Day 334 2015: Galah seeks possum...

Day 334: ...or, a possum short of a pack of galahs

You will know, dear reader, I am fortunate to have an enormous range of wonderful birds flocking in and out of my backyard. It does away with the need for bird cages and captive pets when lorikeets, kookaburras, pheasant coucals, pacific bazas and the like come and go as they please. Not to mention the crows, magpies, butcher birds, crested pigeons and more recently some scrub turkeys (migrants from north of the river); and definitely must not mention the noisy miners. Don't want to encourage them. And I'd like the pale-headed rosellas back, please. 

Two species I've not seen in the backyard (although I've heard them further out the back in the bushland) are the cockatoos and the galahs. My picster friend Shelley gets excellent and enviable cockatoo shots, and I've secretly harboured a personal challenge to get some backyard cockatoos. One day. 

Then this morning, just as I was heading out the door to work, two galahs in search of poss, turned up in the big gum tree out the back. That's inside the perimeter fence. That counts. 

Galah acting cockatoo as accomplice searches for a 'friend'

Marvellous. And if this was the November project, there'd be more pics. But today is 30 November. It is still November so it is still project within a project time. But it ends here and now. 

Maybe they'll return tomorrow, having visited once today. 

I hope so.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 6.25am]

Day 333 2015: When a butterfly flaps its wings...

Day 333: ...it means a storm in the pm

Or at least, that's what happened today. Or, because this is Queensland, that is entirely a coincidence. It is fair to say when the butterfly landed on the candle light this morning, we were already expecting a storm this evening, because that is Queensland in summer. 

Mind you, the forecast was for the morning onwards, which is why I happened to be on the verandah at this time, putting out the washing undercover. 

Flutter by...

Turned out, the rains didn't come until much later so I could have managed a bigger wash. Oh well, plenty of time for that sooner rather than later as we get into end-of-marking-is-in-sight mode. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 9.12am]

Day 332 2015: Tyger, tyger...

Day 332: ...heading for Christmas

Not that it is top of my mind, dear reader, Christmas I mean. I spent Christmas Day last year in the Japanese diplomatic history archives in Tokyo...this year, there are family plans (be afraid...be. very. afraid...ahem). 

But today. Today I was working away on a book review which is due soon. With no plans for plays, rehearsals, concerts, etc, it seemed like a good thing to do. 

So I sat and worked and then...

...in flew a beetle. I thought at first it was my first Christmas beetle for the season. I used to anticipate the Christmas beetles as a child, they are one of my favourites. 

But I'm not quite sure about this one: 

Going up

It has the Christmas (scarab) beetle shape, the Christmas (scarab) beetle sound, the Christmas (scarab) beetle moves. But it looks like it is skipping Christmas entirely and aiming straight for a New Years dress-up. Bring it on. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 11.42am]

Day 331 2015: Busy as...

Day 331: ...a bee, really

Or so it seems. The other side of the marking valley of death is visible. We are down to 'hours' rather than days. This is good. 

But today was also a day for an early breakfast meeting in the city, with parliamentarians and union women. It was about domestic violence. It really is time to for it to stop. 

Home again then for a day of work and reading. 

And then to the garden briefly...

On target

...for the perfect metaphor. At least the bees are coming back. We've been a bit worried about them. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 2.15pm]

Day 330 2015: Moon lighting...

Day 330: ...blowin' in the wind

Yes, dear reader, two song titles for the one post, but it was that sort of evening. It is full moon time and you know, dear reader, what that means. Social media is inundated with all the moonlit pics. And why not. It is a fascinating thing. 

I actually 'planned' the day, checked the moonrise chart (6.38pm) and figured I should get enough work done during the day to depart in time for the Moffat Headland. 

And I did. 

Moonlight, ship right

And the colour--the moon light--was something to be seen. 

It was truly blowing a gale up there and not even a tripod could keep the camera steady. Indeed, if I told you the camera was steadier in the hand than on the tripod...well, that gives you an idea I guess. 

Now, as for the 'blue' in this pic, no, there is no editing, just a twiddling of the dials--aperture, ISO, shutter etc. For those who would like to know: 1/50, f5.0, ISO 2500 at 6.47.13pm on the 75-300mm at 300mm. I have another pic taken two minutes earlier at 1/30, a mere fraction of a difference, which reflects something closer to the actual colours. Amazing was a dial can do. 

[The earlier pic,
for instructional purposes only]

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 6.47pm]

Day 329 2015: How do you do...

Day 329: ...what it is you do?

And so there I was, recuperating from minor medical procedures, down by the bay, as it happened. I have to take it easy for an hour or so afterwards so I figured I might as well sit by the dock of the bay for a cup of coffee and snack, of sorts. 

It was a fair sunny morn, full tide, water stretching to the far horizon. And then, I chanced upon Mr Percival, atop the light post. 

How do you do...

And if this were October or December, there would be more than one pic, but I'm so close to getting to the end of this project within a project without breaking the temporary one-pic rule, that I'm going to stick to it. 

I'm a bit stubborn persistent like that. How do I do it? Sometimes, I really don't know. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 10.17am]

Day 328 2015: At what point...

Day 328: ...does one shift from 'cloudwatcher' to 'storm-chaser'?

That might be happening. Two days in a row of storm clouds but mainly because in two quite different places, that is, Brisbane (yesterday) and the Sunshine Coast (today) the clouds looked eerily similar. 

And, dear reader, there was a brief moment where, while standing there taking pics, I wondered 'now would be an embarrassing time to be hit by lightning'. How would one explain it? I'm not a storm-chaser of any repute after all...

So similar to yesterday (except for the wires)

...just silly ex-lecturer taking photos in a car park because the project 365 beckoned just once too often. 

Oh well. 

But it's OK, I'm safe and I'll be back here tomorrow.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 4.04pm] 

Day 327 2015: A small, subtle sign...

Day 327: ...of things to come

Brisbane does 'summer' really very well. Hot sunny days (of which I am a bit of a fan) and then storms (of which I am less of a fan if I am out and about, quite happy if I am at home). 

And so it was today. Hot day, hot office. Home run for expected rehearsal with 'warnings' of pretty bad storms. Can't say we didn't see it coming. There is a particularly interesting phenomenon when the storms approach--the line where the storm approaches and the clouds begin to eat the blue sky.

And so it was at 5.21pm, with just a hint of storm cloud...

Here comes the cloud

...I had hoped it meant it would be all over by rehearsal time but it hit its peak just as I should have been on the road. I wasn't going to risk that. 

Turned out to be not much rain in the end, but the lightning was whoa!

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 5.21pm]

Day 326 2015: The long way around...

Day 326: ...to spend a Sunday

Today, I planned to buy a white shirt. Nothing impressive just a stock standard, white shirt/throwover type of thing. Maybe some shoes. So yes, a plan to spend a brief moment in time at the shopping centre. 

So how did I get a pic of the water out on the peninsula, Woody Point to be precise? 

Well, a bit of a dash out that way as a favour to my Mum who asked me. And when your Mum asks, you do. So off I went. It is kind of like driving to work, but not quite as far. 

On the way back, I stopped at a park, briefly, figured I might as well take a watery pic (I was still determined to get to the shopping centre). So briefly: 

...on a bleakish day...

Branch...out

A three hour round trip all up but I got done that which had to be done. And, I got to the shops, got the shirt, and got some shoes. All good.


[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 12.50pm]

Day 325 2015: It's Brisbane, it's summer (almost)

Day 325: ...it gets hot, so...

Well it's not as if I really want to bring the year to an end; or maybe I was jumping ahead to when all the marking will be completed, tallied, graded and submitted. But somewhere along the way I jumped ahead 10 days, but now we're back on track...and the marking remains...

And so to today. A rather hot one. Mostly indoors, fortunately. Clarinet rehearsal first up then an afternoon in the theatre to see a marvellous finale to the year, Ladies in Black. Highly recommended. 

When it finished late-afternoon, you could still feel the heat. So what is one, with theatre-going friends, to do, but to head directly to the nearby cafe specialising in dessert foods and cocktails for beer and mini sliders...

That would be mini sliders with ice cream and berries* and banana bread* beer
(*healthy options)

One can be a) trendy and b) cool, or a combination. 'Cowch', on Grey Street, has the best imagination imagined in ice cream. Perfect for Brisbane's hot days. 

[Camera : iPhone6 , 5.25pm]

Day 324 2015: Not quite ready...

Day 324: ...and a little a**e-about

It is Friday. Friday should be a picture of waves, or sand, or surf, or ocean...or fish and chips. And it almost was. Until this morning when I realised that with today being the last day of school for year 12 students and therefore the first day of 'schoolies', I figured my favourite Moffat Beach would be perhaps a little, shall we say, unapproachable this eve. 

Not a problem really, we still have marking to do don't we. We're not quite ready to finish up yet. So a walk around the campus late today allowed me a kangaroo or three to photograph. Including mama kanga here with (big) bubba...

Oops, there's a bear in there?

Trying to hide perhaps; perhaps not happy with the final effort at exams, or just getting everything a**e-about. Uncannily appropriate for those of us whose daily work/life is taken up by campus activities. But like the joey, we'll get it right...eventually. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 6.13pm]

Day 323 2015: And now we are done...

Day 323: ...all over in a puff

All gone in a puff in wind. That's how it feels at the end of the semester. You begin, with 13 or 14 weeks stretching ahead and then suddenly, it's over. 

Dandelions remind me of that 'puff'. And they catch the early sunlight really nicely. Today I was up early because I had to be at the campus early for what was the last workshop of the exam period, the first year presentations. 

Catching the sunlight 

And now they're done. And next year we will start all over again. 


[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 5.57am]

Day 322 2015: The night ends...

Day 322: ...the day breaks

Some time after I took today's pic, it suddenly occurred to me that I had been up since 1.30am marking >>>my last batch of essays<<< That's right, the last batch of essays I will be marking for quite a while. It is kind of momentous I suppose. Although euphoria is tempered somewhat with the knowledge there is still some exam marking to do. Come on 4 December! (It should be done then.)

Anyway, after about three hours work, there was just that hint of colour in the sky, not quite dawn but no longer night either. 

And the kookaburras laughed. 

And it looked like this: 

The fine line of branches

The colour is rich at this time of day. I'd happily get up to see this every day, marking or not. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 4.20am]

Day 321 2015: Almost there...

Day 321: ...just a little longer

Breathe. Read. Breathe in. Read. Breathe out. We are marking. Marking essays, marking time, marking. It is a tough time of the semester. It never seems to end. 

I needed a break. Too much time in the office. Too many short sentences. Too many long sentences. Too many non-sentences. 

What better way to rekindle the marking spirit, to get one over the line than to head to the nearest headland and breathe in, and breathe out. 

Waves. 

Rolling in

I really do like waves. Every one, like a fingerprint, is different.

The marking will be done soon. I keep telling myself. This project within a project has now reached the halfway mark too. We're almost there. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 6.14pm]

Day 320 2015: Noticing the detail...

Day 320: ...is not a bad thing to do

We entered the second and final week of the exam period today. I have two more workshops to go. The marking will soon be done. Maybe even by this time next week, if I'm lucky. Then I can really write. (And pack up, but mostly write.)

It is about the detail. Marking. Assessment. The detail. it doesn't matter how many times you seem to give advice, repeat it, encourage...so many just seem to miss it. Perhaps they don't care and so perhaps I shouldn't either. 

But it is my training I suppose that makes that impossible. My hobbies too--music and photography--generally demand a certain level of attention to detail...perhaps I'm just used to it. 

And so it is particularly with this photographic project and especially with this project within the project. Each of the pics I took today had that element of 'detail' about them. None so much as the frangipani vine which is still taking some time to settle in the garden. It seems to work like the trees, having lost all its leaves in winter, I noticed they were coming back today. Somewhat relieved. 

Hanging out

There was also a jumping spider of sorts, settled there just long enough for one pic and one pic only. If I hadn't noticed that detail, then a bird photobombing a cloudscape was the next choice. 

Detail, it's just about the detail really. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 5.09pm]

Day 319 2015: At the end of the road...

Day 319: ...a hut, old style

I'm starting to tote up a few 'lasts' as the year draws to a close: last classes, last exams, last meetings, no wait, there will be plenty more meetings between now and the end of January; I work in a bureaucracy after all. 

But it is the list of 'last concerts' I'm feeling the most. I have had the good fortune and privilege to play with one of Brisbane's best community orchestras for the last 15 years or so, just up the back, playing the bass notes on the bass clarinet, pretending I can play quavers in the highest register on the little clarinet...we play concerts regularly throughout the year and Monday nights have been rehearsal nights for as long as I can remember. 

Two weeks ago, I played my last Schonell Theatre concert (for a while) and today was the last concert at another venue that has become a popular one, the Kedron-Wavell Services Club. We've been playing there for over ten years now and they've been a fabulous audience. The ABBA fan club was a bit legendary. 

During the lunch break, I noticed one of the local club houses I hadn't seen before, somehow it just struck me as a touch nostalgic amidst a huge shopping centre, high density apartments, gaudy, showy RSL club environment. It took me back...

Out Chermside way c. 1965, but actually 2015

And then, with lunch over, away we went, 90 minutes of music from the musicals. Coincidentally, and poignantly, a medley of tunes from Les Miserables was our final piece, our final peace. My peace. #Paris 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 1.16pm]

Day 318 2015: Wet days...

Day 318: ...and wet loris

I planned to go and visit my mum today but with showers, rain and storms predicted for most of the day neither of us really wanted me to on the highway. It did mean I had a chance to go and get a haircut before tomorrow's concert. It is just that sort of day. 

Of course, the rain did come down as planned and when it rains, it pours...and brings in the loris. Now, here is the real test of wills for this project within a project365...I took several very interesting pics because the loris always put on a show in the wet, and it doesn't even have to be wet, for them to put on a show. 

Gimme shelter from the storm

But I've chosen this one, and this one alone (I decided the pic with the extended tongue sticking out was probably not suitable for viewing)...I've photographed this one previously, when it was much younger, hasn't lost it cute looks at all. 

I'm sticking to the project now I'm about halfway through. I could go the day 318.5 page I suppose...I'll think about it overnight. (^_^)/

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 10.55am]

Day 317: It may be the apocalypse...

Day 317: ...or a rescued beetle

I was walking back to the car thinking, 'it's Friday, it is lateish, it will be too dark for pics of the beach by the time I get on the road. Darn'. I thought I might be back just in time to catch the last of the sunset colours...and then I stumbled across a beetle frantically trying to right itself. 

I fell sorry for the beetles when they end up upside down, I try to to help out. This one though, was a long way from anything green, so I decided to carry it to a tree along the way.

Until...

I had an image in my mind of the silhouette of the rhino beetle (kabutomushi in Japanese, just in passing) in view of the sunset colours...

I wasn't going to make it to the beach after all. So, I don't often do this but it is a little bit of a contrived pic, inasmuch as I placed the beetle on the roof of the car, against the fiery(ish), dramatic sky, thus...

The apocalypse might be here

I don't know, the pics don't often happen like that but it just seemed to be something different to do. I put it down in a grassy patch after its modelling debut.

I'll blame it on the lack of sleep all the marking I've been doing this week. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 6.50pm]

Day 316 2015: Glass half-full, glass half empty...

Day 316: ...a variation on a theme

Hmm, yes, another long day of judging performance, assessing, consulting...the day starts and then it is almost finished.

And despite looking out the window at 5.00pm and thinking 'perhaps it is time for a pictorially-purposed perambulation', somehow it suddenly became 6.40pm. How? Well, it was more marking, more preparation as we go another round tomorrow. 

I was thinking about this project as I walked back to the car park, the *very far*, farthest car park and wondering what I might do. And then I walked past the pool. The pool has been there for a few years now but I've never quite found the time to use it. 

I walked past the fencing where there was a small window which offered an opportunity, and then I walked a little further along. The picture presented itself as one of those illusion puzzles...

There is a pool beyond

Do you see the bars across the scene or through the bars to the pool, what lies beyond? It is a variation on the old glass theme, the barriers or not? 

 For me, the marking means I see the bars, but at least I know I will get through to the other side. Soon.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 7.08pm]

Day 315: 'Tis the season to be...

Day 315: ...marking

Ah, it is a tricky time of the year, long days turning into night, very long nights. Sleep is a rare commodity. We must read, comment and mark papers, essays mostly in my case, for our students. We are also thick in the exam season where I hold two hour workshops for students to do their final papers.

This morning I was up early, even before the kookaburras, even before breakfast radio presenters. After about three hours sleep, it was a 2.00am start to the day. The kookas chimed in around 4.30, and then a little while later, sat and watched the sunrise. 

Watching the day break

I didn't have quite that luxury of time but did manage to sneak a peak at the beak in between artfully thoughtfully placing marks on papers. We're almost there. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 5.33am] 

Day 314 2015: When things appear...

Day 314: ...after the event

By which, I don't necessarily mean hindsight. Necessarily. But I sometimes wonder what the word might be for that moment when your photo materialises and you see something there that wasn't apparent in the viewfinder at the time of the shot itself...

Take this morning for instance. This was not going to be my pic of the day: 

Light, camera, ...web

But now it is. Indeed, I had another in mind (and yes, I took it, but my current project within the project prevents me from showing it) though both subjects were a play on the early morning sunlight as it hit the leaves of some of the plants in the backyard. 

Take another look. Is this a photo of the sunlight? the frangipani leaves? or the spider web blowing in the wind? It was the web that appeared post-click. And somehow it added a little 'something' after the event. A little bit of sight in the hind perhaps?

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 6.07am]

Day 313 2015: Everyday should have some focus...

Day 313: ...and a little blurring around the edges

I was working through the day, at home, interrupted by medical appointments and dithering about whether or not to pop down the road to see the last session of the cricket test. Well, the last thing didn't happen because the NZ team ended up all out around lunchtime. 

So it was back to work until the early evening when I was due at Parliament House for our study group's end-of-year function. I always enjoy the atmosphere there and given I first stepped inside the Queensland Parliament as an intrigued primary school kid, I guess I've had a long association. 

Today's pic is really just a bit of a fluke, but it caught my eye in that without editing, without filtering, it came out with some parts in focus while others were a little fuzzy. It was kind of representative of my typical day--some focus, some blurring but really, if electronic devices could offer fragrance-a-vision, you'd also smell the wonderful fragrance that jasmine projects. And like the roses and the frangipanis featured here recently, there is something quite extraordinary about the floral growth at the moment. 

Can't see the jasmine for ... the jasmine

I guess it has to do with the weather but I'd rather see it as a perfect day: a little focus, a little blurring and a bit of (olfactory) imagination. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 4.04pm] 

Day 312 2015: Returning to the source...

Day 312: ...because, incredibly, it is ever-changing 

So we're back to these roses, dear reader. Roses, in my garden, tended by my hand. Allegedly. But not really, and this is the fascinating thing. This is a rose bush that thrives on nothing but an occasional severe pruning. It really only blooms every other year. But in following it closely this week (because there are just blooms day after day), I noticed something today...

yesterday's yellow is today's pink

Did you notice? That pinkish rose you see there, was yellow yesterday, just like the yellow one there, which was a pink and yellow striped bud yesterday. I have no explanation. But just at the moment, I know returning to it each day is a source of joy and anticipation, just wondering what colour will be next. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 11.16am]

Day 311 2015: Cloud as brushstroke

Day 311: ...when you least expect it

Some days, you just never know what the day will bring. Saturdays are either stay home and 'chores-work' or clarinet rehearsal, theatre or orchestra, and sometimes all three. Today was one of those days--all the arts, plus the test cricket being played just up the road which I would also like to see some time before Monday. 

So there was just a moment this morning when I looked to the sky to wonder about how it was all going to fit in, beautiful blue sky morning, Brisbane heat and humidity...you know the days...

...and I spotted this wondrous cloud, no planes in sight. 

Cloud as brushstroke

Amazingly, by the end of the day the blue sky, white clouds had turned into one of those ripper Brisbane storms which, if we are honest here in Brisbane, we expect to see at the end of a steamy summery day, but they still take us by surprise at times (yes, taking an umbrella to the theatre would have been sensible, just a bit silly in the earlier blue sky moment). 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 9.33am]

*And look, one week of the pared down project, just one pic a day (if I don't count the instagram and twitter accounts...).

Day 310 2015: Running overtime...

Day 310: ...must be the weather

A cracker of a storm overnight, one of those claps of thunder that wakes you from whatever place you had just reached sleepwise. And the lightning...about 20mm in the end. 

It is blossom time everywhere. Out the front, a star jasmine bush is blooming away with no end in sight it seems. But this morning I noticed that the native frangipani tree is *still* flowering away. Usually it lasts for about five days in September, usually when I'm away at a conference. Usually, I miss the flowers. 

But not today. After the rain, I noticed the flowers are all over the place and with a little adjustment of the aperture and exposure, we can have a little fun with the subject. 

Still hanging around

Lots of raindrops and rose petals and new 'regular' frangipani leaves as well. But it was the frangipani flowers that needed to be caught while they're still around. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 6.28am]

Day 309 2015: Counting your ducklets...

Day 309: ...after they've hatched

Late-breaking news...a pair of ducks at work have arrived late to the party. Just as all the others have let their ducklings grow and go, this particular pair of McDucks have had the baker's dozen plus the rest. Thirteen or fourteen, I think. And they've claimed the central quadrangle as their space. 

And woe betide anyduck that gets in the way...

Be off with you

Just like that. We'll be watching, and counting, carefully. 

*Today was even harder to stick to the one pic limit than yesterday...ducklings, so. many. ducklings. But I won't be broken by cute ducklets...really.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 5.05pm]

Day 308 2015: Like mother...

Day 308: ...like daughter or son, well, joey

Another day at work, another day marking, prepping for exams, dealing with all the things we deal with when not teaching which keeps us working many more hours, days and weeks than the light load some people seem to think we have.

And hot. I work in a hot building, no air-con (I don't mind) but no breeze either. So there comes a time in the afternoon one needs to go for a walk to stretch the legs as it were. And off in search of today's pic, today's one and only pic of the day.

Now, the last few days I've made my new venture of just one pic each day of November, I've made it a little easy on myself, taking just three or four. Today though, it was a little tougher, a little more variety. Down by the lake there were birds and ripples and flowers; interesting cloud formations. I took them all, about 12 photos in fact. Then, back by the building, was a mother kanga and her joey. I took 22 pics in two minutes...I've stuck to my guns though:

Chew this way...

Just the one. But you can imagine how the other 21 looked. Joey kangas like to copy their mum's every move. And not as bossy as the big buck kanga either.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 75-300mm, 2.30pm]

Day 307 2015: Some days a rose...

Day 307: ... but I take no credit

Indeed, I take no credit whatsoever for this rose. It is a complete gardening accident. Many many years ago, I planted several rose bushes in my then 'new' house. I thought for houses to become 'homes' they needed rose bushes. Plus, they were my grandparents' favourite flowers too, so that was reason enough. 

Three of the originals survive. I do very little to them apart from the occasional pruning. There is one that works quite hard, produces robust pink flowers on a very regular basis, particularly after a good downpour. 

The second produces one quite stunning mauve rose each year, just one, once a year, around Mothers Day, which is very thoughtful of it. 

And then, there is the third one...this one:

A rose by any other name...
...is a fluke

Only thing is, it must be a hybrid of sorts. It flowers on average once every three years and when it does, it blooms pink ones, yellow ones, white ones, red ones and these ones, the variegated sort. All off the same bush. I really don't know the hows and whys and I take no credit for it at all, but it works for me. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 5.59am]