Lantern making.

Cockatoo. B1 & B2 & friends from 'Bananas In Pyjamas' produced by the ABC.

For a long time now MinTieS have been well-known mint sweets. This Cockatoo looks as if it has been on something stronger!

Construction site where King street, Newcastle, almost reaches the sea and maybe the drill will.

Festive lights associated with Ramadan were for sale in a Sydney suburb.

This must be a new model Citroen van. Below is the recently released C5.
The Citroen adverts talk of 'Australia's longest continually imported car brand - celebrate 85 Years of Citroen. Visit citroen.com.au.'

The above van looks useful. Some model vans have a lot of height which need not be a good thing and is less aerodynamic. Naturally, it is a different matter if a high van is fitted with shelving up to the roof and if the owner wants room to walk inside to the shelves otherwise a large van can be inconvenient with wasted space.
The storage area in this Citroen van is accessible as it has a door on each side as well as rear doors. It can fit into parking stations and other places with height restrictions. The engine does not intruding back into the cabin space and I guess it would be similar to driving a large car and it looks quite good.

Hornby model railway or Katoomba Station? A Station with a curve.

J Bradshaw said on ABC radio that the neural fibres interconnecting the two sides of the brain are far less evident in Australian marsupials than in other mammals.....

This 'roo is reading from May Gibbs: 'Boronia Babies' first published by Angus and Robertson in 1922.

Bali Dance.

A children's multicultral festival stage and a dance program filled with the funky and the esoteric, with contrasts of subtlety and 'in 'yer face'.

It is just possible that community members might view some dance as unsuitable for their daughters and sons.

Under the influence of debased neo-Marxist and postmodernist theory (SMH 20 Sep) one could question modern Western dance and its influences. But one would have to admit that hip hop exercise rountines that get kids moving are excellent in times of an obesity epedemic.

In all, this fest was AOK and five stars to the parents, teachers and local council who had been harnessed for the events.

Emu just turned up. Update: Realized this animal is probably a Cassowary not an emu. Cassowary: any of several large three toed flightless ratite birds of Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, superficially resembling the ostrich but smaller. (Macquarie Dictionary)

Transparent trading? The markets were closing at the end of the days trading.

North Head and the entrance to Sydney Harbour are some distance from the CBD.
In linear time darkness fell during the time it took the Manly Ferry to reach Circular Quay. Mirage city was transformed. The ferry passengers liked taking photographs.

The Dark Side of the Moon is topical.
The Opera House, Sydney, round 7pm Monday evening in point and shoot style.

Olympians received a big welcome-home from the City of Sydney yesterday.

Sand was washed or blown onto the paths recently which is not unusual at Bar Beach. Today, we saw warm spring weather and a rough surf.

Council Work vans. The stranded Pasha Bulka recorded in the folk art above.

Local Government elections, with compulsory voting, take place on (this) Saturday Sep 13. Will we have a new Lord Mayor or more of the same? We expect the councils to give us services that help make out lifestyle better but they probably don't have a massive budget to play round with.

The Federal Government makes nice little statements about specialized fields that are beyond them and receives constant publicity. For example, of course, a national curriculum would probably be a good thing, blind Freddie could see that but does it take a massive, nation wide, duplicate tier of government to say as much?
All of that deflects attention from the State Government who get up to all sorts of ticks on the quiet but has to do the hands-on work. Who cares about a five star rating from some distant suspect instrumentality?
We always have to strive to improve; our services have shortcomings, they are uncreative, yet are pleasing, some things are just slack enough to be strangly reassuring except for hi-tech medicine, which is scary, and investment funds.

Serene reflections - a parody. Here is water storage, in a commonplace dam, excavated on a country property.
More good news. Much of our low lying coastal lands have acid sulphate soils and care needs to be taken if the soil is disturbed by digging etc because, I think, it causes water and acid to develope and create problems. Strangly, as a result, some nice ponds of extraordinarily clear water are not good at all but are abnormal. Perhaps thats counter-intuitive. The ecology is in delicate balance.

From National Museum of Wales. c 1900

Fathers Day 2008

......from the one and only Under Milk Wood....'DAI BREAD:

Me, Dai Bread, hurrying to the bakery, pushing in my
shirt-tails, buttoning my waistcoat, ping goes a button,
why can't they sew them, no time for breakfast, nothing for
breakfast, there's wives for you.

 MRS DAI BREAD ONE:
Me, Mrs Dai Bread One, capped and shawled and no old corset,
nice to be comfy, nice to be nice, clogging on the cobbles
to stir up a neighbour. Oh, Mrs Sarah, can you spare a loaf,
love? Dai Bread forgot the bread. There's a lovely morning!
How's your boils this morning? Isn't that good news now,
it's a change to sit down. Ta, Mrs Sarah.

 MRS DAI BREAD TWO:

Me, Mrs Dai Bread Two, gypsied to kill in a silky scarlet
petticoat above my knees, dirty pretty knees, see my body
through my petticoat brown as a berry, high-heel shoes with
one heel missing, tortoiseshell comb in my bright black
slinky hair, nothing else at all but a dab of scent, lolling
gaudy at the doorway, tell your fortune in the tea-leaves,
scowling at the sunshine, lighting up my pipe.'

Dramatic heavy weather today. A terrific Pasha Bulka storm. Things fell down. Not a day for Kiwi Ice cream either.
This is trivial when millions are currently flooded out in some non-western countries.