Some taxi!

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My mum, 78 year old, uses public transport extensively.

The other day she wanted to get to a particular plant nursery and walked down to her nearby bus-stop.  A bus was there already and she asked the driver if he went past the nursery.

"Yes" he replied.  He then looked at his watch and said "Look, I don't start my next run for 20 min.  Hop in, I've got time, I'll take you there now."

And he did.

There are some wonderful people out there.
...

The need for a new word.

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I love the English language but there is one word missing that it needs:

A word to describe the emotion that you feel when you get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and realise that you have been given a sh*t haircut.

Massacre at the tree of Mulberries

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Our mulberry tree is in full fruit at present.

The reason why you wont see them in the shops is that they are very delicate and difficult to pick without bruising and, consequently, getting a very red-purple stain on your hands.

But you had probably guessed that already, hadn't you?

But they were ideal fodder for the saucy part of our 'traditional' Halloween dessert of 'Mud, blood & poached brains'.

For the prosaic, this is dumplings with red berry sauce and chocolate ice-cream.

◊◊◊

The tree overhangs the footpath and we happily let people pick what they want, if they want. Some even come to the door and ask if they can.

Saddest question: Are they strawberries?
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Keep your head still!

I have watched the doves on our powerlines and their heads don't move when the line (and their body) does but I was fascinated by the extent of 'head-stillness' shown by this chook.
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Disconnect to Connect - Commercial

Wholly smoke!

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Hong Kong airport, 5pm last Friday.

Surreal lighting, sunlight through smog.

No wonder Chinese people are amazed at the colour of the sky when they come to Melbourne.

Yes, it is meant to be blue.
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A Taste of Prague

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A beautiful city, this is just a taste of what we saw and did.



I knew Alphonse Mucha (pronounced 'moo-car') did art nouveau posters, this is a section of a church window in St Vitus Church.


Lots of Trams.


Um...some cafe.


For some reason, St George has a big following in Prague. Lots of statues to him. Certainly seems to have wiped out all the dragons.


Segway tourism.


St Vitus Church.


Lots of Art Nouveau decor about the place.


The astronomical clock - very pretty but couldn't figure out how to tell the time on it.


Lots of shops selling puppets.


Spit roast ham in one of the main squares.


Another doorway.


Bridges on the River Vltava.
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Off again...

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Off travelling tomorrow. Only for about a week and a half this time.

Nephew's wedding in London and then home via Prague. We have heard good things about Prague - Martin & Roni and Simon have been there - but, always the scientist, I felt the need to test the experiment for reproducibility.

I'll let you know how we go.

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Some things are worth more than money.

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The garden is alive!

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Some ornamental grape that the possums haven't found yet.


The lovely kissing flowers of the Dogwood.


Some 'Honesty' that the snails haven't found.


One of the 'democratic jungle' spots in my garden.


My brain is about to flower again.


The vaguely phallic Jasmine.


The always beautiful wisteria.


A new wisteria, in the back yard, heads up to the new trellis...
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Some vegetables...

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Second crop of the purple broccoli.


Broadbeans in full flower, if not quite with pod yet. (Well, it's Melbourne...)


The last of the Tamarillos (could be a movie title.) lurks in the leaves.
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Into the blue...

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This last week was the first time our solar production exceeded consumption, since week-ending April 2.

Pretty close to the equinoxes, at both ends.
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Minor pruning?

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Our neighbour has trimmed his Pin Oak. About a third removed.

To the east of us so doesn't affect much, garden-wise. Be interesting to see how it goes/grows over the summer. Stay posted.
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Spring is coming.

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I always love it when the magnolia flowers.
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Thirty Years

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Thirtieth wedding anniversary today.

Where did that time go?

With all that is going on at present, the mood for celebration is not high. But we will have the family around for dinner tonight. My suggestion of Sticky Date Pudding for dessert was vetoed for some reason.

As was Roly-Poly Pudding.
...