This will hurt me...

The bee's knees. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. January 2013. Sunday Top Five ? My Top Five Insects! Bumblebees Grasshoppers Butterflies Ladybirds Dragonflies

The the reproductive structure of an Angiospermae. Napoleon Street, Battery Point. October 2012. Eighth Air Force , Randall Jarrell If, in an odd angle of the hutment, A puppy laps the water from a can Of flowers, and the drunk sergeant shaving Whistles O Paradiso!--shall I say that man Is not as men have said: a wolf to man? The other murderers troop in yawning; Three of them play Pitch, one sleeps, and one Lies counting missions, lies there sweating Till even his heart beats: One; One; One. O murderers! . . . Still, this is how it's done: This is a war . . . But since these play, before they die, Like puppies with their puppy; since, a man, I did as these have done, but did not die-- I will content the people as I can And give up these to them: Behold the man! I have suffered, in a dream, because of him, Many things; for this last saviour, man, I have lied as I lie now. But what is lying? Men wash their hands, in blood, as best they can: I find no fault...

Lizard on a rock. At the ferry terminus outside Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney. September 2012. This Theme Thursday , I'm considering the POSSIBILITIES. For example, I might well end up accepting a dare today. Perhaps a doorman who is sensitive to others' auras might enter into the equation. You never know, I might have to prove myself to a psychic judge with transphobic tendencies. These things happen. Like the time that that guy told on that other guy. And the journalist who wants everything done by the rules got involved. It’s a dangerous business admitting to a fantasy, especially to a necromancer who has amnesia! We live in a colourful world. I knew a girl once who got into a bit of trouble when she started at a new school. She’d fallen into the wrong crowd and under the influence of a vampire who was trying to cover up a previous crime. It got a bit messy, there was a power-hungry weather announcer. The trouble was that he was trying to save his marriage but the vampir...

Guess what Ezra's eyes are drawn to...?

The prettiest building in Battery Point? Coleville Street, Battery Point. January 2012. Tuesday Q and A and I continue to steal questions from Sunday Stealing. This week I am stealing The Never Ending Meme, Part Three . 36. Have you watched American Horror Story? I’ve never even heard of American Horror Story? 37. Baseball hat or toque? I had to look up the word ‘toque’ (clue: it’s what The Edge from U2 has worn for the past twenty years). I wear neither. If I’m going to wear a hat, I need some protection from the sun, like a slouch hat. 38. Do you shampoo or soap up first in the shower? Shampoo. Usually. 39. Wet the toothbrush or brush dry with the toothpaste? Wet. Every time. 40. Pen or pencil? Pencil. I’m still using a pen without a license. 41. Have you ever gambled at a casino? Not even once. It’s a mug’s game. 42. Have you thrown up on a plane? No. 43. Have you thrown up in a car? Not that I can recall. This does not mean it has never happened though... 44. Have you thrown up at ...

Some kind of flower. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. October 2011. The efficiency of the Tasmanian library system delivered a little experiment this week, with two Doris Lessing novels arriving back to back for me to pick up. Interestingly, the one I read first was her first (from 1950), while the second was one of her last (from 2001). This afforded me the opportunity to compare and contrast the artist at the very beginning of her career against one in her older years. The Grass Is Singing was her first novel, and takes place in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the 1940s in a period of a very particular racial politics between the minority white population against the majority blacks in the then British Colony. The process of decolonisation just around the corner, but the tensions inherent in such a process is omnipresent in the narrative. Yet The Grass Is Singing is more than a (pre-) Post-Colonial novel. It is also the bleak analysis of failed marriage, the neuroti...

Purple flower. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. October 2011. Today I am in Launceston. If you have not been to Launceston, you are not missing much you are missing out. Launceston was the site of the first use of anaesthetic in the Southern Hemisphere (appropriate enough), the first Australian city to have underground sewers (well needed) and the first Australian city to be lit by hydro-electricity (light is always welcome). Launceston has an incredibly ugly flag . There is not much more that I can say for Launceston, other than "must try harder".

On the farm, every Friday On the farm, it's Henry pie day. So, every Friday that ever comes along, I get up early and sing this little song Run Henry run Henry Run! Run! Run! Run Henry run Henry Run! Run! Run! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the farmer's gun. Run Henry run Henry Run! Run! Run! Run Henry run Henry Run! Run! Run! Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun! He'll get by Without his Henry pie So run Henry run Henry Run! Run! Run!

A plane, you reckon…? As ever, Ezra remains unconvinced .

It doesn’t matter how cold the water is, Henry remains am incredibly handsome chap!

Looking south down along the Tasman Peninsula. Eaglehawk Neck, January 2011. It seems to me that there are two kinds of people in the world. First, there are people who annoy me. Second, there are people who annoy me less. The Tessellated Pavement glimmers in the morning light. Eaglehawk Neck, January 2011. I am not sure that I was built for these times…