One down, two to go

Oh look, Shiny, Glittery and never to be worn by me except in dreams. Actually I could wear them as long as I used those poles, the ones skiers use to stop from falling over. I worry about those heels though, whether they've been industrial strength tested.
Finally I made an appointment to see the podiatrist on Monday and she better be worth $62. I do get some back but it means a bus trip to Southland and a walk past the book sale. I woke up in the middle of a dream the other night because of shooting pains in my big toe, the one that didn't get the toenail ripped off in January. So there I was in the middle of the night with nail clippers in one hand and a torch in the other, just making sure I didn't have an ingrown toenail that had become infected in the few hours since I'd taken off my slippers. Yes, I know it sounds insane but turning the light on would wake me up too much so I used the torch and if you think I'm going to tell the podiatrist why my toenail looks lopsided you're crazy.

Another pair of frou-frous that are not for my fat footies. Try saying that after a few beers. How on earth does one walk in these? But stupid me, if you can afford to buy these, you don't have to walk, the chauffeur carries you to the red carpet. That brings me to the last photo and the joy of my life.

After a week of walking home from the station, walking to and from work in stilleto heels, my first pay packet went on the latest from London. Lovely flat heels, funky colours, painless walking. I paid $5.00 for them, a pretty aqua green and did I mention, flat. I haunted odment bins since I have moderately large feet which is why I fall over a lot, my feet get in the way but with my size there were always sale shoes for the grabbing. Anyone my age will know the feeling that I get from the knees down when I see fashion parades or stars waltzing around in hightower heels. Fashionable they might be but I still remember the relief of those green shoes.

My second pay packet started a lay-by for a jewell. Now that hasn't changed at all.

Five days to B day.

I don't want to be another year older, I already feel 105.
I looked in the mirror today and I swear I saw wrinkles in my neck.
The BrickOutHouse has got some dire infection and his eyes are puffing up as though he's gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson.
His girlfriend is back, upchuck.
Crap to online banking that has a glitch which Westpac did today but they let me put my money in without telling me. I'm glad I had 5 bags of odd silver coins that took the teller ages to put into official bank bags especially since she had the most godawful false nails in 'zombie grey' colour and couldn't pick up 5 cent pieces.
I had at least 3 great things to blog about and couldn't write a word. And I really wanted to tell you about the Great White Shark, you know those GW's that leap out of the water and this one landed in the research boat, all 16 or so feet of it, with teeth. The researchers kept it alive until another boat came and slung a rope round its tail to drag it back into the ocean. No go, so they dragged shark and boat back to harbour where they got another rope on the dorsal fin and finally dragged it off the boat. It promptly swam in the wrong direction and beached itself so another rope around the tail and it was towed out to sea (a long way) and let go. They needed a smaller shark or a bigger boat.
I have finally taken to porridge and it is good for dieting, a breakfast bowl of that and you never want to look at food all day or ever.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2, terrific, great, brilliant even watching jammed between a drink slurper and two popcorn munchers.
BooHissBoo to all the columnists who have written really rotten comments about the books and the author. Harry Potter doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is, all things to the fans and it will never win a Pulitzer or Nobel prize for literature so why the venom?
My right arm, left knee, left back muscle are healing nicely. Thanks to stupid nurse who jammed Ma's wheelchair in the door frame. I know it's heavy to push but I wasn't prepared for the feeling that I'd just shoved a Mac truck halfway to Sydney.
The little alzhiemer's bloke who likes to strangle grabbed another nurse last week. And made another escape to the wilds of Mentone.
And that brings me to what really pissed me off last week and this week and probably next week.
The lady in the bed opposite mum is dying but some members of the family will not accept this fact. They want her in hospital to have tests, they have been giving her drinks because her kidneys are shutting down, they make her sit up in bed because she might die lying down, ffs, she is dying but not peacefully. There is a time that you have to look death in the face and stand away, to stop chaining them to this earth. Yes, I know this will not sit right with a lot of people but I have had to give two "no resusitation order' for my father and three for my mother and for my son, I had to sign the papers to turn off life support. Reality is a bitch. So why is it my business, it's not but it is upsetting my mother who looks across at this every day. Even the last time Mum was ill at the home, she was firm about leaving her alone and not doing anything unnecessary except make her comfortable. Of course, Teflon Tessie made it through as always but I sat beside her quietly just for company. I just wish this family would think of others besides themselves. Okay enough mumbling and grumbling and imposing my views on the blogosphere. If you have a differing opinion, shove it where the sun don't shine.

I just loved Harry Potter, I might go again next cheap Tuesday.

Returning soon

Okay, not so good for the last week.
I haz a hurt, in mind and body.
But watch for me wading through the waves back to blogdom, soon.

Don't even think it!

No, not mine, never again.
The Home now has a resident cat for the residents. That isn't him but close.
He is a year old, neutered and just out of the shelter.
You know how the experts tell you to look at a puppy's paws to see how big he'll grow? Man o' man if this cat was tawny I'd be thinking mountain lion. The paws are huge.
They had a drawing of names and he's stuck with "Jinks" whereas I looked at him and thought "Snowball" until he turned around and I realized how innapropriate that name was in a home of gentile ladies.
Good thing he was fixed, he'd have had to cart them around on wheels.
He's a friendly boy, all over me like a rash and purring. At the moment he's still locked in one room until his routine is established. And now I have a place for the kitty litter and umpteen dollars worth of cat food.
A visitor thought of calling him "Angel" because he was so pure white. Another name that bit the dust after we discussed it, considering how many residents have fallen off the twig lately.
I keep thinking about those paws.
Perhaps we should call him "Yeti"

There was recycling in them olden days

This is a magnificent portrait of the actress Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth painted by John Singer Sargeant. The photograph below is a sepia image of the actress in the same dress taken in 1888. Ellen Terry was famed for her portrayal of Shakespearean heroines and was mobbed by fans wherever she went.

The dress has just been restored at a cost of 50,000 pounds and that glittering shimmering gown was covered in irridescent green beetle wings, 1000 of them. No beetles were harmed in the making of the dress as the wings are naturally shed as part of their life cycle. The conservators collected the beetle wings that had fallen off the dress and had others donated to them.

"One of Mrs. Nettleship’s greatest triumphs was my Lady Macbeth dress…The picture of me is nearly finished, and I think it is magnificent. The green and blue of the dress is splendid, and the expression as Lady Macbeth holds the crown over her head is quite wonderful . . ." wrote Ellen in her diary in 1888.

The dress is 120 years old and the majority of the work was strengthening the fabric after the wear and tear of those years. Two years to raise the funds necessary and over 1,300 hours to repair and to bring it back to its former glory. The work was carried out by expert Zensie Tinker and her team and the dress will now be on display, along with items from Ellen's dressing room, at Smallhythe Place in Kent, a house dedicated to theatre history and stage costumes.

This fashionable dress from the British Museum is also decorated in the same beetle wings so Ellen's frock wasn't a once off.

Still in mourning.

I spent an hour yesterday putting all the dark coloured wool to the bottom of the basket so I wouldn't keep saying hello to it.
Deep mourning is still being observed and I feel I should be putting on a black veil and breaking out the jet jewellery.
How bad is he? He hasn't cared that the beloved Ute is still parked in the street during school holidays and possums are peeing on it from the paperbark tree.
At least he's inherited the maternal genes, the paternal side would have taken her out for a .22 picnic. He never had the farming genes. If they said roast for Sunday, he'd go and let the chooks out.
I think it's my fault that I raised two SNAGS. Now if I could just get him married off to a girl who loves him as much as that cat did.

Goodbye Precious

The Vet took this photo this morning before the scan and X-ray revealed the pancreatic cancer which had metastasized into the lungs. She wasn't in pain but would have been in a few days as she struggled to breathe.
We, or should I say I, made the decision and she wasn't brought out of that cosy sleep on the table.
Her "daddy" is a blubbering wreck who's just told me the best part of his day was coming home to play with her.
Last night she sat on my knee until after midnight as we watched another Stargate marathon.
He came home about 1 a.m. but the light was still on when I woke about 3. He was wrapped in his doona, sleeping on the lounge floor, his head on one pillow and the cat on the other with her paw on his face.
I paid the account, collected the carrier and watched the receptionist cry because she was such a sweet cat and went out to the sobbing father in the carpark.

A 4.4, pfft!

These new images of the Nabro volcano taken on June 29 finally provided a nearly unimpeded view of the summit,which had been hidden by steam and ash clouds.

Located in the East African nation of Eritrea, Nabro began its eruption explosively on June 12, 2011 and sent plumes of ash streaming over North Africa and the Middle East, killing seven people with thousands more affected both in Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The volcano has eased into a quieter, lava-oozing phase. The top image shows the volcano in visible and infrared light (shortwave infrared, near infrared, and green). The hot lava glows orange-red, fading to black as it cools. The long flow on the west side of the volcano is mottled with black, a sign that the surface is cooling. The lava to the east and south of the vent appears to be newer, since little of it has cooled. It is possible that the cooling lava in the western flow diverted the fresh lava to the south and east.

The lower image provides a natural color view of the volcano. A small, slightly brown plume rises from the vent, and ash blackens the ground to the west and south.

The Nabro volcano has not erupted in recorded human history, but lava flows near the volcano are relatively recent geologically. Nabro is part of the very active East Africa Rift where three tectonic plates are pulling away from each other.

As the Earth's crust thins in the region, volcanoes rise in the weak spots.

Earthquake today.

The week is going from bad to worse. Lovely earthquake this morning but the house was shaking so much from the wind, I failed to feel the earth move. It was only a 4.4 but the tremors were felt throughout several suburbs and went on for almost 15 seconds.

The BOH slept through it. The cat slept through it. They've both had traumatic days. Thanks to Safeway's inept policing of it's dairy cabinets, the BOH has had food poisoning since Saturday night. I'm grateful to him because it could have been me but he hates mango so grabbed the mixed berry protein drink before I did. Of course he would feel better if he would re-hydrate the body but he's a bloke and they know everything.

It didn't help that I had to make the decision to take the cat to the Vet's yesterday. Him driving with the window part down so he wouldn't throw up on the cat, never mind me who was holding his precious.
Just getting into the car was fun. Don't put my foot in the bottle of oil on the floor, find the seat belt somewhere, click in shut somewhere, make room for the cat cage and the cat. As we're doing all that, comes a crunch. A branch from the gum tree overhanging the road has dropped on the car. Not a biggie and not on the black and silver ute. (Ute is selling for ten grand, anyone?)

The Vet is lovely, the cat is laid back, the BOH is shaking. He's about to find out if we have to do the right thing or the 18 year old food processor has a chance. What could I do when he's holding her and she's looking into his eyes while the Vet pushes and pries. It's the only thing in his life that loves him unconditionally. She has a mass of some sort which can only be identified by X-ray and Ultrasound so I sign on the dotted line for Thursday morning and mentally gasp at the estimate of $645, that's estimate. My sister says not to be heroic for something that old. She was not the one standing by her son (38) trying to be heroic about any decision. It makes me snigger later when she's stunned that her cholesterol has only dropped half a point in 12 months and mine is yoinks lower. Yes, family units can be bitchy.

BOH takes the puss home. I sit at the bus stop in the freezing cold because I just missed one by a whisker. Safeway tart (sorry River) takes the bottle, checks the docket and the use by date and says, "Do ya wanna another or just the money?". I took the money and put it towards a packet of Gastrolyte which he has yet to take, being a bloke and knowing everything.
I visit mother who says to take whatever I need from her Trust fund, after all it was her cat.

So the space heater has been going all night because the baby is not eating much and is very cold. I am the dumbo pushing its food through a tea strainer and paying the gas bill. I can't do anything less, every night she climbs up the chair and settles on my knee until I go to bed. But the BOH is going to have to beg, borrow or steal a backbone before Thursday and the big decision.

And we had an earthquake today.

How to negotiate the information minefield.

You don't!
I've been overwhelmed by so much information, a lot of it contradictory, and it's done nothing but dump me in a black hole of depression.
Two loads of bumpf arrived this week and two pages gave me answers to questions I've been trying to get answered.

Carbohydrates for one. Healthy eating is a plan that is low in saturated fat, sodium and added sugar and high in fibre.
The amount of carbohydrate required is based on gender, weight and level of physical activity.
But what foods have carbs?
Bread, breakfast cereals, rice, pasta, noodles.
Fresh fruit, tinned fruit in natural juice and dried fruit.
Starchy vegetables such as potato, sweet potato and corn.
Legumes including baked beans, lentils, chickpeas and red kidney beans.
Milk, yoghurt, custard, icecream and soy alternatives.

You have to eat a regular amount of carbohydrate at meals and regular snacks to level out the glucose during the day. So it's a matter of working out how much is going in the mouth.
There are approximately 15 grams of carbs in:
*1 glass (250ml) of milk (reduced fat)
*1 slice of bread
*100g or half tub of reduced fat yoghurt
*1 medium piece of fruit
*1/3 cup of cooked pasta or cooked rice
*4-6 dry crackers

The idea is to have around two to four exchanges of carbs (30 to 60 grams) at each main meal and one (15 grams) for each snack. The amount rather than the type of carbohydrate is a more important influence on blood glucose levels so low Glycaemic Index carbs are preferred. Bring on the wholegrain bread, sweet potato not potato, wholemeal pasta and basmati rice instead of jasmine rice.
Two hours after the first mouthful of a meal you have to check the blood glucose and if it's high then you have to adjust everything. And I tell you my levels are all over the shop. And anxiety, depression and emotional upsets do mess with the glucose levels. One look at my blood levels for the day and all of them go into overdrive.

At least the the special "diabetic food" products have been ditched in favour of a well balanced diet of actual food, as long as it's low in saturated fat, sodium, added sugar but high in fibre (seen that plan before). So treats can be had occasionally in small quantities.
*Jam. Toss out the diabetic jam and have 100% fruit spread as long as it's just spread thinly and eaten on wholemeal toast.
*Chocolate. All chocolate is high in saturated fat but sugar free chocolate is higher in fat than regular milk chocolate.
*Cakes. Bad news is there is no 'diabetic' cake but a piece of fruit cake with no icing (but it's the best part) is okay as long as it's a small slice.
*Other sugar free items, ice-cream, biscuits, snack bars and fruit juice are never completely sugar free. They still have more added fat to make them tasty which is bad for cholesterol which snowballs until it impacts on blood glucose levels. Besides which, have you seen the price of low sugar, low carb, high protein diet snack bars? One of which I'm supposed to carry with me, along with a bottle of water and a packet of jelly beans. The jelly beans would have a very short carry life but the snack bar is so blergh that it stays there until really needed.

Sorry to bore you with all this but even writing it down still doesn't un-confuse me (no surprise) or do anything about the anxiety of getting it all wrong. I do know now what the HbA1c test is and why Doc Marvin was so pleased the overall glucose level had come down from 8 to 7.5 in 4 weeks. And the Diabetes assoc. runs tours of supermarkets to explain the language on the back of food packaging but I suspect it's only at IGA Ritchies stores since they donate money to the cause. All I can say is, bring on the Red/Green/Yellow buttons on all food and make it easier for everybody.

Bruised and battered

The bruise is a beauty thanks to the bus driver slamming on the brakes and me going into a steel pole.
This is the same driver who wouldn't put the bus lower for me so I had to haul in like Indianna up a cliff and wrench my left knee.
Over the weekend I was metaphorically slapped in the face by three people so I've been under the bed eating chocolate and trying to rid myself of some very bad feelings.
I wish I could say they've gone but they're lingering and festering in some dark corner of my mind where they'll die or I'll lash out and mortally wound someone.

Actually, it's very strange about the chocolate. I expected the BGL to go skyward but it didn't, almost normal reading. I am now supposed to eat different food and test to see how they affect the level. The last thing I could imagine enjoying is eating an apple before going to bed but doing that drops the overnight level down to the 5's which is normal. And stupid woman didn't tell me that testing two hours after eating means from the moment the first mouthful is swallowed. I'm such a slow eater that I've been going way over two hours.

On the way to the Home yesterday, I called in to the Council Offices and asked for a bio-hazard waste container. Diabetes educator said to get this at the Pharmacy, Pharmacy said to go to the council, booklet with the lancet cartridges says it's okay to put them in the bin since there are no sharps as they retract. This is the kind a round-a-bout that goes on with trying to get the right information. Anyway I now have a bio-hazard container of bright yellow and it will take me at least two years to fill it. Huge yellow bottle that goes nowhere but in the laundry.

The sky is blue, I've nearly finished the washing so I might go and dig out the water meter and all my river stones that have disappeared under the dirt from the fence digging. Next door is already mixing paint for the fence but I'm going eco friendly and leaving it au natural. Life is too short to paint a fence.

Happiness is.....

Knocking 5 minutes off the walk to the doctor's.
Restraining oneself from telling an expert to go f*** and stop trying to get me down to 100kgs. Ain't gunna happen lady, not while chocolate factories still churn.
Finding my blood pressure down from 188 over stroke to 130/110. Okay so 110 needs works but hey, 58 points down.
Cholesterol is 3.3. So LDL is still higher than HDL but as Doc says at that level it's no big deal.
In four weeks, overall BGL is down from 8 to 7.5. Huge says Doc, who is wearing a Pink Panther tie today.
Vitamin D blood tests weren't back but he'll ring if I need boosting, like a large needle in backside. Another thing that ain't gunna happen.

Dr. Marvin says not to take day to day levels to heart, it's the overall figures that count.

Dr. Marvin never mentions weight once.

I'm celebrating by having a delicious salad for tea. Believe that and I have a bridge I can sell you.

I won't sell you the strawberry filled chocolate frog I am celebrating with.

The fence is built.

They starting building it at 8 in the morning and finished at 5 p.m.
Now I have to go out and dig up the water meter and all my river stones around it.
There's a pile of Mondo grass from next door's garden so I'll put that along the fence bottom and see how long I take to kill it with my black hand of plant death.
All the flat bricks along the fence bottom are everywhere so I guess I'll have to pick them up before the mowerman arrives.

But nothing's being done today because a tow truck is coming to take away the half fixed VW which has been residing here rent-free for a year. Why do people do this to the BOH, pay him for half the job then tell him there's no more money just yet. 12 months and still no money to finish the car so it's leaving....today....or I take an geologist's pick to it.
Then there'll be room for the ute in the carport unless a fully engined up Mazda returns to it's nesting ground. Apparently the rules were sneakily changed so that one size engine couldn't be put in a different size car. A bit like putting a 747 engine in a Piper Cherokee but the BOH finished the job because he was more than half way through the work. Everything was passed except for the tuning which he paid another 'professional' for and it wasn't done professionally so the little beast had a nice smoke trail. The nephew has this problem constantly, he does his job with every care while everyone around him faffs it. The seats are in, engine re-built, tyres on and now for the panel beating and painting. To be really authentic, it should be the original colour but even I would baulk at bilious lime green so it's going to be his favourite colour, black, quel surprise!
It doesn't pay to be an honest workman sometimes. The ute hasn't been sold because the gear box hasn't been fine tuned by a mate who was supposed to help in return for help with a panel beating problem and that was more than six months ago. It's the only thing he can't do himself.
It looks so nice in the drive, all black and shiny silver. And this is the work of someone who has trouble putting a fitted sheet on a mattress.

I have another visit to the doc's tomorrow and another hour with the pain in the butt Diabetes Educator. The one who insisted I have 3 meals a day and 3 snacks and guess who's put on weight? I told her I would, my body doesn't understand 3 meals, 3 snacks, it understands 6 lots of food, no matter how small. I've been to this clinic 3 times now and 3 times the receptionists have misdirected, misinformed and confused me. Monday was no exception. A simple blood test for which I walked in the freezing cold for. We don't do blood tests here in spite of the fact that the last blood test I had was done there and even she forgot to do the Zinc test so had to ring and make sure I put a large sign on the form to remind her. Snooty receptionist went off to confirm and said they could fit me in at midday and it was only 11.25 so I waited. Midday comes and so does a work accident kid and I get the bum's rush. Out to catch a bus in the same freezing wind and have the blood test in Mentone which I could have done by catching the bus at 10 o'clock. Pathology has to confirm the Zinc test, nearly 10 minutes on the phone and she asks me what kind of show are they running there. I warmed up and the blood ran free but then it was out into the freezing cold again. I was heading for the nursing home but the waft of fresh coffee from the bakery called to me and I warmed up again. And afternoon with the ladies (two dropped off the twig at the weekend) and I get home in the freezing wind to be told the builders were coming at 8 in the morning.

It feels like a long winter already.

English Language

It's been a long time since I was at school but I have been reading books.
Two books lately have had sentences in them that have annoyed me because they didn't sound right and I don't know if they are right.

First book, the detective walks into a cabin and notices an unlighted stove. "Unlighted" sounds not quite right, should it be "unlit"?

Second book, the adventurer shined the light around. "Shined", should that be "shone"?

Am I out of date with English writing or is it just American English?

Monday? Halfway through June?

Okay, when one gets old the days go faster but they don't have to go at supersonic speed.
I'm losing my way here.

The fence is propped up and the builder has inspected.
We are now going to have the entire side fence replaced. The inspection revealed rotting uprights, splintering palings and if we had just done the fence to my carport, the rest would have fallen down within weeks.
The BOH has to move all his car parts away from the fence and he'd better get them out of my wheelbarrow as well. I have to cut away the lemon tree so the fencer can get in there without being ripped to pieces. He'll just have to go gently past the Camellia. Don't ask about the money, I'm trying not to think about it.

I spent yesterday with Mum who was not very well and stayed in bed. Unfortunately her shadow remained in the room as well. This lady has had a bad stroke and mum is her lifeline as she understands her speech and what she wants which is fine unless my mother is not well and needs to rest especially to sleep. She would drift off to sleep and I'd think good and start reading the paper and the next minute the shadow would be calling for her. Mum would wake up with a fright and instantly would see what the shadow wanted. I was getting very angry and it didn't help when I dropped a cup which shattered and woke everybody up.

As for sweet little Val in the bed next to Mum. This is the one we call "The Pincher" and can she take a chunk of skin in seconds. Frail little voice calls, "Can you help me?" and you go over and she strikes like a cobra. Yesterday she was in fine form, swearing like a trooper, pinching and nearly choking a nurse in the shower. I felt like kicking the bed every time I went past.

Then we had Don the Peeper doing the rounds of the windows. This one would have been a natural tunnel digger in Stalagluft anywhere. He's in the shadow zone of Alzheimer's where he still knows things, like checking the fences for weak spots and using his tool kit to get the palings down and get out. He did that the other night and they found him 2 kms away. He's also inclined to a bit of stangling, we've learnt not to wear necklaces on the outside of clothes or scarves and the nurses now have clip release ID tags.

But I digress, still fuming about the shadow who should have been down in the day room for a few hours so mum could rest, I spoke to the head nurse who was speaking to the others about it today. Mum already had permission to use the Chapel room at weekends for her craft to get away from everyone so it has been noticed that she gets used as a babysitter. I keep reminding her that she is a resident not an employee but if you can't wheel yourself away then you get stuck. I don't know about anyone else but it's giving me a headache.

From Iceland to Chile

A Chilean volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle has erupted for the first time in 50 years. The volcanic chain is about 575 miles south of the capital, Santiago but because of the ash cloud and weather conditions, it's not yet clear which particular volcano of the four is erupting.

The ash cloud has been thrown 6 miles (10 kilometres) into to the sky with winds fanning the cloud towards Argentina as the Chaiten eruption did 3 years ago.

Authorities had been expecting the eruption after repeated earthquakes were reported in the area and the volcanic range then entered an explosive eruptive process. The air is full of the smell of sulphur and seismic activity is continuous.

Chile's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

The photo above is a time lapse image of the lightning strikes in the ash cloud.

The ash cloud after the initial eruption.


The ash cloud reflecting the sun's rays.

Lightning strikes as the ash cloud continues to rise.

The ash cloud rising but winds are now blowing it towards Argentina.

Winter's arrived

Yesterday I walked down the drive and picked up the junk mail.
Later on I walked to the letter box and picked up the letters.
At midday I walked out the gate and caught the bus to see Mother.

I arrived back home about 4.30 and my side fence had fallen down.
It must have happened the night before when the wind was strong as yesterday the weather was beautiful, chilly but the sun was out.
I couldn't have walked down the drive three times and not noticed the fence had fallen down.

Bad luck for next door who have just spent money on getting a new fence on the other side of their property.
Bad luck for me who's going to have to find $600 or more to pay to a fence builder.
Good luck is both of us deciding to only get a new fence up to my carport and hope the rest of it doesn't collapse.
Good luck is the supports are on my side and it didn't fall on the one remaining Camelia tree which is just beginning to bloom.
Half bad luck to next door, about the fence but it didn't fall all the way to the ground and splatter her terribly 'in vogue' and expensive Yucca plants.

The Jellyfish Ballet.

The Western Pacific island nation of Palau, 500 miles east of the Philippines, has an unique natural wonder. It's called Ongeim'l Tketau or Jellyfish Lake. It's a land locked saltwater lake which scientists think was formed when rising sea levels allowed seawater to fill the steep-sided marine lake. The lake is connected to the ocean only by fissures in the surrounding limestone. It keeps the lake isolated and the animals trapped. Mostly, the jellyfish named Mastigias which originally came from the ocean.

Mastigias jellyfish feed on small animal plankton, killing them with stinging cells on their long tentacles. But the magic is that the sting is not the powerful sting of other ocean jelly fish so humans can swim along with them as they migrate across the lake and back during the day.

Mastigias have evolved a symbiotic relationship with single-celled marine algae. Inside the tissues of Mastigias' frilly arms live millions of zooxanthellae, which use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates that the jellyfish use for energy. Swimming back and forward across the lake during the day gives their zooxanthellae plenty of light and avoids the shadows that form at the lake edges where their predators, the bottom-living sea anemones, live.

At night they stop moving horizontally and swim vertically in the lake (away from the edges) and scientists think this is to provide nutrients for their symbiots which are only available in deep water.

There are five jellyfish lakes in Palau and even though the jellyfish all belong to the species Mastigias, they look different from each other and from Mastigias in the nearby ocean. It's also been proposed that the swimming could play a part in mixing stratified layers of water. So if you don't mind hiking up to the steep rim then hiking down to the lake for the pleasure of getting up close and personal with the locals then this is the holiday for you.

Shudder!

Really some people have no sense of colour.

A regal burgundy with rhinestones

would have done wonders.

The American Gem Trade Association 2011

This year I only have four favourites out of all the categories and only one in first place.
The pendant/brooch could only rate an Honorable Mention in the Business/Day Wear section and I would like a gold chain with it.
Eva Cheng used 18k rose gold, a freeform rose Quartz set with a .70 carat round diamond and accented with 178 diamonds.

This necklace by Samuel Getz was placed first in the Classical Section. I like the colours, shape and 18th century look of it. It's made with Platinum and 18K yellow gold and features yellow Sapphires (68.77ctw), blue Sapphires (24.34ctw), red Spinels (24.20ctw) and Diamonds (22.38ctw).

This piece of whimsy straight from 'Alice in Wonderland' is titled "Who Are You" and won the Best Use of Pearls category. It was sculpted by Llyn L. Strelau and features two-tone gold and silver with freshwater baroque Pearls, Sough Sea keshi Pearls, akoya seed Pearls, demantoid Garnets (green), ruby and cognac Diamonds on a crystal Quartz base.

But this was my all time favourite of the bunch. It only managed 3rd place in the Objects of Art Section but I love its simplicity. "Dandelion" by Tigran Lementsyan features Quartz and Diamonds (.36ctw) with silver, 18K yellow gold and gold plated leaves.