Incommunicado

'Will be uncontactable for the next 2 weeks or so.

Comments and emails will not be read until then.

Memories by a rural highway

Of course, no matter how keenly, how admirably, a story, a piece of music, a picture is discussed and analyzed, there will be minds that remain blank and spines that remain unkindled.  "To take upon us the mystery of things" — what King Lear so wistfully says for himself and for Cordelia — this is also my suggestion for everyone who takes art seriously.  A poor man is robbed of his overcoat (Gogol's "The Greatcoat," or more correctly "The Carrick"); another poor fellow is turned into a beetle (Kafka's "The Metamorphosis) — so what?  There is no rational answer to "so what."  We can take the story apart, we can find out how the bits fit, how one part of the pattern responds to the other; but you have to have in you some cell, some gene, some germ that will vibrate in answer to sensations that you can neither define, nor dismiss.  Beauty plus pity — that is the closest we can get to a definition of art.  Where there is beauty there is pity for the simple reason that beauty must die: beauty always dies, the manner dies with the matter, the world dies with the individual.

         (Vladimir Nabokov)

Duck Rescue Squad

Dinner tonight was interrupted by an injured female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) seeking help at the front door.





She appeared to have lost the use of her legs and was thirsty and hungry.





I fed her some small pieces of vegetable, cooked slices of fish cake, and watermelon.





As temperatures are expected to dip to 8° C (46.4° F) tonight, we called the RSPCA but they didn't return our call. We called another animal rescue agency and they told us they had no one in the area to pick up the distressed animal on a Friday night; we would have to drop her off ourselves.

I wrapped the critter in a blanket and placed her in a box for the journey to the vet.





Duck Tales:  2 humans and one chauffeured duck.





Oops! Left the flash on and stunned the driver.

:-P















10:45 PM — way past regular office hours, we had to head to the emergency section instead.





Hang in there, gal! We're almost there.





Cousin Jay with the dog food duck.





Ever the Peter Pan, while he dealt with the paperwork, I played with Ginger, a friendly 5-month-old, 16 kg (35.2 lb) German Shepherd puppy.





'Grabbed a handful of bumper stickers for some folks.

Hope the little fella is all right.

(SAF) soldiers

Kind of...

Anyone who has traveled around the region know the calibre of men the other armies have.

Stay in your coop, gentlemen.

Max made this

He's down surfing near Margaret River when he's not working.





Thanks, dude!

Red Bull Air Race 2008

'Went down to the waterfront to kick back and relax but found something to raise my heart rate instead:


















Along with the other dreamers.

According to a study (Happy Planet Index), Vanuatu, a tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago with a population of around 200,000, is the happiest country on Earth.

Among the Asian nations Vietnam came highest at number 12 and Singapore was ranked the lowest at 131, said the 178-country Happy Planet Index, complied by the British think-tank New Economics Foundation.

Indonesia was ranked 23, Thailand 32 and Malaysia 44

         (Source)


Better a dreamer than a lemming  :-)










Temporary air control tower.










The planes fly around these cones (air gates) at up to 370 km/h!
And oh, yes, 10 meters (32.8 feet) above the water.





Oh, yes, they also fly between them.






This plane ended up hitting one of the pylons.





More bikes.










They even paint the lane markings in such a way as to warn of the vehicle barrier.





Trailer with kiddo.





One cool retro bike.






One more video.

Remember, little boys and girls lemmings, other countries don't know how to take good care of their citizens — only SinkaPoop can.