Yep, it seems my request to the trees for the Tawny Frogmouths to return worked. I went out to garden this morning before work and did my usual scan of the trees and there they were. Perched in the Silky Oak, just hanging out. Even better, they were still there when I got home, there is hope it seems that they will hang out in the back yard for some time to come.

It’s not from these birds (Trichoglossus haematodus or Rainbow Lorikeet)

and it’s not from these birds either ( Cacatua roseicapilla or Galah)

nor is it from this bird (Egretta novaehollandiae or White-faced Heron)

It’s not from my magpies either (Gymnorhina tibicen), the magpies (and the butcher birds) are something I’m going to dearly miss with my upcoming move from the balcony suite to the master wing, no more will the magpies on the washing line be the first thing I see and hear in the morning.

It’s not from the crested pigeons (Ocyphaps lophotes) either

nor is it the Pale-headed Rosella (Platycercus adscitus) who sometimes comes to visit and it is most definitely not from the Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis), it is also most definitely not from the  Noisy Miners (Manorina melanocephala) who think they rule the roost in the front yard.

The feather comes from the birds known as Podargus strigoides, which bird is that you ask? Why it is this delightful creature.

Yes, that is a Tawny Frogmouth, well not just one but two! The above photo was taken on Christmas Day, we were patching some holes in the tent before my departure for Woodford the following morning when I looked up and saw these fellas in the tree. The one at the front of the above photo is a juvenile whilst the mature one is in the background. Mother and I were quite tickled pink at seeing these birds in our yard, if Pabbi was still alive he would have been tickled pink to see these as well, he adored taking photos of the birds in the back yard. On that note I’m sure Grandad would have been chuffed as well knowing we had Tawny Frogmouths in the the yard as well.

The parent bird is watching us.

We weren’t sure how long they would stay in the yard so imagine my delight when I came home from Woodford and saw this face in the Silky Oak. It’s the juvenile! Hello you Tawny Frogmouth.

Oh hello Tawny Frogmouth!

Sadly though, I’ve not seen them in our yard in the last week, each day I scour the trees hoping that at least one of them has returned. I do so hope they make an appearance when my brother Karl and his partner Kata come to visit in February. I am so dearly looking forward to not only finally meeting Kata (she was unfortunately in Russia when we were in Iceland last year in 2010, we met one of her sisters though!) but also to having Karl “home” for a little while. Whilst Kata is going to see sooo many things on their seven week jaunt to Australia as Karl shows they lady who has his heart Australia the country in which he was raised it would just be quite something special if there was Tawny Frogmouths in the backyard when they arrived. I’ll just have to talk to the trees and see what they can arrange.

I remember the first time I saw a Tawny Frogmouth, were were on a pre-school excursion to Coochiemudlo Island and there was one perched in the rafters of one of the toilet blocks. We were ushered in ever so quietly by our teacher to look at it.

Well that is the story of some of the birds who like to hang out in the back yard. Their stories are not quite as adventuerous or humerous as the blue tounge lizard clan that resides over at MMMC but I wouldn’t trade my birds for all the world.

I had my last exam on Thursday night so I’m at the moment I’m loving not having to open my uni books for a few months! I went out yesterday morning and took some photos of one of the ladies I work with and her family. This one was just too cute not to share

That’s right, Excuse me while I kiss the sky, I certainly don’t say it like Jimi said it oh it sounds good. Oh the sky has been glorious the last few days. That lovely blue, mostly clear with just whispers of clouds around and so crisp. Love it.

There’s been quite a few going-ons in my life recently hence the radio silence.
1) I moved back in with my mother a few days ago. I loved the location in Spring Hill but I had a few issues with one of my flat mates over what joint tenancy means … I gave a few options over Easter and my last option was that I would move out when she found a replacement.

2) Grandad is still in the hospital, he is now in the rehab unit but it doesn’t look like he will be going home to his home at the end of his stay. Mum is in the process of looking at aged care options. It’s sad. It’s also quite consuming visiting him.

3) Uni, ahh Uni. I handed in my Cost Accounting assignment on Monday night – so glad to have that finished.

4) Work, we’ve had our staffing levels reduced significantly the last few weeks with one girl resigning, one girl on leave and another two going on leave for a week each as well … It’s been non-stop at work.

Tomorrow though I’m going down the coast to pick up a very special purchase. You’ll have to wait and see what it is but I’m nearly over the moon in excitement at picking it up.

We ended up seeing a lot of places, doing a lot of shopping (oh the shopping), eating all sorts of things (Kobe beef!!! OMG), talking to a random mix of people and most of all enjoying the plum blossoms. We did see some cherry blossoms but personally we prefer the perfume from the plum blossoms (we were talking to a volunteer guide at the Osaka Castle Gardens and he said that that preference is quite common amongst westerners).

Plum Blossoms in the Osaka Castle Plum Orchard.

Tomorrow – I have work (of course), I get my tooth implant, I’ve got postgrad orientation stuff to do at uni and then I have The Whitlams with the QSO tomorrow night.

Friday – Work and then straight to the airport to catch a flight to Hobart.

Saturday – Wedding of my cousin on the beach at Coles Bay/Freycinet

Sunday – Post wedding activities and flying home Sunday night.

Monday – Work and first uni lecture

Tuesday – Fly to Japan for 2 weeks. (Yeah, I’ll be missing four classes – two for each subject, whilst I’m away)

I’m so crazy looking forward to going to Japan. G (one of my best girl friends) and I are going to have a blast (literally as they having a bit of a cold snap at the moment and it is forecast to snow for the days we are up in the alps!!!).

It’s going to be crazy. I bought a new lens the other week, the 28mm 1.8 which will be one of the two lenses I’m taking to Japan, the other will be the 50mm 1.4. I was thinking of taking my 16-35mm 2.8 but it is a heavy piece of glass. I took a few photos with the 28mm the other day and I’m impressed

Yep, some more of my Figgjo Flint Lotte. Here you see a creamer which doubles as a bobby pin and nail utensil holder, a sugar pot that holds bracelets and hair clips and my soufflé dish which holds jewellery.

This is the advent garland/calendar that I made last night. I picked up these little pegs from Tiger (I liked Tiger, I wish we had Tiger here) when I was in Iceland, threaded a length of ribbon through the spring on the pegs, hung it beneath my shelves with the trusty 3M decorating clips and there it is. I’m using the little santa card to mark the day. This morning when I woke up, I moved the card to peg 2. It felt so good. I have a chocolate advent calendar at work.

I put up my little tree last night and was most distraught to realise that I left my box of miniature tree ornaments at Mum’s. I’ll be picking that box up pronto. I do have some suitable ornaments to place on each day till I pick that box up so not all is lost. I haven’t put the ornament for today on yet. Still a little while to pick the one that suits today.

The lights on my tree.

I was having a little browse through the Tiger catalogue and I came across this hat … yep, this hat has so much more class and style than your run of the mill Santa hat.

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I’m/We/A group of us are going to see Gainsbourg on Wednesday night at Palace Centro. I received an email a few weeks ago offering free tickets so I thought why not. I recognised the name but typical of me could not place a song title or the like.

I finally got round to watching the trailer and it looks really good – yeah it’s a bio-pic but the music, the setting, the people, it’s all good.

The Trailer

Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus

and moving on….

I came home today to find a little red box sitting on the counter, a Pósturinn box. A birthday present from halfway round the world. I then artfully arranged the contents for a photo, with a sort of building blocks theme … note the Give Way sign, I like getting that sign in photos I take on the deck.

mmm Prince Polo bars, a Hraun bar (sort of like the Icelandic version of a Picnic – as in a chocolate bar that looks a bit ugly but is pretty tasty) and an obligatory chocolate liquorice bar – I’m no fan of liquorice but some things just have to be sent. More importantly in the parcel were two jars of jam. One marked Red Lava 2010 and the other RGH2 Sept 2010. The Red Lava is a chilli jam, a “flavour bomb” for want of a better phrase, the other RGH2 is redcurrant, honey and ginger. I think RGH2 will go pretty well on the fruit toast.

I also finished uploading all my photos from the Iceland trip on the weekend – just have some video to get up at some stage. Go have a looksie, ahh I wonder when I will get to Iceland again.

and with that tomorrow, I get my stitches taken out

Whilst, the above activities are not affected by the weather, the following is. If the sun is out and I can’t tell you how happy I was that it was out this morning, the hum of the washing machine downstairs is the sound of a weekend morning. This of course provides the following outcome.

Georgie took me to the Valentino Retrospective at GOMA this mid-afternoon as a belated birthday present. Whoa, those outfits are amazing, some are plain crazy, some are beautiful, others are amazing. The work and detail is just incredible.

I took this photo on the way past QAG heading towards GOMA.

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m not sure what I will put in it yet but I can assure it won’t be salt.

Yesterday I had a great day. It was a training day at work so no candidates and a chance to have lunch together as a department. I went to the orthodontist and got the news that I’ve been wanting to hear for the last nine months or so, it’s time to go see the prosthodontist, yay! I have an appointment on Oct 5, which will hopefully be an x-ray to confirm root placement and the like and that we can move forward with the implant procedure. Cross your fingers. It’s now week 9 at Uni which is hard to believe, it seems like just yesterday I was looking at my lecture notes for week 1 and thinking it sort of makes sense. I’m really looking forward to next year. When I got home from uni I was presented with the most amazing bunch of red, magenta and orange gerberas from one of my flatmates as belated birthday present. It’s gorgeous, I’ll have to take a photo later.

Now to to the meat of this post. 25 things that I wish to do/complete before I turn 26 next year.

1. Be finished with orthodontic work.
2. Challenge myself to take more thoughtful photos.
3. Ride my bike more.
4. Get a will.
5. Get better with my practice of one thing in means one thing out for my belongings.
6. Spend more time creating.
7. Print and frame more photos.
8. Bake a rainbow cake.
9. Do more study.
10. Go to the Drive In – hopefully the Wonga one if it re-opens in the next few months.
11. Go media-free for at least 48hrs.
12. Make marshmallows and honeycomb.
13. Be more regular on my blog (gee, that sounds like an All-Bran ad).
14. Grow my investments.
15. Reduce the stack of clothes in my mending/alterations stack.
16. Make my own tea blend.
17. Make strawberry jam.
18. Get fresh flowers more often.
19. Write and comment more.
20. Grow professionally.
21. Get my routines started again – planning meals for the week and exercise.
22. Read some more classics.
23. Finish my granny square blanket.
24. Make mulberry crumble or pie from the mulberries in the freezer.
25. Turn 26

There it is, some things are small, some things not so, some things are little, something things require effort.

And we’ll end off with two books that I’ve been enjoying immensely at the moment. 50/60/70 : Iconic Australian Houses by Karen McCartney and The Iconic House by Dominic Bradbury.

This Kookaburra was part of a family of three which were quite happy for me to photograph them.

I had a great time trying to find the perfect clover flower, the above are a few that were close.

Grandad’s orange trees are full of oranges in various stage of development.

The nasturtiums really show the beauty that the 135mm catches.

Little trumpets of orange.

Take a seat on one of the smoko benches and watch the sun setting over the strawberry fields across the road.

Strawberries, sweet, sweet strawberries.

The past few weeks I’ve been eating a lot of stawberries… I’ve certainly been getting my daily dose of flavonoids … on my breakfast, with my lunch …

We’ve had a slide show of slides that Pabbi took before Mum and we will be having a slide show shortly of slides that Mum took after she arrived. Mum is currently knitting me a shawl, we’ve climbed a mountain in the midnight light. We are going to brew beer tonight with Karl and watch the soccer and a hundred other things that have been done and yet to be done.

A few photos from June 20.

This is one of my nephews wearing Amma Rut’s (Mum/Ruth) glasses.

We spent part of the afternoon at Þingvellir, where we laughed at this sign. The sign mentions nothing about throwing Australian coins into the river…… I would love to get one of those signs. How often do you see a sign like that????

This is Öxarárfoss at Þingvellir. This waterfall looks quite large on the road in but when you walk up to the base of the falls it is actually quite tiny…..

As history would predict, here are the last two weeks of photos.

Sunlight on Sandstone, 227/365.

I have had one hell of a week this week. A week that has me questioning my morals in ignoring immoral behaviour of others. A week of trying to decide when to rock the boat and when to keep my mouth shut. One of those weeks that really drains everything out of you. After work yesterday I headed down to the mall to unwind in the library, enjoy the music on the mall and just wander around.

The view from my chair in the library.

Swing, Swing, Slide, 226/365.

The playground in our park.

Chocolate from Melbourne, 225/365.

It is a bit of a tradition at work that if anyone goes to Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide they will bring back some Haigh’s.

The long view, 224/365.

One of the many things I adore about this is house is the central hallway. Standing at the back door you look straight out the front door and vice-versa.

That time of the fortnight, time to restock the pantry drawer and fridge.

BBall, 223/365.

I don’t play Basket Ball and don’t think I have ever managed to land a ball through the hoop but with a Basket Ball stadium round the corner, it plays a part in my life.

Sex on Wheels, 222/365.

One of the cars that my Uncle owns, a car that whilst supposedly crap to drive, I would quite happily own it. Oh to drive it round the streets of this town!

Old Curtains, 221/365.

Why are these old curtains? Because soon I will have new curtains up. They are just about finished and then my room will look quite lovely.

I ♥ this skirt! 220/365.

Is this not one of the most adorable skirts you have seen?
I’ve looked at this skirt a few times in Alannah Hill but never tried it on (you can also get it with black ribbon instead of red). Last Friday I had time to spare waiting for Georgie and I just couldn’t resist trying it on. I adored it! Not about to shell out nearly $300 for a skirt though… Here is to hoping that it appears on the sales rack….

Dan Sultan, 219/365.

Went to see Dan Sultan with a mate from work and his partner. We had a ball. Man oh Man that man can move his lower body!

Here I rest, rest one one leg, 218/365.

Mr or Ms Ibis chilling outside work.

The view from a window, 217/365.

I was watching the light on the house next door and then looked at my louvres and thought mmmm improvised tripod. Photo taken with camera sitting on open louvres.

Even Wars Have Laws, 212/365.

This was quite a sight to see outside work on Monday morning. Like everyone else I work with our first thought upon seeing the children with guns was it was a protest against us, however it was actually part of a Red Cross campaign (link 1, link 2). It was quite effective, it bucketed that afternoon though so all the cardboard would have turned to mush.

Collection, 211/365.

I love the sewing room at the farm, shelves filled with wood turned by Grandad and crafty bits from Grandmum.

and what better way to close this off than with a video?

This is cracking me up – Angry Norwegians

I adore the ability to JFGI or the more polite JGI, if I want to know something, it’s just a matter of tying in a few words and seeing what I get in return. This Google ad makes me smile.

I like this news. Really not at all liking this news. As much as I love this “urban wasteland” as it is for want of a better term, it could do with some developing. This proposal though is soooo not the answer. A scaled down version perhaps, I would like to see something like the Kelvin Grove Urban Village, a mix of public affordable and private housing, a vast green space and without the grocery store – so many options around here already.

When I first saw this on Mad Men, it really irked me but the more I see it, the more it makes me smile.

The last *few* 365 photos.
About time, 210/365

I’ve been thinking about a better way to store my shoes for awhile, mainly to free up some more space in my wardrobe. Went to Indro yesterday and picked up a rack. Love it!

Not my train, 209/365

After work on Friday, I caught up with Georgie for a browse of the shops and a movie, saw Valentine’s Day. Lots of laughs and a teary moment or two ie *that scene with Julia Roberts*.

Waiting, 208/365

QR to say the least is having a *few* problems with the trains and signals at the moment.

Mr Pelican, 207/365

From my Origami a day

Breakfast partners, 206/365

I’m subscribing to The Australian again and wondering why I stopped!

Back in the Orange, 205/365

SES went back last week after the summer break. Monday nights now mean orange overalls again.

It has rained, 204/365

Not even one bite pears, 203/365

Found at the Kelvin Grove Markets

Matching Nails, 202/365

All of a sudden noticing that your nails match the binding tape on a PM004? pretty funny, nails are Changeling Midnight by Kit.

Oh Toowong Library, 201/365

The feeling when all your holds come in at once? Overwhelmed at which book to read first.

Dude, that ain’t a car park, 200/365

This ning-nong, couldn’t be f’ed finding a car park, so decided to just park on the footpath instead.

What a view, 199/365

They are doing a fit out on the ground floor of our building and the plans are spread out on this bankers desk. I have a feeling if I sat at the desk doing my work I wouldn’t get much done!

Such a lovley colour car, 198/365

I adore this shade of blue

rain, rain, rain, 197/365

Care to bowl? 196/365

A set of lawn bowls with very lovely markings for sale at the Salvos at Alderley.

a drop, 195/365

Starting Friday we have had on and off rain.

Knit Graffiti in Stones Corner, 194/365

Wilted, 193/365

Summer is here and the plants show how I feel.

I want to say, 192/365

There has been some stencil poetry popping up round Auchenflower/Toowong in the last month or so. I quite like this one.

Breakfast, Dinner, Desert, 191/365

Breakfast/Dinner – fruit salad, yoghurt and toasted muesli.
Desert – replace the yoghurt with frozen yoghurt!

Puzzling about, 190/365

At the bookfest I picked up a few puzzles to occupy my time instead of bumming round the net. Since I don’t have a space where I can keep a puzzle out, I picked up a puzzle mat as well This puzzle is just about all done now too, I only have the sky left to finish.

Fishing Cake, 189/365

Grandad wanted a plain fruit cake with no icing for his cake. I couldn’t leave it undecorated though! We used to play with this fishing set when we were kids at the farm..

Gorgeous Sky, 188/365

Last Friday we had a gorgeous sunset, this however was the view to the east which I much preferred.

And that’s a wrap!