Mountain Beauty

Went bush on the weekend, well stayed in comfortable accommodation in town and travelled by car out to the bush. I love the mountains, I especially love the bush and the ruddy great rocks they have up there. My teens think me crazy, I hug trees and I caress interesting rocks. Big granite buggers, huge, hippopotamic and I have to touch them all. Didn't see any interesting mammals or birds because the two girls, my Dynamic Daughter and her school friend were talking and laughing the whole time. We didn't lose them, no chance. But the air was crisp and the clean and we had fun.

Bromeliads

These grow wild on our frangipani tree and, with all the rain we have had, are just beautiful. They are the kind of plant I like, no maintenance. Apparently the frogs like to live in the well of water in the centre of them.

The frangipani tree has not flowered that well this year, I think there has been too much rain. The leaf production has been healthy though.

Twitter? Maybe

I thought about my miraculous following on Twitter and decided on a little experiment. My cat and my greyhound now have a Twitter account and they have tweets. They are following about seven other Twitter accounts each and follow each other's Tweets. I am not sure of the terminology with regards to Twitter, I am relatively new to it after all.

Maybe it will teach me to condense my waffle because you are only allowed so many characters per Tweet. Maybe it won't because really, how much can a dog and cat actually say. Especially such lumps of unmoving animal flesh as these two. How long the novelty will last one can only guess. Have a look at Stripey Bum's Tweet or perhaps Brindle Ribs' is more to your liking. Neither will be very exciting I assure you.

http://twitter.com/StripeyBum

http://twitter.com/BrindleRibs

Twitter? Twit!

About 18 months ago I opened up a Twitter account just to try it out, see what the fuss was about. I entered one very boring tweet and I followed the tweets of Stephen Fry and a couple of others but decided it bored me. I didn't touch it again.

Just this week I received an email telling me I have a new follower. Follower? Of what? I went into my Twitter account to see what was happening. Holy crap I have THREE followers. THREE! What the hell are they following for God's sake? I have one, very old tweet that mentions me collecting the kids' from work. So what? In my worst Irish accent: "It is very peculiar indeed."

I still having nothing to say in Twitter. I am sure it is good for those interested but I will stick to my blog I think.

Be Water Wise...or Else!

For half a day we had the eight legged water inspector checking on our water usage, cleanliness and courage.

These huntsman spiders are our regular house guests. I remember when the children were small they were frightened of them, they can get quite large. So, to combat the fear I would name them. "Oh that one is Wally" I would say. It somehow made it not so scary but not being very consistent I slipped up one day and renamed a larger one "Wally" and was greeted with astonishment: "Wow, he grew really fast didn't he?" Oops.

Sunset at the Corrugated Magpie

Yesterday while not suffering silently from my first day of hay fever I was heard to ask jokingly "Does anyone else want to cook dinner?" Seeing as how it was the teens, the animals and myself I did not honestly expect an affirmative answer. However, the gorgeous, marvellous and oh so in the will Dynamic Daughter offered to do just that. The meal was carbonara and salad. She may have forgotten the garlic, snow peas and mushrooms and the carrots tasted suspiciously like they had not been peeled but it was a great meal. Anyhoo, while she was cooking the meal I went and photographed the sunset, fooling with different settings to change the colour dominance. Pretty darn pleased with the results I can tell you!

Rag Weed = Hay Fever. *%#$@ it!

Autumn is such a lovely time of year, when you have the urge to get out into the fresh breeze, sort out the garden in time for winter, enjoy the milder weather. But unfortunately it is the worse time for me and many, many others for the dreaded hay fever. Every year around now it hits you like a Mack truck. Out come the antihistamines, nasal sprays and the complaints. Fatigue is two-fold, irritability kicks in, you feel like you are getting the flu at first. Eventually the meds kick in thoroughly, after about two l-o-n-g weeks and it is under control. It is going to be a bad season this year, the excessive rainfall we've had has aided all manner of weeds. Fortunately I have inadvertently discovered a little secret that helps.

I started taking 3g of fish oil capsules daily about 18 months ago and it turns out that because of their anti-inflammatory properties they are a major asset when it comes to irritation of the eyes and nose. WAHOO! By no means does it cure you but it makes a significant difference to your suffering. I have upped the dose (allowable by the label instructions) for the beginning of the hay fever and will reduce it once it is under control. Magic. Share this with anyone you know who is a sufferer please.