There’s an obvious topic for this blog which I’ve been reading around without really committing to, and that’s because it’s a serious, huge and complex subject. I’ve touched on it briefly when speculating about the names of creeks – but there’s just so much more to be uncovered, especially to a newbie in this fascinating …
Australia has an indisputably macho culture. Just look at the sports: Aussie Rules Football (AFL) or ‘aerial ping pong’ as Daniela calls it, looks like the most gruelling and skilfully-demanding pursuit ever contrived. The ball-handling skills are little short of astounding, the pace breakneck, the athleticism breathtaking. And speaking of ball-handling, the playing kit is …
More and more it’s about the birds. Getting up in the morning at the moment is a musical delight, as the local avian population gives voice to their appreciation of warmer weather, and earlier sunrises, and all the things going on that excite them. Flowers are busting out the kinds of salady grub to ensure …
Call me butter 'cause I’m on a roll . . . The bird-feeder project that started a few days ago as a swift piece of DIY using odds and ends of this and that found here and there is now assuming the epic proportions of an Amish barn-raising. Once again, the rabbit-hole principle rears its …
You know, through the long, sweaty Singapore years, cooped up in our high-rise apartment, we often talked in a misty-eyed fashion about a golden future in which we’d have a garden. It would be an elegant, well-groomed, peaceful place, with gently tinkling rills, shady trees, lush lawns and rank upon rank of fragrant roses, peonies, …
Today it feels like spring: the breeze is balmy, the sun shines warm and welcoming, birds cheep and flutter in the bountiful hedges, and the sap rises audibly in tree, plant and weed. Hullo clouds, hullo sky . . . It’s amazing how much of a psychological lift you get when all is blissful and …
Spurred by yesterday’s bike-borne expedition into the unknown, I squandered a bit of time last night looking for further local loops to explore on two wheels. Modern internet-based social platforms make this kind of thing so easy. For example, I have recently joined a service called Strava, which enables weekend warriors and endurance sports weirdos …
As your faithful narrator has probably mentioned, the urge to tinker with stuff and maybe dismantle it is a lifetime one, especially when stuff doesn’t work (and dismantling stuff usually guarantees it will never work again). As youths, my group of mates were always building, making, destroying, repurposing and generally getting in where we shouldn’t …
It wouldn’t be surprising if, unlike me, you aren’t familiar with the finer points of the first Muppet Movie. Maybe it’s a generational thing, or maybe we were starved of sophisticated entertainment in sanctions-bound 1979 Zimbabwe, but be that as it may, for some reason this jolly musical romp remains vivid in the old memory …
It’s been a while since I’ve been on the tools, mainly due to the weather -- all that cold, rain and mud aren’t conducive to outdoor exertions. But there’s been a particular task weighing on the old mind and today was the day allotted to completing it. Remember the weeds in our lawn? Well, both …
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