Back before long.

 

Aren't they sweet?  Felted kittens, a craft I never got the hang of.  And I don't think I'm going to get the hang of this new blogger either.  Go hide in a corner for a few weeks and everything changes and I'm just not in the mood for another change.  Cutting my own hair is as adventurous as I can manage.

But let's go with a great fact.  We know the Antarctic glaciers are melting but I just found out that 3% of that melt is penguin pee.  Stands to reason, poor birds have to go somewhere but not with a damn great egg warming on your feet. All I can envisage in my mind is a great circle of penguins huddled together in a storm and someone yells "Pee" and the snow warms up a bit.  Shouldn't have started that thought, must go now, in a hurry.

Post Blue Skies because we haven't any

I've really decided that this is the house for me. Natural light coming in all those windows and I just adore the tiny balcony at the top where my workroom is. Stairs, you ask, glass elevator will be installed. I love all the French Doors.

The kitchen, loving the pale green, hate the blind, changing that for heavy lace. It's a bit small so imagine it stretched across towards the Butler's Pantry on the right of the block.
Two minds about the Farm Sink, it can chip, it can be scratched and it does discolour with time.

And the sea view from the bedroom balcony.

Guests are welcome meaning you lot.

Bring your own booze.

Satin Pillow cases for the ladies.

Chaff bag for Highriser.

Our Country is burning to death

Not a photo of Mallacoota last night but another beach in NSW.  Mallacoota was like Hell described in some two thousand year old book that we are supposed to live our lives by in this age.

The people in Mallacoota were told to go to the beach and when the siren went off, go in the water with their bodies against the breakwater to stop the radiant heat from the flames burning them.  The small boat with two boys and their mother on the water went around the world on the front of newspapers and television screens. 

I could only imagine what it was like.  What would I do? I don't drive, it was so dark from the smoke no-one could see.  All I would do was grab a woollen blanket, thick shoes, put the cat in his basket and load water for us both on my walker and try for the beach. I'd would have hoped not to hear that siren, not to have to try and stand in water holding a terrified cat.  But watching people help each other and a ring of firefighters holding back flames, I cried, sitting in my chair away from that hell.

Most of you know I had a boy who died.  All he ever wanted to be was a forest ranger, work in the bush, join the CFA, he was one with nature.  But last night I was almost glad he wasn't here because he would have been there, holding a hose but also saving every animal that came his way. I would have been looking for him in the smoke hoping for just a glimpse that he was still okay. I might even have seen him helping a lady with an old walker and carrying a fat white cat.
In all the years I don't think I cried as much for him as I did last night.  The cat and I just sitting together.

I have been returned by the aliens, I was too alien for them

After the last weeks of horror, I found this little creature in my files. No burnt paws, or ears, no gasping for air, no terror in the eyes. The animals in the bush are in my dreams and they'll never leave, what a way to remember a destroyed species.  As for our Prime Arse in charge, never mind money for roadworks in the never never future, half a dozen water carrying helicopters and planes for now would be sensible and might even get you a vote at the next election.  It won't be mine though.

At last I have a new computer chair but no instructions so from sitting 6 inches off the floor, I'm now 6 inches down from the ceiling. I can't read the settings on the lever because they were written for people with eyesight that can kneel on the floor and crawl under the chair to work it and you just know that's not me. I could barely move after sitting in it for 2 days until the bones creaked and groaned into the new posture. Over the other side of the study is the new table/desk, more room but less taking up space.

Just when I need all the time I can get for the de-cluttering, I find I've been signed up to twitter which I have not yet worked out, Instagram which I have not yet worked out, fakebook which I have never been able to work out after years of trying but never will I give up the blog.  Something else I can never give up, ebay although I have cut down on the hours spent there looking for Mother stuff. It's handy for the nights I can't sleep and this weekend I found the coffee table that has been waiting for me, just for me. I love it and I haven't even put anything on it yet not even the rocks and frogs. This is the one I've dreamed of, the right size, the right height and with inset glass that won't slide and the price was right and the seller was driving my way and would I mind if he dropped in it at 8 a.m., was he kidding!  Of course that meant out of bed and make space for it. 
He did look a bit befuddled when he walked in but I did say I was de-cluttering. Photo is coming as soon as I find where bloody google hid it.

Christmas gifts are found but not sent yet. Do you realize how close Christmas is although Southland hasn't started the jingles yet. River and El Chi, I have divine little brooches for you except when I was putting everything away so I wouldn't lose any, I lost yours. See what happens when tidy gets in the way. And I dropped my money crystal down behind the chest of drawers but genius, I pulled the bottom drawer right out and managed to grab it with bbq tongs, I mean I'm going to need a money crystal. I still have a bed to buy or maybe just the base, depends if the base costs more than the special of the day of mattress and base. Do you feel that life has become very complicated or may be I'm just old from 10 years of nursing home visits.

And just to make your day, made mine hideous. Dizzy Folau said God gave us bushfires to punish us for same sex marriage but never mind him, plenty of us non dizzies to support and encourage you. I love a good wedding but my divorce was so much better.

Black moon, eclipse and what happened to the Rapture?

It's getting close, time's going way to fast but if you have any loose change I would love these earrings for my birthday.  You might as well buy me something before the Canberra Cnuts take more money from pensioners.  Remember old people saying not to put money in the bank or the taxman would grab it, well it's come true since idiots elected the biggest fraud party of all times.
I haven't completely caught up with the latest but it seems we are to be taxed on the NBN. This might be a rumour but I would bet they'd tax a turd if it hit the side of the porcelain bowl.
I keep getting calls from some woman who tells me if I don't hit the 1 button at the end of the call my NBN will be cut off which is strange because I'm not on NBN.  Anyway if it wasn't her but someone else who just rang, sorry I didn't answer you but I'm balanced on 3 legs of my chair because I broke the roller ball on the other leg last night and I'd just got it in the right place to use the computer.  Getting up will be a bit dodgy.  I blame Mercury retrograde and the full black moon and the whole of July for everything going wrong.  Like where is the other chair I could use and the pair of shoes I need for tomorrow.  They're lost in the house somewhere and I can't move anything because of the gas stove still sitting in my lounge.  Thank you Good Guys for making me pay up front for the installation.  

Please don't let anything go wrong with the TV tonight, Star Trek is on. It's a lot more glittery than the moon landing. I know exactly where I was when that boot left it's print, in a RADIO newsroom so yes, I'm old and a pensioner and I don't want a rocket to Mars using my money. I wasn't such a space nerd then so I just looked, meh, went back to work on a non electric typewriter.  I was more excited when Ballard hit the Titanic and there was that dainty little chandelier still hanging from the ceiling. We might have more information about the moon now but undersea exploration has hardly been touched  and we need to know what's down there not on some planet we might fly to one day.  All that space junk circling the earth is treasure we really could re-use so come on Richard Branson, start up re-cycling rocket company and bring back the gold floating in the black.
I've been trying to put up a post about the plastic junk in the sea which I blogged about years ago (ahead of the times I am) but those notes are also lost with the chair and the shoes. The gist of it is, how many tsunamis have put plastic in the oceans since 2000. I have two lists and I keep finding one and losing the other. Bloody Mercury. 

I could use a couple of these

Looking at this photo from National Geo makes me feel freezing but I'm laughing at the same time.

According to photographer Michael Schaake, he decided to take his time to photograph one sheep but one after the other, the rest appeared.  It's a brilliant shot. 

 Reminds me of those cat memes we all loved.  "How to catch a cat", put down an empty box and watch it fill as 3 or 4 cats tried to fit into the box or put down freshly laundered washing on a couch. I can vouch for the ironing. I lost the Ice Bear the other night and only found him when he moved on the white sheet on the top of the pile. Don't worry I don't iron sheets, they just happened to be on the chair with the rest of the un-ironed laundry. Still there and another load in the dryer and another lot un-washed in the machine.  Don't judge, I'm cold and coughing again. 

At the moment it's only 9 degrees in Cheltenham, feels like zero.  I only checked to see what temperature is for Thursday or Friday as I haven't yet made an appointment for a follow up heart scan. I must go and do it now and hope the wind dies down. The bloody cat is insisting on the back door being open so he can make a dash for a pee, never mind me freezing to death and he has kitty litter but he needs a bigger tray.  I'm the one who had to wipe him down when the wind changed and he was pee'd upon, could have been worse. 

A pox on everyone who's delighted with the falling snow.  By the time I get the CT scan I'll be coughing up ice.

Always leave room for Karma

Peter Dutton
Member of the Australian House of Representatives
Office: Minister for Immigration and Border Protection since 2014

No, not defacing my blog by putting his ugly mug here.  But we all remember his snide remarks about the water lapping at small islands, don't we.

Sydney's storms this week.  

Feel something Dutton?

That's Karma, ripping your testicles off and stuffing them in your mouth.

Climate change moves slowly

This is what happens with one little change and a period of time. Earth change doesn't dump on us all of a sudden unless we get hit with a great lump of space rock or the magnetic poles reverse.
The iceberg collision is here My favourite penguins have to be the Adelies and to see them fighting to keep their colony going makes me want to get out there and carry a few or I'll pay for Elephant's Child to do it for me. I don't like the cold and she loves it and penguins.

As you can see from the Map, Cape Denison is where Mawson's hut was built and where volunteers are now reclaiming them from years of ice coverage.  It will take a lot more to save the Adelies.

And just to add a brighter note, Warnie managed to get bitten on the head by a snake not on the bum by a spider as I had hoped but still it hurt and Elephant's Child will laugh and not cry about the penguins.

The right place, the right time.

The Sky from Mauna Kea
Image Credit & Copyright: Shane Black Photography; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

The volcano is the Hawaii's Mauna Kea, and the time was a clear night last summer.

 In the foreground of this south-facing panorama lies a rugged landscape dotted with rocks and hardy plants. Slightly above and further out, a white blanket of clouds spreads horizontally to the horizon, seemingly dividing heaven and Earth.

 City lights illuminate the clouds and sky on the far left, while orange lava in the volcanic caldera of Kilauea lights up the clouds just left of center.

 The summit of an even more distant Hawaiian volcano, Mauna Loa, is visible in dark silhouette near the central horizon.

 Green airglow is visible above the clouds, caused by air molecules excited by the Sun during the day. The Moon is the bright orb on the right.

 A diffuse band of light-colored zodiacal light extends up from the far right.
 Most distant, the dramatic central band of our Milky Way Galaxy appears to rise vertically from Mauna Loa.

The person who witnessed and captured this breathtaking panorama stands before you in the image center.

I just watched the auction of a Picasso painting in New York, it sold for $202 Million dollars AUD.
You couldn't buy this moment on earth for any amount.  As Hannibal Smith says, "I love it when a plan comes together." and it did for one lucky photographer.

Whistling 'Mack the Knife'

This shark is 4.5 metres long and it has teeth not to mention just a bit of blood smearing from the last kill.
If I had been the photographer washing the camera in the water, the second photo would have been taken from far up in space.
The female shark popped up to have a look around in the ocean off Port Lincoln in South Australia.
Dave Riggs was making a video for Discovery's Shark Week and said he was euphoric to be so close to the animal and thought it was a perfect illustration as to why we need to preserve it as the last living relic of a bygone era.
Riggs also said the shark was researching the area the only way she know how, with her mouth, giving us a nice view of those sharp teeth.

Not so lucky as Dave Riggs was Frenchman Yves Berthelot, holidaying in New Caledonia, whose meeting with a 3.5 metre bull shark was a much more aggressive show. Despite being given first aid aboard his boat, nothing could be done for Mr. Berthelot.

I hope no-one raced out and decided to shoot every shark in the area as frequently happens in Australia.  After all it is their home and hunting ground, we're just visiting.

There's something about owls

This is a Banded Owl from Sumatra and is that a face of authority and wisdom or what?  I fell in love with the eyes, snappy looking beak though but the feathery tuffs say "listen up, dude!"  Sorry for the Americanism but it's really a 'dude' look not a 'mate' look.

 This is a juvenile Banded Owl, hasn't got the wisdom look yet but attitude, he has it.  Looks like a typical in your face teenager but I still love the eyes and the tufty feathers. The more I look at him the more I can almost hear the mouthing off. "Yeah, yeah, I'll clean the cage, gimme a break, I've been out all night, the hangover is kicking in, ffs Ma, I'm not a hatchling, I'll get to it!"

And straight from Harry Potter's family home after he graduated, became an auror, married Ginnie (she was the only one for him whatever the snippy Hermione fans say) and had kids.  The most divine Owlery but ditch the windows, owls are a bit dim they'd just fly straight into them.  I'd like this at the back of my house as a reading nook.

But since real owls have sharp beaks, sharp claws and eat live things and leave the bones around as well as the owl crap by the ton, I'll just have owl beads.  The colours in this one's eyes make mine water with desire to own him.

Him up there might be made in the wise mould, these two are a little on the frightened edge of the wild wood but if they stick together, they'll be right.

Even in beads we can get one with 'tude!  Get those eyes boring into your pocket looking for owl treats and that's definitely a hoodie he's wearing.  A bit of bling around the neck and probably a tinnie under that left wing.  Way on the wild side is this one. 
 

I can see him up there intimidating this wee sweetie into handing over his dead vole.  Never mind little one, you'll grow and it might be into a Banded Owl of vicious then we'll see who gets the voles.
(not true that I've seen the Owls of Ga'hoole 10 times, 8 maybe, 9 tops)

Fossils (not me)

These are Petoskey stones, a rock and a fossil of a coral called Hexagonaria percarinata which flourished during the Devonian period. They are found in the Gravel Point Formation of Michigan. The rounded stones formed as glaciers grabbed them from the bedrock of complete fossilized coral colonies. As the glaciers moved the rocks were smoothed and moved to just one area on the shore of Lake Michigan. 

When it's picked up as a dry stone it resembles ordinary limestone but when wet or polished by a lapidary, the mottled pattern of the six-sided coral fossils emerge.
 

 The name comes from an Ottawa Indian Chief Pet-O-Sega. The city of Petoskey, Michigan is also named after him and is the centre of the area where the stones are found.  The movement of the frozen lake ice against the shore of Lake Michigan turns over the buried stones exposing new deposits to be found each spring.  They can also be found on the beaches and in sand dunes  but only in this northwestern portion of Michigan's lower peninsula. In 1965, it was named the state stone of Michigan.

This is a living coral colony in the sea today.  The same six sided polyps show up in lovely colour but they are the same as the fossil shapes in the second image.
Anyone travelling to Michigan in spring is welcome to send me a pretty Petoskey, doesn't have to be large but must be pretty.

Ocean cute

Another cute (almost) photo and this is the banded piglet squid (Helicocranchia pferreri).  Its name comes from its rotund shape and normally it's found more than 320 feet or 100 metres below the surface of the ocean.
Measuring just 3.9cm in length, this squid species has a singular light producing organ (photophore) to help it navigate the depths.
Because of its deep water habitat little is known of its behaviour but it is known to be a sluggish swimmer with ammonium ions in its body fluid to help keep it bouyant and in this photo it's swimming upside down.  Look at the frilly frippy of its little back fins, sweet.
The image was taken from a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the Gulf of Guinea near oil pumping equipment at a depth of 1015 metres.
They like tropical and subtropical oceans also the north temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean with the smaller squid staying higher in the water table and descending into deeper water as they get larger and older.

Another gem.

A real gem, honest.  This little diamond encrusted brooch is actually an Alaskan Wood Frog which becomes an froggy ice block during the freezing winters.  It stops breathing and its heart stops beating.  When spring arrives the frogsicle thaws out and goes on its way.  I love it.  Reminds me of mother who keeps coming back to life but without the cuteness factor.

Our Moon.

 The Galleries of eclipse photos are out and I think these are the best three I've seen so far.  Above is the International Space Station crossing the partial eclipse.  Copyright Thierry Legault.
 

This one of the full eclipse was taken mid-air by Paul Homback.

This one is of the famous 'diamond ring' just before the sun completely disappears.  The same diamond shine appears on the opposite side as the moon moves on.


Yesterday marked an Equinox and a new Moon.  The new Moon was at Perigee, the closest point of its orbit around Earth and marks the largest new Moon of 2015.  Add that to the Solar Eclipse and we didn't miss one bit of Moon Madness.  This particular madness would have started at least 3 days before and will end, hopefully, about 3 days into next week.

Did it affect me?  No, if I discount the vivid dreams sailing through my sleeping mind like a movie marathon, full colour and 3D which I remembered fully up to 2 minutes after waking.
Through the day, images would flash into my mind and disappear.  My stars said to be careful of machinery so I spoke respectfully to the computer and didn't slam the lid on the washing machine when the clothes tangled.  

Now the days start getting longer and the ghastly football rubbish begins.
                   

I'm my own Valentine

Aurora on Ice 
 Image Credit & Copyright:  Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
 
 This is a fisheye view of ice and sky photographed at Jokulsarlon Beach, southeast Iceland on February 1st.
The 22 degree lunar halo was created by ice crystals in high, thin clouds refracting the light from an almost full moon.  The aurora was triggered by the earth's magnetosphere and wind from a coronal hole near the Sun's south pole.  Jupiter is visible to the left, just beyond the lunar halo.

I want a glass paperweight exactly like this, it looks fantastic.  Life has interrupted my vow to blog more regularly, like cleaning up still.  I've finished 6 months of ironing but left the board up to press the seams of two new nightdresses.  Bad move, staggered out in the dark to open the back door for the cat and kicked my little toenail completely off.  I didn't notice the hanging off nail until I woke up two hours later but fortunately I was sleeping with my feet out of the covers and didn't bleed on the sheets.  Later on I scratched my leg on the sharp handle of the washing basket and that bled everywhere.

Then there was the incident with the black spider crawling out of my dress on the bed.  That's creepy not knowing if it was in the bed, in the dress I had just taken off or was just wandering around. It didn't help that the dress was mainly black and I just noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. It ran under the bed but I sprayed it on the run.

And last night, wow, last night.  Thunderstorms don't bother me, I like watching the lightning but I swear it was right above my house last night.  Three huge crashes that nearly gave me a heart attack, sent the Bear's eyes spinning and rattled the windows.  Now I have lemons all over the backyard but I can't go out yet because the Lorikeets are in the apple tree for breakfast.  I like the dumbness of a white cat the size of a polar bear hiding in bright green grass waiting for a bird to land near him.  The Lorikeets just move higher up and spit apple at him. 

I've filled two bags for collection and have started on a third but I so object to being told what I can and cannot fill the bags with. I'm very bad and fill black garbage bags and tie the collection bag around the top. If it was the charity the bags were going to I'm be more inclined to put in the good stuff but all of this goes to the big collecting companies and they are making a profit so let them sort through.

My $2 Emporium is closing. I can't believe it, 20 years I've been buying great stuff in there and they're going.  Southland probably has put up the rent 200%.  I must get back there next week and buy some good plain glasses for my painting and look for a good vase or two. Glass pebbles and aluminium pans and plastic bags for beads. I loved that shop.  I hate change.

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.

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.

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.

It's about time we looked at something great.  This is Mt. Sangeang Api - Lesser Sunda Islands and it threw enough of a fit to ground flights out of Australia which made a lot of whingeing people hang about in airports.  Don't any of them watch those aircraft doco's that show what happens when volcanic ash is sucked into jet engines?  I'm addicted to Air Crash Investigations, it's like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for me.  Never get on a plane, it will go down, this message will show behind my eyes every time I see some place I might like to travel to.

But the great thing about these photographs taken just as it went right off its rocker is in the middle of the right side ( your right side looking at the screen).  There are two beautifully formed Lenticular clouds. You know the ones that form over mountain tops and look like caps or flying saucers.  The second photo (your left side) shows the explosive hot gas  going right through the centre of those Lenticular clouds. 
It's one of those 'on the spot' shots that happen once and never again.