This will hurt me...

Flowers, the Tasmanian Parliament, a big blue sky and 10 Murray all in one shot ! What more could one want? Even better, we have been fortunate enough to go three straight days without rain! I'll be winning Lotto next (and I don't even play Lotto).

The usual excuses lead me to declare a Theme Thursday quickie again this week. Above, you can see Parliament House here in Tasmania bathed under a suitably ominous layer of cloud. I do like what they’ve done with the flowers at the front, however. Very neat and tidy... One might say that the garden is not at all WILD. How’s that for a take on the theme? I know that you’re disappointed. I’m disappointed too.

This is Henry all the way back in Summer. Be careful, he's headed right for you! You can see him crouched down through some bike racks down outside the Tasmanian Parliament. These bike racks also happen to be the very same bike racks that a heavily pregnant Jennifer a bunch of random terrorist knitting guerillas covered with bike rack warmers . The bike rack warmers are still there - although struggling - one year from their first appearance. If I can get him down there, I'll see if he still fits.

For some reason I like the way that the Tasmanian Parliament looks on gloomy days better than on sunny ones. It somehow seems more appropriate.

Here is one from this morning of the flags atop of the Tasmanian Parliament. As you can see, this is not the bluest of skies that you’ll see here in Hobart. The proverb is one from Barbados, source of another one of my all time favourite photo blogs, the consistently excellent Barbados in Focus , where Keith Clark has done a magnificent job in recording for posterity some of the remnants of the Barbados of old, as well as what’s happening these days. I really can’t recommend this one highly enough! The proverb is self-evident, but I read it as “There’s always someone ready to spread any sort of news around, particularly if it's juicy.”

The Tasmanian Parliament. In the morning. In the rain. Yes it is cold. Very cold. Yes. It is still the robot. Today I have a quiz. Today I will name five names and you have to guess what it is that these people have in common. Here are the names: Raquel Welsh Teri Hatcher Cameron Diaz Sandra Bullock and current US President George W. Bush Answers in the comment section. First correct answer wins a prize. The prize will be the deep satisfaction that can only come with knowing that you have won a meaningless contest.

Today’s photo should beyond any doubt confirm that Tasmania has indeed switched into Autumn mode. This is Parliament Lawn taken this morning, shrouded in a blanket of leaves; the sun was still quite low and cast some interesting shadows through the trees. I will not lie to you, I like this time of year and don’t mind the brisk weather. Of course, I can say this that we now live in a house with great insulation and decent heating. I wasn’t really so keen when I lived in share houses. I’m sure most people have experience of an old house where you can see the sunlight outside shining in through the gaps that had opened between walls and the foundations had shifted (and feel the cold wind!). One of the great ironies of the gentrification certain suburbs here in Hobart is that the now trendy suburbs were once slums, and often the houses there were (understandably) rather shoddily built. My experience of living in Battery Point in my first year of university was that the house was not a pa...

Here is one from this morning of a random bloke walking to work. He's pictured outside of the Tasmania Parliament, but I'm not sure if he works there. Whether or not he has important top secret documents to be shredded, or has a bunch of shredded documents to be unshredded in order to see if they are important top secret documents, I am also not sure. It was a good day today. I got to leave work early and celebrate my wedding anniversary. And it didn't rain.

Today’s photo was taken on the Tasmanian Parliament’s front lawn at around 7:50 am this morning. It’s a nice brisk day, and there were very few people about. This is only about a few hundred metres from work, so no need to detour to find some colour! The building itself was completed (primarily through the use of convict labour) in 1840 and is a pretty good example of a Georgian Colonial style. The structure is made of sandstone and was originally intended to be the Customs House and architect's offices. In April 1856 alterations were made to accommodate the new bicameral Parliament. Aside from the political intrigue that takes place within, the lawn serves as a nice place to sit and eat your lunch or read a book, especially now that they've stiffened the laws around public drunkenness (unless you're an esteemed member of the opposition!)