GOODBYE BLOGGER, HELLO WORDPRESS

Well, I couldn't do anything about Bloggers problem. Someone in GOOGLE LAND changed something so I can't put up pictures. Shame, as I have some good ones of black snakes and dickie birds. So, if you want to see them, go here: http://debralnewman.wordpress.com/

Trip to Briz-Vegas

Here's a double whinge for today - firstly, Blogger won't let me upload pictures for some reason - so you don't get to see pics of Briz-Vegas and secondly I had to go to Briz-Vegas yesterday.

It is called Briz-Vegas by those of us who grew up in a nice capital city called Brisbane. Successive Governments have decided that:

1. It would be really cool to knock down all the lovely old buildings and replace them with nice new 600 storey monsters. That's because visitors don't want to see historical buildings they want to see what they can see at pretty much any other city.

2. If we keep cramming more and more people into Briz, then everybody will have lots more money and we will all be happy. Yeah - right.

So they took a perfectly charming big town and have turned into a high rise noisy crowded city with substantial traffic problems. The last Government tried to fix the traffic by installing roads in the sky as well as tunnels under the ground. The sky roads are sooo attractive. You get to pay for driving in the sky or underground, so poor old Paddock Workers have to shuffle along at ground level with all the other paupers.

Anyway, I went there with Old Mate next door to register our plan of subdivision. We both have lenders involved and his mob took exactly 364 days to agree to this and turn up at the Titles Office. But the plan is lodged so the end of a 6 year process has finally happened.    

Good to have a good mate

By David Paulson

So local artist David Paulson is having a survey of his works at Noosa Regional Gallery. David is a recognised artist nationally and Good Mate is fortunate to own a couple of pieces. We also have a small piece of David's work. Good Mate advised he and his lovely Missus would go up for a peek-a-boo today and invited us along. The Responsible Adult decided to stay home to work on her tan and do the annual change over in the wardrobe from winter to summer gear.

Another work by David Paulson

Me trying for that Paulson pose

It surely was nice to be picked up in an air-conditioned Land Cruiser and be driven to the Gallery. We spent sometime admiring the works and watching David chat to us on the Gallery's TV. It was all inspirational and I wouldn't mind popping down to La Studio to have a bash with some pastels after seeing all those lovely images. Alas, our eldest is currently residing at La Studio - I shall say no more on that. After the show, Good Mate suggested that he should shout fish and chips at the Noosa Marina. Fish and chips at Noosa Marina is recommended. So Good Mate then decided he wanted to buy a bit of fish for his dinner. He came back with some Snapper which included a piece for me. So I got a nice day out chauffer driven to the Art Gallery, lunch and dinner. At no time did Good Mate even mention his trailer which I borrowed about 3 weeks ago.
Now, Paddock Workers I'm guessing by this time you don't need me to explain why it's good to have a Good Mate. If only he had a wine cellar full of Shiraz - oh that's right, HE DOES!
Here's a picture of me with David.

David winning the People's Choice Award SCAP 2006

  

Paddock For Sale

So, back in 2000, our Council released a new plan. The area around the paddock was included for development. This was a response to the community who wanted land allocated for co-housing type development. The idea being to create a couple of additional suburban size lots on your land with the bulk retained to grow rainforest. One by one our neighbours up and down the street subdivided, but not in the co-housing model - just straight sub-division. We went from cow paddocks to acreage lots. In 2006, after pretty much all our neighbours had sub-divided, we decided that we would too. So six years later and a rather LOT of expenditure, we have the Cubby House paddock, La Studio paddock and the third paddock. The third paddock is for sale. If you're interested, just call out. I'll welcome a buyer with a glass or two of Shiraz.

View of the 3rd paddock from La Studio

Growing Vege's

Yummy greens for my sandwich

Here's my little vege seedlings one month after visiting the markets. Even after this short period, the outside leaves of the Cos Lettuce are ready to be cut and placed on a nice open sandwich. Same with the Rocket. I lost all but one beetroot to bloody Bandicoots (vile, filthy creatures) The Kale is growing really quickly. The flowers you can see in the foreground are self seeded Coriander - themselves about to go to seed. Some of the seeds will be harvested for curry and some will be left to grow. Don't forget to harvest some Coriander root which is an ingredient for a nice Curry paste.
Baby Lettuce leaves are best served with a nice Shiraz.

The Vege's 4 weeks ago

And about 2 weeks ago

On the Kindle - Morag Joss

I'm a sucker for a prize winning author, so I thought I'd give Morag Joss a go. If Morag comes to the Cubby House, she can have pick of the china cabinet from me. What a ripper of a book. I really don't want to tell you anything of the story - you can't without spoiling it. I'll just say it's a story within a story with some cryptic letters tossed in. Don't panic if you are initially confused about what's going on - it will fall into place nicely. It is a morality tale told extremely well. The author certainly knows how to put words together to form some terrific sentences. Some loose ends are left loose which usually ticks me off, but in this case it works. Mind you, the Responsible Adult would call this 'a cheery little tale' so don't be looking for laughs and giggles along the way. Here's your quote:

"Hereafter, I would have no story, only a dishonoured past. An what else could I do then but begin to learn what it is to be dead before I actually was?"  

Regular Garden Maintenance

Before

After

There are some jobs that a Paddock Worker has to do regularly. Hard pruning of vine plants is highly recommended unless you don't mind loosing your Cubby House to vegetation. Shown here is the Wisteria and Jasmine. Both take hard pruning well - the harder the better. Both will grow back after about 3 or 4 minutes, or at least that's what it feels like. You may notice the handy bins that always travel with me on pruning expeditions. I use these as nothing that grows in the paddock leaves the paddock. Everything gets recycled around trees that I want to grow. Dumping these around trees helps retain moisture in the soil, helps prevent weeds from growing and will rot down to feed the trees and improve the humus in the soil. As for me, it's a nice Shiraz which improves my disposition nicely. Cheers.