Life and death in my letterbox

•January 25, 2007 • 5 Comments

life and death in my letterbox

Continuing the saga of the spider in my mailbox… today I went out to check the mail. OK, I also went out there because I wanted to check on the spider. I’m fascinated and repulsed at the same time. She’ll have to go, but I’m getting quite attached to her.

Oh boy, today she’s caught herself a bite to eat. Another “little” spider. One about four times her size. I can’t tell what kind of spider the dead one is, it vaguely looks like some kind of black house spider. Thick legs.

The postie has been and there’s letters in there now, but no way am I putting my hand in there to get them out.

They look like bills anyway. Maybe if I get some tongs or something…

If you would like to be super-creeped-out, check out the super-large version on Flickr.

Posted in house, photo project, spider

The bumblebee flies anyway

•January 24, 2007 • Leave a Comment

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway is the title of an awesome book by Robert Cormier that I read when I was younger.

Beach bee

And continuing with the “spiders and insects” theme, this is a photo of a bee that Dave took at Waterman’s Beach last week. I love the detail in the succulent plant (whatever it is, I’m sure someone will tell me). Looking at that kind of detail makes me wish we had a really nice macro lens.

Oh, the bit about the Robert Cormier book was just because I was searching for a more interesting title than “Look, a bee”. It is a really good book though, as are all the Robert Cormier novels I’ve read. Full of fascinating psychological quandaries, and although written for “young adults” they don’t treat the reader like an idiot. Ahem. Nice bee, hey.

Posted in photo project

Spiders from who knows where

•January 23, 2007 • 14 Comments

spider in the mailbox

When I checked the snail mail today, I found a few snails but also this little red dude. I don’t know what species he/she is, but that’s some impressive striping. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to get a good photo, before realising I didn’t have a memory card in the camera. But I really wanted the shot so I went back and did it all again. Discovered the difference between the different metering modes while I was at it 🙂

Anyone know what kind of spider I have here?

Update: The spider-in-my-mailbox saga continues

Posted in house, photo project, spider

Lazy Sunday arvo

•January 22, 2007 • Leave a Comment

lazy sunday arvo

Sunday, Italy Home Made, celebrating Paul’s return from his world tour of Australia’s east coast, Gem going back to school, Ben’s new employment status and Al’s continued disregard for polite behaviour. Or something.

Just as we had finished, got a call from my mum – my grandma is in hospital. We rushed down there and it turns out she had a heart attack. Apparently it’s not too serious, but obviously not very pleasant for her.

Posted in photo project

Fish mural

•January 21, 2007 • 1 Comment

big fish

signedWhen I was in year 11 I did Applied Art at school – also known as Art for people with no real artistic talent who would like an easy no-stress subject where they get to mess around and have some fun. It was really great. Unfortunately in my final year it clashed with one of my core subjects so I had to pick up another subject where I actually had to work (Ancient History).

Anyway, one of the things we did in Applied Art was create a series of these big murals to decorate the change rooms at Watermans Beach. I’d all but forgotten they were there, but we were meeting a client a few weeks ago at the Wild Fig Cafe, which is directly over the road, and I was surprised to spot them when we were getting back in the car.

I’m amazed at how well they’ve survived – they were put up in 1993, 13 and a half years ago. Although the red has faded quite badly (all the white bits used to be red) on the whole they’ve fared well.

There’s also some proof of my involvement – when I was at school I used my mother’s remarried name, Ritchin (if you don’t believe me check out the footer on my brother’s blog – it’s his real name). I did the fish part with my best mate at the time, Angela Rapsey. Here’s also a shot of the actual location of the mural, and a great one of the view from the top of Watermans – it’s a cute little spot.

Watermans change rooms Trees at Watermans Beach

Posted in chatter, photo project

A starfish!

•January 20, 2007 • 12 Comments

starfish

Today we went to the Wild Fig Cafe for a spot of lunch, then for a walk down the beach at Waterman’s. Much to our excitement we found this (clever) starfish lounging around in a rock pool.

Dave took this shot, so posting this as Photo Project day 20 might be construed as cheating by the more pedantic of my regular readers (they know who they are). So tomorrow I’ll post some more.

Posted in photo project

Photo Project: still going

•January 19, 2007 • 1 Comment

i had to hang it somewhere

I don’t have much to say today, but I have plenty of photos 🙂

This red one turned out particularly well, I think. It’s the outside light switch directly above my desk, and when Dave was looking for somewhere to hang the hook for my headset, it just seemed perfect.

So what’s this: day19. Only two days where I didn’t post. And despite what the man with no blog thinks, cat photos do count.

Posted in photo project

Good coffee and good geeky company

•January 18, 2007 • 1 Comment

webwomen breakfast #3webwomen breakfast #2
webwomen breakfast #1

Yesterday the Perth Web Women got together for breakfast at the New Norcia Bakery in Mt Hawthorne. We had good coffee, a tasty breakfast and lots of excellent, geeky conversation. An excellent start to the day.

We’ve talked in the past about the different things a web women group can do, like mentoring for school age girls who are interested in technology careers and speaking at various events in a similar capacity, but one thing that I value from our networking sessions is the chance to share a coffee with like-minded women who are just as much at home talking about shopping for a pair of shoes as shopping for a new PDA. We have people coming along from all stages of life and career, and hearing from people who have families and careers and are doing just fine with that, thank you, is really an inspiration.

So a big thank you to Tania, Megs, Harriet, Helen, Kristy, Susanne, and Rosemary, as well as all the others who come along to Web Women Wednesday breakfasts or lunches – you gals rock!

Posted in port80, webindustry, webwomen

Questions for the Australian blogosphere (about trees)

•January 16, 2007 • 3 Comments

Stupid place for a treeThis blog has seen gig-blogging, geek-blogging, cat-blogging, photo-blogging… now it’s time for something completely different: garden-blogging.

Tying into Photo Project Day 16: here’s a gum tree.

Yes that right kids. I’m not much of a green thumb at all. It’s a miracle the pavers around the house haven’t shrivelled up and died. But we’re about to finally “do the garden”. This is a task that involves getting someone in to pave most of it, then strategic placement of some native plants that are difficult/impossible to kill and require very little water. See, I’m environmentally responsible too!

So back to this gum tree. It has decided to grow itself in a seriously stupid place down the side of the house. It can’t stay there much longer – it’s going to end up taking down the neighbour’s fence, among other things. But I’m a big fan of trees in general and gum trees in particular, there are no tall trees in gardens around our area and this one has four year’s growth up on anything we plant, so we figure we’ll try moving it to the front of the house.

Summoning the collective strength and bizarre mix of expertise that is the internet, I ask the question of my fellow Australian gardeners: do you think transplanting a tree of this size will work? Any tips to enhance our chances?

Secondly, it has a lot of healthy green new leaves, but also a lot with this scabby stuff on it. Here, let me show you:

scabby gum leaves

Does anyone know what this is? Is it bad?

Posted in house, photo project

I know, I’m cat-blogging again

•January 15, 2007 • 2 Comments

perched

I can’t help it – he’s just so cute! He’s taken over the extra chair in the office – the one that was meant to be for quasi-work-experience-student Luke, who has instead rediscovered World of Warcraft. He sits there all day even though we wake him up and bug him every half hour or so. The cat that is, not Luke. We haven’t seen Luke in a while.

So, day 15 of Photo Project is here and I haven’t yet lost interest. In fact, the “blog every day” thing has really gotten me motivated. Who knows where it will end.

You wanna make a new prediction, Tuna?

Posted in blogging, kitties, photo project

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