Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Inaugural :: first

  2. Pledge :: promise

  3. String :: how long?

  4. Trot :: canter

  5. Fitness :: huh?

  6. Cinder :: ella

  7. Edge :: of the world

  8. 31 :: 32

  9. Blue :: sky

  10. Leather :: chair


from here

Monday, October 29, 2007

Saturday night

 
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The original of the cropped version on flickr.

Weird request of the week...

Do I know a good plumber?

I'm sorry, but do I look like the Yellow Pages?

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "pink". Here are some pink rosebuds. Unfortunately, these were taken when my camera was suffering from the Dreaded Black Spot Disease.

 
 
 
 
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Saturday, October 27, 2007

Speke Hall Built In 1530 - have to share this!


Speke Hall Built In 1530, originally uploaded by grangebluesky.

I used to go to this place when I was a kid - with school or the folks. I remember it has this huge painting/portrait in the main hall. The eyes follow you wherever you go in the hall. Used to spook the living daylights out of me. I wonder if that painting's still there....

Friday Fill-in

1. The last good thing that came in the mail was do good things come in the mail?.
2. This week I'm grateful for to the other people who are organising Queenscliff accommodation for all of us.
3. Fresh mango is the most delicious thing ever. (I just bought my first one of the season - horrendously expensive but I just had to have it.)
4. Music, photography, friends inspire me.
5. I'm most happy when I am listening to good music and have my camera in hand.
6. And all the roads we have to walk along are are winding. Wonderwall?
7. As for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to peace and quiet , tomorrow my plans include no plans, just the usual - work and then a drink and Sunday, I want to take it as it comes !

From Friday Fill-in

Friday, October 26, 2007

Create a connection

The theme this week is "view from your window". This is what I see as soon as I open my eyes.

 
 
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Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I like beginning with Z:

1. Zoo - some people think zoos should be closed as animals shouldn't be in cages. A noble thought but, for some species, zoos are their only hope for survival. There are 3 in Melbourne but I've only done a photography session at Healesville so far. It has native species only.
2. Zorro - when I was a kid I used to go to the Saturday morning pictures with my brother. Zorro was always on the bill, and Penelope Pitstop too! We used to act out the action on the way home :)
3. Z-Cars - a very early British cop show. One of the first I ever watched I think.
4. Zoot - an Australian band from way back. They dressed only in pink! Basically they were crap but I did like their guitar driven cover of Eleanor Rigby.
5. Zanzibar - I just like the name :)
6. Zealand, New - home of Middle Earth. :)
7. Zen - I wouldn't mind a bit of enlightenment.
8. Zeus - King of the gods of Olympus.
9. Zoom - I love the zoom on my camera :)
10. Zodiac - I'm not a great believer in astrology but sometimes it can be pretty accurate.
11. Zebra - apparently no two have the same pattern of stripes. Cool.
12. Zillion - I'd like this many dollars :)
13. Zeppelin, Led - an appropriate way to finish my alphabet TT. One of the greatest bands to ever walk the earth. Maybe the one-off show for the tribute to Ahmat Ertegun might convince them to do a one-off world tour. (Hey, a girl can dream!)
T13

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Las Vegas :: Viva

  2. Linus :: Snoopy

  3. Struck :: off

  4. Movie :: film

  5. Anxious :: me

  6. Bandit :: outlaw

  7. Picks :: plectrums

  8. Lasso :: noose

  9. Dinner :: food

  10. Bargain :: basement


from here

Monday, October 22, 2007

I've kinda almost maybe possibly perhaps come to a decision......

I need to get fitter. Just a simple stroll up a gentle slope leaves me breathing hard and I'm fed up with it. Of course, being fed up doesn't necessarily mean I'll do anything about it, but I am thinking about it.
There are plenty of options.
1. Give up smoking. I should do that regardless but it's a whole lot easier said than done.
2. Eat better. That's much easier. My diet lately has been woeful. I've started having fruit here at the shop every day. I love fruit but it's been sadly lacking of late. Easy enough to fix that.
3. Exercise. I'm not playing tennis anymore and I miss that. I need to start walking at least. Now that the weather's improving walking might become more of an option. I'd like to start swimming again but the thought of me in bathers - *shudder*
4. Drink less. Stupid idea.
5. Find some willpower - the central issue. Thinking is easy, doing is a whole different matter.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "practical".
So:
1. Here's my friend Bronnie being practical in her bathroom.
2. A tripod is very practical for taking pics. No photographer should be without one.
3. Phone and laptop. Both extremely practical items but made even better because they're portable too.

 
 
 
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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Let's see if these pics work....

Last Sunday I went to my sister Paula's place for a family dinner. She's totally in love with this jug which she picked up for $20 somewhere. It's what's called amethyst glass and is worth a small fortune. I tried to get a pic that showed the light through it but failed miserably.
The pavlova was part of the array of desserts she provided after the bbq tea. This is why no-one in my family is skinny!
Up the back of their place are two large sheds. James (Paula's son, my nephew) has converted one into a small flat where he and his girlfriend, Rosie, live. The other is his workshop where he does metal polishing and plays with his toys. He's currently restoring this Holden V8 ute. He bought it late last year (well I paid for it, he's paying me back) and plans to have it on the road by the time he gets his licence back next year. It's a big job but he's made a lot of progress. It helps that he's handy with a spanner!

 
 
 
 
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Friday Fill-in

From *drum roll and fanfare* the new home of Friday Fill-in.

1. October November, December.
2. Darkness doesn't scare me!
3. Haunted houses are not that scary.
4. My favorite scary movie is ooh err, I don't think I have one because I just don't watch them. Call me a wimp, I don't care.
5. Fuck, oh no I mean Goodness me.
6. It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dunno, surprise me, tomorrow my plans include another Phone masterpiece and Sunday, I want to who knows what I'll want by then? Anything pleasant will do me.

Friday, October 19, 2007

10 minutes and 2 seconds of Venus, Mars and another.

I stood out in the driveway last night to take this. The intention was to do an hour exposure but I got bored after ten minutes! I think I'll try the hour when I'm down at Queenscliff in November. There'll be plenty of things to do around the campsite so I won't lose interest. :)
Anyone know what the blue star/planet might be?

All is right with the world again

Well, all is right with the website at least. The web hosting people fixed it. They were able to reset the username and password so I can do the admin stuff again. Yay!

Now I better go catch up.....

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I like beginning with Y:

1. Yesterday - when my bookshop website was working!!
2. Young, Neil - one of the greatest singer/songwriter/guitarists around.
3. You - yes, I like you.
4. Yellow - a happy, sunny colour.
5. Yackandandah - a town in NE Victoria. I just like the name.
6. Yachts - I'd love to have a big yacht and sail the oceans.
7. Yes - so much better than no.
8. Youth - I remember when.......
9. Yo-Yo - I was never any good but yo-yos are fun to play with.
10. Yam - sweet potato. Yummy.
11. Yggdrasil - Tree of life in Norse mythology.
12. Yellowfin tuna - had it fresh, straight of the boat once. Absolutley beautiful eating.
13. Yolk - the best bit of the egg.
T13

Thursday, October 18, 2007

I am NOT having a good day!


Log amongst the ferns, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Pics posted in the last post with picasa disappeared. Bookshop website won't accept my username and/or password. I can't get in to the site's admin to do any updates. This is moderately disastrous.
This is a pic from my minature walk yesterday - straight from flickr. Picasa can go jump.

Yesterday...

I went back up to Monbulk yesterday. I'd planned to do the walk through the rainforest to Sherbrooke Falls. It's about a 5km round trip. I'd taken a few snaps along the way but hadn't got very far really when the heavens opened. So I packed up and went home. I spent the rest of the day in front of the fire.

EDIT: And I had posted some pics but they've disappeared.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

This is the photograph I want to take!!


Forest Rock in stream, originally uploaded by mick_walters2003.

Taken by Mick (Billy) Walters down in Tasmania. Just brilliant!

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Illicit :: drugs

  2. Go :: collect $200

  3. Jacket :: coat

  4. Blow :: torch

  5. Coach :: bus

  6. Effort :: endeavour

  7. Leadership :: shouldn't be left to men.

  8. Snore :: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

  9. Fearless :: Fly

  10. Network :: 10


from here

Monday, October 15, 2007

Phone's first month.


Phone's first month., originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

One down, 11 to go.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Patience is a virtue, so they say.

Almost as soon as I finished the last post the charge light changed from red to green. However, it meant that the only pic I could take was here in the shop and I did a 'phone in shop' photo yesterday. So I called on dumpr.net for a little help.

Oh the frustration!!

I went to take today's phone pic this morning and discovered the camera battery was flat. So it's sitting here on the charger and I keep looking for the green light. I'm getting soooo impatient!! It's been an hour and a half already. I mean, come on!

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "smelly". I'm going with good smellies - jasmine and lilac, my two favourite smells in the garden at the moment, and essential oils in the oil burner. The current oil is a eucalypt-based mix, excellent for lingering colds and stuffy noses. And it smells great too!

 
 
 
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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Favourites - prepare to get wet.

Bit of a water based theme this time. I do like a long exposure water shot!

Friday Fill-in

1. Once upon a time there were three bears.
2. No screaming and kicking here!
3. Don't mix white tea and ginger.
4. Way down inside, you need loooooooooooooooove
5. Keys get lost; locks are a mixed blessing.
6. Have you seen The Cure? They're so AWESOME!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to keeping warm, tomorrow my plans include staying at a friend's place to avoid the kids' party - heavy and death metal till 6am just ain't my thing! and Sunday, I want to go home to a clean and tidy house!

From the Snapery (but not for much longer it seems)

Create a Connection

This week's theme is 'something that is new to you'. I'm varying that a bit - here's something that if I had my way would definitely be new to me. (And I don't mean the phone.)

 
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Friday, October 12, 2007

Thursday Thirteen

Things I like beginning with X: (this could take me all day!)

1. X Ray Specs - classic British punk band from the 70s. Fronted by Polly Styrene. They were kinda crap but had one "hit" with a song that went like this... "Oh bondage, up yours!"
2. Xylophone - who didn't bash about on one of these as a kid?
3. XP - there are two good things about WinXP: 1)It can be made to look like Win2000 and 2) it's not Vista.
4. Xerxes - King of Persia sometime in the 400s BC.
5. X-rated - usually means there's swearing and/or sex. Violence only requires an M. Something not quite right about that.
6. X-Ray - handy medical tool.
7. X-chromosome - us girls have two. Blokes only have one.
8. Xanth - fantasy series by Piers Anthony. I haven't read any of these books but they sell reasonably well.
9. Xerox - photocopiers were an essential tool when I was teaching.
10. Xmas - an acceptable abbreviation for too much food and drink. :)
11. Xhosa - an African language. Similar to Zulu I think.
12. XXXXXXX - kisses :)
13. XIII - 13 and that means I'm finished!!!!
T13

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Clean camera :)


Olinda Falls, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Took it back to Kirk's in Ringwood, where I bought it from, and the nice man there cleaned the sensor - for free. :)
So afterwards I headed up the mountain and took some shots at Olinda Falls. This is probably my favourite shot of the bunch - rather Tolkienesque I think. :)

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Book meme....

Seen at Literary Feline

The books listed below are the top 106 books most often tagged as being unread by LibraryThing users (as of October 3rd).

The instructions are simple: Bold what you have read, and italicize books you have started but couldn’t finish. Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once. Underline those on your TBR list. The ones marked with ** are books I wouldn't mind reading one day but don't have in stock.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell **
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion*
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife **
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner **
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex **
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales (I read bits for school many moons ago.)
The Historian **
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible **
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses (Started this in the shop but someone bought it before I could finish.)
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake: A Novel
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit **********
In Cold Blood
White Teeth **
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Withdrawal

My camera needs a good clean - it's got a dirty great black spot that shows up in my photos. I've cleaned the lens and everything I can think of but it's still there. So tomorrow I'm taking it to the camera shop where, hopefully, they can clean the sensor for me.
Meanwhile, I'm not taking photos, except for the 365 phone project, because they're all spoiled by the Black Spot! So I'm having withdrawal symptoms. God help me if the camera has to go to Canon and I'm without it for any length of time!
Today's phone reject pic:

 
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Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Cluster :: bunch

  2. Announcement :: Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

  3. Respect :: has to be earned.

  4. Incident :: happening

  5. Accordion :: piano

  6. Drunk :: often

  7. If :: only

  8. Dexter :: Ted

  9. Wedding :: ceremony

  10. Gambling :: poker


from here

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Saturday Photo Hunt - Curvy

This week's theme is curvy.


Magnolia, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Curvy petals on the magnolia.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Friday Fill-in

1. If I were a tree I would be Fangorn because Ents rock!
2. If I were a bird I would fly over the whole world.
3. If I were a book I hope I would be worth reading.
4. If I were a car I'd be a Ferrari.
5. If I could get rid of one piece of technology it would definitely be nuclear technology because the poisonous waste will never go away.
6. If I could get rid of one bad habit at a snap of the fingers it would be smoking.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching The Prisoner of Azkaban, tomorrow my plans include watching The Goblet of Fire and Sunday, I want to take it as it comes!
From The Snapery

Friday, October 05, 2007


Free Burma, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I like beginning with W:

1. Waterworld - I don't care what anyone says, it's a great movie and Kevin is just so goddamn fuckably sexy in it.
2. Watching Me Fall - my favourite track on Bloodflowers. I'll let you guess who by. :)
3. Warburton - spent a bit of time up there recently, visiting my sister and niece. It's a beautiful part of the world.
4. When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin IV. That thunderous opening still does it for me even 35 years or so later.
5. "William Blake." "William Blake?" "William Blake!" "Whaddaya mean William Blake?" "I mean William Blake!" - From which film Shirl?
6. William Blake - Dead Man. Johnny Depp with a Neil Young soundtrack - how can it not be good?
7. Waterfalls - I'm still looking for a good one to photograph. I'll have to go a bit further afield I think.
8. Where The Wild Roses Grow - duet between Nick Cave, the king of murderous goth, and Kylie Minogue, the queen of pippity pappity pop. And it works!
9. Weed - you know, the Sunflower in Bill and Ben The FlowerPot Men. Her name is Weed. :)
10. Writers - 'cos, you know, I love a good book.
11. White Rider, the - Gandalf the White riding Shadowfax. This week's Tolkien reference.
12. Wizards - from Gandalf to Harry Potter.
13. Wilderness - a dwindling resource.
T13

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Yesterday....

I went over to my friend Bronnie's place. She's been renovating her bathroom and in the morning had the tiler over to grout the tiles around the bath. He put too much water in the mix and had to leave it. "It'll be right in 2 hours," he said and showed Bronnie how to apply it. That was at about 11am. Hahaha, by about 7pm it was cured enough to use. By then we were well into our second bottle of champers. But, with a little help, she managed to get the job done.

 
 
 
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Can't resist a spelling challenge...


JustSayHi - A Free Dating Website



Seen at Shirl's.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Friday Fill-in (on Monday)

1. Sunburn should be avoided.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean.
3. Beach leads to the ocean.
4. The best thing about "Island time" is the rum.
5. Rum punch by Elmore Leonard, the original "Jackie Brown" book.
6. Snorkeling is something i've never tried.
7. And as for the weekend, Friday I had a quiet one, Saturday my plans included watching the Grand Final at The Tav and Sunday, I made veggie soup!

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Crook :: criminal

  2. Career :: vocation

  3. Freckles :: redhead

  4. Scramble :: mess

  5. Mistake :: oops

  6. Telephone :: one phone/365 days

  7. Thank you :: you're welcome

  8. Obstruction :: hindrance

  9. 24/7 :: one week

  10. SciFi :: fantasy


from here

Monday, October 01, 2007

Grand Final report

Geelong 163 defeated Port Adelaide 44. The biggest winning margin in Grand Final history. It was close for about the first five minutes but, from then on, the Cats were unstoppable. This is their first GF win since 1963. Pussies no longer, these cats roared!
The MCG was just about full - close to 100,000 people at the ground.
As a spectacle, it was great to watch. As a game, it was so one-sided that the excitement level was pretty low - it was basically all over by the end of the first quarter.
This year Geelong have finished first after the home and away season, won the Grand Final, won the VFL (reserves) Grand Final, won the Brownlow Medal (best and fairest player of the year), won the Rising Star (best first year player), won the MVP award.
I think you could safely say they've been the dominant team of the year.