This will hurt me...

Late afternoon swim. Little Howrah Beach. January 2014. I think that I owe you a Q and A. How about the Summertime meme ? 1.) What first tells you that Summer is here? The girls are showing a lot more of their thighs. 2.) Name your five of your favourite distinctively Summer habits or customs. Swimming, snorkelling, evening runs, early-morning walks and fruit platters. 3.) What is your favourite smell of Summer? The beach. 4.) What is your favourite taste of Summer? Icy poles. 5.) Favourite Summer memory? Swimming during intense electoral storms. 6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why? Hot hot hot! 7.) What books do you plan to read for the season? Good books! 8.) What is your favourite part of summer? Anything involving the water. 9.) What's your favourite quintessentially summer food? Least favourite? Fresh berries are my favourite. I don’t usually eat what I don’t like. 10.) Best beverage to beat the summer heat:...

Detritus. Marion Bay, Tasmania's East Coast. July 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) 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... Henry drives the boat. Ezra drives the boat. How the gin and tonic became the British Empire’s secret weapon. Why do people still fly the Confederate flag? Goodbye Ossi: The Demise of Eastern German Identity. The Man Who Invented Modern Probability. Winners of the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest 2013. On Decadence. Defining the Masses: How do we speak objectively about something of which we’re a part? By documenting everything. Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much.

Kicking sand in my face. Marion Bay. July 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Ezra stalks the dunes. Marion Bay. August 2013. I'll stop for Death, I reckon. Because I could not stop for Death , Emily Dickenson Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility. We passed the school, where children strove At recess, in the ring; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. Or rather, he passed us; The dews grew quivering and chill, For only gossamer my gown, My tippet only tulle. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity.

Life underwater. Clifton Beach, June 2013. Once Were Warriors , Alan Duff: Very dark, very gritty. It's a far bleaker portrayal of life for marginalised Maoris in modern New Zealand than the successful film. Domestic violence, urban violence, poverty, drugs, alcoholism, unemployment, gang warfare, rape, physical and mental abuse, suicide, gender, identity, race and culture are just a few of the subjects explored in gritty fashion. I'm not sure whether reading this is more akin to getting punched in the face or kicked in the guts. One of the two, anyway. A- . Maggie: A Girl of the Streets , Stephen Crane: Urban grit, 1893 style! Originally refused by all publishers because of sexual frankness, it might seem tame to the modern eye but remains shocking enough. C+ .

Plotters. Hope Beach, South Arm Peninsula. May 2013. As you know, the Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and RSS feeds.) 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... What the Night Sky Would Look Like If the Other Planets Were as Close as the Moon. Australia's universities: from elite institutions to degree factories? What if Barbie Looked Like a Real Woman? Inequality, health and well-being: time for a national debate. When someone close to you dies, the very fabric of your life is ripped to shreds. Is philosophy any consolation? Clive James – a life in writing.

Sand. Hope Beach, South Arm Peninsula. June 2013. Theme Thursday and I am a bit pressed for time. You see, I am about to take a JOURNEY. A JOURNEY away from my current job and return to the ever-loving bosom of the bureaucracy. Yes, the public service is sweetly calling me back. Not long now, my darling. Not long now…

Get down of the pyramid boys! Everybody down from the pyramid!

Cold or warm? You decide.

Nice day for a swim? Fossil Cove/ Soldiers Point, Tinderbox. May 2013. Sunday Top Five ? Anagrams For What? Cracker Ranch Enzyme. Crazy Manner Checker Chance Remark Cry Zen Cancer Czar Reek Hymn A Charmer Neck Cry Zen

Hairy crab. Fossil Cove/ Soldiers Point, Tinderbox. May 2013. Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man , Mark Kurlansky: Another excellent foray into social history by Kurlansky; this time through the biography of Clarence 'Bob' Birdseye, the “can-do” American inventor and innovator that spawned an entire branch of the food industry. It peters out somewhat by the end, but all in all an interesting and entertaining read. C+ .

Bubbles. Bellerive Beach, Bellerive. June 2013. Theme Thursday ? Of course! There is JUBILATION in the nation even when they’re facing castration while avoiding the conflation of causation and damnation. I express a fixation for an excess of flirtation that at its very foundation is a classic formulation of cessation of narration through the privation of starvation and the utter stagnation and frustration of mindless gyration. The feeling of admiration, extreme adoration. Adulation of creation, a negation of temptation. Translation and inflammation, your vocation a vacation. A summation of elation to consternation and fragmentation and immediate detonation (followed by a dissipation and distillation): devastation. JUBILATION? Try ‘deflation’, ‘degradation’. Lubrication? Exclamation! Toleration? Confrontation. Abdication? Germination. Abrogation? Desperation. A classy accusation, a little affectation, a positive affirmation, an allegation, an avocation. ...

I couldn't decide between these two photos, so consider yourself honoured to have a two for one Henry beefcake special !

Speaking of brave boys...

Henry: Portrait of a boy taken underwater.

Jen looking out to sea. Clifton Beach. May 2013. Sunday Top Five ? Okay, here is Five Things That I Simply Must Have On A Pizza! Tomato paste! Garlic! Oregano! Basil! Capsicum!

Under water, looking out towards the sky. Flowerpot Point, Blackmans Bay. May 2013. The Sea: Day by Day , Philip Plisson: Magnificent images, could have possibly used more exposition. B- . The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read , Susan Hill: Subdued stories that explore loneliness and loss. Bleak. C+ . Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color , Leatrice Eiseman: Some lovely colours and images, somewhat marred by shallow complementary text. C .

Ez and Jen skirt the cliffs at Flowerpot point.

Is Ezra looking for sea creatures or his reflection?

Henry and I are looking for creatures.