This will hurt me...

Bushfire smoke. Elizabeth Street Pier, Hobart's waterfront. January 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Next stop, Antarctica!

A smiling Jen and grumpy Ezra celebrate the fine weather delivered on my birthday last Monday!

I shall try not too. Elizabeth Street Pier, Sullivan's Cove. November 2011. It's Tuesday right? That means another Q and A stolen from Sunday Stealing. This week, The Madness Meme, Part 2 [the madness continues]. 23. Do you ever walk around the house naked? All the time. It’s my house! 24. If you were an animal what would you be? Why? Erm... I’m pretty sure that I am an animal. Humans can get mighty uppity sometimes about their position in the food chain. If the question was intended to be “If you were a different kind of animal what would you be? Why?”, I guess that I’d say Great White Shark. Why? I dunno. Cruising around. Easting stuff. Sounds cool. 25. Hair colour you like on someone you’re dating? These things are always going on about ‘dating’. I don’t even know what that means! Is it a euphemism for ‘rooting’? Anyway, I like brown hair on girls. 26. If suffering an injury, would you rather be left blind or deaf? I really rather not suffer the injury, but if you have a h...

Heading home. Elizabeth Street, as viewed from the pier. June 2011. Three books this week and the strike rate has not been pretty. First up is Finnish author Elina Hirvonen’s When I Forgot . The critical reaction seems to be very favourable, and I must admit that I’m struggling to see why. The story of damaged people and damaged families, and the harm that they inevitably do to each other; it utilises a fractured narrative to exemplify the ‘brokenness’ of the central characters. In this sense, this is not a subtle book. In broad brush strokes it ties together the idea of memory with the reality of unfortunate childhood(s), mental illness, relationship failures and even the linkage between personal and familial dysfunction and national identity and loss. I dunno, some described this book as "potent, fragile, and tender" but the words “ self-indulgent ,” “ overwrought ,” “ confusing ,” and “ narcissistic ” more readily come to mind. Not recommended. Speaking of na...

They only come out at night. Elizabeth Street Pier, looking Northwest towards the mountain. June 2011. The problem of memory. When we remember, what is it that we are remembering? Are we remembering it as it is (was), or are we remembering is as we would have liked it to be? Obviously we remember it as we remember it, which is not the same thing as it was (is). So is memory an act of reconstruction? When we reconstruct, we are bound to smooth out the edges, fix the loose seams a little bit. We reconstruct with the benefit/ deficit of hindsight. The 'in-between' bit - our experiences between the initial act, incident or occasion and our reconstruction - must inevitably influence the act of reconstruction. Hmmmm.

Green means...? Constitution Dock, Elizabeth Street Pier, July 2011. When my children are awake there is always noise. Such noise. Such very much noise. And the noise is never limited to one direction or angle. It moves. It rebounds. It echoes. It peaks and it troughs (and it peaks again). It's bickering and arguing like drunks at 3 am outside your window. It's broooom -ing and wiiirrrr -ing like a pair of fourth-rate Michael Winslow impersonators gurning through Police Academy 16. It's the screech of a banshee and the moan of a million zombies seeking out brains. Then they sleep.

Shutter speed slowed right down, with a twirl. Elizabeth Street Pier, June 2011. City lights. Street lights. Road signs. Cars cars cars. I rarely get the chance to muck about with the camera, but like to have a fiddle every now and then. I like to imagine that this one is really some kind of intergalactic speedway featuring all manner of Martians, Venusians, Mercurians, Uranuses and heaven knows who else ripped to the gills on membrosia and overtaken by a lust for competition. As always, it would end in tears and no little bloodshed.

Sunrise at Elizabeth Street Pier. May 2010. So, the intention is for Friday to become Book Club Day . I am thinking that it will usually mean just talking about whatever it is I’ve just finished, but I thought that I’d open up by answering this questionnaire. If you are so inclined, try it yourself. It should give you an idea of what kind of reader I am, and whether or not our tastes may concur. If you’ve any specific queries about books or recommendations, as ever I am open to suggestion! What have you just read? In the past fortnight, I have read George Orwell’s mediation on the theme of poverty in the two cities Down and Out in Paris and London , Muriel Spark’s wicked little Loitering With Intent , Evelyn Waugh’s short history of Mussolini's imperial adventure Waugh in Abyssinia , and the darkly comic Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse. What are you reading now? I’m currently re-reading Graham Greene’s magnum opus, The Power and the Glory . My current ‘go to book’ – the book that I...

Early morning and the sun is nowhere near the yardarm. Elizabeth Street Pier, May 2010. 0⁰ Celsius as I arrived in town this morning. Zero degrees Celsius . I’m wearing shorts. I’m Tasmanian, so shoot me.

Little blokes in little boats, leaving bigger boats, while surrounded by other boats. It’s the story of my life! These boats are in Bellerive. Pretty boats. All the pretty boats.

Life rafts: they come in all shapes and sizes these days! They reckon sixteen people will fit into this one. Sixteen! Maybe if ten eat the other six... On that note, here is today's Sunday Top Five : My All Time Top Five [interesting] Maritime Disasters ! 5: SS Mont-Blanc 4: MV Wilhelm Gustloff 3: RMS Lusitania 2: Neva 1: Cataraqui

More boats, but this time a blue sky! Here is the view alongside the May Queen , Australia’s oldest sail trading vessel! Launched during the heady days of June, in 1867. Of course, this was not a good month for Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, who found out that his hefty bribe to the firing squad not to shoot him in the head wasn't honoured! Honestly, when a bribe to your firing squad is ignored, who can you trust?

Here is a seagull ably keeping guard over a pirate brig down on Elizabeth Street dock. He's a good lad, fit, keen of mind and body, the ideal crew mate really. Quick to action, and has a temper. Oh we've had some scrapes over the years! There was a nasty incident involving a parrot, a spilled mug of grog and a broken cutlass back in Nombre de Dios that meant that we had to high tail it and lay low over in Port Royal for a couple of months. Jimmy got killed and Javier was flayed by some cannibals. We can laugh about it now, but at the time it was terrible.

I had the camera in hand and went for a bit of a stroll this fine morn before work. The main reason was the incredible light, a touch of mist and a nice, smooth river. In fact, I was so impressed by the scene that I garnered a few shots to showcase the attractiveness of Hobart on a calm winter’s morning. The first is the typical ‘picture postcard’ image on Elizabeth Street Pier. I am about ninety percent certain that this vessel is the striking brigantine Windeward Bound . Much to the delight of Henry, the brigantine was a favourite of Mediterranean pirates, its name deriving from the Italian word "brigantino" which meant ‘brigand's ship’. As an aside, I found the brigantine a wonderfully versatile craft in the tremendous computer game Sid Meier's Pirates! Quick and agile, it was a magnificent ship to use until you were lucky enough to score a ‘brig of war’ or (eventually) the almost unbeatable ‘Ship of the Line’. So, if you are currently a pirate, or you’re looking...