Pic of the Day 29 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 28 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 27 May, 2007

Separated at Birth?

This is Erin's cat Toola


Our cat Lili

Two cats, two continents...

You decide!

Pic of the Day 27 May, 2007

This is a view of a corner of our living room.

The chair is an orinal Australian designed Fleur
which I found on the side of the road one hard-rubbish day.
Mauzi recovered it and it looks great.
The painting is one of mine.
I finally got around to framing it tonight.

Pic of the Day 25 April, 2007

Urge Overkill
at the Corner Hotel!

Pic of the Day 24 April, 2007

Check out this old bakelite clock/automatic teapot

I found in a local shop.

I didn't buy it though and it was gone the next week.

Even though we don't typically wake up to tea
I was a bit sad someone else would be.

Pic of the Day 23 April, 2007

Rain...finally!

(This picture was actually take on our January diving holiday in Merimbula NSW-No Diving)

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain pattering on the roof. It may have been the intensity of the rain that woke me or just the sheer surprise to hear such an uncanny sound making it’s way through to my sleepy subconscious. In fact it’s been so long since I heard such a steady drumming I’d be no more surprised if I heard Santa’s bells and the trotting of reindeer on the roof.

You see Melbourne, as well as the rest of Australia, is in the middle of a serious drought. It has been pretty much the whole time I’ve lived here, which is just about 5 years now. Here in the city, we have been under strict water restrictions that up until these last few weeks of May were only going to get tougher. That means no unnecessary water usage such as washing the car or watering the lawns (who needs clean cars and green lawns anyway?) We are encouraged not to take baths and to keep showers shorter than the length of two songs on the radio. We reuse our shower water on the garden and I can’t remember the last time I showered without a bucket between my legs!

It has gotten so dry that heritage listed trees are beginning to die in the Botanical Gardens. Water has been taken from leaking community swimming pools (which cannot be refilled because of the leaks and because of the leaks they are too much of a drain on the water levels-so no swimming for the kids in the poor suburbs) and used to fill those orange and white plastic traffic barricades you see along highway construction sites. These are then placed strategically around the base roots of our most endangered trees and encouraged to slowly leak their contents thus saving the trees. Needless to say, our parks are beginning to look a bit like some cheap art installation by a second-rate Christo wanna-be.

But if you think that’s bad it’s nothing compared to the rural areas. Farmers in the bush are doing it really hard. There are children in some outback farming and cattle stations starting school this year without ever having experience rain. Not once in their lifetime. I was mildly amused when a friend’s daughter asked my once, “What’s that white stuff?” while looking at a picture of my dog posing in front of a snow bank back in Wisconsin.

Really…? “That’s snow mate.”

I can see now that the sun is rising. The sky has turned from and inky indigo to gray and the rain is softening. I turn on the radio and listen as the weatherman forecasts, “showers for all capitol cities”.

This is very good news for all.

Oh yea…Paul Wolfowitz is also being kicked out of the World Bank and David Hicks is on his way back from Guantanamo. Can the day get any better???

Pic of the Day 20 April, 2007

For Buddha...
What is your latest mischief?

Pic of the Day 19 April, 2007

Pic of the Day 18 April, 2007

Pic of the Day 16 May, 2007

A somewhat embarrassing predicament???

Pic of the Day 15 May, 2007

Hometown Crime of teh Week

11:51 a.m.-City of Chetek caller advised she has found out her kids had programmed 911 into speed dial for her because she is 80 years old and they thought they were doing her a favor. She has had 911 removed from speed dial and she wanted to apologize for the hang-up call earlier.

Pic of the Day 14 May, 2007

Happy Mother's Day

Pic of the YEAR, 2007!!!

Pic of the YEAR, 2007


"The Grape"
13 weeks

Pic of the Day 11 May, 2007

WILCO at the Palias, St Kilda

Pic of the Day 10 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 9 May, 2007

Apparently these berries are edible

Pic of the Day 8 May, 2007

A blowout on the Bolte!!!

Pic of the Day 7 May, 2007

Supercell!

Pic of the Day 6 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 5 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 4 May, 2007

The "Commander Guy"

Pic of the Day 3 May, 2007

Pic of the Day 2 May, 2007

Where I teach.

26, June 2006

These days I feel like I’m in some sort of hibernation mode. The older I get, the harder it becomes. I have developed a serious phobia of winter. Not so much the cold, I don’t think, but the lack of daylight. It’s the inactivity that these months of early darkness prescribe. No gardening, no biking, no nothing outside. It drains me and all I want to do is sleep. (Sunday I fell asleep in front of the fireplace and napped for four hours, in the middle of the afternoon, Monday night a12 hours sleep.) It’s seriously as if my body is trying to squeeze in a virtual “hibernation”.

I wake, I walk, I talk but somehow I feel like life in the dark-months all is a daze. Some form of sleep-walking. I stumble through my work, my love, and my happiness. I function during daylight hours ok but once I get home to a darkened house the weight begins to press down. I imagine how a prisoner in isolation must feel. And to the consternation of my beautiful and thankfully (hopefully) forgiving partner…

I have fared better this year than last. Last year was a real low. A true struggle just to get out of bed and a true challenge for Mauzi as well. Lesser women would have left me spinning. Maybe, if faced with dealing with me on a day-to-day basis would have left me as well. Believe me, I had thoughts.

But this year I have made it through the . Past the winter solstice and now I can count one extra minute of daylight per calendar day until the ultimate return of life and happiness, the carefree months of daylight savings!!! Even tonight I was able to squeeze in a run and a half hour in the garden catching up on the weeds that were catching up on me.

Pic of the Day 1 May, 2007

A suprise guest!

Hometown Crime of the Week

9:51 a.m.-Chetek 9-7/16 caller reported a stray brown dog in her neighborhood that appears to be sick and is foaming from the mouth. Officer advised the dog is a friendly St. Bernard which naturally drools. Officer contacted the owner of the dog.