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Some purchases, memories and baby birdies
Since I get more than enough time off and Husband had to work today I went into the office for a few hours this morning. Parked behind Parliament House and walked down to the Terrace. Wore the MBTs again (the more hours the merrier) and discovered that the inverse-heel makes walking down hill a bit easier.
My fears about the corollary for walking up a steep hill were well founded. My calves are well on their way to the Special Cow Olympics.
Purchases
Attempt #6 to locate and purchase Lemon Cheesecake Chocolate was successful. The prisoner has been sent to the cooler for later interrogation. Perhaps unfortunately my search led me to also discover the location of a local Cheesecake Shop and a Jesters Pie Shop. The newly discovered Thai takeaway might be worth a try.
While at this relatively nearby shopping centre I discovered that just about everything was open on today's public holiday (and therefore Sundays) - supermarket, bakery, butcher, chemist, newsagent, post office, clothing etc etc. I remember finding it during the early explorations of the suburb when we arrived but had more or less forgotten about it, but last week was our 4th anniversary of moving, so time gets to us all.
With every intent to pass by the aforementioned surprisingly open newsagent I somehow bought a copy of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I recall the film was directed at a stately pace (i.e. Husband fell asleep), but I'd always thought the lovingly photographed food and costumes must be beautifully described in text.
See, it's not all spaceships and guns and occasional experiments with paladins and cosmic awareness. Sometimes I read proppa litratcha.
Memories
It's also the 4th anniversary of the date I scraped my car along the corner of a brick wall attempting a 90 degree turn to escape the yard of a bad-vibes (and incredible stench) cattery. I'd noticed the nasty arrangement when we first made the booking (a brick and concrete labyrinth all angled across a steeply sloping block and overgrown with roses on two sides) but was determined to not be a wuss. So what if the rainbow nature of the wall suggested many others had failed this particular manoevre before me. So what if the gods of geometry told me No Way (and extra goats won't help you either). Be a Man! I said. UGG!
So I was a man. I chose a stupid time to fight my instincts. Scrape went the car. The scratches have been covered up with layers of nail polish over the years, but not since I ran out, er maybe a year ago. Or more. I did get a quote to fix it properly, at $1200 from memory. Or $250 for a dodgy patch-it-over-just-before-selling-it job.
Birdies
After spending the morning in the office I visited the folks suspiciously in time for lunch, but spent most of the visit observing two baby doves nesting in a sheltered spot on one of the porch pillars. One is 8 days old and the other is 6, and they were *huge*. We sat and watched them preen and stretch their wings and be fed by Dad-bird (a less charming spectacle than the wing-stretching). We also saw Dad-bird get attacked by a honeyeater who has claimed a nearby bottlebrush. Mum-bird had been attacked yesterday and sported some ruffled feathers.
Mum(-human) and Dad(-human) have been watching this family since nest building. Easily done since the nest can be comfortably observed from the dining room table or the kitchen window. The babies were left alone on Saturday night for the first time and Mum(-human) was worried that Mum-bird had been killed and couldn't sleep, but watching the parents today perching a few metres from the nest we think it could have been the beginning of weaning.
Fascinating.
My fears about the corollary for walking up a steep hill were well founded. My calves are well on their way to the Special Cow Olympics.
Purchases
Attempt #6 to locate and purchase Lemon Cheesecake Chocolate was successful. The prisoner has been sent to the cooler for later interrogation. Perhaps unfortunately my search led me to also discover the location of a local Cheesecake Shop and a Jesters Pie Shop. The newly discovered Thai takeaway might be worth a try.
While at this relatively nearby shopping centre I discovered that just about everything was open on today's public holiday (and therefore Sundays) - supermarket, bakery, butcher, chemist, newsagent, post office, clothing etc etc. I remember finding it during the early explorations of the suburb when we arrived but had more or less forgotten about it, but last week was our 4th anniversary of moving, so time gets to us all.
With every intent to pass by the aforementioned surprisingly open newsagent I somehow bought a copy of The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. I recall the film was directed at a stately pace (i.e. Husband fell asleep), but I'd always thought the lovingly photographed food and costumes must be beautifully described in text.
See, it's not all spaceships and guns and occasional experiments with paladins and cosmic awareness. Sometimes I read proppa litratcha.
Memories
It's also the 4th anniversary of the date I scraped my car along the corner of a brick wall attempting a 90 degree turn to escape the yard of a bad-vibes (and incredible stench) cattery. I'd noticed the nasty arrangement when we first made the booking (a brick and concrete labyrinth all angled across a steeply sloping block and overgrown with roses on two sides) but was determined to not be a wuss. So what if the rainbow nature of the wall suggested many others had failed this particular manoevre before me. So what if the gods of geometry told me No Way (and extra goats won't help you either). Be a Man! I said. UGG!
So I was a man. I chose a stupid time to fight my instincts. Scrape went the car. The scratches have been covered up with layers of nail polish over the years, but not since I ran out, er maybe a year ago. Or more. I did get a quote to fix it properly, at $1200 from memory. Or $250 for a dodgy patch-it-over-just-before-selling-it job.
Birdies
After spending the morning in the office I visited the folks suspiciously in time for lunch, but spent most of the visit observing two baby doves nesting in a sheltered spot on one of the porch pillars. One is 8 days old and the other is 6, and they were *huge*. We sat and watched them preen and stretch their wings and be fed by Dad-bird (a less charming spectacle than the wing-stretching). We also saw Dad-bird get attacked by a honeyeater who has claimed a nearby bottlebrush. Mum-bird had been attacked yesterday and sported some ruffled feathers.
Mum(-human) and Dad(-human) have been watching this family since nest building. Easily done since the nest can be comfortably observed from the dining room table or the kitchen window. The babies were left alone on Saturday night for the first time and Mum(-human) was worried that Mum-bird had been killed and couldn't sleep, but watching the parents today perching a few metres from the nest we think it could have been the beginning of weaning.
Fascinating.