talking to the animals

It's spring and the animals are everywhere. We saw parrots, a miniature horse foal OMG! CUTE! and baby lambs and black wallabies and kangaroos, fat lizards and an ancient wombat with mange.

Mice driving cats

I got given this painting by a secondhand shop owner* after I picked it up and marveled at it for awhile. The whole 'lobotomized cat being driven by a small and prideful mouse' thing has really struck a chord. Adam accidentally found the bottom one while working at his job, and the other one basically found itself.




*You have to wonder about things that shop owners giveaway.

I saw a dolphin

Jemila didn't really believe me* when I said I saw a dolphin in the Yarra as I walked across the bridge to the Arts Centre.

BUT, I did. According to wikipedia, dolphins have been known to venture upstream as far as South Yarra. I felt pretty sure it was a dolphin (after the initial shock where I thought perhaps it was some new fangled underwater craft, it was huge) or maybe some small whale. I watched it for about 15 minutes, cruising around under the pedestrian bridge between flinders station and South Bank. I was late for my meeting. After a little while I thought I better try to take a photo, but by then it was further away and all I really managed were some UFO-esque blurry dusk shots of the river with vague hints of dolphin fin (I can see it at least).

TRUE!

I hope he doesn't hang out there too often, for his sake, almost all of the fish are contaminated with heavy metals including arsenic and are really not fit for dolphin consumption.

*She came around abit maybe towards the end. I was a believer.

karma

I probably deserved the curse of ugly video artifacts and crappy image resolution, as I have spent the last two or three weeks animating the massacre of various cute woodland creatures.

A tongue in cheek hunting expedition through woods over-populated with a proliferation of cute critters. Even the cutest of bunnies and the doiest-eyed deer aren't safe in these here woods. It's time for a cull.

I know, I'm sorry. I occasionally felt bad about it.

Anyway, some pictures of the other works. It's worth a wander up the street if you are around at night. I loved this monkey walk (top) and Yandell Walton's leaves were quite beautiful.






As expected, Jethro got in for a bit of an inspection. I think he approved. He didn't mind that the bunnies died. He knows all about fashion vermin.

the show

Kylee took me to the show on friday, my first time in forever, um, we saw cows with long silky golden hair and other ones with ringlets on their faces. Dogs Afghans, pitbulls, and pointers on show and giant prissy, pretty horses and huge golden pigs with snuffling golden babies. I wanted one of each, especially the pig, you could just tuck a little piglet into your bag, et voila, baby golden pig from heaven, perhaps the perfect distraction.

donkeys are good

big day

You know when you have one of those days where it's all happening...
All at once... This ones for you baby...
From discovering your favourite ever creatures just hanging out in the neighbourhood, mandarin ducks in tiergarten and giant hairy donkeys through the fence at the zoo, to finding new shoes for 5 euros, to getting your first ever international train fine, to losing a hard drive with the last 6 months of photos of adventures on it, along with all the work and music, to hanging out in the park in the sunshine with hundreds of people bbqing, drinking beers, buying drugs and watching dogs and children...
That was saturday... Ever since we have been in recovery. Though might never recover from the sadness of losing photos...





Bad things happen to good kids. Good things do too.

cool

i was trying to distract sailor from the fact his parents had just left, we were looking for the cat. but no Louis Austin to be found. instead a wee bird landed on my head, which was way cooler.

i was holding a baby with a bird on my head.

that's pretty amazing.

it didn't seem to want to leave, i reached up and it jumped on my hand. then proceeded to make itself at home on my shoulder after i put sailor down. so there you go. me & the bird.



it liked my hair and was thinking on moving in. or stealing some for it's golden nest. it only panicked a bit when sailor started squealing and trying to grab at it or poke it with a stick. otherwise i think he might've stayed forever.

so, for my next trick...



yes i know. my hair does look like a birds nest. BUT ALSO, i am one with the creatures and the flying ducks on the wall.

farmarama

I’m finished with the piggies… BUT…

LOOKIT THEM! they made me laugh every day…


my little farmer is back and very pleased to see his baby animals…



i had a wonderful time... living like a princess... with fresh food aplenty and time and quiet and ANIMALS galore...

i had a chat with a satinbowerbird... i laughed at the pigs... i nursed baby chickens... i stared at many many beautiful birds... chased a huge goanna from the baby chickens, and managed to avoid seeing anymore snakes... thankgod... listened to ANIMALS... talk about a racket... bicker and bellow and howl and chirp and cheep and grunt and sing and mimic me...

HA! why are you muttering little birdie?

it's just me and the animals

phoebe and her boys are gone on holiday. I am caretaking for a week, and have to feed a million chooks, ducks, 2 cats (one is extremely pregnant) a mother pig and her six little piglets, OHMYGOD, and an huge angry lady pig who I don’t doubt would love nothing more than to eat me for breakfast…

I also have to keep an eye on the cattle, which involves a whole lot of them staring at me any chance they get, bellowing loudly, and me staring back at them thinking how good fences are.

its just me. on a farm. which is interesting. I like solitude, but it takes a bit of getting used to this kind of middle of nowhere, long long walk (I don’t drive) through the dark night, to any other human, type solitude, so hooray for telephones. I might get lonesome and spooked otherwise. I house-sit for mum and dad, which is even more isolated, but I am good friends with the neighbours and have tv, music, and the comfort of my childhood home.

tv is good for quieting the mind. but there is no tv and limited electricity here, which means enough solar power to heat water, power two dim lights and run a freezer. maybe my computer for an hour a night if I don’t listen to the radio...

solitude and silence. let’s see if I don’t go completely crazy huh.

so far I like it. phoebe has an incredible garden, pretty and plentiful and I could just wander around in it for hours. I picked cherry tomatoes, spinach, basil and zucchini, roasted the tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, collected the eggs, then made a delicious quiche.

I spent an hour on the HUGE trampoline. watching the amazing sunset and the piglets, who were delighting in chasing the chooks and chickens who just roam about the garden. if they managed to catch one they’d eat it*, but even so they are incredibly adorable. I haven’t seen much that is cuter than six baby pigs playing chase.

*pigs like to eat other animals even more than I like to eat them.

now It’s dark, i just have to find a way to entertain myself long enough til it’s time to go to bed. trying not to get spooked by the noises. which are everywhere.

there are so many creatures in them thar hills, and this house, and those paddocks, and outside the windows. geckos, curlews, crickets, creaks and thuds, the clock tick tocks so slowly and the wind has a lot to say too.

I say goodnight. sleep tight.

quiz

What did I talk about with my dad over coffee today?

a. Lebanon

b. myspace

c. rainbirds and termites

d. bio fuels

e. moisturizer

f. jay z & Justin Timberlake

g. all of the above

What happens every time I see my grandma?

a. she asks if a have a job yet
b. she asks if I am married yet
c. I am terrified every time I see another scar from having more sun spots burnt, cut, frozen off her pale white skin
d. all of the above

What can’t i see from here, where I sit?

a. 6 large bunches of bananas
b. a fire
c. 2 sheds sans roof from cyclone larry
d. a dead deadly snake
e. a cat eating an avocado
f. none, i see them all

How many snakes have I seen in the last ten days?

a. 22
b. 2
c. 7
d. 13

Which ones wasn’t I bitten or stung by in the last ten days?

paralysis tick
leech
bull ant
green ant
crocodile
mystery spider
valentine
horse
mosqitos
fish
flying ants
stingray
angry coral snake

did I see Pauline Hanson on a wendy’s add?

... and finally, one that I still don’t know the answer to because I don’t watch the news...

Is this little piece of paradise still the only electorate in australia with a one nation mp, after yesterdays election?

I’d say probably...

SUNSHINE

It feels like summer here, baking hot sun, the tin roof is popping, heavy grey clouds are building up in the ridges, maybe an afternoon storm… the air smells good, like rain on a cooling breeze.

The birds sound good too. screechy parrots and cockatoos, kookaburras laughing, currawongs singing, willy wagtails, cockle pheasants and a storm bird calling the rain…

I am going for a swim down the river. it’s hot to walk down, but it’s the best place to be at this time... shady spots by the waterhole on big sun warmed rocks… I fall asleep down there, walking home through the paddock in twilight…

Yesterday I made mulberry cake with the first ripe fruit… I have been watching them hopefully since I got here. one of my favourite things ever is mulberry pie, so maybe I’ll make one on the weekend. OHMYGOD. mulberry pie.

other good things… my best ever look at a tree kangaroo. I walked down the river for a swim on Friday and he was crashing round the base of the quandong tree… I must’ve frightened him, but i watched him climb up the tree and find a perch, where he kept an eye on me the whole time I was down there.

I also saw a carpet snake, a king brown, a pair of snorting bulls fighting on the road, a turtle and some wallabies and kangaroos.

I saw a calf fresh born and tiny baby piglets at my sisters place. she has the menagerie, with cattle, angry mother pigs, ducks, chooks and guinea fowl, snakes and goannas… also four free-range boys.

If mum and dad's is health camp, good for the soul and spirit, phoebe's is some kind of cunningly designed sleep-deprivation, over-stimulation, stamina & endurance regime...

I mean that in a good way... i just need to come to mums after a night or two to recoup...

Have a good weekend...

lost bird

i had a coffee with the pretty ladies at switchboard and stared at their lovely birds, as i wrote a letter to my mum. hi mum. i miss you. now i'm home and this little bird was making a racket on the balcony just now... i went out and said hello and gave it some seeds. he must've run away from home as he jumped strait up onto my hand. my heart broke. little scratchy feet. so lovely. so little. and sent from the heavens. AAAAAWWWWW.
animals and small children like me. other people call me trouble. what's up with that?



good day sunshine. xxx

it ain't easy being so yella

it certainly isn't easy for me to handle a spiky dragon, but i'll do it cause his mums away. and also cause he's handsome.

what fantasy world do i live in where everything is so handsome, even a dragon who looks to me a bit like a cane toad with spikes and a tail... urrrgh. yes i do have mixed feelings.



simon says we post when moody. we also post when we procrastinate. rat post in race. at least it's not so gay. don't know what came over me last night.

oh yes i had curls yesterday. my first time with such lady tricks. i've taken a while to recover from a wedding where i had piles of curls and 400 bobby pins jabbed into my tomboy head... i sulked and got drunk and danced with my dad. as you do.

seaside

i had a day with annie and sailor. and that is one of my favourite ways to spend a day. belle annie.

my friend irina is off to russia. i came to st kilda to take up house-sitting duties. i got taken out to dinner. lovely people. we walked along the water and got to see and hear the fairy penguins coo coo coo catchyou... and watch them waddle.

and all THAT made me HAPPY.

it's also warm here. WOO HOO.

now i must get to work. true. i have a pressing deadline and have no excuses for distractions as i know no-one on this side of the river...