Leece's Ramblings

Whatever you believe or not

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:54:00 GMT

Peace and love to you and your loved ones. Thank you for friend-ing me.

Coolness

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:11:54 GMT

Possibly not dial-up friendly, but coolness nonetheless. If you like planes.

http://www32.webtrak-lochard.com/WebTrak/per/template/index.html

At least it's a little cooler

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:42:18 GMT

Starting Friday night armed with the fact that Dominos Pizza now does 12 gluten free pizzas, or build your own, we swung into gaming with gusto.

We started fairly latish, but it was pretty much a short sharp session of "Let's destroy this thing oh hell it's gonna blow!"

There were some fun shennanigans. Of course, we're not sure what's happened to all that gear that's been portaled away somewhere/when.

The next day we paid a quick visit to Karrinyup and then drove over to the December meeting of the WABA, where my mother earned the undying enmity of several gamers by winning the first raffle draw.

We had a game of Ticket to Ride 1902 Europe, a great game of Tales of the Arabian Nights and I finally learned Agricola, which is a pretty neat game. We only played the 'family' version to learn but it's a rocking game. I also played in the Sorry Sliders tournament but got knocked out.

Very much a fun day with great food, drink and fun. The heat kept a few people away, but the airconditioning kept us all cool. Actually a little too cool really. We went home in the evening, had our Wii workouts and turned in for a relatively early night.

Yesterday we toddled around Innaloo, doing some food shopping, and bought a regionless DVD player, as our old one makes stuff go all artifacty. Watched one of the Middleman episodes with the producer/director/writer voiceover, quite amusing.

And that's it. It seems that purple Steel Blue boots in size 5 are not to be. *sigh*

WABA Decemberthon

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:39:41 GMT

Extended Hours
We will be gaming for ten hours from 10AM through to 8PM.

Entry Fee
Entry will be free for WABA members
$5 for non members
Free if it is your first visit

Tournament - Sorry! Sliders
Terry will be running this on a knockout basis.
There will be a prize - a copy of Sorry Sliders.
Want to do some research - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37196

Competition - Dice Decathlon
Richard will be running this - see if you can get the highest score this year.
It closes at 6.45PM.
There will be a prize.
Want to do some research - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6955

Event - 15 Player game of Fische Fluppen Frikadellen
Stew will be running this - played over three game boards each at a different table.
It starts at 1PM with instructions for players.
Email Stew to reserve your place - s.woods@westnet.com.au
Want to do some research - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4370
Last years report - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/370460

Prize/Trade Table
Stew will be running this
You put a prize on the table and for that you get a ticket
All the tickets go in a raffle.
When your ticket is drawn, you collect a prize off the table.
CLoses at 3PM.

Raffle Draw
There will be at least three raffle draws.
Everyone gets a ticket
WABA members get a bonus ticket
The tickets you get will make you eligible for all draws.
You will need to be present to collect your first prize.
Draws will be at 11AM, 3PM and 7PM.
Make sure you see Warren to get your ticket (or two if you are a WABA member).
The prizes are very good, each worth in excess of $50.

Games Played
We will be trying to keep a record of all the games that get played on the day and how many people played them.
Once you finish your game, see Renato and he will tell you where to record what you played and how many of you played it.
In December 2008, the record was set at 44 games and these involved 172 players (or plays)

For those of you who didn't get to Decembacon 2008, here is a summary of it - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/371439

Tired but happy

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:34:54 GMT

Well, my birthday gaming event went off pretty well, lots of people came and gamed and talked and ate, and I played enough Pitch Car to make my feet hurt.

Then we popped off to Poss's where we enjoyed the finale to Blake's 7 Season 3. I don't remember the episode, so I was quite startled, actually I don't think I'd ever seen it. I'm sure I would have remembered.

We watched Mission Impossibe where some electrickery was done with an electric chair and rubber hands, and Sarah Jane Adventures featured uneasy allies with Mrs Wormwood. And the Middleman episode (our DVD arrived today with...EXTRAS...) was the Cursed Tuba Contingency. Have a look at the posters in the high school band room if you should watch it.

Sunday we moved the furniture at my Dad's old place in preparation for the new vinyl to be laid. Then it was putting away the Shambling Mound of clean washing (which is really preferable to the Shambling Mound of Dirty Washing) and played on the Wii a bit.

Rob's on earlies so it's nice and cool in the mornings when I do my workouts now, but I really find myself hit with the sleepies in the afternoon.

Monday, now, Monday was a marathon for Mum and I.

Let's go and open up the unit at 7.30am for the floor cover people. Okay. Now let's drive over to Balga and buy a sink. Right. And a mixertap. Let's go over to Mum's Club in Balga so she can attend to some stuff there, and the floor guys ring from the unit and say they think there's a leak, and they can't lay the stuff, they'll do what they can but they have to make sure there's no leak and the floor is dry, so they'll see us in a couple of weeks to finish off.

Now let's deliver the sink to the cabinet maker in Morle who wants to make sure it all fits. Now let's drop Mum off at her lunch she's going to, and me, well I grab a trash sf detective novel - Prefect (Perfect after playing Android) and grab myself lunch - Tbone steak with sweet potato wedges, delicious at the Saint George.

I then drive home and flake out, looking over a couple of games that I picked up at the op shop where I got the book.

Then I pick up Ros, Rob comes home and, yeah, it was a big day.

Today wasn't so bad, just going over to Mt Hawthorn to finalise some of Dad's financial matters, and shoe shopping with Mum. Did you know that, for Breast Cancer Awareness, that Steel Blue are doing purple work boots? My old ones are looking a bit tatty, don't you think?

I think I know where some of my birthday money is going, if I can find a comfy pair.

Then quite a nice lunch at the Italian booth at Innaloo, and some food shopping for tonight's dinner, and then, collapsing back home, tuckered out from my big workout this morning.

14 k's on the wii bike - 30 minutes
22 minutes of yoga/muscle workout - including jacknifes and parrallell stretches - eek
10 minutes of advanced rythym boxing
About 6 minutes of snowball fighting and balance stuff.

Equals phew. But I'm losing weight, and I'm feeling better.

Also discovered that the table tennis on Resort Island is uncannily like the real thing, much easier than wii tennis, too!

Monday pounces

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:10:14 GMT

Well even though I thought I was being careful eating over the weekend, my weight has shot up, so some extra work for me on the Fit board this morning.

Friday's gaming was good, our intrepid time travellers decided to investigate the sinister temple. My character, having done enough damage last time, decided to stay and nap in the hotel, but was dragged rudely from sleep by someone wanting a professional opinion.

Then on Saturday we went into Perth and Rob spent his birthday Dymocks voucher, and picked up his Croc explorer shoes replacements for the ones that failed during the trip. Then we drove to the Agonis centre in Thornlie? Gosnells? wherever and played half a game of Android with the Southern Eurogames chapter. An excellent crowd, and I've seen smaller Northern groups! A very good turn out.

Then it was Pizza at Poss's and Middlemen, Mission Impossible and so forth. And some truly delightful cake. I must get the recipe Poss, did you notice how nice it was the next day too? Hazelnut, Walnut and Bananana Cake. Delicious. Poss cooked it for my birthday, which was yesterday.

Yesterday we got up late, played a bit of dogfighting with the sea planes in Wii Resort Island, and then hauled branches for the green pickup, and moved boxes being stored here from Dad's place.
Then we went out and got ourselves dinner at Relish.

And that's it, really, it's been really busy.

I've just had a massive work out and I've not had breakfast, so I better grab a quick bite.

Was it Bradbury?

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:03:39 GMT

So there's this Bradbury story, I think it was. Do you know the one? There's a prisoner, this guy, we don't know who he is, but he hasn't broken, and won't tell the jailers what they want to know. He's just inside, doing his prisoner routines and all he sees are the grey walls of his prison.

And then one day he's in the exercise yard, and a dandelion seed comes over the wall and triggers a whole heap of memories that gives him a breakdown and he's then ready to babble everything.

Well, I've just lived it and now know exactly what it feels like.

I've just driven up to Pinnaroo Memorial Park to collect Dad's ashes.

Drove there okay, the traffic was okay too.

When I got there and parked under the nice shady trees they have in the car park it brought back some memories of the service we had both for my Dad, and for Rob's Dad. But it's a peaceful place, and very beautiful. I contemplated a coffee at the cafe' as it was quiet but ended up looking about for the office, which I recalled was a bit hidden but I had been there before. I was sure I could find it.

After a while I admitted defeat and a poor memory of my one time visit and asked at the cafe' for directions, and set out across the lawn, carefully negotiating the kangaroo droppings that are everywhere there.

Go to the office around the back way, ring the bell, state my business and wait for the lady to bring forth Dad's ashes. Get summoned to a separate room, offer idea, authorisation and sign for the remains.

They are in a shoebox shaped box, in a discrete paper bag that looks like I've been shopping at an exclusive store (nothing could be further from the truth).

Thank the lady, pick up the bag, which is a lot heavier than I expect and leave the front way, and make my way over the little bridge they have over the extensive water feature they have there. To the right there was a bunch of only half grown Wood Ducks and I say, without thinking,

"Look at the ducks, Dad."

He would have loved to have seen them, they were so close, and so cute, and completely unafraid.

And that brought tears to my eyes, and it just got worse as I thought about all the things he will miss out on - it's such a beautiful day, it would have been a great day to take him to the lake, Thursday was our day for that. I really wish he'd been more open and honest about his condition, something might have been done and he might still be here.

So see your doctor folks, get checked up. Be vigilant in your own health. Don't put it off.

Because I'm sitting here crying off and on because Dad didn't, even though (and it seems harsh, but at the time I was at the end of my tether and Dad was particulary obtuse for so long) I swore I wouldn't shed a tear when he died, and I haven't until now.

It's just such a beautiful day, and it's such a waste and there were ducks.

It would have been alright but there were ducks.

Crying now. I'll be alright, but I'm crying now.

So this is Monday

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:35:44 GMT

My sister and her husband have gone back to Kalgoorlie, leaving the cat with us to mind until December when they return.

The unit has been cleared out and painted, a new shower screen put in, several old cupboards destroyed and moved out, and is now awaiting the new flooring put in and the 30+ year old carpet to be ditched. It's looking a damn sight better than it did, let me tell you.

The timing fell right smack bang on when we took our big trip, and they've worked really hard on it with great results!

This will give my sister and BIL somewhere central to stay when they're in Perth, and for somewhere for Mum to get away from us, and our (and hers) mess. As for me...I'm not sure what *I'll* get out of it...somewhere as a back up for gaming perhaps? Somewhere to store games? I don't know. It is kind of nice to think about though. Pity it's upstairs. I don't know how many tonnes of stuff I've carted up and down those stairs.

Now it's down to a final sorting of the books - give away, sell (two tiers - 2nd Hand Bookshops and Really Good 2nd Hand Bookshops, keep. I mean you can't just give away the Folio Society Iliad, can you. I've never read the whole Iliad, so I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll put up a list and work out fair prices of the Folio Society books I don't want to keep, and offer my friends list first pick once we're sorted them. The paperbacks that are cruddy I'll give to charity, and the okay paperbacks I'll try Elizabeths or somewhere. Any suggestions?

And that's pretty much what's happening this week I think, because all the books and STUFF came here, because the floor has to be pretty clear for the flooring people.

And there's been a million kitchen quotes, some of which I've been present for, and some not, and they're all starting to blend together for me, except for the prices which are all in pretty sharp focus. Kitchens are expensive.

The colours of course are very conservative, which is a bit boring for me, but it may end up being a rental or sold, so I agree it should be. I just wish that my fellow homeowners wouldn't flee quite so precipitously when I start looking at the *pretty* colours, as if I'm about to get the place done in them - I'm not, more's the pity!

I wish all this money was being spent on the house where I actually live!

Ah well.

On the up side we had a good session on Friday, we played a game of Dominion, and then a game of Antike, but I was so tired I was nearly falling asleep at the end of Antike, and my game suffered.

It was a good night though.

On Saturday we visited Loose Produce with Mum, and later also Alternative Bites, got some dessert for our reunion with the Noble Poss. We also found some Gluten Free Worcestire Sauce at Booragoon Coles, which has made my sweety very, very happy indeed.

Saturday we turned up to Poss's and showed her some of the stuff on the Resort Island, and we spent some time happily Arching and flying planes and so forth. Then we watched a whole bunch of stuff and ate Poss's delicious healthy Persian Chicken and then our Gluten free fruit mince pies and Christmas pudding we'd bought.

Then on Sunday we took the boats out and started at Belmont boat ramp and paddled to South Perth, where we had lunch. There will be photos later, unless you're all sick of kayak photos after the last big trip?

Good bye for now, and don't forget, Southern Eurogames on Saturday in a luxurious new venue.

I am down to 82 kilos, which I haven't been for decades. The Wiifit is really working, and lots of Rythym Boxing.

It's my birthday on Sunday, but I've kind of promised the day to haul greenstuff for the Council Pickup, on the other hand, this isn't to say we can't do something in the evening or on another day.

I wonder what I want to do? Something fun!

A very late entry, well deserving

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:56:39 GMT

Someone got around to entering my last competition, and it's a very worthy entry, go have a read!

Look at that rain!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:23:05 GMT

]Yesterday when I was driving down along Herdsman Lake the clouds were very striking. Some words hit me, and when I eventually got home I played around with them a bit until they dropped into place.

Clouds march across sky
Invading army intent
On storming the City

So I thought I'd share it with you. They were very dramatic clouds, towering, grey and white, and sweeping toward Perth across the open fields and lakes of the reserve.

Rob's leave is over, and he is back at work. We are cat-sitting at the moment, my sister's cat is a very small tabby with a ginger wash and white paws and chest. She's very vocal.

We went to Eurogames on Saturday, which was very nice to get to - I joined after going around to a kitchen place with Mum, Sister & BIL, then public transported to Claremont where Rob came and picked me up. It was a huge meeting! And we got to play Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition, which we haven't played in some time. Always great fun.

Then we had a good solid game of classic Illuminati, courtesy of ratfan, and that was good to get back to. Kylie won that one, nice for a first timer at the game to do that, it can be quite an intimidating game to the unpractised.

And then I blew away some black hearted sea dogs, despite some early losses in Pirate's Cove.

On Sunday it was Rob's Sister and SIL's birthday celebration, and it was held at the place where Henry Africa's used to be, if anyone remembers that. Good food - expensive but friendly and excellent service and gluten free. Plus I like the monolithic 'basin' in the women's toilets, it's good to see the monolith from 2001 being put to a good use.

This week is going by in a daze of moving stuff around, kitchen, blinds, flooring, bathroom, cupboard quotes for Dad's unit which we are renovating.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to have a hair cut, as I really needed one, and Rob had requested a buzzcut of red hair, so off I went and did it, to Mum's, and most probably the rest of the family's horror.

However, Rob's reaction more than makes up for it. :-) And also, the shorter my hair, the better I feel. So refreshing! Even mum has admitted that it looks cute. So watch out for Punk Leece coming your way!
Mum very graciously did a great job of henna-ing it for me last night.

Tried lunch yesterday at the Greek restaurant, Ouzo, in Scarborough Beach Road (Drake Street cnr) opposite the new petrol station there. Very nice, and gluten aware, they have bread, and they'll get wraps if warned.

Mum and I had dolmades and Yiros with the lot and bacon, and it was delicious and reasonable, not crowded and the ice coffee, with just a little milk was very refreshing and just what we needed.

I've been out again early this morning over to Dad's flat for more quotes, and now I've come home to finish my interrupted workout on the Wii - Rythym Parade isn't as scary as it looked! - and to clean up the kitchen, clear the table, unload the dishwasher, sweep and listen to the cat, which mioawws all the time to let you know she's there.

And make this entry, of course.

We now have Resort Island for the Wii, and we've been enjoying swordfighting, archery and most of all, flying a seaplane! So cool.

Last night we bought a couple of games from Hudson which can be played across the net - a combat snowboarding game, and a FPS style game using water pistols. We tried the water pistol one, and although I loathe the style of game generally, it's quite fun.

Much prefer flying the sea plane and swordfighting though. Have to see how the snowboard combat goes.

The Aftermath

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:56:29 GMT

Rob and I have just spent a good proportion of the day captioning and choosing the photo diary of this trip.

You can view it here. There's maps and everything, and captions.

There's a fair few there, but compared to the amount of photos we actually took, the net is getting off lightly. You're getting about 1 in 5.

And we're home!

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:41:33 GMT

We tootled back to the hotel after we met catalyst2, and had something of a hard run against the current and a brisk sou'wester that wanted us to stay in Mandurah proper. Probably wouldn't have been able to go against it for too long with a conventional paddle, thank goodness for the Mirage Drive.

Got back in, flaked out, cooked dinner and then catalyst came bearing projector and goodies. After a quick sortie to the local Farmer Jacks even more goodies were procured and we had a couple of games. Hive and Army of Frogs went down well, just as well as seawater doesn't really mix terribly well with your standard cardboard Eurogames.

Or rather, it mixes only all too well.

We then watched the first episode of Legend of the Four Gods, a live action Korean piece which made for rather striking viewing. I'm definitely going to watch the other 25 chapters!

We bid catalyst2 goodnight and went to sleepy byes.

In the morning, due to Mum having another appointment we packed up everything into the boats and launched into the estuary. It was very odd, there was a lot of smoke in the air and there was no wind. Plus a helicopter was doing very low passes over the estuary, much to the loud comment and movement of the estuarine waders.

We paddled down into Mandurah, after a little shallow water exploring, surrounded by large fish, and camped on the far side of the old Mandurah bridge where there was shade and plenty of parking. Had our lunch and waited until Mum turned up.

Then we took the coast road home, and stopped in to Rockingham beach to show Mum CBH and the caravan park there.

And now we've squirted down the boats at the carwash, and have come home, and my sister's cat, who's visiting, is being very affectionate, probably because we still smell of estuary.

A great captioned photo gallery will turn up soon, so look out for it.

We've managed to get *most* of the black Murray River Stinking Black Mud off the kayaks.

Tuesday in the Estuary

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:13:18 GMT

So yesterday we checked into the hotel, and it's a very nice one, door out into the pool and all, and very pleasant rooms. And a spa, which Rob is enjoying right now, as we speak.

We had a nice swim in the pool and a relax in the heated spa there, and came in and had dinner and relaxed for the evening. We hit the sack around 9.00 - it had been something of a long day for us!

This morning we got up a couple of hours later than we had been, had pancakes for breakfast again, tragedy, and pulled the boats down to the water, and had a bit of an explore around the place, Mariner's Cove particularly, and a little peek at the Creery Wetlands, although we did not go through the foxlock gate.

Around about that time the phone rang, it was our LJ friend catalyst2, who suggested we take lunch with him. What an excellent idea, we thought, and arranged to meet in Mandurah itself. So we trundled on down there, and as there was time trundled into The Mary St Lagoon, which we'd never seen before. We came out, watched the Manjar tour boat being surrounded by frolicking dolphins, and made our way down to the Merchant where we sat on the grass in the shade for a while until catylyst2 turned up.

We all enjoyed delicious fish and chips and salad, and had a good chat about Mandurah and games and sf.

Then we said our goodbyes and we hit the water again, and started heading slowly back to the hotel, the wind having cheerfully come up to make it interesting for us. I was very glad to get back into the hotel harbour, even though we were seeing interesting birds along the way, it got very tiring towards the end.

We congratulated ourselves with a double strength iced coffee at the restaurant and dragged the boats across to the hotel room.

I've had a nice hot shower, and I'm flaking out here with cold juice and an internet connection.

We check out tomorrow, and due to some miscommunication with our lift, will pack everything up onto the boats, and sail back into Mandurah proper for pick up. That said, it should be a pleasant sail.

Here's a link to our travels today. I think we did about 14 km?

Success!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:40:30 GMT

We were up at 5.00am this morning and got moving, stuffing down breakfast and throwing ourselves onto the ripple-less pink waters of the still river, mostly still anyway, as the currents around posts and buoys showed us that the current was quite definitely going out.

And out we went with it. We put up our sails, and pedaddled briskly out through the mouth of the Murray, coming out past Cooper's Mill and into the Estuary. We started so early as we weren't sure whether the wind would be at all kind later on.

But we had the best wind, just what we needed to keep ourselves on a reach ( that's having your sail half in, with the wind coming across your beam) - the most efficient point of sailing. We followed almost a dead straight line, cutting straight across.

My tiller started trying to pull to port, but was quickly put in its place. A very quiet, pleasant crossing.

We did about 4.5 knots - 7.8 kms an hour coming across the estuary.

We stopped at Boundary Island, after some trouble with shallows, and did some crabbing - no luck.

Now we''re at the Waterside Restaurant, and having coffee and cake, waiting to check in.

Sunday on The Murray

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:17:45 GMT

After all the workouts on the Wiifit over the past couple of weeks I definitely have less padding. So I woke relatively early with my hip digging into the Thermorest and eventually got up after failing to get more comfortable.

It was a lovely still morning and M & S and us two went for a relaxed paddle around the various islands of the Murray Delta. We also stopped off at Cooper's Mill on Cooleenup Island. The amount of bird life, and its apparent fearlessness toward humans on Cooleenup is extraordinary, Splendid Wrens practically hopping over your foot, for one thing. They are fairly allergic to cameras, however but we did our best as you will be able to see when you click on the link.

We saw a beautiful big tiger snake, all black and orange, swimming in the channel between Meeyip and Ballee Islands, and some fluffy little Grey Teal Ducklings too, with their watchful parent.

Had a brief sally into the estuary, but the tandem isn't really built for it and we turned back and had a bit more of an explore.

We pulled into Pelican's for refreshments afterwards and then retired back to the campsite for lunch, after which M & S left us for the wilds of Rockingham hobby fair.

I did some small sketches of a couple of boathouses, and Rob fed the local blowie population until he ran out of bait. He's broken a personal record, 8 blowies in one afternoon's fishing.

Tomorrow, the big question - will it be ok to cross the big estuary??? Or will it have to be the Serpentine and Mum driving us and the boats around to the hotel?

Mmmm getting peckish.

Here are some photos for you, not captioned yet, but I'm on limited power here, so can't take ages doing this stuff.

Saturday - Ravenswood to Tatham's

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:57:30 GMT

Today's run has been pretty straightfoward, definitely not as long as yesterday. We had buckwheat pancakes and spek with maple syrup for breakfast with apple and coffee, and then checked out. Kitted up, and paddled on out and down the twisting Murray. The vegetation is starting to change a little bit toward the more estuarine along this stretch.

I saw a Brown Goshawk flying off with some prey quite close, and a couple of the dolphins decided to show us how to fiish, they were herding fish against the rocky banks and making some tremendous waves doing so. Saw some nesting Spponbills, nesting Grey Teal and nesting galahs and 28's, plus the obligatory nesting Darters.

No ill effects from the long paddle yesterday, which surprises me somewhat, still I was glad that today was only 7km. We stopped at Pelican's for an icecream and a coffee, and then in was only about 1/2 a kilometre to the campsite at Tatham's. It was then that the weather said, "Oh! Let's suddenly let fly with gusty winds and torrents of rain and get the kayakers all wet and cold."

The rain vanished as we reached the campsite, and we quickly set up the tents, had nice hot showers, and had lunch. Now we're feeling lazy, so we're lounging about in the tent, enjoying the view of the river and looking at the weather forecast. Tomorrow might be a bit of an explore day about the islands and delta, and we'll stay here again tomorrow night.

It's still doubtful as to whether we will be able to do the great crossing of the estuary on Monday. The wind looks like it is going to be rather unaccommodating. Still, we have Plan B, which involves us paddling to the Serpentine and being picked up there and driven across to the hotel on the other side of the estuary.

More lazing about is in order, I think. Ta ta for now.

Pinjarra to Mandurah - Day One

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:35:30 GMT

I'm sitting in a comfortable chalet in Ravenswood, typing this on my eeePC.

We got up bright and early, this morning, having done all our packing yesterday, and the trailer hooked up. Then Mum drove us zoomwise to Pinjarra using the new freeway, and we arrived in PJ at 7.30 am.

We got the boats loaded up and then dismantled and folded the trailer, and stowed it in Mum's car, S & M turned up with the kayak hire chap from Ravenswood Adventure, and we were under way at around 9.00am.

The Murray River is quite full at the moment, and as we have fitted the larger fins to the kayaks we have been able tokeep up with our friends in their hire tandem quite well. We're moving faster, but we're also expending more effort.

The river is an olivey brown green, and the vegetation, a mixture of cow pasture and native trees and bushes is providing many birds with perching places. I think I've seen about 10 Sacred Kingfishers today! Rainbow Beeaters and all sorts of waterfowl.
Pardalotes and bush birds, and little eagles, nankeen kestrels, harriers...

We've covered about 17 kilometres, and we'll be looking forward to the shorter trip down river tomorrow, to the mouth of the Murray and the camp site.

We got pretty tired toward the end, especially as the tide came in. But it's been very pleasant. We got rained on a bit, but the sun soon came out and dried us off with a vengeance. With about an hour and a half for our various rest stops in total, we made it to Ravenswood at about 2.30.

Along the way we met a nice guy who'd just bought himself a 2nd hand Hobie Sport with the mirage drive, he's offered to let us camp on his property whenever we want, which is jolly nice of him! Very convenient, he has a riverside property! Nice people you meet on the river!

Coeliacs and Dairy Intolerants note - the Ravenswood Hotel's restaurant is very accomodating, and almost hyper aware, there was a very good selection, and the food is delicious. GF and DF are actually marked on the the chalkboarded menu. Generous serves too. Highly recommended and with great service.

We filled ourselves up with delicious food, and retired to watch the live action version of Mushishi which was very good, and now I'm finishing off this entry in bed, as I'm practically falling asleep.

You can follow our journey real time here - the tracker is not switched on at the moment, but you can see where we've been today, and I have a few photos up here.

And now, to the strains of the karaoke event at the hotel, I'm going to sleep after a very nice and tiring day.

Hey ho we wear it well

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:50:09 GMT

A quick zoomy post, hi!

Friday night we had a return to Ancient Rome, in Bath, where my character rolled some truly deathless rolls, and succeeded in possibly killing or injuring some innocent slave/s - don't know, my deathless rolls were truly immortal that night... knocked over the crane and then couldn't see what I'd done.

One much abashed Duke of Hell getting the Heaven out of there!

Saturday we were Possless, as she'd been kidnapped by Grads, who have an *excellent* production of She Stoops To Conquer going, that I hope that we may get to.

However, we had some solace in joining Tim & Bronny at Jus Burgers in Leederville and then watching, with them, the Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. Which I'd like to see AGAIN. Very Cool.

Then on Sunday I and Mum and Nanna had been invited to a Baby Shower - thank you to people for previous advice, it was very helpful. The food was good, there were about 50 women there and there were a couple of games, and present opening. It would make an interesting psychological study - I would say most people would have preferred their gifts opened in private without their name shouted out across the masses of oneupwomanship...except for the ones who were into that sort of thing.

Well, we went to be supportive.

Afterwoulds, I met Rob at Poss's where we indulged in Pizza and Poss & I indulged in Beer, and played a lot of Wiibowling. Much fun.

Also we have just bought Sport Resort Island. And wireless nunchuks.

So Monday and Tuesday have come and gone, which have mainly been spent trying to get my Dad's unit into shape for painting. This includes the heartache of sorting books for charity, selling and keeping. Many, many books.

So here is Wednesday and Rob is on leave, woooo! It has involved some more book stuff, but mostly getting ready for Friday, which, my dear friends, will see me, Rob and a couple of like minded folks hitting the water in kayaks in Pinjarra, and boating down the Murray to Ravenswood. Sleeping there, and then continuing down, stopping again at the delta mouth for a couple of days, and then leaving our much wiser friends, and pushing over the great estuary to Mandurah on Monday.

So we are packing food and making sure the boats are, well, shipshape.

So, thusly. Safety is of course paramount, and one of our safety features is a little orange box which talks nicely to satellites. We can ask it to call for non-emergency help, we can ask for emergency help, and furthermore, we can ask it to show people where we are realtime. This is very cool, and very useful.

So, if you would like to know where we are - once we start our trip on Friday- there's nothing to see now, cause little orange Spot box isn't runnin, just look here -

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0AtvuDvk3qW12cSs2qmLCRZgqJtKA1L76

And you'll get a real time Google map image of where we are. How cool is that?

As promised, photos fromt the Canning River

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:46:29 GMT

I hope you can have a browse through! There are four pages. This is a pictorial diary of our trip up the Canning 3 or so weeks ago.

They've all been captioned, (with edifying comments I hope) and I think there's only one typo. :-)

If you click on one, it will give a full screen view, just click back on your browser to return to the smaller view.

If you don't have the time, oh well, here's my favourite photo of the lot, which Rob took as we were coming back to land on Deepwater Point.

A Sudden not-a-drabble competition. Number V!

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:29:05 GMT

The competition - write a story - TWO hundred words or less seeing as we haven't done it for a while, winner gets a lovingly drawn postcard of the monster of their choice by my good self. Be the first in your street!

Contestants are encouraged to comment constructively on entries. Unhelpful comments I deem inappropriate will be ~~dropped into the sun~~ deleted.

It is generally very difficult to make a decision. Works have consistently been of a high quality.

General guidelines: Works that comprise a complete story will have an advantage as will good spelling and grammar. Stories of a sf or fantasy nature are enjoyed, but this does not preclude other genres. Humorous stories may have an advantage. Please keep it non explicit - this is a G rated journal.

leecetheartist is not eligible for a prize although she may enter from time to time, especially if no-one else has.

Story must contain the words "2.30 am and the scent of freshly mowed lawn under a hot sun drifts over the street.." Winner announced Saturday 31st October 2009 Perth time at some arbitrary time convenient to myself.

Writers retain copyright of the their work of course. Post your entries here (LJ or DW)

A Halloween theme is not required but people might like to be a bit spooky, due to the date.

Words in the story's title are not included in the word count, however if this is abused in a "How could you believe me when I said I loved you when you know I've been a liar all my life" or indeed in a "Taumata-whakatangihanga-koauau-o-Tamatea-haumai-tawhiti-ure-haea-turi-pukaka-piki-maunga-horo-nuku-pokai-whenua-ki-tana-tahu" (with or without nose flute!) sort of way then you may find yourself disqualified if you do not respond to thwappage.

The winner will receive an original postcard of the non-anthropomorphic monster of your choice drawn/painted by myself. If you win, be sure to tell me if you are colour blind and I'll do you a cool monochrome one (it's where I'm most comfortable anyway.). If you're blind to the extent that you cannot see an image, I'll do a tactile version for you to be able to feel.

Suggestions welcome but I'll benevolently dictate as I see fit.

Recent readings

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:01:16 GMT

I've not read much of this Vampire Teen Romance genre, but at the Quiz Day I became the owner of a couple of the first books in one of these series on the recommendation of one of the other table members.

The first is called Evernight, and the second, Stargazer. These are a great deal of fun, and the characters are believable, and they have some very surprising things happen in them from completely out of the blue. I was *really* startled at some of the reveals. Wuh!

Bianca is starting out at a very creepy, Gothic Mansion type private school called Evernight. Some students are popular....others not so much...
The claustrophobic oppression of the school comes through really well in the writing.

This is very character driven too, which is what I enjoy in a book.

They're written by Claudia Gray and a refreshing change from the usual run of stalker vampire angsty teen.

I do like the matter-of-fact way the characters deal with their emotional problems. "Okay, I stuffed up. How can I fix this" sort of attitude, which I think is really refreshing.

I certainly will be wanting to read more of this, even though it's not my usual, I'm really enjoying this.

Yes, well let's see.

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:47:22 GMT

We went out to dinner with our mothers and Rob's eldest sister on Thursday last week down at Zander's. Delicious. A lovely place to visit for Rob's birthday. We had gaming on Friday and played Duck Duck Go!, I think, and visited Poss on Saturday which was the actual date of Rob's birthday. It was also a ber-loody hot day.

On Sunday we, with the help of ratfan, ariaflame, poss, Mark and a little Ro came 2nd in the Swancon Quiz, and had a pretty good time. Afterward we accompanied ariaflame back to her place where we had a try of her WiiFit and Wii games.

Oh dear.

On Monday I met Rob in Perth - he being on earlies and he spent some of his birthday vouchers.

We just....happened to go by the Good Guys on the way back, and we find ourselves in the possession of a Wiifit Plus and assorted bits.

We were very favourably impressed, as you can see.

So, yeah.

On Wednesday part of a tooth broke off from the filling without warning. I naturally freaked somewhat, having avoided the dentist like the plague whenever I could, and in fact, have not been for some years. However it was fixed without too much drilling or even any blood, and without having to impinge on Thursday, which Rob had off because of stupidity of work on Friday and Saturday. Working on his birthday and all.

And then on Thursday we went out on the boats, putting in at Pt. Walter and toddling across to Chidley and mooching around Freshwater Bay and so on. It was very pleasant. There were dolphins and pied oystercatchers, stilts and terns of all sorts.

We didn't sail and our legs got a good workout.

Which brings us to today, and the end of the catch up.

We're very much enjoying the wii, but are spending much less time at the computer as a result. My KoL time is becoming Wii time, I haven't been in the Kingdom for days!

Who's been to a Baby Shower? In Australia, in Perth, if that helps?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:29:17 GMT

What happens there?

Is there food and drink? Alcohol?

What are you meant to bring?

Is there any kind of structure?

I've been invited to one, and while it's normally the sort of thing I'd avoid I'm trying to be supportive here.

Apropros of nothing

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:11:41 GMT

Speaking of snow leopards.... http://theweaselking.livejournal.com/3459273.html

GrrrrrrrrrrrrrUMBLEgrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:07:00 GMT

You know, it would be really nice to be able to sit down and do some frickin' artwork instead of all this post-death bureaucracy, a double load of housework because we're cleaning up Dad's place.

Yesterday I was so wiped I sat down after lunch and read the Wishstone and the Wonderworkers from cover to cover. I suppose I could have done some artwork then, but I was just so wiped.

I do so enjoy Hugh Cook's book. I do so wish he hadn't passed away last year. He had two more related series planned. And he had such a command of language. *sigh*

The Women and the Warlords is supposed to have been the novel that stopped the commercial viability of the series. But the character of Yen Olass is so well written and so empathically described that I despair of the reading public if that really was the case.

Have any of my feminist friends read The Women and the Warlords? I'd be *really* interested in your opinions.

Off to my father's bank. *again* And then probably to my father's flat. *again*

I also am putting together a wonderful gallery of photos from our last sailing adventure, with captions, in snatches here and there. So I hope you will be able to have a look through when I put it up.