the joy of vegetable soup...the estatic...    simple binary form soup is very tasty but in compound time almost any ingredients may be added.  Parsnips are in, turnip, celery and celery leaves may provide enough sodium before they are retrieved or not, sprinkling of  rice, quinoa which still has to been checked each time it is reached for as to what exactly it is. 

 Oriental flavours can transcribe the soup and orchestrate it with colour and warmth you as maestro....

Old pop song..... How much is that doggie in the window? The one with the waggerly tail....

Anyway, the shop in Hunter Street Mall is very successful with retro print textiles used in handmade items. Interesting masks are stocked. The dog keeps the seamstress company. Front paw is bandaged.

During July the covid infections increased in Victoria despite the usual preventative measures in place and every effort at control. Concerns are growing. The infections have been as high as the 700s daily. 

Where the Newcastle Knights play league this afternoon. Steady rain is a pain.

Pacific Maru in Newcastle Harbour.  A big coal carrier.

Lyric theatre, Newcastle. Only both ends remain and must be for preservation. Challenging.

Classic British pictures could be seen there on Friday nights on their release. J Arthur Rank and the male striking a blow in black and white.

The Strand, Lyric, Victoria, Tatler, Civic and Royal Cinemas were in the city.

The past is simultaneous with the present 

 Citroen deux chevaux and Picasso and surrealism. Or is it cubism? 

Service NSW dept has superceeded the old motor registry office demolished recently in Parry street. Difficult to place the original office.

Earlier on traffic arrangments were made at a small old miners cottage style police station on corner of Scott and Pacific near where the new light rail terminates. 

A police person took a nervous applicant on a driving test round the inner city. Driver hand signals (not indecent) were de regueur along with trafficator use. 

The budding motor cyclist was simply asked to ride a short way down the street and back again under observation. So licence fees are life long till a person gets 'really old' when the fees cease.

The dept advisors will tell the elderly to use the safe and quiet routes. Really? Bluff.  Choose that advice and lose more driving skills. The elderly can to be accepted on the roads like everyone else. 

But still everything in moderation it pays to be cautious. So irksome. True the elderly get 'wiped out' and there are age related shortcomings - maybe like everyone else. A safe return from every journey is not lost on me.  The age statistics would be interesting and very scary. 

Masks sewn in a shop in Hanbury Street.

 a cynical streak

Seen.. latest 'iso' rule: 'please wait to be omitted'

Sea spray or waves reached close to homes on Stockton foreshore during rough seas that rose over a nature strip onto the road.

Newcastle Baths were swept by large waves, some reaching the upper deck. The water was way deeper than usual.

While only on the edge of an East Coast Low  rough seas resulted and at high tide Wednesday afternoon the water was threatening and eating away at the edges of the suburb of Stockton. In the second photo the sandy beach reappears in between the big waves. 

the Newcastle scene

Port of Newcastle.... near restful waters he leads me. ...the plague has been calmed locally......the lull before the storm?

Newcastle, mid winter and mid virus.

Does education narrow the mind?  The cost of an Arts degree has risen maybe making it more of a sort of luxury. 

 How could a scholar confine themselves to one discipline? Engineering..science..business or the like. It is dismaying. Narrow.

Very often one would really like to hear again 

whats behind the latest world movements, ethical questions,  histories and much more from some obscure unfathomable thinkers likely found in arts.  It is just a pipe dream.

Some years ago, 'lived experience' and related theories sounded very interesting. Not widely liked  -  i bet. But there is gradual change and 'lived experience' is bandied all around. 

The virus is moving in with 134 cases that are of serious concern in Melbourne and the whole city is locked down.

coronavirus testing.  In the last two weeks, infections have occured in Melbourne and some suburbs and high rise are in lockdown. Today 127 cases from record breaking testing rates with 2660 total active infections.

The border will close tomorrow between NSW and Victoria. 

Social distance, hand washing, isolation while ill are uppermost responsibilities as well as mask wearing and heeding regulations about gathering. 

wind turbine....this blade has an edge. A bird expert has spoken about huge loss of bird life caused by the blades. It is understood that birds in flight look down and to the sides more  than ahead.

Wind turbine blades then bolts that hold things together.

Nationally, the incidence of Canovirus is minimal except for 288 active infections in Melbourne which is under vigorous investigation.

An innovation is making it easier to test in the community. An alternative saliva virus test has been introduced in a small number of cases. The test developed in Melbourne at Doherty Institute and validated by overseas researchers processes a small amount of saliva by the same method as the existing throat PCR test according to a local principal  researcher today. Comparison to the throat swab test is in process.

  The throat test itself is not totally effective yet best there is while the saliva test is 87% effective due to fewer virus in saliva but is easier and useful in those who have objections to testing or have other difficulties. The processing is done within three hours of collection.

wind generators. Shipment to Port of Newcastle. Ultimately a whole field of towering alternative power generators destined for, believe it or not, Collector in  southern NSW.  

do we live in the garden of Eden?

SBS TV showed the film The Sacrament about a cult that ended in mass tragedy. 

The leader was adept at manipulation .  In that way Trump is very reminiscent of him even down to the thousands who fail to survive the pandemic due largely to mis management.

Unlike criticism of China for spreading false info, the USA escapes criticism for being way out of line. 

from the urban scene....

Pompeo announces that attention will be given to the wronged international journalists.

Will he really try when journalists get a bad rap from the white house? 

Good reporting is all there is against the orchestration of news by the sly and sinister manipulator president Trump.

solar energy is a winner.....

BLM is a very important issue. It demands support.  Better to protest in the future, not during a pandemic. 

 Australians have died in custody, it is a horror which will continue to be addressed and justice will develope. Although urgency is due we are not forced to conflate the two situations right now.  We are not Americans.

Seems disappointing that we  toed the line at the heigth of the lock down but now act without prudence. Objections around freedom to protest dont hold water somehow the reasoning does not work.

  If more of the efforts to hold a protest, no matter what, were put into sustained constructive work to overcome injustices for the Aborigines then all would be better off and safer.

first nation attire....possum skin cloak.  The making of this once commonly worn item was revived for wearing at an important civic  ceremony in more recent times.  Worn from birth until buriel the cloakes were marked with the totem and country and other points about the wearer.

An official objection will follow the mishandling of Australian journalists reporting the riots in USA.

  Why would Trump et al be concerned? Journalists are mocked and supressed. We know the truth is called fake news by Trump.

 Reporting is important but an issue low on the agenda in a nation at war in a pandemic.  

 Much bigger racial and health issues are one disaster while Trump and administration are another. With friends like that....

 China will probably be a semi democracy in some years time, the Chinese people will choose change of government and human rights. Do we need to stand off and get in scraps with them while tolerating an equally alien mystery that is the USA.

hear the bells chiming for you and me...

It looks best when TV presenters wear outfits appropriate for the season.  Their appearance sends a chill when summer clothes are worn in winter.

 But i guess that winter clothes become unnecessary when the work environment is warm. 

It is just as well to spare some energy consumption and spare the creation of carbon emissions. 

arbor update.....simple message but a difficult purposeful choice of direction...

will i be home before the sun sinks below the horizon?

Imagine if nations asked the UK or USA why they failed to better manage the pandemic? For them to be answerable for many thousands of deaths. This is just as  important as the origins of the virus.  It would not make much difference whether they knew about the origins or not their management was below standard. 

Would the UK and USA be irritated, threaten to end trade, belittle others, deflect blame and all the rest of it. You bet you.

Not on every stroll we take do we meet a python!  Out of 'iso'.  Out of reptile hibernation in this chiily season. A Darwin carpet snake. Likes a diet of small animals. Beautiful skin.

National tally of covid is in small numbers under ten.  Lock down is eased with caution in minor aspects while keeping up usual distance, clean hands, testing, and isolation during  illness.

Australiana

a well wisher pinned these small 'pockets' to many trees in this park.  They held a little message that offered good advice or solace. And check out the bark on this tree.

'hug me' was a variation. 

'Challenges are opportunities for me to grow.  The more i learn the more equipped i am to handle whatever situations come up.' 

Good intentioned but these cute messages are a source of cross infection.

still counting

Open space, park, sports area vivid with squeeky green grass and with attention from  workers spreading top soil and mowing. Not too long before sports are resumed after lock down when very gradual easing of restrictions are commenced. 

P K on ABC tv mornings would know when sport resumes as he is a fine sport encyclopaedia.

Everything is relative as to our hardships. Cash straped and joblessness is very  significant other than that it is concerning to find a lot of problems and fragility because of the lock down. We have become too genteel or something. Or is it the media presentation?

National tally nearly 7000 and growth of spread is very diminished. So far so very good. 

Playground is out of bounds.  No crowds of little cycalists or climbers having fun. Very obiedient.

Covid total 6700 nationally.  New cases have low rates. Testing is stepped up almost for all and sundry. CovidSafe App is in use since Sunday and use is growing voluntarily.  

 If there is no secondary flare up we could share medical supplies with others.

  Did the supermarkets want high demand to develope?  It was strange that they had little foresight and failed to begin rationing far earlier than they did and their logistics put to better use. Same with the upswing in postal services.  With shops closed and people wanting items for the lock down more mail orders would naturally follow and swamp postal services.

Would be surprising if we dont go back to how we were and drop various changes. Time will tell.

 

prevention

Raw onion: a germ killer strategically placed on the counter at a take away. A Chinese remedy. 

Governments express complaints about the Middle Kingdom and its response to the virus. Many stuff ups are recorded in the USA and the UK, day after day their shortcomings are identified as to timely preperation for the pandemic or its management. We failed to test a whole ships full of passengers and crew.  We are all guilty.

Our government spoke up at the worst time as it supported the words of Trump. How could we? He is dangerous and erratic.

Nationally the spread of covid 19 is minimal. Praise be.

casualty!

plaster...fracture....the cast was rejigged with a pink plaster which is an abrasive material. Use of an abrasive material is very strange. Little children are seen with extensive casts applied. Imagine how unpleasant it is to scrape their tender skin on the cast. Or their carers skin.. Or their siblings.

Bandaging up the cast is my next move for a softer finish. Old style white plaster is smooth.

These casts are another medical mystery. Imagine the probable defensive  reaction if one was to mention this abrasiveness after all there has been good care and is doing well. What more!

Current deserved praise of health carers may lead to increased defensiveness and know-it-all-ness.

 I had a flu vacc and at no stage was any hand washing done by the doctor. Another doctor walked around

 and out to the small que on footpath in the same gloves no coverings or mask tho virus affected were excluded in theory.

Total with disease nationally 6600 and new infections are minimal. WOW.

asleep at the wheel

unlimited time and money go into investigating a cruise liner and the virus.  It is very questionable value for money.  Regardless of anything a reasonable person would monitor the passengers for disease on arrival. There is no getting around that. All the authorities failed.

Number with disease up in 6000s. Rate has slowed.

The BCG is under research to see what protection it offers in current times. Is a  vaccine for TB. Does it last a lifetime, hope so as I received this quite some time ago? It leaves a circular scar and years ago young migrants often had the mysterous mark on the upper arm.

days of our lives

X

xray reception with more than enough alerts about virus.

National tally of those with disease 5800 and the inctease has slowed.

We hear complaints about the response and lock down, look at Bolt, outragous words in News Corp. All they need to do is look at USA. Is that what they want?

Remember when. So far, I am fortunate and aok over lock down yet knowing i am not risk free.

Good policies are introduced. Lately, a government that you would dream of. What's the catch? A decade of the Lib mantra. And tightness on the less wealthy. Oh!

"Make America Great"  what a situation for every sane American shocked by their rediculous president and his misled followers by his insane popularity and the massive pandemic.

Real Estate is rapped about asking tennants to access super as it is illegal to give financial advice. Far too delicate to say what we really think about pressure such as that. Trust the Libs to originally suggest draw down, hardest on low incomes.

where visitors gather to view fairy penguins come ashore down at the beach at Phillip island. Will the penguins miss seeing everybody during the lock down?

Early March I was thinking of making designer masks, but i partially locked down ahead of the regulations and wondered about risk of shopping for a sewing machine. Op shops would have them.

National total might be close to 5000 but the rate is lower right now..

what bird is that?

these birds are ?  Shearwaters...mutton birds? Cant say. Bustards? These were on 

Phillip island.

The virus has infected 4000 plus. Right now the rate is slower.