Wash the blood off my scarf

I've been a bit slow to write about this because I didn't want to worry people.  But a lot of you will realize something is up when I do not turn up for church tomorrow.  The fact is that when I left the quiz night on Wednesday I had a bad fall trying to walk up the hill to the car park.  Fortunately one of the other people leaving the venue was a nurse and she gave me first aid while an ambulance was summoned.
After a few hours in the ER at the Royal Hobart Hospital, they patched me up and gave me a bed for the night, letting me go home the next afternoon.
I'm not in any pain, but the left side of my face is like a jigsaw puzzle where they glued me back together. Oh, and I had a spectacular black eye the next day.  I don't think I'll ever forget the moment my head hit the asphalt -- I thought for a second somebody had hit me on the side of the head with a cricket bat.
So if you don't see me around for a week, you'll understand why.
*
Recuperation day 6. Can't remember the last time I spent the day in bed, but as my Quaker friends would say I felt a leading to it.  A selection of snacks on the bedside table, listening to the radio, reading my e-mails, dozing off every now and again.  As necessary go out and visit the bathroom and/or make a hot drink.  My left eye is coming good and I can now look in the mirror and see myself in 3D - not that this is a pleasant view at the moment.  I no longer feel like I am wearing a Phantom-of-the-Opera mask over the left side of my face.

This morning I fed the poultry in my pyjamas.  How they got in there I'll never know!
(You need to be a Marxist to appreciate that joke.)

Tuesday evening I ventured out to the quiz night.  The other members of the team surveyed me thoughtfully and muttered things like "Well, you certainly did a job on yourself."  When the quizmaster read out the scores halfway through, she commented our team might have done better but one of us had suffered a head injury!  There were eight teams and in the end we finished fifth with 78 points;  the winners were the Dawdlers who belied their name by coming home with 84 points.  But we did win a bottle of wine for solving the puzzle question and I got 9/10 for the Art & Literature round.  So not too bad.

I came home and made a cup of Nerada Detox tea. A blend of Dandelion, Lemon Verbena and Milk Thistle with a dash of Senna and Nettle.
*
July 11th I went to the eye clinic for a follow-up exam.  An orbital fracture sounds like something you worry about at NASA but my doctor doesn't seem to be worried about it.  I had lunch in town then went home and took a nap;  I didn't plan it, it just sort of happened.
In the evening, I got a big tray of snacks and drinks and settled down in front of the laptop to watch the first Garrison Keillor show any of us have seen in years.  Thanks to the Mandolin site for streaming it.
*
Temperature in my house in winter seems to sit on 40 F during winter according to my old thermometer, which I think is 4.5 C -- but then I live in Tasmania.
*
Watched two movies on-line.  

ANGELS OF TERROR (1971) was the last of the long-running series of Edgar Wallace movies made in Germany.  Karin Dor was no longer starring, but Uschi Glas makes an acceptable substitute.  An Australian woman arrives in London to search for her sister who she finds is involved with a drug ring. The gang itself is under attack from an unknown rival, who is methodically assassinating them one by one.
FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL... (2012) adult comedy about a girl in New York who discovers her room-mate is running a phone-sex business.  After her initial revulsion, she is tempted to take over the business and (as they say in the classics) hilarity ensues.  This is actually quite funny and both Ari Graynor and Lauren Miller Rogen are fun to watch.  An independent movie that had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Caprine Collission

 

 

Tuesday 24th May
No quiz for me tonight.  Seventh day of isolation.  Weirdly, the last week has seemed like a never-ending  Saturday afternoon to me.  No beginning or end, just a long middle.  Hard to believe the world is going on as usual outside my front gate.  At least I'm saving a fortune in petrol  -- which reminds me I should st

art the car tomorrow to make sure it hasn't carked it while I've been in quarantine.     
*
I don't contribute to many of the on-line fundraisers like Kickstarter and Gofundme, but now and again I do succumb to temptation.   Earlier this year I pledged a few bucks to a project that was bringing back into print new and old stories from August Derleth's famous Sherlock clone Solar Pons.  Today I received via email THE NOVELLAS OF SOLAR PONS and a  handful of new volumes like THE PAPERS OF SOLAR PONS and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SOLAR PONS  (not forgetting THE NECRONOMICON OF SOLAR PONS !).   Enough e-books to keep  me busy for months to come.       *
Numerology isn't something that usually interests me.  But it's hard not to be startled by this week's quiz night results.  I went to two quiz nights in two days.  Both times we came second in the final results, and both times we won a bottle of wine for solving the puzzle question on the second clue.  Something felt strange about all that.
*      
The new survey is out for radio listening in Hobart.  As expected, the two big commercial FM stations are battling for the younger audience, but if you look at the numbers you will notice that the ABC picks up more and more listeners as the ages go up.  By the time we get to the final column (65 and over) the public broadcaster scores an unbeatable 39.5% and only one of the commercial stations scores more than 1% !    
*
There are certain landmarks that show the progress of the seasons from summer to winter.  First week you start wearing a jacket outside.  First time you put on a beanie inside and outside.  First time you get out the Ugg Boots (June 3rd this year).  Next will be the first time you go searching for those gloves you wore last winter.
*     
June 7th was a Tuesday.  After checking the apparent temperature outside (2.5C)  I was glad I didn't have to be out early.    Dressed warmly before I went out to play croquet  --  the weather forecast made it sound as though I needed to be prepared for rain, snow or hail but actually there was enough sunshine for one game.
And I was happy to be able to buy some Ozempic on the way home, after the pharmacist scrutinised my prescription to make sure I was a diabetic and not some hipster wanting to lose a few pounds before they tried out their new swimwear for next summer.
It is also cheering to get a reminder in the mail for your overdue water bill when you know you paid it last week!  

At the quiz night our numbers were down, so the folk at the Minerva's Disciples table adopted Caroline and I.  But even our combined brainpower wasn't enough to defeat the unstoppable Jambag table and we finished second (again).   And the Wednesday night quiz ... second again???
*
Routine visit to my GP.  Signed my form for the Transport Department, gave me my flu shot and asked "Are you still taking the Ozempic injections?"  "When I can get it," I replied.  He gave a wry laugh.     
*
The winter weather is setting in.  Last night the wind was gusting and kept blowing my bedroom open.  "How can I keep that closed?" I said to myself.
And a little voice in my head said "Put a box of books against it."
I said "Where can I find a box of books in my house?"
And the little voice laughed and laughed....   
*
We didn't do so well in the Wednesday night quiz, coming in fifth out of nine teams.  But I was amused at the puzzle question they gave us tonight.  The question was about a painting, and the first few lines of the clue were a vague description of it, followed by a passing mention that the artist had once been featured in a DOCTOR WHO story.  The result  --  five teams answered correctly after the first clue !  Including us, needless to say.  ☺
*
I knew this would happen one day.  I don't know the technical names, but I've noticed there are two sorts of goats -- ones whose horns grow backwards from their heads and ones whose horns grow sideways.  My goat is the latter, so I'm always careful not to put my head down next to him.  But ... a few minutes ago he was standing at the fence, waiting for his afternoon feed.  As I leaned over to put the hay in his trough, he swung his head sideways and the tip of his horn whacked into my glasses, driving them into my cheek.  Ouch!
What I fear is that it will leave a mark visible beneath my spectacles and if someone asks what happens, I'll have to relate the whole unlikely story.  
Come to think of it, I am having trouble typing this.   Could I have concussion??
*
My old laptop has been getting slower and slower - I think I've used it every day since the pandemic began - so I finally got round to setting up the new laptop I bought last year.  It's been sitting in a box in the corner of my room, while I kept thinking "I must get round to that" every few weeks.  One of the first things it did when I got it running was to update itself from Windows 10 to Windows 11.  A bit different to what I'm used to, but I seem to have figured out most things.  I suspect that I am having less trouble than a friend if mine will - he dropped his laptop and broke it, but one of his family has obtained a new laptop and is sending it to him.  The only stumbling block for him may be that his old machine was still running on Windows 7.
*
We have had a few cold days this winter but not as bad as some years.  Usually by the shortest day I am shivering and complaining about the rains, mud and snow.  The other day I went to the Croquet Club and by the time we got into the second game it was bright and sunny, motivating me to discard my scarf and beanie for the rest of the game.
Some years at this time the grass is very thin and anemic, while the lawn we were playing on this week was like a very large piece of green carpet.
*
So true.  "Nothing is as it was."
Linda Mottram on ABC Radio's THIS WEEK June 25th.

Quarantined !

I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

Yesterday they were 1,075 new cases of Covid in Tasmania.  1,076 if you count me.   

All last week I was sneezing and snuffling, then at the weekend I grew progressively more tired  --  the sort of feeling where you spend ten hours in bed but don't feel rested.  A friend convinced me I should use that Rapid Antigen Test kit I bought last month, so I got it out, read the instructions and tried it.  You know what it said, I think.

The Public Healthline told me I'd have to isolate for seven days.  If I didn't feel better by then, give it another three days.  I didn't think that would bother me, but there's a big difference between "Monday, stayed home all day" and "Monday, had to stay home all day."

Ironically, on Saturday density and capacity limits were removed from all settings and premises, including events, shops, cafes, restaurants and lifts.    Not that this will concern me for now!   

*. 

Saturday - fourth day of isolation.  After a few days of feeling "blah", I started to feel a bit better Saturday morning, as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  I no longer felt like crawling back into bed every couple of hours.  It was fine and sunny so I actually ate lunch in the backyard after I voted by phone.  That went off without any problems, helped perhaps by the fact I'd done my homework the day before and had my preferences written down in advance.  (And the candidate I voted for got elected, so that was good.)

*

The day after the election. Mr Albanese went out for coffee Sunday morning and was mobbed by the press, not surprisingly.  What I noticed was he had his dog with him.  When was the last time we had a Prime Minister who appeared in public with  his dog?  I can't remember one.  It somehow makes the new PM seem more human and relatable.

*

 Last week's quiz nights ranged from good to mediocre. A lot depended on the human factor, it seems.  For Tuesday night, we were invited to join Minerva's Disciples at the next table (2+3=5).  We did pretty well and finished in second place..  It was a good night.

Wednesday night saw the return of the Barnstoneworth team after a long absence.  They were always unbeatable last year, and they ran right over the top of everyone this week.  Wherever they've been lately, they've kept in practice;  we came second-last.

*

A haiku to my EFTPOS card:

 Those glowing letters 

 bring an end to your shopping

 "Insufficient Funds."

*

Every time I accidentally see some of the Montreal comedy festival on television I can't believe how awful it is.  The presenter comes out every few minutes and swears at the audience.  And they laugh, even when he tells them how ignorant and stupid Canadians are.  I guess I'm not in the target audience.  My ideas about humor and comedy were laid down in the 1950s and 1960s.  

* 

These shorter days are messing with my head.  Sunday afternoon after being out for lunch I thought I'd lie down and read for a while.  I nodded off and when I woke up it was dark outside.  My watch said it was 5:30 but it took me some time to work out if it was Sunday evening or Monday morning. In the end I realized I had only been asleep for an hour, not twelve hours.  So I made something for dinner, watched some TV while I ate and went off to bed.  

*

Sadly, last week we said goodbye to Apollo, the last of the geese.  The gaggle from Julie's house have long since been rehoused at a farm up past New Norfolk, but Apollo had grown up here so I gave him a home until he got so old he'd obviously come to the end of his life.  I shall miss him.  It took a few days to get used to not hearing him whuffling in the distance when I go out to feed the chickens in the morning.  Goodby goosie  😔

water, water everywhere

 

March 13th

Drove down to Sandy Bay for an hour involving sexual immorality, lust, greed and filthy language.  Next week we plan to study the rest of chapter 3 of St. Paul's letter to the Colossians.

*

March 20th Tuesday I went out and played (badly) one game of croquet.  In the evening, there were only two of us on the team at the quiz night. Even fortified with alcohol and pain-killers we fared badly on some rounds, adequately on others, and finished in fourth place.  (The winners, as usual, were Jambag with 91/110)  But we won a bottle of wine for solving the puzzle question on the second clue.  One team member who was sick at home asked how we did it and (channeling Joe Friday) I told her "I just played a hunch. It was just a hunch. I played my luck; sometimes a hunch pays off, sometimes it doesn't, I was just lucky, I just played a hunch."  She replied "Your hunches are the stuff of legend."   I rather like that;  I might get Anita to put it on my tombstone.

*

I spent most of Wednesday resting at home but it didn't help my performance at the quiz night.  Not only did we fail to finish in the money, I scored 2/10 for the TV & Cinema round  --  possibly my worst score in memory.  I think the problem may be that more and more questions are things like "Name the Marvel super-hero that this actor will be starring as later this year on Disney+."  I am flummoxed.

*

Two months till the solstice but Thursday morning I could feel the first sting of winter in the morning air.  The sun broke through just as I was feeding the chickens so maybe it wasn't so bad for the rest if the day.  Bought more feed for the poultry this week.  I notice they seem to be using twice as much water as they did last year;  I suspect I'm watering a lot of birds and small mammals without knowing it.  As long as this doesn't include rats  -  rats can bugger off.

*

I seem to be drinking more coffee this year too.  Not that it does much good.  Yesterday I had several cups of  coffee and still dozed off twice during the day, once before lunch and once after lunch.  I keep promising myself I'll go back to having afternoon naps.  Maybe I should actually do it.

*

This year I kept running out of space on my laptop hard drive.  With one thing and another I have accumulated a lot of radio show downloads on my laptop, so I buckled down to move all my 2021 downloads onto my external drive.  It took me a while.  I had 133 GB.  Yikes!

*

Played two games of croquet on a fine Tuesday afternoon then had a rest before going out to the quiz night.  Caroline and I represented the team at this week's quiz and we started off the evening by winning a bottle of champagne for solving the puzzle question after the first clue.  The quiz master looked a little surprised when she looked at our answer sheet and said "That's right."  Things took an unexpected turn when a waiter appeared at our table with a piece of cake and said "Is this your birthday?"  Following this, the whole restaurant sang "Happy Birthday to you".  I have a good idea who was responsible for this. 

The end of the evening saw us finish third, with our friendly rivals Minerva's Disciples actually beating us to come in second.

*

The following night,  we had a complete team at the Wednesday quiz night for the first time this year, I think.  I wasn't much use in the puzzle question (which was about elements) because I got myself mixed up between Platinum and Palladium, and Lisa eventually came up with the correct answer.  But I did get to give a sardonic chuckle when the last question in the movie round asked what was the actual meaning of Rosebud in CITIZEN KANE's ending;  I said "This will separate the men from the boys in movie trivia!" 

I think we came fourth out of seven teams, with 78 points, nothing to be ashamed of.

*

May 3rd - Tuesday was a peculiar sort of afternoon.  I went over to the Croquet Club and played a couple of games;  during the second one, we were followed around the lawn by a ride-on mower that cut the grass on whichever part of the lawn we weren't actually playing on.  A little distracting. 

When I came home, I found a note from the RSPCA telling me my goose couldn't walk.  Well, sometimes he can and sometimes he can't.  I left them a message and sent them a photo I took last month of the goose standing on his own two feet.

Just before I left for the Quiz Night, I received a text message from the water company telling me there were urgent repairs being done in my street and they hoped to have the water turned on again by 10.30 tonight.   That explained the mass of lights at the end of my street when I drove off.

The quiz was quite normal though.  We came in third with 70 points, behind Walt Quizney who won with 80 points.  Jambag?  They were taking the night off apparently.

At least there were two issues of THE NEW YORKER in the mailbox today.

*

May 5th.  Thursday was proof that sometimes the weather bureau gets it right.  For about 24 hours they'd been issuing warnings about severe weather conditions Thursday night and Friday.  Coming back from the monthly meeting in the church hall, it started to drizzle before I caught the bus home.  By the time I reached my house it was raining lightly.  Then it got heavier.  I moved all the stuff in the back room off the ground just in case. 

After dinner it was coming down pretty hard.  I put on my raincoat and went out to check on the drain in the driveway, which was slow to get rid of the water.  I got one of the hoses and with some trouble set up a siphon to take away some of the lake that was rapidly forming.  Felt tired after half an hour on my hands and knees in the rain with my head in the gully trap and had to rest for a while before I went to bed.  

Then I was woken three hours later by a tremendous display of thunder and lightning.  The rain poured down, but there was nothing I could do except pull the covers over my head and hope the siphon kept running.

The next morning the rain had almost stopped and I warily opened the back door, bracing myself for a lake lapping at the back steps.  Praise be, the water was not even enough to fill a small pond.  There were plenty of signs where the water had been, though.  It's a good thing that years ago I changed from cardboard cartons to plastic crates for storing my stuff.  (Friends dropped in that afternoon and were horrified by the water damage;  I guess I had been preparing for the worst, so it didn't seem so bad to me)

*

Tuesday the plumber came bright and early to flush out the blocked drains.  Second time in 25 years we've had to do this, so I guess we can't complain.  And since it was fine and sunny today I went over to play croquet in the afternoon.  Usually I can get through a game in an hour, but not today  --  it took us an incredible 45 minutes just to get past hoop #3.  I thought of going home after we finally got hoop #12, but in the end I stayed for another (more normal) game.

Ironically the people in one suburb are without water because of a burst water-main, while the rest of the city are drying out carpets and repairing storm damage.  There's never a happy medium !

I'm spinning around, move out of my way

 

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.

*

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!

*

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.

*

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.  😒

*

SUNRISE OVER THE CROQUET LAWN, 

A HAIKU [2017]

Ready for the game

Blue, red, black and yellow orbs; 

The white hoops await.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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! 

*

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.

*

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 !

*

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

*

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....)

*

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.

*

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 !    😲

Going to hell in a handbasket?

 

I saw him get out but how did he get in there?

Every now and again I read the Bible from the lectern at my local church.  Invariably I have people telling me afterwards how well I did.  I tell you this not so you know what a fine fellow I am, but because I wondered last time whether it might be related to my interest in vintage radio.  As a member of the last pre-television generation,  I have always been a fan of "the wireless" and I wonder if my mind is more strongly focussed on the human voice and what it can do.  I'm not saying I think "I'll read this in William Conrad's voice" or "What would Orson Welles do with this?".   But maybe I'm a little more open to reading a piece of text and deciding where to put the emphasis and how to mould the text into more effective vocal pieces.

And I enjoy it.

*

February 22nd was a Tuesday, so for me that means croquet and quizzes.  The first game at the Croquet Club I started off mediocre then improved.  After the coffee break, my second game was ... not good.  (How do you spell abysmal?)  At one stage I couldn't hit the ball straight, even after my fellow players gave me a second and then a third try at it!

Rested for an hour before I went out to the quiz night and it seemed to help a bit.  Everybody was baffled by the puzzle question this week and round after round went by with nobody identifying the who-am-I person.  Finally, something rang a bell in the clue about having a pet ocelot and my wife being his manager.  "Salvador Dali," I wrote down.  "Correct!" said the quiz master, handing me a bottle of wine for being the first person to solve the puzzle.

We came in at second place with 75 points.  The winners, as usual, were the folk at the next table who sail under the name Jambag.

*

I knew this was going to happen.  I went out to check the mail box and there were a dozen copies of the weekly magazine THE NEW YORKER from last year.  Had been wondering when they were going to turn up.

*

Haiku for a pussycat: 

Eyes shut, body still;

The true meaning of "cat nap"

Plain for all to see.

*

Pleased to notice I seem to be regaining control of my handwriting.  At the end of last year, I noticed that it was getting pretty bad.  I debated whether it was due to old age, lack of practice or the first signs of some degenerative disease.  Not that I'm a hypochondriac, you understand!

*

Haiku for an organist:

Racing finger work

and flying feet producing

the thunder of pipes.

*

Saturday was a truly autumnal day (the end of February in Australia signals the transition from Summer to Autumn);  dark and damp most of the day.  I woke up early, and had my morning coffee listening to the morning news show on ABC radio  --  half devoted to the Queensland floods, the other half to the war in Ukraine.  Not a cheery start to the day.  

After venturing out into the mud to feed the animals,  I made lunch and listened to the podcast of last week's This American Life, which interviewed three people personally affected by climate change.  By this time I was feeling so pessimistic I sent money to the first two charities I saw who were sending aid to Ukraine and felt a tad better.

*

Haiku for a nuclear test 03 October 1952:

Earth moves and skies split. 

The planet groans and shudders 

at Monte Bello. 

*

Maybe after 2022 things will get better.  I hope so.

Computer writes short story

Can machines write fiction?  I put in some names and adjectives into a Fiction Generator.  This is what I got:

 Understanding Steven Willis
A Short Story

Steven Willis had always loved calm Hobart with its obedient, odd op shops. It was a place where he felt pleased.

He was an understanding, courageous, Gin drinker with chubby hands and tall eyes. His friends saw him as a regurgitated, resonant recluse. Once, he had even helped a scrawny cat recover from a flying accident. That's the sort of man he was.

Steven walked over to the window and reflected on his quiet surroundings. The sunny teased like rummaging rats.

Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the figure of Keith Curtis. Keith was a tight-fisted collector with old hands and bearded eyes.

Steven gulped. He was not prepared for Keith.

As Steven stepped outside and Keith came closer, he could see the successful smile on his face.

Keith gazed with the affection of 2656 clumsy handsome horses. He said, in hushed tones, "I love you and I want assistance."

Steven looked back, even more ecstatic and still fingering the pristine backpack. "Keith, take it easy," he replied.

They looked at each other with uncertain feelings, like two cheerful, clear cockatoos searching at a very splendid book sale, which had K-Pop music playing in the background and two generous uncles researching to the beat.

Suddenly, Keith lunged forward and tried to punch Steven in the face. Quickly, Steven grabbed the pristine backpack and brought it down on Keith's skull.

Keith's old hands trembled and his bearded eyes wobbled. He looked acquisitive, his emotions raw like a salty, selfish sunglasses.

Then he let out an agonizing groan and collapsed onto the ground. Moments later Keith Curtis was dead.

Steven Willis went back inside and made himself a nice drink of Gin.
THE END
 

Not exactly War and Peace, is it?

 

Season's Greetings

 

 

 It's Christmas Eve  --  again?  The year seems to have flown by, not helped by my effectively losing two m0nths out of the year while I had my cataract surgery.  That made the year feel shorter (for me anyway).  I have become used to my new glasses, though I have yet to make a dent in the To Be Read pile that built up while I was having problems reading much at all.

Neither have I done anything about the garden.  My friendly local goatherd brought down one of the goats I had last summer (Mr Snuggles) and he's been useful in the backyard.  One day I was looking at a head-high stand of weeds in the back garden and thought we'd probably have to get in there and slash them.  Two mornings later I went out to feed the livestock and the weeds had been reduced to a bare row of stalks.  Well done Mr Snuggles.

I seem to have lost a little weight this year.  A combination of changing some of my medications, and spending several weeks doing a lot of walking while I wasn't able to drive.  One of my friends actually told me she thought I was losing too much weight,  but I'll believe that when I get rid of this spare tire.

Living without any cats took a bit of getting used to this year.  I was asked if I would get another cat, but at my time of life it's a question that takes some considering.  Would it be fair to either of us if I took in one or more felines?  The jury is still out on that one.

We have been a bit spoiled in Tasmania by less stringent Covid precautions  --  being an island has its advantages.  It was only this month that masks were made mandatory again after the borders were re-opened to travel (even though 90% of adults are vaccinated in this state).   I was at the supermarket early today for a couple of last minute items and the car park was filled with people wearing dark glasses and masks;  it looked like the annual meeting of the Witness Protection Scheme.

Nevertheless,  I feel grateful for the support given by family, friends and the wider community over this last two years.  I extend to all my very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year  --  surely 2022 must be better !

"Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”– Walter Hagen

 

Nov 5th
Today would have been my sister's wedding anniversary.  This is a story I don't think I've told before.  When Julie was planning her wedding she was wondering what to do about decorating her hair.  I happened to mention that I always liked her look when she came in from feeding her animals with bits of elderflower blossom through her hair.  She seized on the idea and the wedding was scheduled for a time when they would be in flower.  I think of this every time I see the elderflowers in my back yard blooming.  They are in flower now, and I remember Julie every time I walk by them.  

Nov 16th
Well, things turned out OK today.  The weather stayed fine enough for us to get in two games of croquet today, and in the first game both I and Gina (my opponent) were playing extremely well.  I lost on the tie-breaker but we were both exhilarated because we had made so many great shots.  
Then at the Tuesday night quiz, we started off well and scored a consistent 7/10 or 8/10 for every round except the last one.  This resulted in us winning the night for the first time in months.    
Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Nov 17th
The Bocce Club has been pretty lucky the last few weeks but it couldn't last.  It was drizzling when I went out to buy drugs this afternoon, and by the time I got back from the pharmacy it had progressed to light rain.  Stayed home and settled in to wait for Doctor Who "Flux" on ABC television.

Nov 22nd
For the last three months I have been wondering when we'd get any more episodes of the weekly radio show One Nostalgic Weekend.  Wonder no more!  Twelve hours ago, WON posted thirteen episodes on-line at Mixcloud.  That's a lot of listening to catch up with.  (You could probably get through them in about 24 hours of non-stop listening  -- shades of Jack Bauer.)

Nov 28th
Listening to "The Mystery of Edelweiss Lodge", a Sherlock Holmes radio play,  I found myself in the unusual position of spotting the murderer for the wrong reason.  The murder had been committed using cyanide, and one of the characters had a background as a gold prospector.  Knowing that cyanide was used in gold mining, I immediately suspected him.  Alas, it turned out that while he was the murderer, his life as a prospector was only a cover story.  Holmes would have shaken his head at my ham-fisted attempt at deduction.

Dec 7th
I thought of the famous PUNCH cartoon "I keep thinking it's Tuesday" when I woke up this morning and was convinced for some time it was Sunday morning.  I eventually sorted myself out and arrived at the Croquet Club punctually for my Tuesday afternoon game.  Weather was a bit on-and-off but I was surprised when I arrived home just before it hailed for ten minutes.  It wasn't too bad, but it was enough to scare the goose out of the driveway and under the carport.

Dec 12th
After a busy few days, finished up the week at church this morning.  Communion service after a spirited sermon by Alistair, who drew on his legal background to expound on a passage from Psalm 146.  A guest speaker told us movingly about the important role foster parents can have in the life of a child.  Later I purchased some Christmas cards designed by one of our members, raising money for foreign aid (fresh water for two villages: one in India and the other in Ethiopia, Bible teaching material in Timor Leste and a new classroom for Orbus, Malawi).  I am sorry to hear that the evening service is being put on hold for the duration.  I didn't attend it myself, but I know that years ago it was a gathering place for the younger members of the congregation.
*
Who says soap operas are a waste of time?  I was at a quiz night last week and one of the questions was "What name is used in England for the board name Americans call CLUE?"  I had to smile, because just that afternoon I had been listening to an episode of The Archers and three of the main characters had been playing CLUEDO.  One point for us.
*
At the final quiz night for the year, we did better than expected.  There were nine teams, and we came in second with 83 points, just a point behind Walt Quizney.  Noteworthy quizzing from Minerva's Disciples who got a perfect score on one of their double points rounds.   And since we were eating up our prize money from this year, I ordered a Porterhouse Steak, something that I would never do normally  (and very good it was too).
*
  SKYWAVE AUDIO THEATRE March 13 2021
My Favorite Husband  - The Quiz Show 3/18/1949
Boston Blackie - Sam Fisher’s Past 3/13/1947
Fort Laramie - Hattie Pelfrey 3/11/1956
Escape - The Log of the Evening Star 3/14/1948
Suspense - Narrative about Clarence 3/16/1944
The Weird Circle - The Specter of Tappington 3/11/1944
Lots of great listening here;  I had never heard any of these episodes before.

Cup Day dining

 I saw Noel Coward's play "Blithe Spirit" again recently.  I had forgotten that the name of the [spoilers] dead wife who comes back to life is Elvira.  Some of her dialogue would fit well with "our Elvira" too.  I wonder if the Coward estate would be interested in licensing a production where Elvira plays Elvira ??
*
So the nurse comes in and says to the patient "Your insurance doesn't cover the cost of a general anaesthetic.  These are your two options:  I can hit you over the head with this wooden paddle or you can sniff this old medicine bottle. Which would you prefer?"
The patient frowns and says "Can I have both?"
"No, it's an Ether/Oar choice," she replies. :)
*
Oct 26th
This morning one of those tiresome survey-takers phoned and wanted to ask me questions about charities.  While she worked through her list of questions, delivered with almost inhuman cheerfulness, I started to wonder how easy it would be to program a computer with every possible answer I might give.  Were those pauses after every question her noting down my response or was it the system switching to a new pathway?  Finally I asked her if she was a human being or an AI.  She laughed and said "You think I'm a machine?  No, I'm not."
But of course that's just what they would say, isn't it?
*
Warm and sunny at the Croquet Club this afternoon.  I had wondered last night if it would rain on us,  but the sun beat down on us all day.  It took us three hours to play two games but our team triumphed, winning 7-5 and 7-3.  I muffed a couple of shots at the start but got my eye in later.  As Rod Serling would have said "There is a Twilight Zone that lies between the knowledge of what to do and the ability to do it..."
*
Tuesday night quiz we finished in 6th place I think, one point ahead of Minerva’s disciples on 68. Jambag won again with 80 points.
The following evening we were in fifth place with 78 points, while Barnstoneworth course) won with an eye-watering 99/110
But it was worth going if only for the slow-cooked lamb from the Beltana which was truly memorable.  (And the cute girl sitting on the other side of the restaurant, a feast for my new eyes  -  but I fear I might have received a negative answer if I had asked "Do you think fifty years is too great an age difference when dating?")

Oct 29th
The River Derwent at Macquarie Plains is currently at 1.75 metres and rising. The River Derwent at Macquarie Plains is expected to exceed the minor flood level (4.00 m) early Saturday morning. The river level is likely to peak near the moderate flood level (5.00 metres) late Saturday morning.
Minor flooding is likely along the River Derwent around New Norfolk.
The River Derwent at New Norfolk is currently at 0.88 metres and steady. The River Derwent at New Norfolk may exceed the minor flood level (2.00 m) late Saturday morning. The river level is likely to peak near 2.10 metres early Saturday afternoon with the high tide.

Nov 2nd
First Tuesday in November:  Melbourne Cup day "the race that stops a nation".  We joined a room full of folks at the Black Buffalo Hotel for lunch and some entertainment before the big race at 3 o'clock.  My horse was unfortunately scratched early  -  he didn't make it to the starting gate, much less the finish line.
One amusing incident took place at the lunch table.  My friend Mick is a meat and potatoes man -- literally!  He told the waiter he wanted no other vegetables with his meal.  His food arrived while he was getting some drinks and I noticed big serves of cauliflower and broccoli on his plate.  I hastily transferred the broccoli to my plate and the cauli to our mutual friend Adrian's plate.  Mick returned a moment later while we were calmly tucking into our vegetables and he was none the wiser!

Nov 3rd
The Tuesday Night quiz was a non-event because we didn't have enough people to field a team.  Wednesday we had a team, but after a good start (got 9 points on the puzzle question and a perfect score on the food & drink round) we crashed and burned in the second half, finishing 9th in a 10-horse race.  Oh well, surely we cannot do any worse next week ...  can we?

Spring has sprung

 Even the Banksia Rose thinks Spring has arrived.

 

Sunday 2nd October

Welcome
Opening Verses
1. Rejoice 51 Holy, Holy Holy - Organ
Prayer of Confession
2. Rejoice 251 I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say - Organ
Community News
Prayer Meeting
Friends of Mission: Speaker Geoff Powell of Barnabas Fund
Kids Talk - James
Pastoral Prayer - Jasmin
3. Holy Spirit Living Breath of God - piano
Bible Reading -  Isaiah 32 & Luke 7:18-35 - Michael
Sermon: Hope and Despair for Planet Earth - Alistair
4. Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me - piano
Closing Verses
5. The Steadfast Love of the Lord - piano

After church, 50th anniversary concert of the Theatre Organ Society's local branch today.  A good crowd turned up to the Collegiate school hall to see the Wurlitzer being played, to welcome guests including Chris Waterhouse, to watch awards being presented and to hear messages from people overseas like Nigel Ogden and Simon Gledhill.  I was sorry to hear that Alan Rider has passed away  -- his long-running radio show Theatre Organ Showcase was a useful outlet for promoting TOSA for many years.

Oct 5th
Tuesday the Croquet Club wasn't quite as busy in the afternoon, possibly due to an indifferent weather forecast;  in spite of that I spent most of the day in a short sleeve shirt.  First time I remember playing on a lawn 15 minutes after it had been mowed though.
Went in to pick up some office supplies that I hadn't been able to get when I was off the road for two months.  There are some things you just can't carry home on the bus.
The quiz night this week wasn't a great success.  The puzzle question was particularly elusive, and some of the other rounds were mediocre [1/10 for music for example].  We finished up with 68 points, one point more than our friendly rivals at the Minerva's Disciple table.  The Jambag team romped home yet again with 89 points.

Oct 14th
Took Helena to the Playhouse to see the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit.  It is many years since I saw it, and I was surprised I had forgotten nearly all of the third act.   Good cast included Petr Divis, the son of my old GP.
Just as well we didn't leave it any later  --  the next day the state government announced a three-day lockdown to control a Covid scare.

Oct 19th
I've never played croquet wearing a mask before, but there was no way of getting out of it this week.  At first I felt like an astronaut playing the game on Mars, my sunglasses kept threatening to fog up because of the breath from under the mask.  Not so bad though  -  won the first game comfortably (7-2) and lost the second on a tie-breaker (6-7).
Contestants were a bit thin on the ground at the Tuesday night quiz, probably because people didn't want to mask up for a whole evening. Walt Quizney won with 78 points, while we finished in fifth place with 70  (did I mention there were only six teams?).

Oct 21st
The Hobart Show holiday is notoriously unpredictable and often turns out to be wet or miserable.  But once again this year it was warm and sunny.  I sat out on the patio and ate lunch while browsing through the latest issues of The Phantom comic book.

Oct 22nd
Met up with Keith on Friday for a visit to the Salvo store and lunch across the road.  We walked in to be told they had just announced the mandatory masking period was over  -- made eating lunch a lot more fun.  Keith tells me that as part of his spring cleaning phase last week he was reading three books a day to try and reduce his To-be-read pile.  I don't know how he does it.
When I got home,  I had a cup of coffee and looked through some of the stuff Keith had passed on to me,  including a 1962 edition of the children's annual KNOCK OUT  (not a pristine copy, but some interesting strips and stories, inluding one of my personal favorites Battler Britton).   

New eyes, old thoughts

 

Saturday Sept 11th

My first try at typing with my "new eyes"  --  last week was difficult, this week seems to be mostly guesswork.  Just as well I learned to touch type as a teenage student.   It will be a few weeks before I can get new prescription lenses.
*
Home again after my recuperative trip to the seaside.  The last day we went for a stroll along the beach and I commented  "What a pretty little creek emptying into the sea," to be told it was actually a storm drain outlet.  In the evening I met up with an old school friend and we caught up over dinner before he gave me a lift back to my house (where all was quiet except the goose who came out looking for supper).
*
Today's date reminds me of that evening twenty years ago when we were settling in at the day's end.  My mother was already in bed and I said goodnight to my sister Julie.  I walked into my roo and flicked the radio on to see what was on the late show.  A moment later I appeared in the door of Julie's room and said "There's something happening in New York.  I'm going to switch the TV on."  From memory, that was just before the second plane hit the towers.  The rest, as they say, is history.  The next morning, as I walked down the front path to pick up the morning paper, a light plane flew overhead.   I flinched.  
*
Nightmares aren't my thing, but now and again I have an odd dream.  Saturday I woke up from a strange one, filled with elements that could have come from a B-grade horror movie.  I'll spare you the details except for one exchange I recall:
"Think it's safe to look in the refrigerator?"
"Probably not..."
The dream I had the following night was much better.  A picaresque spy thriller that even included cameo appearances by two of my friends as themselves.
*
I was asleep when the phone rang.  As I reached for it,  my eye fell on the clock and I thought "Who could be phoning me at 4.30 a.m.?"  Just for a second I had forgotten I was taking an afternoon nap and it was actually 4.30 p.m. !
*
Walking back into town after church on Sunday morning, I wasn't thinking about much except where I was going to eat lunch before going home.  Then I thought the woman walking up the street looked familiar.  While my brain was dredging up the memory, I heard a voice "Mee-kal!" and the woman threw her arms around me.  "Isobel!  Great to see you again," I said.  It was only the second time I'd seen her this year, and that time she'd been driving east and I'd been walking west so it had been a very short conversation.  We chatted for a while, then I walked on, this time with a spring in my step.  Sometimes it's a nice thing to live in a small city.
*
Tuesday 14th Sept
Out this morning to walk to the Sunderland Street clinic for my quarterly blood test.  Walked back to the Croquet Club and played for two hours, then walked home.  Rested while doing some research for tonight, then walked to the Quiz Night.  No wonder I've lost 5kg this month.
(We didn't do so badly at the quiz, coming third with 81 points  --  those braniacs at the Diamond Set Stickpin table came first again.)  June said to me she thought my handwriting had improved since my eye operation;  I told her that since I couldn't see what I was writing, it was all down to muscle memory.

Wednesday night quiz was a perfect storm  --  but I mean that in a good way.  We solved the puzzle question on the first clue [10 points], got a perfect score on our bonus round [20 points] and romped through the first half of the evening ahead of the pack.   At the end we won with 97 points, our best score ever  --  we even beat Barnstoneworth and Don Quizote (yay!).  😁

Saturday 17th Sept
  I went out for lunch, meeting Keith Curtis at his favorite restaurant  (which just happens to be across the road from the Salvo's op shop).  Between the food, fellowship and fossicking, it was an entertaining afternoon and the walking there and back was good exercise in the fresh air.  Felt much better this evening than I did when I got up today, eating roast beef while I listened to a Sherlock Holmes radio play "The Two Watsons" by M.J. Elliot.
https://harrynile.com/product/the-two-watsons/ly
Steve Ashley's podcast was especially interesting to me this week, since it featured the music of Jelani Eddington who visited Hobart some years ago.  After he performed on our Wurlitzer, I chatted with him and asked him if he thought Cole Porter and George Gershwin would have been surprised to know they were still being heard in the 21st century.  He shook his head and said "Their music is timeless."
https://www.hotpipes.eu/half-hour-broadcast-333/

Sunday 19th Sept
After the morning service at church, we stayed on for lunch.  Something we haven't been able to do for a long time.  Fortunately the state Covid regulations allow us to have up to 64 people in the church hall, so we had more than enough room.  And as usual with a Presbyterian function there was food to spare!
I came home and slept for two hours afterwards. Got up for a light dinner, then tuned in ABC-TV to watch the final episode of THE NEWSREADER and a show about the giant armadillo narrated by David Attenborough (or was it a profile of David Attenborough narrated by a giant armadillo?  I must be tired).

20th Sept
Monday morning I went out for a walk.  This being Springtime in Tasmania, I took a hat in case it rained, dark glasses in case it was sunny, boots in case it was muddy, a scarf in case it was windy and my walking stick in case I got the wobbles.

In the afternoon I was testing out my stop-gap magnifying glasses and read most of an issue of the PEOPLE'S FRIEND magazine.  Unfortunately that included part 1 of a three part serial, so I spent quite a while sorting through the piles of unread magazines from this year.  Did I locate the issues I needed?  Yes, in the end.

Tuesday 21st Sept
Tried to catch up on some paperwork on the laptop, then walked over to the Croquet Club.   14 there this afternoon and I think about the same in the morning games.  I played reasonably well in my two games, though my new eyes have not improved my standard of play that much.  Walked home and rested up for a couple of hours for the quiz night.
We didn't do badly.  The puzzle question took us a while, but we did get perfect scores for two of the other rounds.  At 89 points, I thought we had a chance, but we came third and Jambag romped home again with a score of 95.

Friday 24th Sept
Cold, wet and windy for the equinox.  I think the ambient temperature was down around zero when the man from the Auto Club replaced my battery this afternoon.  With that, and the form my doctor signed yesterday, I can finally get back on the road.  
In the evening, sat inside where it was warm and dry, eating dinner and watching the DVD of MURDER CALL, one of my favorite cop shows of the 1990s.  (It gave rise to a catchphrase in our family "Look out, she's having a Lucy Bell moment"!)

Saturday 25th Sept
After lunch, cautiously took the car out for a spin.  Until I checked the calendar, hadn't realized it was two months since I'd been behimd the wheel!  It was actually a bit difficult to get back into the way of it;  when you've been driving for fifty years, it becomes almost automatic, and having to think about what you're doing takes a bit of effort.  By the time I got home, I felt a bit more comfortable, though I won't be driving in traffic for some time yet.

LAXDALE HALL [1953]  Raymond Huntley leads a parliamentary delegation sent to a remote community in the Scottish Highlands where the residents are protesting at their poor links with the outside world  -- the more things change, the more they stay the same, eh? I don't usually get a chance to watch old movies on a Saturday afternoon,  but I commend 9Gem for giving me a chance to see this charming old flick based on an Eric Linklater novel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxdale_Hall
*
Sunday some of us went out to lunch in Bellerive after church. A little surprised to find that one of our group had a connection to the Wednesday quiz night  --  her son is part of the Barnstoneworth team who keep beating us every week.  Yeah, I know, it's a small world.
*
I've always been intrigued by authors who collaborate. How does that work?  Do they take turns at the typewriter or do they talk through the story in detail before they write it down?  Well, I now know about one writing team.  A book of the old Sherlock Holmes radio scripts co-written 7 5 years ago by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher for Mutual’s weekly radio program  -- Throughout their Holmes broadcast collaboration, Green would pen most of the dialogue while Boucher would write the plots and the twist endings.  [THE LOST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Ken Greenwald]

Tuesday I fitted in one game of croquet  -- it was helpful not having to walk to and from the club.  The quiz night that evening came to naught, because for once we couldn't get enough people to make up a team.  I stayed home doing a bit of writing and reading, which is still a bit difficult because the cheap glasses I am using at the moment give me little flexibility, I am anchored to exactly the same distance all the time I use them. (It can be positively dangerous if you use them while you're standing up, because if you look down the floor isn't in focus!)

The Wednesday night quiz was a bit better, at least we had three on the team.  Got off to a good start, solving the puzzle question on the first clue  for ten points.  (Thanks to my abundant store of Hollywood trivia.)  We faltered in some of the later rounds, scoring 4/10 in both music and television.  We finished in third place, defeated by (of course) Barnstoneworth.
*
I saw two consecutive items on the TV news last week.  The first one said that the size and number of crocodiles in the north of Australia had increased dramatically.  The second said that the Tasmanian cricket team had left Queensland abruptly.  There didn't seem to be a link between the two stories but you can't help wondering ...
*
I seem to be tired most days these last few weeks. In the morning I lie there, telling myself it's time to get up.  Maybe I should try and take an afternoon nap whenever possible.  I don't want to go back to those days a couple of years ago when I used to doze off after breakfast and not wake until lunch.  Being a septuagenarian is no excuse for nodding off all the time when you're at home alone.

 

eyes of the beholder

 

Thursday 2nd September was an interesting if tiring day.  Rose at dawn for an 8 a.m. doctor's appointment,  attended the monthly meeting at the church hall at lunchtime,  went out to see the Agatha Christie play THE STRANGER at The Playhouse in the evening and finished the day hunting a rogue rooster in the dark in the backyard. Put out the week's trash.  Then a phone call from Keith Curtis.
 I'll go to bed now, I thought.
*
Friday 3rd Sept
Woke up still feeling tired from Thursday's busy activities.  I was just finishing my second coffee when some friends arrived to take me to the supermarket.  But first -- lunch.  Agreeing on a venue took quite a bit of time, involving a lot of driving around, discussion and phoning.  We finally ended up at the Carlyle Hotel, which was a good choice because the spacious dining room meant we were able to enjoy our meal without worrying about what people at other tables were discussing.
*
A friend asked me how I was doing in the between-eyes period.  Could I read?  Watch TV?
Well, it's a bit difficult for me to read at the moment, but I can do it if I concentrate.  Typing is not easy because my eyes tell me that the letters on the left side of the keyboard are a different distance to the ones of the right hand side  --  even touch typists have their limitations.  Television is fine, everything more than a yard away is in focus, but if I'm reading captions or subtitles I often have to close one eye to stop seeing them double.  After Wednesday I will have both eyes the same so at least I won't be seeing double anymore and it will be a lot easier to walk down steps!
*
Sunday 5th Sept
Even without the rooster, I woke up early on Sunday morning and got ready for church.  Helped that I didn't have to carry supplies for the kitchen with me this month when I got on the bus.  The preacher gave a considered sermon on the subject of the two cities on the plain, mentioning fire and brimstone without dwelling on it.  I had lunch in town, then took the bus home, went to bed and slept for four and a half hours (That ties in nicely with something I once read that said we sleep in multiples of 45 minute cycles.)
Made something to eat and watched THE NEWSREADER on ABC TV, a history of the 1980s from the viewpoint of television reporters.  It's not NEWSFRONT, but it has extra appeal because I recall all those things happening.
*
Tuesday 7th Sept
Croquet was a bit of a mess for me today.  I got there on time for the first afternoon game, but because of the windy weather and my increasingly unreliable eyesight, I lost 7-2 and decided to go home at half time.  I sat out on the patio, poured myself a cold drink and read some of the new Harley Quinn collection that kicks off a new partwork for comics fans.
In the evening, the Tuesday night quiz team was down to three of us, and we did notably not-so-good in a couple of rounds (music 3/10, sport 2/10).  There were 13 teams playing - unlucky for some! - and  we finished 8th with 64 points, beaten by Minerva's Disciples with 70.  The winners were Walt Quizney who scored 81.  Just wait till next week when I have both eyes working!
*
I find it a little unsettling at the milestone tomorrow brings.  All my life I have been near-sighted, but that ends tomorrow morning with my second cataract operation.  I suspect it may take me a long time to stop trying to read small print by holding it close to my eyes!  Once the eyes settle down, I can go back to the optometrist and get a new set of prescription glasses;  till then, reading or writing,  e-mailing or texting, will rely on a pair of $5 magnifying glasses from the discount store.

snow

Tuesday 17th Aug
Looked out my front door after two or three days of rain and was surprised to see snow-capped Mount Wellington towering above the city against a blue sky with a few white clouds.  The sunny afternoon brought out twenty of us to play croquet and I won 7-5 and lost 5-7... so not too bad.  
Likewise the quiz night went pretty well.  We scored 88 points and came in second,  behind Jambag (again) with their 94 point score.  If I were the stewards, I think I'd have them swabbed.  And congrats to Minerva's Disciples who came in third,  thanks to answering the puzzle question in the first round and getting a perfect score on a double-points round.

 Wed 18th Aug
Tired after yesterday and didn't feel that well this morning.  A bit better after lunch, managed to fill out the medical forms for next week before I went out to buy drugs.  After I got from the pharmacy, rested up for a little while before going out to the Wednesday night quiz.  There were ten teams there, but since our old rivals Barnstoneworth were absent we got third place even though we only made 46 points.
Still having trouble getting my blood sugar down.  I had a bowl of soup at 8 pm and had nothing to eat the rest of the night, but thirteen hours later my BGL reading was still 10.2 which is a bit disappointing since I've been getting more exercise while I haven't been driving.  :(

Thursday 19th Aug
Sleepy in the afternoons;  makes me wonder if I will even need sedation for my procedure next week !
Tussles with trying to log into one of my accounts  ("Either the user name of the password is incorrect") then took a walk down to the shops.  On the way I noticed two places with what looked like Christmas lights in their windows, though August is a bit early for the Yuletide decorations.  On a related topic, I see that Coles are now selling what they label "Not Cross Buns", presumably a reaction to the backlash in some quarters about them selling Hot Cross Buns in January in recent years.

Friday 20th Aug
On local radio's morning show this week,  Leon Compton asked his listeners whether they still read comics (or graphic novels).
I was pleased to hear the first caller was a proud Carl Barks fan who is still reading Uncle Scrooge at the age of 66.  What I thought was that we are not breeding a new generation of comics readers.  When I was growing up in the 1960s every newsagency had big racks of comics, all types and categories.  Kids bought them avidly and traded them wit their friends.  But now if you look a.round, all you will find are The Phantom and The Simpsons usually. Comics are something expensive that you buy in a specialty shop.  As an experiment a couple of years ago I asked the counter staff in several shops why they didn't stock comic books;  most of them were baffled by the question, though one replied he didn't know if distributors still handled them.   The 21st century only seems to see comic books as seed material for blockbuster movies.  

I may have mentioned this a while back,  but "the cloud" can be a mixed blessing.  One of the New York internet radio stations 920 WON puts its programs up on Mixcloud so you can listen back to anything you missed.  And that's a good thing, we'd all agree on that.  But they're only a small operation, I surmise, and they can't always spare the time to post things promptly.  This was obvious last month when in one day they posted ten episodes of their weekly program "One Nostalgic Weekend."  That's twenty hours of listening made available in one fell swoop!

Tuesday 24th Aug
Cold night followed by a fine and sunny day brought the croquet players out in big numbers today.  We've had to start having both morning and afternoon games, the demand has been so high. In the evening, another big turn out for the quiz night with twelve teams taking part;  we worked hard on the answers and scraped into third place


Friday 27th Aug
Back from two days staying with friends at the beach after my first cataract procedure.  No pain and a vast improvement in vision in the right eye.  Even the eyedrops get easier with My hosts were very attentive and even their dog made me welcome  -- if I was in my bedroom with the door closed he'd come along and woof because he wanted to come in.
I thought I had come through it pretty well, but when I got home this afternoon I suddenly felt really tired and had to lie down for an hour before I could summon up the energy to do anything at all.  The list of things I need to do next week and next month doesn't help.

Favorite radio show title of the wee --How the west was strung - WDCB

Sunday 29th Aus
After church walked back into the city for lunch before taking the bus home.  In the mall I passed a man walking a large shaggy German Shepherd.  "What a beautiful dog," I said and held my hand out for the dog to sniff.  He whuffled for a second, then began licking the back of my hand.  "He doesn't usually do that" said the surprised owner.
Ha!  I could have told him some stories about my sister.  One time she was on Bondi Beach and someone went past with a German Shepherd.  Suddenly the dog stopped and put its head on Julie's lap.  "I didn't do anything," declared Julie to her boyfriend.  He just sighed and said "I know."   :)

Monday 30th Aug
Tasmanian author wins prize for Best Crime Novel for Children.  The award went to A CLUE FOR CLARA by Liam Tanner.  The detective is a chicken...(Somewhere my sister Julie is smiling.)

Tuesday 31sr Aug
Last day of winter and it was very windy at croquet club  (my sister always said to beware the equinoctial gales).  In spite of that, enough people there to use three lawns.  I won 7-5 and lost 4-7, which isn't bad for someone who was seeing double if he forgot to close one eye while hitting the ball.   My  cap blew off for the second time this month but at least I managed to retrieve this one from where  it landed against the boundary fence. It will be interesting to see how I go in two weeks time after I've had my other cataract done.  Watch out!

Nine teams at quiz night.  The three of us applied ourselves to the challenge and ended up in fourth place with 62 points -- there was a three-way tie for third, something I haven't seen before.  The winners were Diamond Set Stickpin with 91 points.  I wasn't too disappointed with our score  --  we got 8/10 for TV/Cinema and 7/10 for Art/Literature.  I was amused when the final question showed a photo from the THUNDERBIRDS television series while the theme tune was played  --  "Name this British TV show."  Did anyone not get that  I wonder.

beware the eyes of winter

Tuesday 3rd August  
Another busy day at the Croquet Club, with 19 playing this afternoon.   I had two games, losing 6-7 and 2-7.  The trend continued at the Tuesday quiz night, where we had trouble answering the puzzle question till the sixth round, and difficulties with most of the regular rounds.  We  ended up in seventh place with 77 points.  Kate the quizmaster was disappointed before the start because they'd moved our table away from its prime position next to her;  we were disappointed at the end when the scores were given out.  We must do better next week;  we couldn't do worse, surely!
Wednesday night we started off with a bang, solving the puzzle question on the first clue -- we were  in third place at half-time.   We didn't quite keep up the pace in the second half and our 79 points only got us into sixth place.  Those brainiacs at the Don Quizote table romped home with 98 points out of a possible 110.

Friday 6th August
Cataract surgery in three weeks.  The strange thing is that now I have accepted my eye problems, I feel that suddenly my sight is much worse than it was last month.  Maybe my mind has been suppressing my problems until I accepted them.  I remember that many years ago my sister Julie was told she should wear glasses.  She got glasses but seldom wore them, almost as though she overcame it by willpower.  She did make an exception for live theatre, where she would use a pair of fold-up binocuars that I think were made for sports fans to carry in their pockets.

Monday 9th August
I don't get into the city that often this year, so today after I'd taken care of a couple of errands I took a stroll around.  (I had hoped to find the new Teresa Ashby paperback but no luck)  It was surprising how many of the shops in the central block were now closing at 3 pm  --  when I was a youngs,ter the whole city centre was open till 6 o'clock.  But that was a long time ago.
Tonight's MARPLE episode on TV was "Towards Zero", which I didn't bother watching all the way through.  I recall seeing it at the Playhouse Theatre in 1971.  And I have seen the television version more recently than that.

Tuesday 10th August
Croquet goes from strength to strength lately.  This afternoon we had 24 players which meant we had the maximum number of people on the three lawns  (unless we brought out the third color balls, something that rarely happens).  That's the biggest crowd I can remember seeing on a Tuesday.  
By the time I walked to the club, played croquet for two hours then walked home,  I decided I needed to rest for a while before this evening's quiz.
When I felt able to walk as far as the pub quiz, I set off at a steady pace and actually arrived before the team members who were driving there.  We set our minds to the questions, and managed to work out most of them, although the puzzle question demonstrated how little we knew about Madagascar.  Our 75 points put us in fourth place, while those perennial prizewinners Jam Bag romped in with 90 points.  (And thanks to Caroline for giving me a lift home.)
The Wednesday night quiz, however, saw us sneak into second place with 81 points, behind those brain-boxes next door at the Barnstoneworth table who hit the front with 91 points.   

I'm still shaking my head over the question about best-sellers by living authors;  who would have thought Danielle Steele had sold more books than J.K. Rowling?

Wednesday 11th August
Wet and windy this afternoon.  I had been thinking of checking out newsgents in the northern suburbs to see if I could. find that new novel by Teresa Ashby.  Instead I stayed home and did some serious googling.  I ended up finding the book was available from a web site in the UK, though it cost me three times what I would have paid if I had just walked into a shop and picked it up from the shelf.  There's a cloud to every silver lining.  

According to philosopher Alain de Botton, the news of our times is predominantly an agent of confusion, envy, purposeless excitement and needless terror.
We're still among the first generations ever to have had access to news on the current scale and we're struggling to make sense of the deluge of information.
In a wiser, more mature society, we'd still engage with the news on a daily basis; but we'd have clearer and more ambitious ideas about what we needed it for.   
 Amen to that.  Similar ideas seem to have been on the mind of radio presenter Sabra Lane at the ABC. After a long time with AM (thirty minutes of bad news every weekday morning) she has branched out to publish a weekly newsletter The Bright Side which will give the public constructive and edifying news items and links.  About time somebody did this.
 
Sunday 15th August  
A wild morning.  I set off for church on Sunday morning, hoping the gale-force winds would ease off but nope.  When I got halfway up Macquarie Street, I could hardly make any progress walking into the wind.  One particularly strong gust blew off my good waterproof cap and sent it cartwheeling down the street;  I hope whoever finds it gives it a good home.  Fortunately a passing good samaritan stopped and insisted on giving me a lift.  In a typical Hobart circumstance,  it turns out her mother is the friend of a friend!
After a birthday lunch for a friend from church, someone gave me a lift home and I stayed in the rest of the day, listening to non-stop rain and wind outside.  Spring is coming, but not yet.