This will hurt me...

Henry at work. Geilston Bay. September 2013. The Winter Queen , Boris Akunin: A story of murder, suicide, deception and disguise that hurtles through pre-revolutionary Tsarist Russia. Crafted with care, Akunin weaves some beautiful expression and a series of exotic historical settings - primarily Moscow, Saint Petersburg and a quick jaunt to the seedier side of London in the mid-1870s - together with a wonderful series of well developed characters that really does feel like Tolstoy tackling a murder mystery. I loved it. A .

One of the princes in the tower?

Henry, she came in through the bathroom window!

Ezra does his best Norman Bates impression...

40 or 20 , YOU decide. St Johns Park, New Town. May 2011. Day two of the final week in New Town, three more to go. You will be pleased to hear that the next office will be located a little closer to the water, and I might get the opportunity now and again to brighten things up with a little morning on the waterfront action. By that I mean sea birds, mist over water and the odd sun burst; not a surly, pouty Marlon Brando. “Charley, it was you! … He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palookaville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.” Consider Sandy Bay this year’s Palookaville.

It’s official! Henry is indeed blessed from above…

On your own in a kayak. Opossum Bay, January 2011. What could be finer than to be out on your lonesome with just the sounds of the gently lapping water, a slightly cool sea breeze coming in from the south-east taking the edge of the heavy afternoon sun? The smell of the salt, the sound of a sullen seagull off into the expanse. Nothing but you, some fibreglass and your thoughts to keep you company. I really am going to have to get off my backside and get myself one, aren’t I? So, in honour of this train of thought, today’s Sunday Top Five is The Top Five Places I Would Not Mind Paddling A Kayak Around ! [ Menacing ] Micronesia ! The [ Alarming ] Antarctic Peninsula ! The [ Kal eid osc opic ] Kamchatka and [umm… Kindly ] Kuril Islands ! The [ Deadly ] Danube ! (More of) [ TERRIFIC ] Tasmania !

Keep on the grass. Princes Park, Battery Point. December 2010. The blandly-titled Princes Park features the impressive structure that lures children from all over Hobart. Unfortunately, it seems that Battery Point has some kind of dress code, as all the kids seem to be little fashion plates... Grass , Carl Sandburg Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work--- I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now? I am the grass. Let me work.

Sandals. Beautiful beam of sunlight. Beatific look on face. Henry or Jesus?

Afternoon de light, Opossum Bay, two big buoys and two kayaks. Can you spot them all? The link may seem tenuous, but when I think of afternoon light, the chorus of Afternoon Delight - the Starland Vocal Band's mega hit from '76 - immediately comes to mind. This immediately leads me to today's Sunday Top Five: My Top Five Favourite 1970s Mega Hit Singles [at this point in time, as such lists are liable to change]! 5: The Ballroom Blitz , Sweet 4: Get it On , T-Rex (and check out that German Top of the Pops presenter!) 3: Rock On , David Essex 2: He's Gonna Step on You Again , John Kongos 1: Mull of Kintyre , Paul McCartney and Wings Okay, who have I missed? Obviously Mouldy Old Dough Gimme Dat Ding and Afternoon Delight presented strong cases, but what does the world think?

Here is an artsy fartsy black and white taken down at Princes Dock in Salamanca. There's a nice mix of cloud and sunlight, and I particularly like how the reflections on the water to the right look like little stars. I have a poem, one of my own this time: cake , by Kris McCracken cake filled with nuts. rats! nuts! cake filled with nuts, worse than cake filled with rats.

Another day, another photo from Seven Mile Beach! Christmas is coming, and nothing says Christmas in Australia like the beach. Last year, after a morning spent unwrapping stuff and a nap, we spent Christmas afternoon at the beach , and I'm hoping that the weather allows us to continue that tradition. It beats snow!

Afternoon sunlight piercing through the trees always makes for an arresting photograph. Ezra took this one from our front door step. I am now scouting out a new camera to replace the dearly departed one. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure what these birds are doing lurking up on some luxury flats above Salamanca Square. Whatever it is, it can't be good. I've seen that film by Hitchcock. No, birds gathering, it has to spell doom . As I was looking at this photo, one thing that struck me was the yellow tone. I don't do a lot of yellow, and I don't know why...

I've featured a lot of pictures looking north on Elizabeth Street, but from memory this is one of the few taken looking south. This was taken on Thursday, at around 4:30 pm, as I am grumpy waiting for the 4:20 express. Sunday Top Five! A wisp of melancholy and an intense feeling of being old accompanied my oversight of a "best singles on the past decade" list online yesterday evening. More precisely, I either failed to recognise, or flippantly dismissed most of the entries. You see, my formative musical years happened some time prior to the year 2000. Thus, today's list. In chronological order, I present to you My Five Favourite Record Albums of the 1990s ! U2: Achtung Baby R.E.M.: Automatic for the People Pulp: Different Class Radiohead: OK Computer Wilco: Summerteeth Just missing the cut were a long list, culled to a very short list that included: Manic Street Preachers' The Holy Bible ; Portishead's Dummy ; Guided by Voices' Alien Lanes ; Pavement...

No, that isn't ice on the branches there. I do like the way that it kind of looks that way though. This was taken somewhere in Hobart, although I don't truly recall where, or when. Lately though. It was taken of late. By the look of the angle of the sun, I'd be guessing late-morning. Tuesday Q and A ! It's an easy one this one. In the deepest voice that I can muster: Why are people so unkind?

I am looking to exhaust the backlog of cute Ezra pictures, so that I can show a whole new stream of cute Ezra pictures. Here is one from a few months back, with the little bloke exploiting some lovely afternoon sunlight. For the record, the fellow turfed off the roof in the tale of Theme Thursday was most definitely not me. I'm insulted that anyone would think that'd I'd be silly enough to get myself into that situation. Just as I wouldn't be on the roof throwing them off, I'm not the kind to be thrown off either. I'm the one laughing and pointing all the while People like that ought to be ashamed. As for the end result, I do believe that he was fine, aside from a few bumps and bruises. That and an almighty hangover.

Here is the view up Elizabeth Street towards the bus mall on a brisk winter's afternoon. There is something inherently melancholy about the kind of afternoon light that can be found in winter. I like it, but then again, I’ve been known to stroll along that road on occasion. I suppose that perhaps it isn’t the light that’s melancholy though. Perhaps the problem is a little closer to home. If only there was some kind of standardised measure of melancholy to help. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is of no use to me, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale is a joke. That said, anything to do with Warwick Capper is a absurd as a rule. [See what I did there?] I re-took Dr George W. Crane’s Marital Rating Scale (and scored rather excellently , I might add) but that was no assistance! In a rut? Tick . Bored? Tick . Listless? Tick . Lacking enthusiasm? Tick . Frustrated? Tick . Cynical and contemptuous to others? Tick . Irritable and curt to wife and children? Tick t...

This is a house of God. Apparently. It seems he has extravagant tastes. This is St David's Cathedral - the most obscenely overblown principal Anglican church in Tasmania - which was built between 1868 and 1936. As you can see, it was built in the Gothic Revival style. Westminster Palace she ain't, but it's all we've got! A cavalcade of grizzling, sulking, wailing and everybody shouting at each other, prompted a group decision to take a road trip to Richmond this morning. As is our wont, we conducted a "roadkill challange", with the somewhat surprising result of: Possums (my tip): THREE Wallabies (Jen's tip): THREE Wombats (Henry's tip):ZERO Rabbits (Ezra's tip): FOUR As usual, Ez was the victor. I guess that we can safely declare rabbits the loser on the day.

Sometimes the morning brings with it such sunshine of which dreams are made. This sunshine presents a five minute window whereby the reflection off the McMansions on the hill renders them quite interesting (whereupon the sun shifts, and they revert to hideously ugly monstrosities that are a blight on the landscape). Fun fact of the day! I like the song Fat Bottomed Girls in an equal but opposite correlation to the song Bicycle Race . Think of it as Queen with magnets .