Dust devils on Mars

This is very cool. Reminds me of the New Mexico - Mexico border around Deming in July. Seriously.

Tim

Smoking!

Big bush fires around Sydney today. Driving up to Newport this afternoon we could see the smoke from around West Head. Back at our house, the air is full of smoke. Here's the view from our balcony.



Update: It was probably a controlled burn. There's one today close to Thorneligh. Seems like snow but it's just ash.

Tim

...Able to carry off small children....

The gigantic spider, that is. The one on my bathroom wall yesterday morning. The spider who now resides in my vacuum (with very strong suction). The vacuum that is now residing in my bathtub with the hose hanging out the bathroom window (just in case!). I was comfortable thinking that the creepy crawlies were not going to emerge for at least another month or so, until I was informed otherwise at the dog park yesterday. The dog park (the place from where all knowledge comes). One woman said she almost stepped on the female funnelweb that was lounging on her kitchen floor. I understand they will appear to "lounge" only to rear up and expose their fangs when threatened (I'm not making this up folks!). Her spider now resides under a large vase.

The kitchen wreck crew are coming on Sept. 5th to take our old kitchen. The new kitchen arrives on the 7th and is installed on the 8th until.... well, a few days until it's completely finished. The last of our appliances have arrived; i.e., the rangehood and the dishwasher I found on eBay (that only uses 12 - 17 liters of water per wash!) arrived recently. I forgot to mention that I sold my first item on eBay. Our futon that we would have paid someone to take, captured 33 big ones.

I heard that Don Giovanni, the opera we went to, got rave reviews in the media. Special focus was on Mr. Don G, himself, a tall, sinewy man who appears almost naked as the curtain opens. I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed. Oh yes, he had an outstanding voice as well. The opera was incredible and too bad it was Zoë's first. Future operas are likely to pale in comparison.

Cheers, Judi

Book recommendation

Cormac McCarthy writes beautifully but his world is not for everyone. "No country for old men" is probably the best of his that I've read. It's a contemporary crime story set in the border country of west Texas, tremendously exciting and involving but also finally quite haunting. Quite unlike anything I've read for a long while. Recommended.

Tim

Missing New Mexico

It's the end of summer in New Mexico - beginning to be my favorite time of the year there. Labor Day (the traditional end of summer) is approaching. There's always lots of interesting stuff to do on Labor Day weekend - the Socorro County Fair and the Hillsboro Apple Festival being a couple of favorites. Actually now I think about it, that's two events in about 10,000 square miles but it is New Mexico after all.

The Hatch Chile Festival is an experience, though we've only been once. It seemed a cross between New Mexico and Old Mexico (about 100 miles away). Dust, pickups, loud music, lots of spicy food, strange religious items, hot sun...

Here's a picture of Judi and me at Lake Valley on a trip with our friends Sanjay and Urvashi:



Lake Valley is a ghost town near Hillsboro. In the early eighties I used to go dancing there with some friends. Once a month on a Saturday night, the local ranch families used to gather in the old school house for an old fashioned dance - guitar, fiddle, western two-step, pies and coffee at midnight. I can still hear the strains of "Faded Love".

Later in the fall, the smoke from the wood fires greets you in the morning, roasting green chile scents the air, and the nights are cold and crisp. Then at the end of October, the cottonwood leaves turn color. Here's an old photo from the Bosque del Apache
widelife refuge.





Tim

Zoë's Visit From Colorado USA

Hey all, Zoë here. I’ve been in Australia for a week now, and I leave on Saturday. It’s been a lot of fun.

Let’s see. On Saturday we went to Manly via the Manly Ferry. I didn’t get a postcard, which I’m still kicking myself for. I mean, a postcard from Manly? How cool is that? Anyway, despite the fact that I was jetlagged to hell, we still had fun. The harbor was beautiful, the Opera House even more amazing than its pictures, and the ocean itself was tres cool. On the way back from Manly, we sat with this Ozzie and his Kiwi friend. The Ozzie was drunk and extremely friendly, and his friend took some glorious pictures of the three of us in front of the bridge.

On Tuesday we saw Don Giovanni at the Opera House. It was my first opera, and it was glorious! The singing was wonderful, the music just perfect, and the singer playing Don Giovanni looked like a total cad. It was a perfect evening.

Then today, Judi-san and I went shopping. My god, Australian grocery stores are frigging amazing. The fruit! The cheese! The veggies! The fish counters! The sweets! The crappy bread is a minor annoyance, but one I could live with. Seriously, glorious stores.

And tomorrow it looks like I’ll be braving Sydney by myself to go to a museum. I’m quite looking forward to it, to tell the truth. I’m going by train, so I can spend as much time as I want. Yay!

Werewolf at the beach

London town was too hot for this werewolf so he hit the beach. It's true that his hair was perfect.

LIVING ON THE EDGE...

Have you ever seen a Spur-Winged Plover? Until this morning, I had seen these birds but didn't know much about them. Plovers are shore/wading birds, but for some reason you see them all around NSW - specifically our local dog park. The other day, one of the plovers swooped down at a dog and a dog buddy mentioned the name of the bird and the fact that they lay their eggs in the open grass. I've heard of women having babies in strange places (e.g., taxis, elevators), but on the lawn? It gets worse.

Well, this morning there were two plovers swooping down around one entrance to the park. A nice man and his dalmation, Julia, were unquestionably the object of the birds' fury. Once inside the park, "Julia's Dad" (I forget "his" name!) told us there was a plover nest right next to the gutter on the road -- on the pavement! He said that one of the chicks had already been killed by a passing car. At this point I was imagining a tiny, just-hatched chick in a nest. There was another man coming towards the park with his dog, so I warned him and mentioned why the birds were swooping and screeching. My information was not needed, because he told me about the black spurs on the wings that can hurt you if the plover feels you are too threatening. I think I was talking to a "plover expert". Anyway, while standing there watching the plovers swooping and walking around on the street, a plover chick starting running out into the street! Talk about cute .... and funny - all legs! It was clear now what happened to the dead chick, and it looked like it was going to be a likely ending to this little guy as well. The street isn't busy, but one car went directly over the chick - fortunately straddling the little guy. I couldn't watch anymore!!! You can't help without wearing anti-plover mother protective gear! And if you rescued the chick... then what?

And so it is... another example of "Life on the Edge."

--Judi

Possum comes calling

Our possum showed up early tonight. Sammy did some highly commendable growling to let us know something was going on so we looked out in the tree just by the balcony and saw this:

I managed to get within a couple of feet to get these pictures.

Tim

The Iliad

I finished the audio version of the Iliad a few weeks ago. The end came as rather a shock - Hector dies and is buried and then the story stops before the final battle in which the Greeks take Troy.

It's a curious story. Wonderfully entertaining in a way close to movies. Lots of blood and gore that must have excited and engaged listeners down the years but with elements of a comedy.

The strangest aspect about the Iliad is the lack of an interior voice - there's only one scene when a protagonist reflects on his actions. That's when Agamemnon reconsiders the bad way that he treated Achilles. Apart from that, stuff happens because the gods will it that way. There's a wonderful book call "The Origin of Conciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by a Harvard psychologist called Julian Jaynes putting forth the notion that the Greeks actually thought differently that we in the modern world do - that their actions were at the prompting of an internal voice which could be taken to be a god. Jaynes argues that the origin of language and metaphor in particular led to a breakdown of this bicameral mind. It's an interesting read even if you don't accept the thesis.

Leaving that aside, the reason to read or listen to the Iliad is that it's a great story - perhaps the first great story in the Western world. Recommended.

Tim

Possums and other cute critters

I forgot to tell you about our possum. Wellllll, she/he isn't necessarily "our" possum, but he visits us so that counts for something! "Our" possum, "Paul", realized that the "paw paws" that I put out for the lorikeets are much to his liking. Usually ten minutes after Tim and I go to bed, we will hear noises on the balcony. Of course, Sammy hears them too, which tends to make the possum's visit brief.

These guys are really cute -- sort of like a cat with a longer, bushy tail and pointy nose. I think this is a brushtail possum, which are the most common in NSW, but I'm not totally sure. If one of these cute guys takes residence in your attic, you are not allowed to "relocate him/her." It is actually against the law, since the little guys will die if moved elsewhere. You can find instructions on how to build your very own possum house as well as how to get the little guys to move out of your attic for good.

I'm amazed at how neat our little friend is. I don't think he would make any mess at all if Sammy didn't scare him off. Usually, the paw paw will stay right on the plate and have lots of claw/teeth marks in it. The seeds will be scattered - it seems no one likes the seeds. The little guy even got into the garbage bag in our carport. You would hardly know, except for the two items that had been licked clean and laid neatly aside.

Female possums usually bear their young in May - June each year. The young develop in the mother's pouch until they are robust enough to rough it on the outside - at their mother's tit. They will ride around with Mom for about 6 months before setting out on their own. I didn't see any "attached" baby, so I suspect our Paul is a male -- but you never know - it could be "Paula"!

Hugs, Judi