This will hurt me...

Here you can see Ezra leading Jen a merry dance down at Hinsby Beach back in May. There is a moment of great joy and celebration when you child first rolls, crawls and walks. Then you realise the magnitude of potential damage that they can do has increased by about sixty-seven thousand percent…

Hinsby Beach, looking to the south-east. Taroona, May 2010. If I could, I would locate any workspace I would be required to be at each day right on a beach. I am not too fussed which beach, just some beach somewhere, preferably protected from the elements by a well-placed bluff. That and a view off into a vast expanse of ocean with all the glories that sea and sky can conjure up through the day. A small, but well ventilated, glass box set upon a windswept coastline would be a vast improvement on a cubicle, strip fluorescent lighting and the now closed venation blinds that constitutes my vista these days. That’s my dream. What’s yours?

He has a rock, and he's not afraid to use it. Who do you think is in line for a chunk of Metamorphic between the eyes?

Shags on a rock at Hinsby Beach. May 2010. These fellows are the dreaded Black-faced Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax fuscescens ), also known as the Black-faced Shag . As you can see, it is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. Noticeably, its upperparts , including facial skin and bill, are black, with white underpants . It is endemic to coastal regions of southern Australia, and feeds largely on small coastal fish is prone to feasting of the brains of pirates. Really. Shag, shag, shag, shag, shag, shag and shag. May 2010.

Erosion. It's the curse of toddlers and beaches everywhere.

INCOMING!!!!!

A gum tree in Taroona. May 2010. Following the demands of the readership, today we're venturing into Jamie Oliver territory, so read the following with a li th sp. I have an RDO today, so Henry and I shall celebrate by making a fruit loaf. We will need: 300g mixed dried fruit 450ml hot Earl Grey tea 90g brown sugar 1 lemon, zested 3 cups self-raising flour 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 large (-ish) egg 1. Whack the dried fruit in a bowl, mash up a nice pot of Earl Grey and pour the bugger over the fruit, cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for a good few hours . 2. Preheat oven to 180°C. Mind your wrists. Butter a loaf pan like Des Renford. 3. Strain the fruit, setting the liquid aside for later use , then combine the fruit with the remaining ingredients. Now, here you need to gradually add the liquid, stirring until a soft dropping [ooooh eerrr missus] consistency is reached. Pour into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, make a s...

Ezra is a freak for crabs, a freak . Finds them and eats them. Still wriggling.

A kayaker checks out the competition down at Hinsby Beach, May 2010. Theme Thursday delivers yet another tricky one this week for us Antipodeans . CANDY. In Australia, CANDY is a stripper . CANDY is a working girl . CANDY is a woman of ill repute . CANDY is not lollies . CANDY is not sweets , nor is it sweeties . CANDY is not toffee , loll-loll or ket . In Australia, CANDY is most certainly not confectionery . The man in the kayak may well be eye CANDY (for some), or arm CANDY (for others), but I would advise against eating him (there are laws about that). I'm glad that we got that sorted...

Windows everywhere... BEWARE .

Another day, another crab-hunting expedition...

Poor little bugger, already in hand-me-downs... He never even had a chance.

Some things - like this rock - are difficult to figure out. For example, why is the team with the worst record in Bundesliga (the top soccer league in Germany) history called Tasmania Berlin-Gropiusstadt ? A proud Tasmanians, Henry, Ezra and I would dearly love to know...

Hinsby Beach, Taroona. May 2010. One word: gastroenteritis .

This one was taken on my birthday a couple of weeks back. There sure was some interesting light going on over the water down south. For a second there, Ez was convinced that he'd seen a sea dragon!