This will hurt me...

Just beneath the surface. Errol Flynn Reserve, Sandy Bay. April 2013. Chopin's Move , Jean Echenoz: Very French. I didn't like it much. F . The Day of the Triffids , John Wyndham: Another bleak novel from Wyndham. I hadn't read this since high school, but for some reason had the urge to revisit it. The story rollicks along easily enough, even if it never quite manages to convince... C+ .

Surface. Hobart waterfront, Sullivans Cove. February 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Wind on the water. Sullivans Cove, Hobart. July 2012. High Rise by J.G. Ballard: a dystopian vision of modern life (written in the 1970s), featuring a stark urban landscape and exploring the ways in which technology can warp the human psyche in all sorts of perverted and nasty ways. Think Hobbes' State of Nature in an apartment block. Ho hum. C- . The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells: a dystopian vision of modern life (written in the 1890s). The tale of a shipwrecked fellow 'rescued' by a pair of exiled scientists endeavouring to create sentient beings from animals. Really though, the book is about God, pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity and the consequences of human interference with nature. Terrifying stuff! A- . Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie: convoluted little mystery. The setup? Wealthy eccentric invites four sleuths and four (suspected) to a dinner party and game of bridge. To no-one's surprise the eccentric dandy cops a kn...

Leaves and twigs in the water. Hot Springs Creek, Hastings Caves State Reserve. April 2012. If you ever decide to swim in the rivers and creeks of Tasmania, particularly those located in forests, consider shoes... The Pig , Roald Dahl In England once there lived a big And wonderfully clever pig. To everybody it was plain That Piggy had a massive brain. He worked out sums inside his head, There was no book he hadn't read. He knew what made an airplane fly, He knew how engines worked and why. He knew all this, but in the end One question drove him round the bend: He simply couldn't puzzle out What LIFE was really all about. What was the reason for his birth? Why was he placed upon this earth? His giant brain went round and round. Alas, no answer could be found. Till suddenly one wondrous night. All in a flash he saw the light. He jumped up like a ballet dancer And yelled, "By gum, I've got the answer!" "They want my bacon slice by slic...

Rock, as viewed from above. Long Beach, Sandy Bay. April 2012. For today's Sunday Top Five I thought that I'd visit the subject of orations. Yes, today I tackle My Top Five Six Favourite Speeches From History! 399 BCE: The Apology of Socrates , Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates, who was defending himself against charges of corrupting the young, refusing to worship the gods, and creating new deities. 1851: Ain't I A Woman? , delivered by abolitionist Sojourner Truth at a Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. 1933: The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself , from the first inaugural address of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the heart of the Great Depression. 1949: The Light on the Hill by Australia Prime Minister Ben Chifley, paying tribute to the country's labour movement. 1956: On the Personality Cult and its Consequences by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, critical of the regime of Stalin. Also known as the "Secret Speech...

Ripples on the Derwent. April, 2010. Saturday mornings are a great time to ruminate on a little e.e. ... your little voice... (I) , E. E. Cummings your little voice Over the wires came leaping and i felt suddenly dizzy With the jostling and shouting of merry flowers wee skipping high-heeled flames courtesied before my eyes or twinkling over to my side Looked up with impertinently exquisite faces floating hands were laid upon me I was whirled and tossed into delicious dancing up Up with the pale important stars and the Humorous moon dear girl How i was crazy how i cried when i heard over time and tide and death leaping Sweetly your voice

As you have probably figured out by now, Tasmania is blessed by [ahem] the best beaches in the world . Sure, the water is riddled with rips and generally frigid and full of Great White Sharks and jellyfish, but the sand is tremendous . Above and below I've got photos of the surface of the sand at Fossil Bluff in Wynyard, not more than fifty metres apart. I think I like number two, but I'm not sure. Whaddya reckon?

More water! Above is the river Derwent at its most moody. Apologies for the late post. Meeting after meeting after meeting. You know how much I like meetings...

Here is another of my experiments in photography water surfaces. You might remember some of the others that I have posted in the past . There is one more thing that I would like to say: I love you all so much .