Monday 29 February 2016

Day 60 2016: Leaping around...

Day 60: ...without even realising it

A leap year. It is here. Today. I should be doing something significant, memorable. But no. It is more of the same. Packing, cleaning, assessing the weather: do those clouds contain rain? Can I safely oil the deck?...these are the things that focus me at the moment. 

The veranda is prepared for the oiling tomorrow morning...I am taking a risk with the rain. The front courtyard gets done too...nothing if not ambitious.

I did have a few spare moments where I popped outside to breathe in the air (and check those clouds). 

The lori was back, not leaping, crawling. 

Never mind the leaping...
And something red caught my eye, again.
 
Shine

And later into the evening as the sun was setting, something pink caught my eye...

Strong against the heat of the day
And one leaf caught on the deck, stood defiantly. 
 
Defiant
I am determined that, in spite of all ahead, I too shall be here determinedly to the end...and it will be all over and done, pleased I have the extra day. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 9.24am, 9.26am; 6.25pm, 6.28pm, 29 February 2016]



Sunday 28 February 2016

Day 59 2016: Care for a dip?...

Day 59: ...I don't mind if I do...

Yesterday, I replenished the birdbath. I did again this morning. It is hot each day. Hot enough to kind of slow down those tasks which must be done. I still have time. 

But today was also Sunday so really, I should try and take things sort of one-at-a-time, slow down a little...then work until late into the night tomorrow...or somesuch.

So I gazed at the birdbath. It looked a little like a hinterland pond...

leaf : matter

And I left it for a while and went back to the tasks at hand. And then...along came a lori...


Hug a tree...

Climb...every...tree...

Preen; repeat

Thus giving me another reason to pause and watch and wonder at our backyard treasures. I'll 'leap' to the remaining tasks tomorrow.


[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 8.05am, 8.42am-8.43am, 28 February 2016]

Saturday 27 February 2016

Day 58 2016: Just passing, thought we'd...

Day 58: ...stir you up

As often happens on a quiet Saturday arvo in the backyard, someone always turns up unexpected. 

OK, much of the sentence is untrue and verging on urban myth. I don't normally have 'quiet Saturday arvos', when I do, they're rare. And my 'arvo' today was caught between preparations for the removalling and a play at 1.00pm followed thereafter by an orchestral concert at 7.30pm.

That really just gave me five minutes, literally, to duck outside to see what the loris were on about. Usually it is the noisy miners that get fired up but this moment was the loris turn. 

I thought they were simply demanding a replenishing of the birdbath...

Can't even dip my tail feather here

Oi! Water...wait
And then I saw them, the scaly-breasted greenies...


Mwhaha
Now these guys barely come up to the loris' wing-pit in size, but somehow, size matters. When these little greenies are around, the hierarchy of the garden changes dramatically and these guys come out on top. 

And typically, they don't do anything but just sit and own the place...



Master of the domain

Yeah? And...?
...and watch, and stir. 

Even the miners move on.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 5.06pm-5.11pm, 27 February 2016]


Friday 26 February 2016

Day 57 2016: Aim low...

Day 57: ...achieve much

I continue to work through the list. The list of things that must be done, now within the next week...it is about that long before I make the move for the next main move (you'll see what I mean soon). 

Today, my main project was to get another carload of no-longer-needed things to the refuse transfer and recycling station (how fancy our tips have become), and paint the garage door. A side project included, if possible, preparations for the oiling of the back deck. But that will now be tomorrow. 

I did OK. I got there, on both counts. I also figured that there wasn't going to be much of an outing otherwise given the home-based nature of the work. 

Yesterday, it was the tulips, today the anthurium caught my eye, so I thought I ought to capture it, just in case...


See -- through

But then the loris turned up, on cue and considering there are just 19 days (or thereabouts) now before I leave, I figure it is time I got my fill of loris between now and then: 


Here we are

I see you

I'm a little more shy than that


So yes, while much got done, there still remains a bit to do. But it will get done. I'm sure. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 9.30am; 75-300mm, 5.14pm-5.19pm; 26 February 2016]

Thursday 25 February 2016

Day 56 2016: All over red rover...

Day 56: ...and sometimes before breakfast

But I mean that in a very good way dear reader, and I am speaking specifically about the pic of the day. You see, sometimes I'll take several pics in a day and make a decision later...

...sometimes I'll be really late in getting a pic taken and will take anything, a case of 'have camera, will pic'...

...and sometimes, very early in the day, like when I'm waiting for the kettle to boil for the second pot of coffee, I'll 'see it'. Like today. The tulips I bought the other day were starting to blush and open. I liked the possible challenge in capturing their pastel colours against a white wall. 

All sorts of reasons why that shouldn't work: 

Soft tulip

Tulip with reed

Blushing tulip

Opening tulip


But it did, at least, I think so. Arty rather than realist. Some days that's all there is to the pic of the day, all over before the day has really started. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 6.24am-6.25am, 6.34am-6.35am, 25 February 2016]

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Day 55 2016: A colourful sort of day...

Day 55: ...in the end

I'm gradually ticking things off the list. First up this morning was fixing the car window tinting...yes, it is getting down to the really mundane, but they offered a coffee. That's the car almost done now.

Then, to the large warehouse-style hardware shop for the next task...oiling the deck, painting the garage, garden prettifying etc. Just as well I'm not working at the moment...I don't know how I'd fit it all in. 

Later in the day I headed off to a seminar but not before picking up the new glasses. Yes, it's been a busy day. 

The loris knew, the first one with a bit of a query...do you know what you're doing?

Haven't you got something to do?

Or a cheeky, get on with it, don't hang around...


Go on, shake a leg, er, tail feather
 And then, like magic, the day ended as it began...with colour:

Brisbane's bridgework of late is great

The old and the new

B is for ...

 And a reflective moon in our favourite window:

Spot the moon tonight



Now, did you see the colour, in the loris and along the river...reds and greens, nice tie in, don't you think?

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 8.13am; 7.49pm-8.16pm]




Tuesday 23 February 2016

Day 54 2016: Cumulus, cumulusation...

Day 54: ...Accumulation...

It takes a day (or three) of trying to reorganise one's life to realise just how much, and how quickly, one accumulates 'stuff'...

I'm sure all the 'stuff' I have accumulated over these years was important at some point in time. Otherwise I wouldn't have kept it now, would I. Would I?

I guess I'll never really know, but this moment in time, some might call an 'upheaval', others might call and adventure, has left me with hard decisions about what to keep, what to store and what to, well, shall we say, 'redistribute'.

Compressing one's life into one room and a few boxes for overseas is challenging. But at least I have the skies to look at...and today's clouds caught my eye. No particular reason really, I like clouds. That's all. White, fluffy stuff today.

Cloudscape 1, 23/2

Cloudscape 2, 23/2

Cloudscape 3, 23/2

 Oh, and the Anthurium kept revealing more of itself today. A bright shiny red. No particular reason really. Just 'red'.

Red/yellow

And it is full moon time...

Moon among the gum trees

More of the same, tomorrow. But I must stop accumulating. That is today's lesson.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 2.48pm-12.49pm; 75-300mm, 17.47pm, 23 February 2016]


Monday 22 February 2016

Day 53 2016: Trying something new...

Day 53: ...while appearing to be an old-hand.

Or perhaps an 'old-wing' in this case. If I took a photo or two of that which consumed much of my time today, you would be looking at boxes, cartons, plastic bags...all the indications of a house in chaos. Ordered chaos, but, well, you know dear reader, how these things go. 

Luckily, there are moments where I step outside to breathe in the air, look at the sky, and realise the grass needs cutting as well. 

So it was fortuitous that the currawong made a return to the backyard after a few weeks' absence. Well, a few weeks wherein I had not seen them for a while.

Last time it was here, there was much being taught between the generations and today, for the first time, there was a discovery of the birdbath...

Tentative, mostly...

Bird whiskers in sunlight?

Catching the drop

Shaking it free

But it got the hang of it pretty quickly. But remained cautious at all times. Another useful lesson from the philosophers of the suburban garden.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 2.23pm-2.24pm, 22 February 2016]




Sunday 21 February 2016

Day 52 2016: The march of the flies...

Day 52: ...as time flies...

It took all day to get up the courage to actually write that as the title of today's blog. The puniest punning title I've written (since at least last week).

But yes indeed, my fascination with my camera as my substitute bug-catcher never ceases. I have previously noted that as a child with a curiosity driven by the outdoors and natural sciences, and one of those bug-catcher devices in hand (no apps, no moving parts, just the simple dexterity of catching a butterfly in a plastic container by snapping the lid shut) I used to capture all manner of living creatures. 

I find the camera allows for the same effect, without the worry of asphyxiating said insect. Creep up, hold breath, snap! And if you are lucky then you can flick through the images and crop as required. 

But it was the sun on the new shoot that first caught my eye, as it unfurls slowly--red, to green, to...what comes next?

Sunlight

Light and shade

 And then, the fly, march or crane, I'm never too sure, but they are big enough (and, some might say, ugly enough) to capture without the worry of snapping lids shut. 


Landed

Winging it

Both reminded me that time is marching on and one must get cracking to meet the major work requirements...

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 28-80mm, 7.34am, 2.34pm (precisely seven hours between pics), 21 February 2016]

Saturday 20 February 2016

Day 51 2016: Take a flying leap...

Day 51: ...you'll land on your own two feet, somewhere

Some mornings, as I look around the house, room-by-room and wonder...will I ever get there?

And then, I know I will. It was a bit like that today, and in the last of the summer heat and humidity, things got moved, furniture shifted, more stuff got packed and so on it went. 

Admittedly, knowing I won't be going very far today, the sound of any bird outside warranted a distraction from the tasks at hand...

Even the miner, jumping in and out of the bird bath...


Finding balance...

...in a whirl...

Taking that leap...

Knowing you'll land

 And some colour.

Reflected for a moment

Yes, we're back

Larger than life...

Nothing is out of reach


ooo000ooo

And this evening I again went to attend the vigil outside Lady Cilento Hospital in support of staff  as they protect Baby Asha and her family. These are the things that remain important. I'm fortunate that, by comparison, I'll be lucky enough to land on my own two feet. 

Contemplation

 We'll get there.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 4.36pm-4.40pm, 5.22pm-5.23pm, 20 February 2016]


Friday 19 February 2016

Day 50 2016: BrisAsia: Asia in Brisbane...

Day 50: ...for a Brisbanite heading to Asia

If yesterday was about breaking the back of the packing, today was the 'reward' whereupon I begin to make preparation for all the telephone, banking, medical, electricity ... etc tie-ups. Complex. I hope I can remember all the things. 

[Patience rewarded with Pancake Manor Pancakes...just small ones.]

Later in the afternoon, I took the opportunity to continue into the city to check out the BrisAsia Festival, yes, partly because 612ABC was broadcasting live from there, and partly because, well, Asia. It's an occupational hazard... 

And there was food. And there was entertainment. And there was discussion about cheffing. All very interesting. 

There was dancing...

And exotic monkeys

Passionate discussion about the virtues of yakitori

'Grandma' flips the bowl

Monkey-spotting...spotted

Stilted exotica 1

Stilted exotica 2

Lanterns

Local radio station

Monkeys monkeying about...

All good


There really is a growing Asian feel to Brisbane, compared with when I started my Asian Studies degree 35 some years ago. And now I'm off for another few years...BrisAsia, sounds like the perfect combination to me. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 4.47pm-5.56pm, 19 February 2016]