Charlie's WorldBrrrr, its a bit chilly
Posted on December 19, 2010
Yes, it’s cold, I might even have to put some jeans on.
All of you in the Northern Hemisphere, up to your necks in white global warming, are probably thinking:
“Ha, yeah right, you’re in Perth, I’ve watched some cricket (ok, it’s pretty unlikely that any Americans would say the last bit as cricket is as foreign to them as baseball is to the rest of the world) – it looks pretty warm down there”
Ok, I’m being a wag, I’ve just had the old crappy useless evaporative air conditioning unit replaced with a new big monster one and it’s a bit efficient. Perhaps a bit too efficient for its own good. Jay is sitting at the desk in a one woman huddle, pretending it’s all fine. Being a hot person (I know, you all want me, right?) like I am, this chill suits me just fine!
We all took the doggy for a little walk along the beach (yup, the one that, I have to remind all of you repeatedly about) at the end of the road. I think the dog actually took the girls for a walk, rather than the other way around
Anyway, with all these digs and jibes at your chilly snowy weather, what I’m really doing is setting you up for some photos to give you all some Christmas cheer, so here for your viewing pleasure, are the dreary surrounds of suburban Waikiki.
And Piper, as special as ever.
I know, its a hard life.
Ok, for balance, there are some downsides – being 40C hot in a suit is no fun and it might rain tomorrow for a bit.
There, happy now, snow people? :p
rain rain
Posted on November 21, 2010
don’t go away, its nice to have you to cool things down again..
Its been another crazy busy week work-wise, hopefully its done and dusted by the end of tomorrow and I can return to the more sedate pace I was previously used to. Its also been a hot week, peaking at 39C on Friday, which was pretty warm given that my air con went pop again.
We’ve had a nice rain front blow in this weekend – much needed really as there has been precious little of it this winter. Its been warm though – its 31 outside and pouring with rain right now – we have all the windows and doors open to try to capture some of the cool air.
I just went to the DIY shop for some replacement pop-up sprinklers for my reticulation – after a while they get battered by the mower and the seals start to go and they start leaking everywhere.
To you non-Aussies (or those without garden irrigation), pop-ups look like this
So I have 6 new ones ready to replace the old battered ones – that should sort out some of the dry spots on the lawn and also should stop some of the water being ‘wasted’ (it goes back into the ground anyway) with inefficient spray.
I just need the rain to stop so I can sort them..
I stopped by the beach on my way home as the sky was looking a bit interesting – and yes, interesting doesn’t do it justice – within 2 minutes, it was pouring down!
The rain has stopped again now, so I’m off into the garden to sort those sprinklers.
time to pay the piper
Posted on October 23, 2010
Yes, a winter of leaving the garden alone means I now have to spend the spring getting it sorted.
All the little jobs that would have been ‘easy’ are now kinda bigger and more involved. Well, they’re probably not, its just hotter and sweatier out there!
The plan for the spring is as follows
- (today) strip and re-varnish the patio furniture.
- re-seat some of the bricks on the patio
- dig up and re-home the rotary washing line to a different part of the garden
- create a decking area in a currently neglected and overgrown part of the garden
- get the fence replaced (insurance job)
- create no-dig vegetable patch
- plant several fruit trees next to the new fence
Some of these tasks are easy – I can probably do the first 2 today, and the washing line is easy but a brutal physical job. The decking is very involved and requires a lot of clearing and thinning of trees before I can even start.
I cleared the huge pile of cuttings from earlier in the year, the irrigation is all working, the grass is in better shape than last year (but still rough in places) and the pot plants are nicely established, so the garden is starting to feel a little bit more under control at last.
And now, lunch, then sand and varnish the patio furniture.
more new lens pictures
Posted on October 16, 2010
In celebration of ultra wide angle goodness, I’ve taken a load more photos 🙂
I love this lens – its less good with buildings as you get that crazy leany walls things going on, but its awesome with landscapes and settings where it doesn’t mess with architecture too much.
slackest blogger award goes to..
Posted on June 29, 2010
er, me. bugger
so, whats new in my world?
1. Its got cold.
A feet numbing kind of cold. Infact it’s almost record breakingly cold in Perth. We’ve had a couple of frosts this week and night time temps have generally been around 1 or 2 degrees all week. I know, I know, its not exactly cold compared to Europe or the US this winter, but remember that our houses aren’t really insulated, we don’t have central heating or double glazing, as normally, the temperature is in the teens or higher.
We do have ducted gas heating, but it’s way too expensive to run – last year, winter cost us $1500 in gas, so that got switched off and out came the blankets until it got so cold that we gave in and bought a wood-fired heater.
A big pot belly stove now sits, roaring in the corner of the open plan, kicking out no heat whatsoever until I get up and light it. So I still have cold feet, but later in the day, the house is well toasty. And it chews through wood like it’s going out of fashion. 2 trailer loads and 3 20kg bags and it’s only been a few weeks – it might not be cheaper to run than the gas at this rate, but I do get to play with matches, so that makes it worth it.
2. Work.
I’ve actually had some. Quite a lot and multiple projects too, which I must confess (to any potential employers) I find kinda challenging. Not the work bit, it’s the multi-tasking context switching bit. My job is normally quite involved and detailed and requires a lot of analytical thinking – I find I need time to settle my brain into the zone and then I can do what I need. If I have to keep jumping in and out of different trains of thought, everything takes 4 times longer. Well, not 4 times, but you get the idea. I have a 10 minute window where my concentration ebbs away, so if I can get back to my zone within that window, then we’re all good, but if not, I have to come back up for air, change the air in the tanks and begin the long journey back into the depths of the ‘zone’
3. Busy.
Although I cannot for the life of me remember doing what. So here’s a photo of a kid with a mullet that I saw wandering around the DIY store. His Dad had one too. And the smaller son had twin plaited rats tails. Classy. I am in Australia, not West Virginia or someplace aren’t I? People of Walmart, eat your heart out!
Oh yeah, just remembered whats been taking the time every weekend so that I haven’t been anywhere – gardening – had to rip out a load of stuff from next to the fence cos its broken. Fences here are stupid – they’re big sheets of fibreboardy stuff that are actually dug into the ground then joined together at the top with a metal bracket. When they break (as they do), they have to be dug out with a special machine and new ones put in place. So all the plants (massive honeysuckle and a big creepery thing) along a 20 metre section have had to come out. I now have a pile of cuttings 3 metres tall and 5 meters around to be fed into a chipper that I don’t have the funds to buy just yet.
Plus I’m painting the girl’s bedrooms at the moment – a nice shade of lilac with a deeper colour accent wall (their choice, I blame their mother and her arty ways). That was pretty much the whole of this Sunday and last night (and I foresee every night this week) taken up
So that’s taken up lots of time. No slacking for me after all then 😉
4. Photos.
Precious little of that recently due to the mysterious loss of time due to the above point 3. However, I do have a few pics to show and tell.
reflections
sunset
So there you go 🙂
Next post – my lovely new camera! Oh yes.
girl on film
Posted on March 6, 2010
An homage to the missus. Taken with the Holga and (mostly awful) Diana Mini.
looking good, wifey 🙂
Kite Surfing
Posted on February 14, 2010
Saturday afternoon I popped out to Shoalwater where the kite surfers hang out and took a load of photos.
It was earlier in the day than the last lot and there were a lot more kits out and the sun was higher leaving more blue sky to get decent shots against.
I usually just watch them for 15 minutes or so to see who the better kite surfers are and where the wind is blowing, thus where they are doing the best tricks. Then, I take a few shots, gauge the speed and the angles, the background behind the shots and how many other kites are in view.
Then I get right up close to the water and hope to engage some of the better kite surfers to show off for me 🙂
Had a corking session this time – there were a couple of guys out who were noticeably more confident than most – one of whom was really happy to try to do tricks right in front of the camera. He came in for a few mins and I asked him to get as close as he dared so I could use the wide angle and get him really filling the shot – to which he obliged and I got some awesome shots! Hats off to you, mate – I didn’t get your name, but hopefully you’ll see this when I email you 🙂
Chatted to another photographer who had one of those waterproof baggy things around his camera – he was standing (getting his toes bitten by crabs) chest high in the water getting some serious wide angle shots. I’ll see if he posts his stuff anywhere – it’ll look pretty intense I’d say.
Anwyay, for your viewing pleasure – kite action – I have so many I don’t know which ones to keep! This is about 1/2 the “keepers” from the session.
Monday Monday
Posted on January 26, 2010
So good to me…
Just like the Mamas and the Papas, my Monday ended up being awesome.
Work was boring, nothing happened at all all day, as this year, Monday is an odd day between the weekend and the public holiday for Australia Day (today). As a consequence, I was done early and “helped” Jay make pizzas for dinner and we went out to take sunset photos at Point Peron
We’d had a hot day, compounded by the aircon having given up the ghost and deciding that it was only going to blow hot air from now on (*sigh*) so it was lovely to get out to the beach.
Was a gorgeous evening, the girls had lots of fun, we saw a big brown seal lazing on a rock and lots of crabs in the rockpools
What more can I say other than to show you photos..
And to top that, if it were even possible, I went and got some wine.
Mondays, not always bad.
sunset
Posted on January 20, 2010
Typical, both yesterday and tonights sunsets have been magnificent but I’ve not been able to get down to the beach or Point Peron, so I just watched it from the porch instead.
kite surfing
Posted on January 15, 2010
a few minutes drive from where I live there’s a little shallow sheltered cove where the kitesurfers like to play.
I havent been there to take pictures for almost a year, so I figured it was about time this afternoon. I left it until almost 6 so the light would be better and the breeze nice and strong. When I pulled up in the car park though, I was surprised to see lots of people were packing up, but there were a good few people still out on the water.
Took almost 2o0 shots in the hour and a half I was there, which is a lot of pics for me, I’m getting a lot more economical these days. Less is the new more. Or something.
Anyway, I focussed on a few lads who seemed to be trying harder than the others to get huge air and faceplant themselves into the water – here’s a selection of the best shots..
Charlie's World 
