The Big M

.

One thousandth post at The Curates Egg. (1642nd at the combine five blogs ).

When you look at the labels you realise how diverse the posts have been:

administration advertisements appliances AQ art Attic Australia awards backs beauty bigotry birds blogging bloopers books brain bureaucracy bush bushfires caffeine cancer candles cars Cartoon cats challenge chemicls chemistry christmas climate cold reading communication computer conmen consumption contraptions counselling cricket culture curate curiosity cute Cynicism Dad death death penalty deception diets divorce dogs drugs dumb inventions email energy english language environment errors of judgement excess fame family farewell fate fathers flowers food fraud friends future gadgets gambling garden genetics God Google Greetings gripes guests Guns halloween happiness health history hobbies Holidays homebrew honours Hooks hope house humbug humorous humour hybrid icons illusion insects internet intolerance Irish JCN jehovah Jokes kindness kumquats labels language Law Lee letters letters to editors letters to organisations Leunig life logic loves luck machines Margaret marriage Martin maths meat media medicine meme memories memory men mental health mind Mind Hack misc money moral issues movies Mum Murphy's Law mysteries nature nerdy news Nigerians nongs Obama oddball opportunity painting Pancakes parenting people pests philosophy photo physics pleasure poetry Political Correctness politics poll poppies positive possums probability psychic psychology puzzle puzzles quackery Quotes race rain relationships religion research resolutions Richard Roni safety scams science seasons sharks shopping Simon smoking society soy space spam spider sport statistics stress study stuff stupidity success suffering supernatural tags technology television thanksgiving thinking tradition trauma Travel trivia trout UFO Urban myths US vegetables war water weather wedding wildlife wine wisdom wishes work

And that's with the other blogs mopping up most of the sex, religion and politics.

It's been fun.
...

Smite smote smitten

.

Above is a headline on The Age website this morning.

Didn't seem right, somehow. Smitten to me is all puppy-love, doe-eyed and gooey.

I obviously wasn't the only one to point this out to The Age because, later in the day, it changed:



At least now it makes sense.
...

Um...ok.

.

Is it just me, or is "Aim Hire" an odd name for a porta-loo?
...

Having a play with Photoshop

This is from a photo I took in Beijing last year. Just playing in Photoshop, for effect.
...

Answers to the name 'Lucky'.

The baby survive, largely unscathed.
...

I see a trip resuming...

.

Plans afoot to finish the trip we were on last year that was cut short by my Dad's death.

Galapagos Islands, Cuba and Ireland in June-July, 2010.

Woohoo!

Ireland's new on the itinerary; my sister in law is having a 60th birthday do in Belfast and we thought, well, if we are going that far why not....

And, well, you see where the thinking went.

Look out turtles!
...

The end of civilization as we know it...

.

The black cable, coiled and duct-taped to the power pole use to carry TV, internet and phone to my house.

And this is what the vertical connecting pole on my house looked like:



But I don't have a photo of the, what? truck maybe, that snagged the line and brought it down.

Certainly was no scooter.

So last night we talked, we walked and we figured out how to open those funny oblong things that are full of writing.
...

Funny you should ask. No.

.

Looking forward fruitfully.

.

This week is mental health week.

So I thought I would beat one of my favourite drums.

It is well recognised that one of the symptoms of depression and being 'stuck' is the inability to look forward, to dwell ceaselessly on the past and its perceived injustices and unfairness.

Quite obviously the past is beyond change but some people cannot let go. In my LifeLine days we would get the same people ringing up daily, wanting to tell and retell the same story, over and over.

It got them nowhere.

I have a theory that modern life is working against helping people look forward.

When I was a boy, we would look forward to the arrival of cherries, strawberries, sweet corn, apricots, tomatoes and asparagus. They were markers of seasons. We would pig out on them and thoroughly enjoy them before the season ended.

Have you noticed that your supermarkets now sell nearly all fruit and vegetables all year round? Force grown in glasshouses in Queensland or flown in from California, Israel or South
East Asia, these fruits and vegetables have robbed us of a lot of our pleasure of anticipation.

Its like being given your birthday presents early and then having nothing to make your birthday special.
....

“O tempora o mores”

.

Masthead of The Age newspaper. I can relate to the lion's expression.

“O tempora o mores” is a famous sentence by Cicero in his First Oration against Catiline.

It translates as “Oh the times! Oh the customs!”

In his opening speech against Catiline, Cicero deplores the viciousness and corruption of his age.

In this post I too rail against the viciousness of the age.

Or more specifically, The Age.

Today’s lead story, taking up over half of a broadsheet page but with all of the intent of the grubbiest tabloid, was on Greg Norman’s marriage break up.

Is this truly the most pressing or interesting story in the world today?

Is it really news?

Do I really need to know?

Time to cancel the subscription, me thinks.

Sometimes you just need to remove the negatives from your life.
…

The red centre visits the red edge.

.

The bizarre weather in Australia continues with a huge dust storm blowing the top soil from the inland farms to the seaside allotments.
...

The cure for all ills.

.
.

Panexa, the cure for all that ails you.

Read about it here: Panexa Website

As with all these things, you must read the fine print. Trust me.
...

Bits & Pieces

.

Painting Credit Just something that appealed for the bric-a-brac post.

I haven't been the most diligent of bloggers. Sorry.

Friday was the anniversary of Dad's death and, of course, the end of our travels. Had dinner with Mum last night, she copes. Gets ambushed occasionally but copes.

Tentative plans to finish our travels next July - Galapagos & Cuba.

Work goes on OK; still fun, still very much a challenge. Couldn't ask for more from the folk above me or below me.

The hybrid beast runs smoothly, no sports car by any stretch of the imagination, but I am not a sports car person.

Simon has a part-time job at Gloria Jeans, his first job.

Richard will be thrilled that Geelong beat Collingwood in the AFL (Australian Football League).

Martin & Roni continue with their married bliss; up in NSW for an engagement part this weekend, I believe.

Despite the low rains, the garden looks good. Planted climbing beans today.

I have been commissioned to make salmon omelettes for dinner.

That's it. Well, enough of it.
...

Father's Day in Australia.

Ray Kennedy & Lee Kennedy, circa 1970.

.

(From The Age, click to enlarge)

August Hotly

.

◊ August was the hottest August on record for all parts of Australia.

◊ The first eight months of 2009 were the driest first eight months of a year on record in Melbourne.

Not that climate change is a real or serious issue, of course.

Sure.
...