Tonari no Comet

Hi everyone. I'm sure Felicity will start writing blog entries again when we get the house cleaned. In the meantime, I just had to post tonights photos.

Comet McNaught

JP gave us a call to ask if we've noticed the comet, and expecting the slightest hint of a comet peeking over the horizon, I went outside for a look. What I saw nearly floored me. On this crystal clear night the comet was stunningly visible above the trees with a tail trailing over a full 30degree arc of the sky. A glowing wispy cloud of a size that beggars the imagination.
We called around and told the neighbours and eventually had quite a congregation of stargazers milling around the top of the driveway, while I struggled to find the comet at full zoom. (I didn't, but I plenty happy with the wide angle shots)

Sainto Babari Dori no Stain

The cake was a rampaging success, but the recipe will follow when we can get back into the house. I'd post a photo, but I wasn't clear thinking enough to shift the camera out. So you'll all have to wait for the weekend. I suppose I should explain.
I'm sending this post from the pile of furniture in the garage. Jasmine is curled up on the bottom of a chair from the dinning room, Felicity is curled up on the couch. It's hot. Today we had the acid poured on the concrete all through the house. Our floor is now brown. Tomorrow it will be browner and then it should get shiny, then glass-like on Thursday. On Friday we'll be able to walk on it and on the weekend we can move the furniture back in. I kinda forgot to bring a few things out.
I forgot; clothes, medications, toiletries, shoes, breakfast cereal, milk and yogurt (not that they would have kept), the camera, books and cat food. I did remember to get the laptop, the cat, her water, her litter tray and her scratch post.
At this point it would be good to be able to pass through walls.
So that's what's happening now.
Earlier, as in since the last post, we have been to see U2 (bought a T-shirt), finished my final assignment for my stats course, spent a week in different states (me awake and Felicity in Adelaide), tried to see DJ Food (He canceled after he was canceled in two other cities), saw Talvin Singh (Rocks the boat the guy who holds the world stands in) and spend three entire weekends, most weeknights and all night Sunday scrubbing every little bit of paint and plaster off the floor by hand. My knees, elbows, shoulders, wrists and hips have given me hell for it and I am sick and tired of having my eyes, nose and mouth filled with concrete dust.
Viva les epoxy.
Viva le Polyurathene.

Anyone going to be in town to see Amon Tobin on the 14thDecember? I'll get some tickets.

Also, We're going to try and get Skype running at least once a week (it kills the computer) So search for us and send a text message to arrange a talk-fest.

Surprise Photo

Glen has made a deal with me - I write on my blog and he cooks the cake for Ruth's birthday tomorrow. Considering I have no idea what to write it wasn't such a good trade. After searching through our recent photos for some inspiration I am now ready to start writing - meanwhile, Glen has already put the cake in the oven! The cake Glen is baking is called a Honey Picnic Cake - it is our first try for this recipe, if it is good we'll post the recipe on here for all to enjoy. Anyway, back to the main point of the blog - which is me - because this is my blog site - Glen does all his weird way out writing, which seems to deal heavily with zombies - and I just write stuff.

So..... I was searching through the October photo folder and found this really nice photo of myself with Jasmine in front of our large window / door in the loungeroom. I didn't know Glen had taken this photo and as soon as I saw it I decided to put it on the blog.

Cookoween!

Happy Halloween!
On the most accessible night before All Hallow's Eve (Saturday!) we held a weird food diner. The party-goers, Ruth, Emma, Amy, Andrew, Felicity and I, met in the Central Markets to have coffee and a meal (with Mark). Felicity wheeled out her recipe book and we all chose an obscure vegetable/fruit to cook.
Amy cooked Idli and Daal.
Ruth cooked a Paneer curry with peas.
Felicity cooked Bitter Gourd.
For dessert Felicity chose Jackfruit and Banana spring rolls.
Felicity, however, was unfortunate in her choices. The Jackfruit was not ripe and the recipe mentioned nothing of the sticky, sticky glue that seeps out when you cut and squeeze the Jackfruit. And the Bitter Gourd was bitter. Really bitter. Shouldn't really surprise us I suppose.

Andrew and I made Jack-o-lanterns

From Haloween

Of course, Australians don't grow pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. So Andrew and I carved Capsicums. Felicity, ever the traditionalist, went with a Butternut Pumpkin. The innards of this pumpkin went on to make a fine set of scones.

Rhododendron Valley - Mt Lofty Gardens

I had planned to abandon good intentions of further blogging tonight as image uploading is seriously lagged. However, Jasmine has curled up on my lap so I will write one more before going to sleep. The Mt. Lofty Botanic Gardens are just up the road from our place. Now is the time to go to see the display of Rhododendrons and Azaleas. A few weeks earlier there were also a lot of Camellias in flower. We made a last minute dash on a Sunday afternoon - about 15 minutes before closing time - to have a look.

To maintain order, I've backdated this one because Felicity forgot to post it.

From Flowers

Meadow's Country Fair 2006

Well, it is no big surprise to anyone that I am very behind in writing my blog. After calling friends in Nagoya today I am now feeling inspired to add some new entries to the Luck Monkey site. As there are several months to catch up on I've decided to go with the most recent first (which will be last if you start reading from the top of the page - oh well). Sunday 15th Oct'06 was the annual Country Fair in Meadows - a small country town south of Adelaide. We went because I had seen a quick glimpse of a banner in town and I thought it was for one of those in vogue country farmer's markets (I'm on the hunt for good plant bargains). However, when we arrived it turned out to be like a mini rural Royal Show - lots of wholesome family entertainment (sack races, hay bale stacking and milking (cows, not hay) competitions etc etc) plus an assortment of food, sideshow and trading stalls. We did find some plants to buy - and of course we couldn't resist some fresh spun fairy floss!

Incoming!

This isn't a post. This is a notice of an impending post.
I have a couple of nifty photos to put up, but it's too late tonight, not enough time tomorrow night or Friday night. By the end of the weekend I'll have at least three photos, and update on the house and cat and maybe even a word or two from Felicity.
Anyway, back to Kill Bill.

Hunting 101

Ahah! The fluffy multi-fluoro coloured thingamee can't escape me now!
What's this, it's not moving - trying to trick me I bet!

Triumphant at last!


.... for Glen, who's missing his little girl!

Cat Pics

Okay, this post writes itself.

Cat

I really hope the video conversion is working. It supposedly has six minutes to go, which will make it 13 past midnight when it finishes. Then I'll convert it so that other people can watch it. Perhaps I should post it to YouTube instead. I'll listen to the comments.
Don't let the past two months fool you, we do intend to post regularly again, once the insanity stops.
But I don't have a clue when that might be.
There should have been some fanfare a couple of weeks ago, when we moved in - and I fully intend on providing it. Also there should have been a rant on crime, dodgey builders and cement dust. There were a couple of other items to celebrate, but I want Felicity to announce them.
The video is done. Now to convert.
I'd like to point out that Windows Movie Maker would be quite useful if you could save in a useful format, with useful dimensions. PAL would be good too.
Okay, the video is done, converted and only 12Mb. Don't click on the link on a slow connection!

Okay, uploaded it to Google Video after all that. Enjoy. (It didn't take a short time to upload, either)



The noise on the video was the fan on the laptop. I was using the EyeToy as the camera. If this causes anyone trouble, hit the comment button and tell me.
Oh, and by the way, her name is Jasmine.

March-April Redux - Part One

Hi again, It's been a while and there have been too many posts simply apologising for not posting. I've tried to reduce the whole March-April-Now period into a few photos and simple explanations, but we took over 800 photos over that time - it gives you an idea how busy things got. I've managed to cut that down to 22 photos, but if I take out the arty photo experiments, and all the house photos we can bring it down to 10. Some of the things deserve a full post, but, as always we can only hope that sufficient free time is just around the corner.

In March, the Fesitval and Fringe provided us with plenty of opportunities to distract ourselves and spend money on live performances. We saw Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen (as reviewed below). We got to listen to Jazz in the Botanic Gardens and we got to see the Big floating stuff at night. It was pretty.


March was also quite warm. Felicity found her Japanese Fan print Jimbei and put it to good use. I just moped about complaining about the heat. Here's a tip for travelers planning on visiting Adelaide, March is a very busy time of year and can be hot! I don't think I'm fully describing fully how hectic March was, but remember I'm leaving out all the developments on the house for the moment.





But it was not all happy times. On the 25th of March my Nanna, Maisie Millard, passed away. I am truly glad that Felicity and I were home at the time my Mother got the news. We all cried but at least she didn't have to deal with it alone. Nanna Maisie achieved her wish to look after herself for the whole of her life. She raised six children, each of whom had three children. That's a lot of grandkids! The entire clan gathered in Heywood for the funeral, and pretty much the entire town turned out to see her off. She was buried next to her husband Jack (Shakey) and the cemetery has spectacular views of the sea.
I had hoped to make all that a special post, but I could not leave it forever. Nanna was a great and kind person, and was the person I wanted to see most whenever we came to Australia. Bill said all these things much better than I can. The most lasting memory I have of her is arriving at the farm at night, in the cold, after driving for four hours from Melbourne airport, and flying for over 30 hours before that, and feeling super excited that we were back to see Nanna.

The visit to Heywood also reunited us, miraculously, with Luck Monkey. Felicity gave me Luck Monkey way back in 1998, when I was looking for work. I took him with me in my pocket for an interview and got the job. He went everywhere with us. Then, in Christmas 2000, he went missing. We figured that he fell out of the car when we unpacked and got left on a driveway somewhere. So, for 6 years he was lost to us. On the day of Nanna's funeral we were in her house getting ready, and I looked over at the display of things from her grandkids that she kept on the heater and there was Luck Monkey. I like to think that Luck Monkey was keeping an eye out for her for the last few years and that she somehow knew we would find him when she was gone.

I think I'll wrap it up there for now, but take this image as a preview of our Easter. I've also removed the 'puresento' section from the sidebar and thrown in a link for my DeviantArt page, where I'll put our artsy stuff.

We're Still Here

Really, we are.
We were there, Sydney, but now we're back. We're also very busy. Really busy. A lot of stuff went on this month, after last month, where we did a lot. It's still going on.
I'll tell you about it later, when I have time.
Next month's posts are going to be interesting. We'll start off with all of this months posts we didn't get around to posting, all of March's posts we missed, then go crazy with posts about the house.
It's nearing completion.
I won't actually say anything more now, as I don't want to be too optimistic, and I won't not say anything at all, because I don't want to be too pessimistic. They're working on it. There's more to go, but not a whole lot.
Also, the progress thing on the side (which I can't see right now) has been updated.
And now, so has the blog.