This will hurt me...

I know that I have severely limited the world's access to the gritty urban mean streets of Hobart, but well, you're not missing much. I have previously mused on the prevalence of penises in youthful graffiti, profound messages on poles, I've even mentioned how we've got the word 'dick' scrawled on our fence (it keeps reappearing)! Today's picture does not dwell on such low brow material, it concerns the ongoing ideological war bubbling away under the surface here in the southernmost capital city in Australia. I shall let the image speak for itself, but tomorrow I shall expand and show another photograph of the grubbiest former vegetarian eatery in the world ! Tomorrow at one: McCracken shall rant on anarchists!

I like this one just the way that it is.

Forgive my shoddy MS Paint skills, but when Henry pulled this pose yesterday, I knew that I would just have to use the photo, even if it was so flooded with light that it was difficult to look at. The moment that finger went up, it sparked an instantaneous recognition of the “Lenin pose” (as I like to call it) and consolidates all that I have foreseen of this young man thus far .

Here they are again, both a little happier. Henry has done his forward roll and Ezra has got his grizzle out of the way. I’m not sure if I like this shot because Henry’s stance evokes that of a protective lioness over her cubs, or whether it’s just Ezra’s bloody great big eyes. Wait a sec, I know what it is; I like this shot because Henry has finally stopped moving and I have managed to get them both in the same frame finally. Odd angle or not, this is an achievement worthy of celebration.

So here we have an angry little baby in the foreground, and a toddler doing his best Olga Korbut impression in the background. For some reason, Henry seems compelled from some external force to forward roll, forward roll, forward roll ! It matters not that there is a baby in front, a box of lego, an innocent father; the only thing that matters is the forward roll . I sometimes wish that life were that simple for me.

Because I feel like it, and because I can, today I am running with a Henry and Ezra BONANZA theme. No, that doesn’t mean Henry will be dressed up in spurs, tassels and a twelve gallon hat calling himself “Hoss” and knocking blokes out for dissing his “paw”, nor will Ezra be going by “lil’ Joe” and going on to build a petite abode on the pampas nor act as an angel sent from heaven to help people prevent their savings being swindled by unscrupulous investors. [One does hope this convoluted bit of pop culture riffing doesn’t pass everybody by.] Anyway, the long and the short of it is that I am back at work today, don’t want to be, so have colluded with the robot to have regular pictorial updates throughout the day. So here is the first, dear little Ezra showing off his feet, taken yesterday afternoon and displaying little evidence of any after effects of his shots. So, for the time being, our little man has a halo of protection for the following: Hepatitis B; Diphtheria, tetanus and whoo...

Back to the Derwent River! But this is from yesterday, no work today as it was eight week vaccination time and I wouldn't miss it for quids. Of course, my role mainly involved chasing Henry around for two hours as he weaved through throngs of kids named Braydon, Jayden, Rayden, Kayden and even one called River looking for unearned jelly beans. Gold was struck as Ezra was terribly good, and Henry happily snared his reward. After the trip out, I did ponder to myself, "whatever happened to 'Steve' (or 'Mark', 'Dave' or 'Colin')?