Sunday, 6 January 2013

A few thoughts ... and some pretty nice photos ...

Hi everyone,

Typing this at about midday on Sunday.  Later this afternoon I'll need to get on the road for Melbourne.  I'm not going to lie: I'm really not looking forward to going back to the office tomorrow and sorting that shambles out and wondering if they'll fire my arse for negligence again.

The only lesson I can draw from this is that I wish life came with an instruction manual.  Even when I left university at the end of 2001, I kind of kept functioning as if I was still a student, in the sense that the working year was for working, essentially every weekend, evening and every waking moment.  Rest and relaxation was reserved for the annual summer break.  So, in effect, I wasn't living so much as merely functioning.  I could not have said that, in any credible sense, I was "owning" my life.

Possibly I wouldn't have gotten into that cycle if I hadn't so determinedly pushed the limited number of friends I had away.  You can really only learn about how to function in the world by being in the world.  Being in the world really has to consist of something more than going to work, going home, occasionally going to the farm, and dreaming about all the great things you'd do if only you weren't so busy at work.  On that note, I wish I'd begun blogging years ago: meeting the great people I've met through blogging has really opened up a whole new set of ideas for me.

No point moping about lost time though.  Hell, I hope that I'm still learning more and more about how to live even when the Grim Reaper is breathing impatiently down my neck.


Ancora imparo indeed.

Anyway, life-ponderings aside, I've spent part of the morning taking some photos around the Casa Parental.  I've also been reviewing the other photos I've taken this break that are still on my phone; here they are for your viewing pleasure -


So, you don't feel like a cigarette?


Dad and Michael decanting gas from a large bottle to a small bottle.

Dad's old drilling rig awaiting an overhaul




The rig in question is a Hydromaster 500, built by Overall McCray Pty Ltd in Sutherland, NSW.

Local councils here like to get their name out ... including on rubbish bins!

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Every time Joni dealt with a Shire council over here, she was kind of waiting for a hobbit to appear.

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Some of the bushland on the Shepparton property

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Dad looking photogenic at the shearing shed at Shepparton

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At this point I was running out of things to photograph at Shepparton

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The bed I was sleeping in.

Looking back up to the spine of the Peninsula

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The garden at Flinders

The apricot tree -

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The new lemon tree

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The yellow rose bush

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The pink rose bush

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In between starting this post and finishing it I drove back to Melbourne, bought some basic groceries and unpacked.  Not much to report except that I dodged the holiday traffic returning to the city - dead pleased with that!

More later.

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