Thursday, July 24, 2014

Ducks are back


The ducks were back on the nature strip last night and the BOH couldn't believe they were so tame. It was too cold to go out and get a photo so I searched and found these. They are Australian Wood Ducks and if you search, make sure you search for Victorian live ducks otherwise you get lovely photos of dead ducks swinging off the back of bogan utes during duck hunting season.  The brown ducks called black ducks are the Pacific Black Ducks.  They all have artsyfartsy Latin names.

There has also been another confirmed sighting of the filligree hamster in my kitchen. Ever had the feeling you were being watched?  Two beady eyes, two little ears peeping out from under the toaster oven. It was only about 6cm long and took off across the bench which in my kitchen is like an obstacle course. I think he is coming in through where the dishwasher used to be and if he's living off my kitchen floor then he probably only has days to live or he's bacteria resistant and will live a mutant existance forever.
Behold the household mouse catcher in his usual position in front of the fire.  The only time he's going to catch it is if it runs straight into his mouth.  I don't have the heart to put a trap down even the humane catcher. If I let it loose in the backyard, the ravens or magpies will yell 'Banquet' and chomp it.

Bloody wildlife.  It's tiptoe through the poop to get out of my gate, possums and ducks poop a lot.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Another brilliant image


 Cave with Aurora Skylight
Image Credit & Copyright: Ingólfur Bjargmundsson

 Have you ever seen aurora from a cave? To capture this fascinating juxtaposition between below and above, astrophotographer Bjargmundsson spent much of a night alone in the kilometer-long Raufarhólshellir lava cave in Iceland during late March. There, he took separate images of three parts of the cave using a strobe for illumination. He also took a deep image of the sky to capture faint aurora, and digitally combined the four images later. The 4600-year old lava tube has several skylights under which stone rubble and snow have accumulated. Oh -- the person standing on each mound -- it's the artist.


Now I'm lucky to point the camera and get one good image and I doubt I'd have the patience to do what Ingolfur has done. Thanks to Astronomy photograph of the Day.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Jupiter has arrived back in Leo.

 Have a piece of cake and a coffee while I tell you how great the next 12 months are going to be because Jupiter arrives back in the sign of Leo and I get 12 months of goodness. You only get Jupiter once every 12 years and you're supposed to go back and remember what was going on between July 1st and August 31 in 02 and 03.  Good times until Jupiter left and the Heavens tipped a bucket of crap on me to celebrate.  12 years the good mother has had a stranglehold on me. 12 years ago I was also looking after my mother-in-law even though I was divorced a whole wonderful year.  I didn't notice weight dropping off but it did. I gardened, I walked, I read books in the middle of the night and in 03 my sister gave me her very old computer and the world opened up. I even applied to Open University and the papers came back just as Jupiter left, bad timing.  Mother became ill almost to death but survived, isn't that a familiar story 12 years on, and I was caught like a rat in a trap.

Just in case the raspberry ganache slice wasn't enough, try a kit kat lasagna with marshamallows and Smarties.  I have to admit I could go the raspberry treat but not this.  Only in America!
 
I want this. It's a rocking sheep and I can just see it sitting in my lounge.  All my bears would fit on it and it would look lovely among the dust and cobwebs.  My wealthy cousins had a rocking horse when I was little. They never let me ride that horse, never.  I used to make do with the garden gate, swinging back and forwards until it fell off its hinges.
And here we have baby possum heading for the kitchen.  If you're wondering what the rake is for, think beads.  It's great for raking up dropped beads and other bits of jewellery.  And the back door is wide open for the cat and I was freezing.
Mummy possum is already in the kitchen and going hell for leather at the cat food.  If I don't leave the door open the cat goes completely hysterical so the wild life just comes and goes as they please.
And when will I remember to carry the camera everywhere?  Yesterday morning I step outside the gate to find two huge ducks having a wander along the nature strip and nibbling at this and that.  They didn't take the slightest notice of me or the cars zipping past.  I haven't found an image yet but they were not the usual black ducks, you know the ones that are actually brown but these had grey and black feathers at the back to brown at the front and really large.  The Ice Bear cringes at the sight of a magpie, lord knows what he would have done if he'd seen these.


Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Almost no words for this

 Iridescent Clouds over Thamserku
Image Credit & Copyright: Oleg Bartunov

Explanation: Why would a cloud appear to be different colors? A relatively rare phenomenon known as iridescent clouds can show unusual colors vividly or a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These clouds are formed of small water droplets of nearly uniform size. When the Sun is in the right position and mostly hidden by thick clouds, these thinner clouds significantly diffract sunlight in a nearly coherent manner, with different colors being deflected by different amounts. Therefore, different colors will come to the observer from slightly different directions. Many clouds start with uniform regions that could show iridescence but quickly become too thick, too mixed, or too far from the Sun to exhibit striking colors. The above iridescent cloud was photographed in 2009 from the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal, behind the 6,600-meter peak named Thamserku. 


I have never seen a cloud photograph like this and I'm looking at clouds all the time.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Had my eyes tested, still got two

Here is the thrice risen from the dead mother and my granddaughters.  Unfortunately their mother came with them and we couldn't talk in front of the Hag.  I also lost my plastic wallet with all my information, scripts, mum's info and my old passport somewhere on that day.  I have only one more place to check, the cafe where we had lunch and I'll do that on Thursday.  Talk about a meltdown but that's what I always do, panic first then calm down and think it through. Doc Marvin has replaced all my scripts and the blood test and referral to the specialist.  My passport is out of date but it's the personal information of pension and medicare numbers that people can use. You would think that whoever found it could have spent a couple of stamps and sent it back, I live in hope.
Bad luck is still dodging me.  A wayward piece of lemon meringue pie made it all the way down the front of my dress at Southland.  Yesterday my favourite brooch went missing from the dress I was wearing so someone in Mentone will be lucky. And when I got home last night, I found out why I was so cold, no petticoat, I'd forgotten to put it on but I did have bra and knickers.  I tell you my brain is missing in action.  I will have to stop watching politics, it's putting holes in my mind.

PM BigEars is still going on about the dole bludgers who are littering our streets and the 'it's my entitlement' pensioners living too long so let's get them all back to work.
Fine, where are the jobs?
I just bought mum 3 nightdresses, made in China.
I had an ice-cream on Sunday and read the information on the back just to make myself feel more guilty and noticed where it was made, Germany. Street's make my favourite ice-cream and ship it here from Germany.
Terry White Pharmacy brand paracetamol is made in India.
My toothpaste is made in Indonesia.
The lancets I use for getting blood are made in Russia.
Snappy Tom cat food comes from Thailand.
I spend half my time in a supermarket checking out the country of origin. Tasmanian Cheese is okay, I count them as us but I object to tomatoes sent from here to be tinned in Italy.
It seems the only thing we make in this country is bent politicians, heartless politicians and politicians with delusions of grandeur.
From now on, this is how I will be greeting the early news from Canberra.

Friday, July 04, 2014

The mood of the day

 I want to be here. I'm gazing out over calm water but the clouds are building into a storm which I don't mind as I'll just move up the sand to my luxurious beach house.
Where I'll sit and play with my collection of beach rocks, sorting them into keep, maybe and yes, you're big enough to throw at ex daughter in law.

I had an hour and a half with my granddaughters yesterday, ten minutes of which I shared with Mother.
Eldest arrived at the door and first words were, "I have really bad news".  Crap, 50 ghastly things went through my mind until she said that her mother was in the car.  One and a half hours in 16 months and I had to share it with the Queen of Mean.  I was polite.  The time has sort of gone by when I would slap her sideways to next Sunday.  So there were lots of questions I couldn't ask. Eldest's boyfriend looked a nice bloke, bearded but very neatly trimmed and red but was wearing a baseball cap backwards.  Only when he ate so he could see his food, I guess.  I noticed that the presents I had for them were stashed in the boot and not mentioned to Mummy. 

So my mother was overjoyed not only to see them but her doctor was very pleased to see her up and well.  He didn't think she would make it through the last crisis but of course she has. I haven't and if he wasn't my doctor as well I think I'd put a hit out on him.  I am so down in the dumps but not suicidal, there are cakes I haven't tasted yet and Masterchef hasn't finished and I'm in the middle of a 'Supernatural' marathon. I just remembered half a block of chocolate in the cupboard.  I'm just a misery with a side order of black.  I'll feel better soon, you know my address, send cake.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Perception

This image was taken by Rogelio Andrea on the 7th June, 2013.  It was a composite taken over many hours to make sure all the stars of the Milky Way showed to advantage. I posted this and thought it was beautiful.
 
Rogelio re-visited his 'Galaxy Cove' on the 20th June, 2014 and another fantastic photograph of the Milky Way was born.

Very pretty but far from the romance of the composite night images is the same place in daylight. The Big Sur coast of California is a great place for rugged sea views but I'd have to fly there so I'll stick with the photos.