Lego Meets Srandebeest

I just played this to my boys… lots of interest, although we agreed that we’d need more pieces (and more specialist pieces) to build it..

There are downloadable instructions for the walker section on the You Tube description..

It’s very clever, and must have taken hours of work. Slightly creepy, though..
The concept is based on the work of Theo Jansen, who builds larger-than-life-size “animals”, which he lets loose on the beach. They’re wind powered, completely, I believe, but I’m not sure..
Just imagine seeing one of these coming at you on your peaceful stroll on the strand..

They’re very beautiful – majestic, even. They’ve been progressively modified to withstand the elements, with the view to eventually letting loose a “herd”, to freely roam the beaches…
Beautiful..
.. but did I mention creepy?

Published in: on June 28, 2013 at 4:08 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Just A House

A while back, not long after we moved here, I took a walk that went past our old house. It was quite a shock – one of my beautiful jacaranda trees had been chopped down, and there was a huge fence all around the perimeter of our previously open front yard. I didn’t walk that way again.

The other day, I was on another walk. The weather was worsening, so I decided to take the short cut home – which went past the old place. This time I made myself stop and look. It wasn’t too bad… the new owners are obviously able to make better use of the space than we could at the time we were there, and it looks loved. I looked a bit longer, and then realised that they’d kept the “Welcome” hanging I left on the door. And that made it better.

I belong here now..

tv lounge

it’s messy..

dinig room sunshine

..but comfortable.

bookshelf plus basket

I have my “stuff”

bookcase

I’ve made a place, with my lovely and loving family around me..

This is here – the past is past.
This is home.

Published in: on June 14, 2013 at 5:29 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Miniscule

This is just a five minute filler on the ABC, but my boys love it – lots of giggles πŸ˜€ They especially love the ladybugs..

Who knew that you could have so much fun with fake insects and absolutely no dialogue?

Published in: on June 12, 2013 at 9:01 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Rain Down

I thought I had this song on here… couldn’t find it (possibly didn’t tag it..)
I’ve been listening to the Jesus Culture version, and wanted to hear the original again..
Back to the start! πŸ˜€

This is not an official clip – it’s someone driving home with a camera on the dashboard – I think it suits the song, though..

Enjoy! πŸ˜€

Published in: on June 6, 2013 at 2:37 pm  Leave a Comment  
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The Doctor Puppet Returns!

Yayy! The third episode! It’s well worth checking out the first two on Youtube as well..

The umbrella! The angel! Bad Wolf! NINE! πŸ˜€

Published in: on May 30, 2013 at 1:53 pm  Comments (1)  
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It’s Late…

… and I’m killing time..

Just did a quiz thingy – which Doctor Who companion am I?

Which ‘Doctor Who’ Character Are You?

More on Doctor Who. Created by BuddyTV

Yayy! I’m Amy!!
Wrong colour hair, though. And accent.

It’s probably time to go to bed…

Published in: on May 30, 2013 at 1:09 am  Leave a Comment  
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At The Next Beach And Up The Mountain..

One more visit to Dicky Beach on Friday morning..

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..where littlest bean honed his stone skimming skills..

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Then we were off to Kings Beach in Caloundra.

The boys had a swim for a bit, then were asked to get out of the water to allow a group of fishermen to bring in a school of mullet.

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The net was attached to a truck at one end of the beach, and the other end was taken out by boat to attach to another truck.. they were drawn together and then pulled in by hand..

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It was only a small school – the first of the season.
It was quite exciting to watch, but also confronting to see the fish trying to escape. We don’t eat fish much, but we do have some in the freezer.. I do think that if we are going to eat meat/fish, we should be willing to Β look at how it gets to our plate..

The seagulls flocked, but were ultimately disappointed, even though they were thrown a few fish.

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The fish were separated into male/female containers – the females would still have the roe inside, so could be sold for more.

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A bit more swimming before we went up the mountain… a typical crowded Queensland beach in May πŸ™‚

Little bean spent the next night in a tent out past Maleny with his friend and another four boys. It was freezing, and I’m not sure how much sleep was had.. there was some tension and “overwhelm” happening over the 24 hours of the party, but they had fun overall!
The adults at least got to sleep inside – still cold. It was a house full of Whovians – this was behind one of the chairs in the lounge.

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I didn’t sit there.

It was a school project, made by the eldest daughter of the family… there was a lot of random art dotted throughout the house.

We sat out next to a small barbeque fire that evening, toasting marshmallows and chatting. You know when you meet people and it’s like you’ve just known each other for ages? It was like that… It was the first time we’ve met half the family, and we’ve only caught up with the other half a couple of times… we felt comfortable there, though.

They run a flower farm, native trees and flowers, by the look of it, grown by biological farming. It’s the off season, so there’s not much by way of crops at the moment.

This was our view over morning tea (with extra marshmallows)

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Obviously, there’s much more to a farm than toasting marshmallows over a fire… I could get used to this as down time, though πŸ™‚

The other fields..

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… and the view from the back verandah.

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We had a busy time, but fun..
We’ll be back! πŸ˜€

Published in: on May 26, 2013 at 7:02 pm  Leave a Comment  
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At The Beach

We spent the part of the weekend away.. left here Thursday morning, came back Saturday night (yesterday)
Littlest bean was invited to a birthday party sleepover just past Maleny, and we wanted to visit another friend in Maleny, as well as spending some time at the beach..

We went to have a look at Montville first.. it was a tad disappointing..

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Still beautiful – gorgeous views.. the quirky little shops I remember from past years seem to be upmarket brand name shops now..

Still – gorgeous views.

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Littlest bean was fascinated by the big water wheel. It’s not functional now, but we discussed what it would have been in its previous life..

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The footpath is lower than the entrance to the shops, in most places, and they’re bordered by various flower gardens.

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Littlest bean wanted to be in the shot..

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There he is again! πŸ˜€

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πŸ˜€

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Great views… you could see right down to the coast, which is where we were headed after a stop in Maleny to see our friend. He makes (amazing!) sausages, and we got to watch the process from getting the sausage meat into the casing, to the final packaging. We had sausages down at the local park… we discovered that we’d forgotten to bring any barbeque utensils, so had to make do with a plastic fork to turn the sausages, and some water, tissues and the remains of the fork to clean the barbeque after – I think we did quite well!

We spent Thursday night at Dicky Beach, where the remains of the wreck Β of the S.S.Dicky still lie on the beach. Our unit was about the size of a shoebox, but it was just a short stroll to the beach, and comfortable enough for a night. We got there before dark and went down the beach.

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The S.S.Dicky.

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An evening stroll/run…

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The boys were trying to touch the pole in the water just in front of them, while still dodging the waves. They didn’t succeed… there were wet, sandy pant legs to be dried before morning..

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There was a woman filming in and under the water.. I’m not sure why..

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…and so to bed..

Published in: on May 26, 2013 at 6:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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If The Chemistry Is Right…

I did the first of my exams today – chemistry, a subject that I never would have thought I’d be studying..
It’s been somewhere between 25 and 30 years since I last sat an academic exam… I finished high school in 1985, and college was assignment based. I think I sat an exam for public service somewhere in the early 90s, but that was pretty much basic knowledge, so I’m not counting that.. πŸ™‚
Let’s just say that I was .. apprehensive. I couldn’t eat lunch, I felt a bit jittery – I’m not much good at the unknown. Three hours seemed a massive amount of time for one exam… I’d stayed up till 3ish this morning, reviewing, trying to cram all the formulas into my brain.. in the end, I didn’t need them at all, and the calculator sat, unused, on the desk..Β I think I did Ok, though. There were more questions about functional groups than I would like.. I enjoyed balancing equations..
Lots of prayer going on for me πŸ˜€ – Thanks, all who prayed!

I wore my “flying pig” socks, because then, anything is possible! πŸ˜€

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I finished early, and had a few coins in my purse, so I went down to Boody’s Wall of LolliesΒ to get some sugar to celebrate..

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A “cigar” (at least, they used to be called that..)
And a pig..

I’m taking the night off, possibly tomorrow as well. I have books to read..

What else is there to say?

1iute

…but hard work and study just might do it..

Published in: on May 16, 2013 at 9:20 pm  Leave a Comment  
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How To Succeed In The Arts…

..by Neil Gaiman, at a commencement speech at the University of the Arts last year.

The problems of failure; the problems of success..

… secret freelancer knowledge πŸ˜€

I got to this clip from this blog, which is about the “Imposter Syndrome” (also referenced in the speech) – the “unshakeable feeling that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you.”
I would think that’s a quite common feeling in all sorts of professions, but possibly more prevalent in the arts..

It’s what you do with it that counts..
Letting that feeling rob you of the enjoyment of successes in your field would be sad..
Allowing it to prevent you from ever attempting to succeed would be worse..

Published in: on May 11, 2013 at 10:59 am  Leave a Comment  
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