "Secret Speech...