The Nerines that my mother planted many years ago came out into flower last week. They keep such a low profile during the rest of the year I almost forget they are there, but every year I think of her when they suddenly erupt into colour.
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8th March
Tuesday the usual stuff. After lunch, went to the Croquet Club and played a couple of games. Lost both but made some good shots in the second game so I wasn't unhappy. Read the latest issue of New Scientist weekly while transferring 6GB of old radio shows off my laptop -- anything to avoid the dreaded message "Download failed; disk full".
Not a lot at the quiz tonight. We came second with 79 points, while Jambag romped home with 95/110. And we (ahem) won the bottle of wine for guessing the puzzle question on the first clue.
18 March
Why am I suddenly experiencing dizzy spells again? Friday I came back from a Morning Tea in Sandy Bay feeling fine. I had a bit of a nap after lunch and when I got up, the room seemed to be spinning a bit. I walked around the bed to put something away and I just went down (ka-thump!). No injuries but the plastic crate I landed on will never be the same again.
First attack of vertigo I've had for years. Let's not go down that path again!
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Haiku for the feline:
Cats are like the clouds,
Ever changing and graceful,
No two quite alike.
Dedicated to Olivia, who sat on my knee until I finished writing this.
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Not all crime involves computers even in 2022.
In Tasmania the newly-elected Mayor of New Norfolk was notified that somebody had stolen the 300 plants the Council had used to decorate the entrance to the township. Meanwhile over in Melbourne, thieves scaled the Mission To Seafarers building and made off with the copper weather-vane that had graced the roof for a hundred years. 😒
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SUNRISE OVER THE CROQUET LAWN,
A HAIKU [2017]
Ready for the game
Blue, red, black and yellow orbs;
The white hoops await.
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After church, I was talking to a friend who used to be a nurse. I told her about my vertigo and she said "Before you get up in the morning, sit on the edge of your bed, take a deep breath and wiggle your toes." OK, I haven't heard that one before. Maybe I'll try it -- heck, you don't even need a prescription.
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Felt really tired when I got home. I made some lunch, read the Sunday comics in the paper then went back to bed. I must have slept for two or three hours. I woke up in the middle of a very involved dream -- I was back in the 1970s and I was trying to watch a movie on TV with one eye while trying to arbitrate in a disagreement between my mother and sister. In the background, Julie's pets were running around while a selection of pots and pans were cooking on the stove.
I got up and made myself a strong cup of coffee.
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Only played one game of croquet on Tuesday. The warm sunny weather was a bit much for me and when I left the club I took refuge in the air-conditioned comfort of the local supermarket for a while before I went home. I answered some messages about a book someone was trying to sell me, then went out to the quiz night.
Not our greatest result, which wasn't surprising. The only round we had a really good score in was the final one of the night. The puzzle question was about an American football star so none of the clues meant anything to us (who knew Tom Brady was married to a supermodel who makes more than he does?). From memory, we came seventh and our friendly rivals Minerva's Disciples came fifth.
Jambag won again, but from next week they'll be handicapped five points for every time they win. There is still hope for us!
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Wednesday I stayed in during the day. I took a nap after lunch, but it didn't help much because I woke up abruptly thinking "What day is it? Is it morning or evening? Where am I supposed to be?" I calmed down after a bit, had a late lunch and did some work on the laptop. In the evening, went out to the Wednesday night pub quiz. The first round was remarkable because every team got a perfect score - fairly simple questions about recipes. After that things didn't go so well and there were a lot of questions where we thought we knew the answers but didn't. And the round about movie theme music was cancelled because the sound system was on the blink! So we ended up in fourth place.
Yeah, there were only five teams.
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So I had to send out this message #sigh#
DO NOT OPEN ANY YOU TUBE LINK SUPPOSEDLY SENT BY ME. My Facebook friends list has been hacked and somebody is sending out "look what I found" messages which require you to give your FB password. In a word: DON'T !
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Back in the days of black-and-white television there were two series titled SPACE PATROL, one on each side of the Atlantic. I remember the British series created by Roberta Leigh, was a puppet show unlike the live action American show. It was surprisingly sophisticated for a children's program and I remember it fondly. So I was intrigued to discover that someone has colorized a few episodes of it and put them on You Tube. The colour makes the rather smudgy recordings a bit more distinct and helps us enjoy the adventures of Larry Dart and his gyroscope-shaped space ship.
youtube.com/watch?v=F_GHB0z83vM
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The meaning of words changes over the years. Glancing at a catalog this week, I noticed a page of "gaming essentials" featuring high-tech computer equipment. A century ago this would probably have been a page of roulette wheels, cards and poker chips. (And let's not think about what the "Jack Adapter" might have been....)
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The modern world has some small advantages. My room is at the back of the house, so whenever somebody brings a parcel to the front door and rings the bell, they're always taking it back to the truck by the time I get there. This week I got a text to alert me that a package I'd ordered would be delivered that day between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. It was a nice morning, so before lunch I dragged one of my chairs out into the driveway and sat out in the sun. I had my little transistor radio and sat there listening to the 'Conversations' show (hard to believe that Hanna Gadsby was already a successful stand-up comedian before she was diagnosed as being autistic).
Half an hour later I saw the postal van drive up to my house. I had time to get down the driveway and appear on the footpath while the driver was still getting my item out of his vehicle. Much more satisfactory than all that running for the front door, hoping to get there before they drive off.
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August Derleth may have died in 1971 but he obviously still has plenty of fans. One publisher last year successfully ran a crowd funding campaign to reprint his Solar Pons stories, loving imitations of Sherlock Holmes he began writing in 1929. This year they started another campaign to fund a follow-up volume THE NOVELLAS OF SOLAR PONS. There are 17 days to go and they are already over-subscribed 800%. Zowie ! 😲
