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Showing posts from August 2, 2009

Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.

Keef Richards in a lull during the Exile on Main Street Sessions , or Henry this time last week? YOU decide.

Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.

Problems with the InterTubes last night - a slow, tortuous exercise that bought back unhappy memories of dial up - meant that my usual nightly post of one of my offspring wasn't going to happen with the kind of patience unavailable to me after a week of work. Thus, you get this six week old shot of Ez looking like a Belarussian chef preparing calves tongue in 1976. Enjoy!

An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

Another day, another reflection from a puddle of water. Here you can see the tops of the trees out the front of Parliament Lawn, as I meander down right by the waterfront. ATTENTION! ACHTUNG! ATTENZIONE! ВНИМАНИЕ! انتبه! 注意! POZOR! ATTENTIE! HUOMIO! ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ! שים לב! सावधान! FIGYELEM! PERHATIAN! 주의! UZMANĪBU! توجه! DİKKAT! Do not put the cart before the horse . This is an incorrect application of the technology. This will render the warranty of your cart null and void . Moreover , the horse, he does not like it. THANK YOU!

Everything is funny as long as it is happening to Somebody Else.

Here is another of what I label my 1970s Yugoslavia photographs. More Tuzla that Sarajevo perhaps, but a wet winter's shot nonetheless. Yes it is 10 Murray again looking tired. I promised it on Wednesday , so here you can have it now: part one of Ten True Things About Me : As a lad, my favourite colour was RED. At some point, my favourite colour has shifted to BLUE. I believe that this relates to a temperamental shift, rather than any unconscious political motives. When I was in high school - a period I broadly detested, by the way - people would often say "these are the best years of your life". I do not have the words to possibly express how depressing and disheartening that was to me. Gladly, they were quite wrong. [As an aside, how miserable their own adult lives must have been!] The depth of my feelings for both of my sons surprises me on occasion. Ultimately, it is something of a relief, as I honestly wasn't too sure how I'd feel about them before they arr

Children are all foreigners.

From last weekend, you can see a still hairy Henry, with an increasingly scrappy Ezra, both enjoying the mess that they have made of the lounge room. Here, they are re-enacting the Second Punic War, with Henry taking the role of Hannibal, and Ezra the role of Scipio (that would be Scipio Africanus). It did not result in a cleaner house.

Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient.

Another sunrise over Davey Street. To paraphrase Mr Hendrix from some time ago, excuse me while the sun KISSes the sky. Those of you who live in proper cities will be delighted to hear that this line of cars is what constitutes "heavy traffic" here in Hobart. It's Theme Thursday you see, and the challenge today is that of KISS . I would like to expand on the subject of KISSing, however life prevents me from exploring it in too much depth. That said, it is a practice that I quite enjoying – in the right sort of company of course. Alas, I am required at a three hour navel gaze interface all morning, so the best that I can manage is a list of five things that I’d rather be KISSing than go to this meeting today: Decrepit harpy Dame Margaret Thatcher (with tongues); The mangy cat that lurks around my bus stop of a morning (no tongues); A large sandpit full of mud, nails and dead gum leaves; Six of Snow White’s seven dwarves midgets little people (the current conce

Conquer thyself. Till thou hast done that, thou art a slave; for it is almost as well to be in subjection to another's appetite as thine own.

He's hungry, and he's headed your way. Be very, very careful.

You know, I love long hair on a man. Grown-up Jesus had long hair...

So you have all witness the BEFORE , now behold the magnificence and transformative beauty of the AFTER! I must give great credit to the proud and dignified conduct of my oldest baby, Henry [despite what he says, he'll always be my baby] upon getting his hair cut yesterday evening. He was tremendous. I hope that his keen supporters based in the subcontinent don't feel too let down by his neater appearance. Don't worry ladies, it won't last for long! Anyway, I have a whole bank of photos left to post, so we'll be seeing long haired Henry for a little while yet...

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

It's looking grey out over the waterfront area of Hobart. Rain you say? A fair chance, I'd wager... Yesterday I received the good news that I was to receive a prize. No, not the Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer or “Best Team Man” for the Lindisfarne Two Blues Under-8s, I have been humbled by “The Honest Scrap” award! Tony – over there on ßench – has seen fit to honour my fine work here at this blog, and rescue me from the daily torment of having to think of something to write about. For that I am eternally grateful. That said, I am also a contrary bugger, and award everyone who reads this post the award. Call me lazy generous, but I can’t just pick ten others, for fear of disappointing any of the two billion or so bloggers out there on the INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY . As a recipient, I am to “tell ten true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows”. On this point, I shall also be breaking the rules by posting five things today, and five things on Friday. I do this t

Civilization is an enormous improvement on the lack thereof.

On Sunday morning, Henry and I indulged in a spot of firefighter training. Numerous books before bedtime and Fireman Sam hard-hitting documentaries have enthused the lad about the notion of suiting up, getting the hoses out, and rescuing fair maidens, kittens and wealthy benefactors orphans. That said, our precise drills revealed one problematic area that needed immediate attention: HAIR . The hair presented a fire hazard. The hair limited his vision. The hair was entirely unfirefighterlike . So we booked the cut. The hair was cut this evening. I shall post the photos tomorrow. Consider this one the "before" shot.

There may be more poetry than justice in poetic justice.

Seven Mile Beach would be a nice spot to be today, after last night's storm I bet that there would be some interesting clouds happening on that horizon. As it is, I'm stuck at a desk, with the Tasmanian Prison Service on my mind. Woe is me.

A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman.

Here is Ez, bunkering down in a wooden hut at the base of Mount Everest. He's decided to bite the bullet, throw caution to the wind and exercise his new found enthusiasm for climbing and follow in the footsteps of Hillary, only this time sans Sherpas! In a somewhat amusing anecdote, Ezra actually confused the notion of a Sherpa with sherbet , and actually ate a half dozen when he arrived in Nepal. We laughed like drains . Of course, we upset the locals and quickly had to leave the country. Everest will have to wait.

Ads that I like: #85

Crikey, check out that... [ahem] microwave . A fabulous... [ahem] idea here, microwave and conventional oven together. [Adjusts seating position.] [Ahem] The thing that I admire most about this advertisement is its use of an enormous pair of breasts subtlety .

The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

He is our old mate L'Astrolabe basking in the sun again down in Sullivan's Cove. They'll be off molesting penguins again soon. It’s a very serious business. A very serious business indeed .

Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.

Have you seen that film War Games ? You know, the one where Ferris Bueller is playing Berserk and all of a sudden he's got the KGB, the CIA, FBI, DEA, PTA and BURP on his tail, the Kremlin of red alert, Johnny 5's girlfriend shocked and an angry Dabney Coleman bristling at the camera. Anyway, Henry with a laptop is kind of like that. Only more like the one where Ferris Bueller cruises around in a Ferrari and ends up channelling a hoarse John Lennon.

A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat.

Rounded corners on a building? What witchcraft is this? Here is the corner of a building currently being erected in town. I know it has something to do with the medical research faculty of the University, but that is the extent of my knowledge. Beyond that, I am Sgt Shultz. Sunday Top Five ! Henry's Top Five Words For The Morning Bikkies Picture Hankie Crumpet Nanna