First and most important, it is the love of my life’s birthday.
Deb isn’t quite my childhood sweetheart, but to be honest we weren’t much more than children when we met.
For more than twenty five years we have shared everything, from deepest joy to personal tragedy. Together we have grown into the people we are today, walking side by side and holding each other’s hand as we went.
It never ceases to amaze me how much you have sustained me, with inspiration, with far more patience than I deserve, and most of all with love.
Happy Birthday Deb! Happy Birthday my Love!
Second, by pure chance this happens to be my hundredth blog post.
Yay I’m 100!
Third, just this Friday past I
commented on Jaks’ blog Lassy in Lancashire “…Mind you the only times I have had really good looks at koalas in the bush I didn't have a camera at all.”
Just yesterday I was in the bush down on Cape Otway and I was able to rectify the situation.
Koalas live in trees, usually in the tops of tall trees. So they are hard to see.
Add to this the main thing they do is sleep. Hence, most Aussies have never seen a koala in the bush. If they have it is usually a view like this. This sleeping ball, high in a Eucalyptus tree, is a koala.
I have been lucky to get some really close views of the little beasties, but alas never with a camera in tow.
Yesterday I took the above photo of a ball impersonating koala and was reasonably content.
Then I got this guy, as a ball impersonator he/she is not great.
I could see a cute leathery nose and one furry ear. This was easily the best piccie of a koala I had ever taken.
Contentment level increases.
Then on a branch so low I could almost reach.
My all time record best koala piccie is blown away already! Contentment level threatens the integrity of my contentment meter!
Excitement plus! This patch of bush almost had more koalas than leaves!
Less than a minute later I spot this fellow and he (I know he is a he because of the brown stain from a scent marking gland on his chest) is not only awake but moving! A rare treat in koala observation!
He climbed out along this fairly spindly branch before deciding better of it and reversing back down.
Finally he settled in this elbow and began munching on some fresh green leaves.
Anyone know where I can get a new contentment meter?
and not so modern trams.
Melbourne is a mix of old buildings and new.
In any area you can see a palimpsest of old and new.
The old is valued for its own sake and there are strict heritage laws to protect buildings of cultural or historical value.
Of course sometimes this can cause problems for developers. For example this old factory (a shot tower) was where a developer wanted to build a new shopping centre.
But then again, with a little creativity you build around the old (without harming it) and end up with something interesting.
