Another shiny Sunday

A bit of rain, a bit of sun.

Last night's goulash turned out ok - I forgot to take the recipe with me when I went shopping and had to buy the ingredients from memory (not always a good idea).  Forgot the carroway seeds.  Still, it tasted rather nice.  And Rob made a very yummy dessert with berries, exclusive ice cream and a choc baskety thingie.

Interesting night's viewing:  Black Books 3.1 (Manny Come Home, starring the wonderful Simon Pegg); Space:1999 (in which the disposable guest star of the week - Joan Collins - wasn't disposed of.  The ep was about a kind of ark in space carrying the DNA of a dying civilisation; the leader of the people who were being harvested for bits to allow the upper echelons to survive was played by the chap who was the captain of the Golgafrinchon Ark Fleet Ship B.  I commented that the episode was called When Telephone Sanitisers Go Bad); ep 1 of the second series of Randall and Hopkirk (Whatever Possessed You?, a nicely creepy, funny story.  BTW, L and R - the hotelier was played by Nichola McAuliffe); the Goodies' Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms, which Rob had never seen and during we all laughed a lot, despite L and I having seen it more than once; and the Russian fantasy Through Fire, Water and Brass Pipes.

Today was spent visiting the chemist to get a prescription filled (forgot it
yesterday), driving to Stock Road markets for fruit and veg and a book from The
Last Hurrah (H.G. Wells' Tono-Bungay).

Wheeeekend.

I know I say this (nearly) every weekend, but, by the gods!, the weeks are spinning past.  It's another weekend.

Ushered and tore up tickets at Hedda last night.  Hello Grant!  I know I'm biased, being the secretary of GRADS and all, but it's a really, really good production.  Very funny in parts and not at all grim.  And the set looked lovely.  Seems I really am replaceable.  *sniff*

No shiny thing purchases today, just grocery shopping.

More nicely wet weather.

It's been sprinkling on and off for most of the day; a heavy downpour was loosed just as I left work.  Fortunately my car is parked right next door to the building so I didn't get wet at all.  Was dampened a little when I checked the mailbox when I got home.

Off to Hedda tonight - I'm ushering (ie telling people where to go, to shut up and to turn their bloody phones off) tonight and again next Friday.  Feels odd just turning up and not actually having to do anything else.  The last time this happened was with Noises Off - I organised front of house that time and turned up to every performance bar one, and laughed like a drain every night.

Had some very tasty tomato soup for lunch at the Cafe and then walked back via
the elephants and White-cheeked gibbons.  Jermei, the youngster who was
hand-raised before being introduced back to her parents, came up to us to see
what treats we had.  Director Helen just had a shell which Jermei was quite
interested in until she realised she couldn't eat it.  Both gibbon youngsters
are girls and are black with white cheeks, like their Dad.  They won't go the
golden colour of their mother until they reach puberty.  Not sure why evolution
took this particular turn - I guess there must be some environmental advantage
for all youngsters to look like males.

Wall mounted keyboard - this must be the future!

Nicely wet weather.

Windy too. I didn't get to go to lunch with Kim as that was when the storm was forecast to hit (not so much a storm, more a heavy shower of rain); I did pick up a parcel from the PO (goodies ordered from the nice Dusk candle people).

Dinner last night was had with TUS at d'Tandoor Indian restaurant. We ordered the banquet, and I ordered a side of onion baghi, which consisted of starters, three meat and 1 vegetable curry (ok, butter chicken isn't a curry but it's nicely spicy), two types of rice and three types of naan bread, followed by dessert. Very tasty and worth a second visit for the butter chicken alone.

Leece, Mark and I had to make a brisk walk back to the car park at 8.15, between the mains and the dessert, as none of us had put enough money in the parking meter.

I got to the restaurant early, as usual, and took a walk down a part of Oxford St I'd never visited. Discovered a paper shop - the type of shop that sells really, really nice paper and card and all sorts of good things. Ended up buying a pearl card, matching envelope, green and white vellum and matching green Japanese handmade paper. Gorgeous. Dunno what I'll make with it.

First line meme - results

Well, not an overwhelming response - was it too hard??

1. For some reason I recall it as just me and Bunce. - Stephen Fry, Moab is My Washpot.
2. I was going to stick it out and do it cold this time. - Graham Chapman, Liar's Autobiography.
3. This is my lounge. - Joe Orton, Entertaining Mr Sloan.
4. I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. - Dodi Smith, I Capture the Castle.
5. Who is there who has not felt a sudden startle pang at reliving an
old experience, or feeling an old emotion? - Agatha Christie, Poirot's
Last Case.
6. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion
whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said,
great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia. - Wm. Shakespeare, A Winter's Tale.
7. Heads.
R and G Are Dead - Mr G.W. Of course!
8. I am dead, then. - Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love.
9. Sir, the gentlemen will be angry is you sit there. - John Martson, The Malcontent.
10. Boatswain! - Wm. Shakespeare, The Tempest.


So there you go.

Wet! Lots of wet.

Had a lovely lot of rain today.  Of course, it fell at lunch time while we were out in the grounds but we didn't really mind.  We were watching a crane trying to manouver a large tree past the orangs, up the hill and into the new Sun bear enclosure when it started to pour.

Had a training session this morning, then lunch at the cafe, followed by a stroll through the Savannah to see what the baboon boys were up to.  Both were being groomed and picked over by the females.  Taye was lying flat on his back, arms above his head, legs akimbo, thoroughly enjoying the attention.

How things work - map of the Cat Brain.

Not as woolly as predicted.

Mutterings continued.

BOM issued a weather warning for Perth and surrounds - possible thunderstorms, high winds, etc. The day didn't turn out to be too bad, though the gum tree outside my flat did shed a rather large limb during the day.

However did we live without....tattoo sleeves?!

The children, Gus and Milo, found a large bug in bedroom last night. It was last seen hightailing it under the book case, followed closely by Milo. I have no idea where it is now. And neither, I suspect, does Milo.

You Are Spider-Man

Quick and agile, you have killer instincts (literally). And that kind of makes up for the whole creepy spider thing.

What Superhero Are You?

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

SpiderBert! (not sure about the neat freak bit!)

Shiny Sunday

Mutterings continued.

Another great weekend over.

L and R for dins last night. We had some great viewing - ep 1 from series 2 of Battlestar Galactica, Round the Twist, Kolchak and MST3K's City Limits ("Shouldn't we be carefully placing these comic books in plastic bags?" "No, we have lives." -Crow/Tom Servo.) (Lee: "Hey I'm not really a skull, lady" Kim Catrall: "I'm not really an actress.").

Today has been spent doing a couple of loads of washing, visiting Bunnings for more potting mix and a pot of apple mint, washing Manfred, having lunch at Britannia (roast beef and Yorkshire pud) and potting out some geraniums and mint. And watching the very funny, very silly Asterix and Obelix: Operation Cleopatra. It had the requisite number of amusing names (one of which was that of a spy, someone who could get in anywhere - Pinnumba). Lots of movie in-jokes - Star Wars, Asian chop socky, etc.

More Travelling with Poss (aka Places I Have Been):



Place 1 - easy.



Place 2 - also easy.



Place 3 - not at all easy.

Bugger! (Spoilers, of a sort, ahoy!)

Mutterings continued.

Just back from Parrots 2. Loved it! Just loved it! Wasn't too long - was a lot of fun.

Will Turner: What vexes all men?
Tia Dalma: What, indeed.
Gibbs: The sea...?
Pintel: Sums...?
Ragetti: The dichotomy of good and evil...?
Jack Sparrow: A woman!

I especially enjoyed the intellectual intercourse between Pintel and Ragetti as to the pronounciation of Kraken. Oh, and I guessed the easter egg.

No shiny thing shopping today, just provisions for tonight - I'm providing sweeeets.

We had a nice drop of rain yesterday, though not nearly enough. This morning was damned cold - 0.3 when I got up!

Travelling with Poss.

Guess where these places are (click on the pic for a better look):

Site 1


Site 2 (easy)



Site 3

Litany of woes

Mutterings continued.

Woke up this morning hurting in every limb. And I'd been sleeping with my right hand under my head and my fingers had gone dead. Felt too ill to go to work and rang the doctor's at 8.15 for an appointment, only to be told there was nothing until 10.15 tomorrow. Julie, the receptionist, did offer to put me on the waiting list but there were two people ahead of me. Couple of hours later she rang back to say they could get me in at 12.15.

On the downside - I have to double my asthma medication (taking it at night as well as in the morning, as well as using my puffer every couple of hours); I have an ulcer on my gum and the resulting referred pain radiates down my neck; and the twitches I've developed in my right eyebrow and left eye are perfectly normal and I just have put up with them. On the upside? My blood pressure is down to 130/80. Hurrah for drugs!

TUS and I had dinner at Anna Vietnamese last night. I had the fresh spring rolls (sooo nice), lemon chicken, veggies and fried ice cream. And a beer. And with L and R's entertainment book voucher, it came to $20 each. Bargain! Leece and Maureen ordered Cinnamon Chicken, which looked and smelled wonderful, and took up most of the plate. Def. one for next time.

We're finally off to see Parrots of the Carob Bean Tooth at Glod Class. The only suitable booking was this Saturday at midday. The other sessions had seats - unfortunately they were one behind the other.

Chilly

Mutterings continued.

Yet another shiny day. *sigh*

My little printer is working overtime, printing out labels, tickets and invites to Hedda. Tonight will be spent envelope stuffing. Poor me had to call into Office Works on the way home to get some paper, labels and envelopes. What a hardship. Not.

Claudia Christian alert. Stumbled on the very funny Broken News on SBS last night and there was CC as one of the news readers.

First Lines Meme*

Mutterings continued.

*thank you George Tessman.

1. For some reason I recall it as just me and Bunce.

2. I was going to stick it out and do it cold this time.

3. This is my lounge.

4. I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.

5. Who is there who has not felt a sudden startle pang at reliving an old experience, or feeling an old emotion?

6. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

7. Heads.

8. I am dead, then.

9. Sir, the gentlemen will be angry is you sit there.

10. Boatswain!

Most of these are from plays, of course.

Another weekend bites the dust

And enjoyable it was too.

L and R came for dinner last night - Leece caught a flounder! Rob performed surgery and removed all the yucky bits and then baked it in foil with lemon, garlic, bay and pepper. Mmmm... nice fleshy fish. My lamb hotpot turned out ok but wasn't as tender as it could have been. I suspect the lamb had been chased around the paddock a time or two before it was caught.

The night's veiwing consisted of a very funny/intense Stargate:Atlantis called The Hive (Sheppard: How many of those (knives) have you got?
Ronon: How many do you need?); Space:1999 (with Leo McKern as the expendable guest star of the week) and Mystie's The Giant (or at least rather large) Gila Monster ("Bad movie? You're soaking in it").

Speaking of things televisual, Fox Classics is showing one of my favourites from the 80s - Wiseguy. The stories weren't dealt with episodically (busting the crim of the week) but had arcs. My favourite concerned Vinnie infiltrating Dead Dog Records and starred Paul Winfield, Glenn (The Eagles) Frey, Mick (yes, that Mick) Fleetwood and Tim Curry. The final scene of the final episode of the arc is priceless.

Another favourite from the 80's was, believe it or not, 21 Jump Street. I'm hoping that will also get a repeat - I know the DVDs are available but I'm not that big a fan.

Today was spent driving from Bunnings to Waldeck Nurserys to Bunnings looking for a planter for my geraniums. And then I had dinner with the family (what's left of it). It was my sis in law's birthday during the week so I took her pressies.

So, where's the rain then?

Mutterings continued.

Yesterday there was quite a front heading this way and the sky turned black but nothing seems to have come of it. That I saw, anyway.

An eventful Saturday - boring grocery shopping, no shiny things purchased. Went to the craft sale at the South Perth civic centre - LOTS of shiny things purchased. Picked up a couple of great pressies for my sister-in-law, who I am seeing tomorrow, and some really nice scrapbooking packs.

Big badda boom! I've got The Fifth Element on in the background. Great film - love watching Gary Oldman chewing the scenery.

L and R for dins tonight. I've got the fixings for lamb stockpot.


Where I work, from 1800 feet. Green, innit?

A chill Thursday

Mutterings continued.

It's Bulwer-Lytton time again. This from The Guardian:

"Detective Bart Lasiter was in his office studying the light from his one small window falling on his super burrito when the door swung open to reveal a woman whose body said you've had your last burrito for a while, whose face said angels did exist, and whose eyes said she could make you dig your own grave and lick the shovel clean."

Eager to read more of this award-winning writing? Sadly, you're out of luck. Detective Bart Lasiter and his super burrito live to lick shovels only in those 60-odd words. Or should that be 60 odd words? For the lascivious Lasiter is the star of the winning sentence of this year's Bulwer-Lytton literary prize, the contest that challenges entrants to submit their worst opening sentence of an imaginary novel. "

Most of today was spent in a collection planning meeting. We got nice sammiches for lunch. I doubled up on the camembert , relish and lettuce.

Last night's dins was superb. TUS met at Cafe Villa in Leederville. I had the lamb hotpot with rustic vegetables (ooh arr, ooh arr) and a rather tasty mashed spud (I think there was cheese and herbs innit), followed by rocky road sundae and decaff coffee. Mmmmmm..... I have had instructions to prepare something similar for mains on a Saturday night (the hotpot bit, not the sundae).

For any West Oz readers: "The Great Outdoors segment filmed at the Zoo a few weeks ago is due to go to air on Monday 17 July. The program screens on channel 7 at 7.30pm. The Perth Zoo story features our Close Encounters program with keepers Rob Herkes and Kylie Bullo." Rob does rhino, giraffe etc and Kylie does orangs.

'arry's gorn.

Mutterings continued.

Last saw 'im on Friday as he lurked next to the Director of Animal Health Services and Research's door. This week, not a sighting. I hope 'e's ok.

There has been some debate on Leece's blog as to whether the day time temps we've been having could be considered cold. No, when you're inside out of the wind; yes, when you're outside, sitting in it.

Caroline and I went to the lunch bar in Angelo St for a sammich today. The only free table was near the doorway and a breeze kept coming in and freezing our ankles. A table further inside became vacant so we moved to that; this made things difficult for the poor waitperson who had clocked where we were sitting when Caroline put our order in and then couldn't find us. She walked over to a group of blokes who had taken our discarded table with our coffees and looked most non-plussed that a. we'd changed gender, and b. had multiplied by 1.5 persons.

Milo and Gus have both gone loony. Milo is making stupid noises and racing around the place and Gus joined him for a while. She's now quietened down and is in the kitchen, staring at the food bowls that I've just filled with fresh stuff from a new tin. I think she forgets that she's eaten.

All the Perths:

This one's mine.


And this is Perth, New York.



And this is Perth, Scotland.


And this is Perth, North Dakota. Pretty patchwork countryside but no actual town, by the look of it.

Sad fan girl alert - popped into the newsagent's next to the sammich bar at lunch time and bought volume 2 of the Midsomer Murders magazine and DVD series. At $19.95, it's an expensive way to the gets the discs, however I only intend to purchase this one. It's Written in Blood and stars David Troughton as a very sleazy drama teacher, complete with horrid comb-over.

Blog take 2.

Mutterings continued.

Yesterday I started writing a very interesting blog, full of exciting links and colours. Then my fucking computer closed down and I lost the lot. Grrrr...

So, here goes.

Saturday. Did the usual shopping, no shiny thing purchases. Rob cooked a wonderful rice dish for dins and I spent hours (ahem) preparing apple strudel and fig crumble with cappuccino ice cream. The night's viewing consisted of Space:1999 (in which somebody put too much bubble bath in the spa and Moonbase Alpha was swallowed by foam); several episodes and extras from Creature Comforts 7-13; a great Kolchak (in which several people were attacked by a bonobo. Ok, it wasn't a bonobo, it just looked like one, and as eny fule kno bonobos are peace-loving and have trendy parts in their hair); and finished it off with a shocker of a slash-job of the rather good Marooned called Space Travelers. Giving it the MST3K treatment improved it. A bit.

Sunday. Poss the Rainperson caused the skies to cloud over and rain to fall from the heavens. Yes, I washed my car. $6 and soggy trouser bottoms are a small price to pay. It was 14.8c today, which is a cold day for Perth; tomorrow, much the same.

I called into the Britannia for a late breakfast/lunch but it was too crowded, so I bought the fixings and cooked myself a decent fry up. Not healthy, I know, but I like to think that the goodness of the baked beans and mushrooms outweighed the naughtiness of the bacon.

And I visited Bunnings to buy some more strawberry plants (Milo destroyed the last lot) and some Chocolate Mint and some Pineapple Sage, both of which smell as wonderful as they sound.

A pleasant surprise from my credit union - I've been paid a dividend of $216! It's gone into my travel account.

Another weekend.

Mutterings continued.

Sunny day, rather pleasant.

It was a day for parcels - on Wednesday I received a notice from the PO that a parcel was waiting for me. I then forgot about it until this morning when I finally picked it up. It was Vol. 8 of the B5 scripts. And in the letterbox when I got home was anothe parcel from Cafe Press; the lovely black P for Pegasus t shirt has arrived. It matched the P for Pegasus mug I bought.

A propos of nothing, my place as seen by Google Earth.

The further adventures of 'arry.

Mutterings continued.

I was getting a little worried this morning as I couldn't find 'arry. I was concerned that 'e'd fallen off the wall and got sucked up by the cleaners. 'e turned up again, above the door of the office next to mine. 'e was sitting with his arms folded until I started taking photos of him - 'e backed up, reared and made 'imself look big.

The reason I'm rabbiting on about 'arry is that I'm a card-carrying arachnophobe. Living with 'arry 'ere has desensitised me somewhat and I find I'm not at all freaked. Which is a good thing, given the number of bloody great spiders in this country. Not sure I could get as close to real 'orrible 'airy spiders of the bird-eating kind, but...



'arry, relaxing. 'arry, fed with being photographed.

A nice day: got complimented on how tidy the library and my office were looking (that was before I dragged everything off most of the shelves and scattered it over the floor. At lunch I had got to that stage when you either keep going with tidying things up or shove it all back on the shelves and walk away. I chose the former option and by knock-off the library was looking good) and had lunch with Kim (sweet and sour fish with rice for me).

Tuesday/Wednesday

Mutterings continued.

Rather pretty couple of days - bit of drizzle yesterday morning but today was mildish and sunnyish.

'arry, 'iding.



'e wasn't looking too good today; he was on the door surround with 'is legs all tucked up and 'is front arms folded. Well, that's what it looked like. I would have taken a photo, but my phone was at home on the charger. Again.

Went to the GRADS committee meeting last night. Silly me thought I'd finished the newsletter, until I gave it to the rest of the committee to look at. "Why don't you move this to the back..." "And put this on the front..." "And change the font..." Actually, twere a good thing the others had a look at it, as I'd completely forgotten to advertise the forthcoming production of Hedda, which goes up on the 26th of this month. Ahem.

So tonight I am redoing the thing instead of meeting TUS for grub.

I forgot to tape Time Team last night. I knew there was something on at 8pm I wanted to watch (a very funny and all too true Grumpy Old Women. One day, I too will get a megaphone and roam the streets and byways telling people off. I already glare at people talking on their mobiles while driving.) and I got home in time for that, however there was something on earlier... I thought it was Rosemary and Thyme, which I didn't mind missing. Turns out it was Baldr....I mean Tony Robinson. Next week's is in Fife, Scotland

From Nature Journal: "Every day, all over the planet and beyond it, scientists try and make sense of the world in which they live. In this special feature news@nature.com brings you a composite picture of just one of these days -- June 21 2006, the summer solstice."

More Slab Bulkhead hysteria.

'arry's Back!

Mutterings continued.

Not The 'arry, the 'orrible 'airy spider, but A 'arry the 'orrible 'airy spider. I noticed him on the ceiling near my office this morning. By afternoon he had worked his way down the wall and was resting on the metal surround of the door leading to the air conditioning plant.



Three views of 'arry - they were taken with my mobile phone, the last two using the 'zoom' function. 'arry is about 4" across; I have no idea what that is in new money, but it means he's not an adult. He has very skinny legs.

It's been raining, which is nice.

Curse of the wrinkle finger

Mutterings continued.

Yesterday, while preparing dinner, I managed to saw my left middle finger with a serrated knife. It bled, so I put a band aid around it; noticed that the blood was coming through the band-aid so I put another one around that. I must have put them on a tad too tight as I just taken them off and my finger is all white and wrinkled. Looks like I managed to serrate my fingernail as well. Ouch.

Good night last night: my mushroom and spinach curry, sans blood, worked out very nicely (home made curry powder of chilli, cumin, coriander, garlic power, tumeric, ground ginger, salt and pepper). Served it with wild rice and pappadams done the traditional Indian way - in the microwave. And Rob prepared his apricot locum-doctor-on-standby pudding with custard.

The evening's entertainment featured the first episode of Round the Twist, a great Oz 'kids' show from the 80s; an interesting Kolchak vs. the Men in Navy; and a very funny Mystie (Phantom Planet, in which philosophising astronauts ("You know, Captain, every year of my life I grow more and more convinced that the wisest and best is to fix our attention on the good and the beautiful." -Ray. et al. ) in spaceships shaped like tampon applicators are attacked by Chicken McNuggets and Sugar Frosties. "Today, the moon narrowly missed hitting a man's eye like a big pizza pie." "Scientists believe 'that's amore'." -Crow/Tom Servo.).

And speaking of MST3K: "VOLUME 10 OFFICIAL INFO! We now have definitive word about The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume 10! Gonna be a good one!

Episodes are:

• 212- GODZILLA VS. MEGALON
• 503- SWAMP DIAMONDS (plus short: WHAT TO DO ON A DATE)
• 514- TEEN-AGE STRANGLER (plus short: IS THIS LOVE?)
• 810- THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION

The collection also includes these extras:

• "MST3K Video Jukebox" (15 songs from the series)
• "Photo Gallery"
• "Outtakes" (we're told this actually means about 15 minutes of the best moments from "Poopie 2") " From Satellite News.

Today has been spent hanging out washing, taking some props to Hedda rehearsals (hello Grant W! I didn't get a chance to say 'hello' in person as he was in the middle of a scene); visiting the Stock Road markets to purchase vegies (more mushrooms and spinach as I want the make the curry again to take to work for lunch) and books (I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, a book I discovered in my teens; and Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman by EW Hornung). And then I had lunch at Brittania - roast lamb and vegies, bread and butter pudding and a large pot of tea.

A Busy Saturday

Mutterings continued.

Boring grocery shopping followed by shiny thing shopping. Sort of shiny - it's a silver and blue vacuum cleaner. I paid a bit more than I intended but it has a power head thingie and has really made a difference to the carpets.

L and R for dins tonight. It's my turn to cook and I'm making mushroom and spinach curry with wild rice and pappadams.

After lunch at the cafe yesterday, we took a quick walk through the Savannah to see what the baboon boys were up to. There's a flame tree in the exhibit with a metal collar, designed to stop baboons getting into it and stripping the leaves. The baboon boys find this metal collar no barrier at all - stand on a dead tree laying down in front of the live tree, bounce up and down on the branches until to you get enough height, and then hurl yourself at the lower branches. Taye, the older, got there first followed by Chad. And Chad got back down by climbing down Taye's body and swinging on his tail.