The House(s) of Fran_mart

Looking down at the Karbeethong Jetty this morning, just about 7am I was reminded that there was a fishing competition on this weekend.  I had expected it to be a powerboat event but it was actually run by Hobie Kayaks.  They headed off in 2 bunches, with one lot heading up the Narrows and the others across Bottom Lake.  Here is a close up of the Narrows fleet.  It was also a Marshmead visiting weekend.  This is a campus of Methodist  Ladies  College - anexpensive private school in Melbourne - located on the remote side of the Inlet.  On one weekend per term the parents get to visit.  We had been told it was easy to work out when this is on, as the quality of clothes worn around the streets rises dramatically.  That wasn't very apparent in town this morning! What was apparent was that all the parents were wearing life jackets on the boats coming back across the Inlet.  It was a bit choppy: my weather station recorded gusts ...

When we lived in Tanzania and went game viewing Frances scolded me for saying "Just another Impala" and reminded me how excited we'd been to watch one give birth.  Also in Tanzania the safari guides were reputed to call the exquisite Lilac Breasted Roller .... ...  "Just ABR" for Just Another Bloody Roller.  On this trip it has become "Just another Bassian Thrush"  We have seen at least 2 more today in new locations, so the incursion covers at least Karbeethong to past Betka Beach. When/if eBird comes back to life it will be interesting to see where recent sightings have been made.  There is a cluster around Cape Conran (West of Mallacoota) of which a couple are personal hotspots, suggesting a new bird has been seen there. There has been no response yet to an enquiry to birding-aus. The morning walk delivered another Bassian Thrush close to one of the sites from earlier in the trip, but otherwise it was quiet.  Our mid-morning walk was to the be...

My friend Carolyne has just posted on Facebook about reacquainting herself, by chance with a friend from many years ago.  That led me to think about some serendipitous meetings I have had.  Or in one case, nearly had.  Its a bit long for an FB post so I thought I'd dump it here. Frances and I did a tour of SE Asia in about 1975, flying out of Perth.  On the return leg I went to the newspaper shop in Perth Airport to buy something to read on the final leg back to Adelaide.  As I came out I bumped into Russell, a friend from Canberra who was doing a campervan trip around Australia! Go forward to about 1989.  We were visiting friends in New York and one afternoon we walked down 42nd St, from the Public Library.  We were on the side opposite Grand Central.  On return to Australia, a little later I was talking with a friend from Perth who mentioned a trip he'd taken to New York to organise a lacrosse World Championship in Perth.  We managed to...

In the days of my youth I played Coarse Rugby in England.  A consequence of this was that I was occasionally forced to visit establishments which engaged in commerce, with particular reference to beer. As one of my team-mates (actually the vicar's son) said "You don't buy beer, you just rent it."  When visiting the return location (which in the case of a Watney House was possibly directly plumbed to the spigots) one was often regaled with witty ditties, many of which have been collected by the English broadcaster Nigel Rees .  One that has stuck in my mind was "A poets ambition must be small, to write his verse on an outhouse wall"  (or words to that effect). That reminiscence has been generated by a visit to the Glossodia site on our block today.  After looking at about 50 leaves I finally got my reward.  Two of the leaves in one area were accompanied by buds! To rephrase the admonitory doggerel above: A botanists life must be blighted If s...

The plan for today was to pack and head for home, with a brief look at Gypsy Point Cemetery on the way.  (We were to come via Eden so as to pick up goodies at the Smokehouse.) Our efforts at the house were watched by a White-headed Pigeon - which is just getting rid of its greyish juvenile plumage.  As it was somewhat cloudy and windy I wondered if the sun orchids (if any) at the Cemetery would be open, despite the temperature being well over 20 o C.  Were they ever: I have never seen so many Thelymitra sp .  In this image I have put a pink ring around T. carnea and a blue on a couple of T. ixioides . I would say there several hundred of both those species in the cemetery.  It is very pleasing that the mowers restrict themselves to the area occupied by graves (perhaps  ~5% of the area of the cemetery). A close up of one of the larger T. carnea .  OOps, no.  I am advised that the reason it is larger is because it is a hybrid between T. ca...