Missing the action

One of the things I sometimes do is take photos for my swamp blog. (I used to have it on my blogroll but since changing skins I don't seem to be able to have a blogroll anymore, which is a bit sad.) I'm sure no-one else is interested in the swamp blog but me, but I really enjoy looking at it. I must have over 100 photos so far, and no two are the same, which I find totally amazing. I think my kids think the whole swamp blog marks me as mildly odd, but that's okay. I'll take mildly odd over dull and predictable any day. And to be honest, I don't think it's odd at all. I think it's fascinating. (But maybe that does just mark me as a major sad case.)

So, what I hate is when I see some weather anomaly, and I'm not close enough to the swamp to capture it. Tonight it was an unusual sunset, seen when we were descending the Westgate Bridge. Here it is -- would have been the right direction to capture it and all. Never mind.

Now it's me...

falling apart. Today, I lost half of a tooth. I was eating something I shouldn't (of course!) -- some Toblerone -- and said to my son, "Ooh, it's got a bone in it." And of course we both thought this was a bit silly, so then I thought it must be a stone -- only my tongue found this new sharp object in my mouth. Yuck. Lots of new sharp angles -- quite uncomfortable, but the good news is that the nerve isn't exposed. That's the worst thing. I've had teeth play up that hurt when I opened my mouth to speak because the air temperature was cooler than the air temperature in my mouth. This isn't actually hurting, and it's a second-back tooth, so I'm spared the embarrassment of not being able to open my mouth in public. Which is good because I have work commitments and won't be able to get to the dentist for a few days.

In the meantime, as far as the house roundup goes: I have no idea what's happening with the fence. Our neighbours are in a rental property and had contacted the estate agent, and the owner wants to make all the arrangements because he can claim it on his tax. Only we don't know what's going on. And if I'm at work I'll have to make arrangements for my dogs.

In between doing stuff for work today, I've been to the movies to see In the shadow of the moon, and I am just ... WOW! Oh, I have been a space geek for as long as I can remember -- largely because I am just old enough to remember the moon landings, and the huge effect that had on my life. I remember visiting NASA (in Houston, at the Cape, at Langley...) and at Houston, the audience being quizzed -- "Which American made the first space walk?" and muttering "Ed White" under my breath -- knowing all the answers and being too shy to put up my hand, and the guy doing the quizzing being disappointed that no-one knew any of this stuff. Oh, my God. I was as excited to be in those places -- and to visit the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian -- as I was to visit Tintagel in England. Ask my mum about me in any of those places... Pigs in shit and all of that! Walking on an orange gantry! Running my hand along a Saturn V! Is that heaven, or what?

Our birds

I've blogged a bit about our birds lately, and thought it must be time I posted some photos. None of finches because we don't have them anymore. But above are our quails -- you can see three adults (two grey and one brown) and three babies (both grey) if you look carefully. The brown male got away while I was at Philip Island -- that was the Gadget Man's fault -- actually most of our escapees are due to the Gadget Man! The quails are quite amazing because they emerge from their eggs with feathers and running around, though with the awkwardness at first of new foals, but quite unlike canaries, which are featherless, have their eyes closed and just sit there and cheep for food.

And seeing as I had my head in the aviary and the zoom on to get close to the birds, below is one of our canaries too! None of the birds are particularly tame, so they don't let anyone too close. This year we've only had one baby canary survive. Their were plenty of eggs, but the finches kept rolling them out of the nests.

Forgot to take a photo of the pigeon -- it must've been in hiding in the foliage -- but it's only a temporary resident while its wing heals.

Crisis after crisis

Earlier this year we had the solar heating on our pool fixed. Then our pool broke. Today, someone came to pressure-test the pool pipes. (Man, these pools drain a lot of money!) No major leakage, so next we need a structural test. This is before anything is fixed.

Last week our hot water service blew up. We did want to go solar, because it's more environmentally friendly, but the 5 k price tag put us off. Well, put us out of the running, really. You can get a rebate, but it was still beyond us.

Our washing machine is dying. One wash now takes two hours, and requires manual intervention a couple of times at least per load.

And today our fence blew down. Did we do something to offend someone upstairs? lol. It does seem one thing after another at the moment. Last year it was our fridge, just after buying a new computer...

Yeah, these things happen to the best of us, and it would be nice if the daily living bills: car insurance, rego, hot water, gas etc could just take a rest, but they never do. I suppose now I know what I'm working for... But wouldn't it be nice to actually save some money?

Yeah, I shouldn't whinge. It's just life, right? Grist to the writing mill.

Roadtrip

Last Friday, two of my colleagues and I did the inaugural PWE (Prof Writing and Editing) roadtrip to Castlemaine to buy soap. When I told my husband I was going on a two-hour drive to buy soap, he looked at me as if I'd gone slightly loony. Well, perhaps not slightly!

My boss had been talking about this divine soap for ages, and the three of us (her included) talked about putting in a big mail order, but then it was going to be too big, and in any case we thought it might be fun to all go together. And it was!

We talked work all the way up, of course, and had a bit of a singalong to "O Fortuna" on the way back. Well, there were some actions and stuff from one of us, but the rest of us didn't sing! And we bought soap. Oh, and books, but that goes without saying. Every country town has to have a bookshop, yes?

The soap shop was ... wow! So many colours and fragrances. And unfortunately so much sneezing on my part! Didn't stop me from buying though, and above is my haul -- minus one soap I gave to my mother, but it was one I had accidentally doubled up on. My one regret is that I couldn't get the vibrant blue-and-purple one I'd been given as a prezzie last birthday. Oh, but I lie: there is one other regret, and it's a writerly thing. As two of us sat outside the shop while the third member finalised her purchases, I couldn't help thinking about how much writing time I'd given up -- even though I was enjoying the trip. There's always that tinge of guilt -- the what-if-I'd-stayed-at-home-and... But that just shows that the writing (or in this case editing) is going well!

Now, I have them (back in the bag) sitting next to my novel on the kitchen table, and periodically I pause my work to have a smell of one or two or three of them. Seriously, I am in love with soap. My other fetishes are towels and coloured paper (stationery in general, really), but now I have added soap to the list. Oh, and books are on that list too, of course, but that goes without saying!

Five fave things

Hmm, Claire has tagged me, so here's my response:

Five favourite snacks:
(i) chocolate
(ii) chocolate
(iii) chocolate -- can you guess where this's going? Oh, okay:
(ii) chips, preferably chicken flavoured, or sour cream and chives or chili flavoured
(iii) Twisties -- must be cheese flavoured. Hate the chicken ones. Otherwise, love Cheezels too.
(iv) corn chips -- must be cheese flavoured, or tangy cheese. Nice with guacomale, sour cream and hot taco sauce.
(v) cake -- preferably chocolate.

Hmm, I can see a serious problem here. Here's some others that I do enjoy:

(i) grapes
(ii) bananas
(iii) oranges
(iv) cantaloupe
(v) apples -- if tart and crisp

Five favourite quotes:

(i) Today is a good day to die. (Hmm, now I'm quoting Klingons. That is a worry.)
(ii) You only fail if you quit.
(iii) If you shoot for the moon and fail, at least you'll end up in the stars.
(iv) May the force be with you. Well, I could have said: "General Kenobi, years ago my father served you in the clone wars ..." Or quoted the whole movie, really.
(v) I am Locutus, a borg. Resistence is futile. Your life, as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service ... us.

Five things I love about my current job:

(i) I get to think about and talk about writing. When I'm doing research, it's about writing. Writing, writing, writing -- how could I not love my job?
(ii) If I muck something up, someone doesn't die. (Yeah, a legacy from my old medical laboratory scientist days, not that I killed anyone, but I did almost burn down the lab! And I can't tell you how many sleepless nights I had worrying about a grainy crossmatch (a check that blood is compatible). And I don't now get called in in the middle of the night.)
(iii) I get to work with people, rather than bits of people. I am a people person, and I enjoy interacting with the students. Really. I love it.
(iv) The team I work with -- man, are those girls dynamos! And fantastic to work with. Can't say that often enough.
(v) I feel like I'm making a difference -- that I'm helping my students realise their dreams, and that's an amazing feeling.

Five places I'd like to live:

(i) in the world of my novel. Hmm, would I really want to? All that violence? But the horses ... the horses ... And my protagonist ... So, yes, the city of Plinth.
(ii) Somewhere that's both rural and coastal -- on an estuary.
(iii) Jerusalem -- my favourite city in the whole world. At least to visit. An amazing city, so rich in history and in culture. The most extraordinary place I've ever visited.
(iv) London. Okay, I've lived in London and thought it sucked, but it would flag a return to my travelling days -- when London is not so much home but home-base.
(v) The Greek Islands -- Santorini, particularly, because how can anyone go past Santorini.
(vi) The moon. Am I joking? Of course not. Luna Base. Low grav, all of that. The view of Earth rising ...
(vii) Carcassonne -- beautiful medieval city, a chance to sharpen my very poor French.
(viii) Delft -- my father's homeland, one that is part of me (though he is from Druten, near Nijmegan, and my aunts are in Arnhem and Wijchen). Time to absorb the canals, the lifestyle, and research the time-travelling novel I'd like to set there.

Oh, did I say five? Clearly I'm mathematically challenged!

Five fave current TV shows:

This is difficult because I'm not sure I'm currently watching five, but here goes:

(i) The Sarah Connor chronicles -- nothing like a bit of SF in the mix, and I am enjoying this one. (And waiting eagerly for Battlestar Galactica -- as one of the few fans of both the old AND the new series -- and Dr Who (and Torchwood))
(ii) Grey's Anatomy -- love that McDreamy ...
(iii) Desperate Housewives -- I AM Susan. Well, Susan crossed with Lynette. (Ha ha, in looking for Lynette's name because I couldn't remember it I did a quiz to find out which one I am, and I'm ... Susan!)
(iv) Dirty Sexy Money -- my new guilty pleasure, which I only started because Nate from "Six Feet Under" was in it -- and didn't that show have the best ending EVER?
(v) Toss up between two shows that I'm watching on an occasional basis: The Biggest Loser and Medium. Like 'em both.

I tag whoever wants to run with it!

No chaos to report

What? I hear you say. What?

Yes, that's right: things are quiet in our household this weekend. As they were last weekend, only I wasn't around to know about it. (And so here are the obligatory photos of my weekend away.) So what is the trick? I hear you say. Well, the mothers and fathers of you.

Easy. Get rid of one kid.

Last week it was Sir Talkalot. His was actually an extended stay because he went to school camp Tuesday, came home Thursday and then, the same night, went to scout camp for four days. This week it's Princess Sleepyhead's turn. She's on a training camp for her World Challenge expedition at the end of the year.

I love camps. The house is peaceful. No-one is shouting, "You're a bastard" or "You're a bitch". I don't have to admonish a shouted "Fuck you" with a "You can't. That's incest!". (And don't they hate it when I say that!) There are no fists thumping into flesh, no sly pinches, or hip-and-shoulders. Honestly, I think I'm training them to be AFL recruits. I guess it's lucky it's not rugby! Anyway, peace and quiet means I can work on stuff for school and, even better, on my novel!