Knocking on our doors soon?

Coming soon?
It's seems Australian Prime minister John Howard has jumped on the redneck bandwagon of paranoia and fear by implementing some new anti-terror laws. Apparently the laws contain increased police powers to search homes and detain "suspects" indefinitely without trial. Now I realise there are some obvious humanitarian issues here, but in all honesty, does anyone have any reason to fear a household cleaning product? Surely anyone can see the clear resemblance in the photos above -- one nicked from a news story somewhere, and the other on a can of Mr Sheen. Did Mr Howard change his name by deed poll, I wonder? My advice to Mr Howard/Sheen -- stop trying to look like the tough guy with fascist laws like these, after years marketing yourself as a cleaning product, you're fooling nobody.
In other news, tomorrow I'm riding The Wonders of Glorious Mee in Brisbane. 212km with over 3,000 metres of climbing to play with. It's not expected to be as hot as in previous years (they're only forecasting 26 degrees C tomorrow). If that turns out to be the case, I might just attack Mt Mee. It's the hardest climb of the day, but I have some old scores to settle from previous editions of this ride when it's hit 39 degrees C on that climb in the past. Roll on.

Waxwing and Mountain Ash Berries

With the cold weather hanging on for another night, I figured I would get up early and drive to Grand Marais to photograph the steam behind the lighthouse. What I wasn't figuring on were the thousands of Waxwings that were hanging out in the various trees in the Grand Marais campground. I found one area where all the Mountain Ash berries had blown off the trees and down onto the ground. I watched as hundreds of Waxwings hopped around amongst the berries, choking them down just as fast as they could pick them up. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to isolate this one bird against the backdrop of berries. It is my favorite shot of the morning.

Still having some fun!

At the parkie again!
Throw it again!

Gopher checking.....
Still having fun, but can't wait for mom and dad to get back!

THOUGHT POPS, Edition Three

I WON A MAJOR AWARD! And it was Fra-gi-lé!
Did any Christmas Story fans immediately think “leg lamp”? The box was smaller, but I won something equally cool, and all I had to do was identify this mysterious photo on La Gringa’s Blogocito:

There are lots of cycads, including Sago Palms at the Hartman Gardens, and this photo sure looked like new growth unfurling to me. Then La Gringa showed the Cycad, fully unfurled, and said that I was the winner.

La Gringa has been my guide to so many fascinating people, plants, creatures, customs and places that I was a winner just by visiting her blogocito, but she also sent me a surprise, all the way from Honduras.
First some Honduras souvenirs – note pads. Then out came a bag of Honduran-grown coffee. Philo & I brewed coffee and like it a lot – it’s a very smooth brew.

And then even more prizes appeared!


La Gringa sent the cute magnet girls to represent the ‘Divas of the Dirt’, along with this very useful case for glasses with zippered pocket and neck cord, and a beautiful windchime made of polished coconut shells, which makes a cool, clicketty-kind of sound. La Gringa put such thought into the prize that she even wrapped these treasures in interesting pages from the Honduran newspapers - even the packaging was fun!
Thank you so much, La Gringa and El Jefe ~ you made me feel very lucky, and very special!
BLOOM REPORT

The Lady Banks opened fully earlier this week and is blooming with the Coral Honeysuckle. When I planted the new honeysuckle last year my hope was that the yellow centers of this coral-colored vine would harmonize with the pale yellow of the Lady Banks. I’m pretty happy with this ephemeral combination – what do you think?
In the side garden three Bridal Wreath spiraeas are blooming with a few bluebonnets.
Can you see that iris foliage at far right? My friend Ellen was given some iris last spring and the person who gave it to her promised that it was purple. Ellen shared some with me, and now we’re both hoping they will bloom in the violet shades that we crave.

Above are both varieties of spiraea and the Lady Banks to compare their bloom and leaves. That’s Rosa Lady Banks Yellow at left, with the longer-leaved, larger flowered Spiraea cantoniensis(?) in the center. I’m not sure of the botanical name for the other, rounder-leaved Spiraea at right, but this is the kind that grew in our Illinois gardens.

FLORARAMA WEEKEND
This name is no longer in use – our annual horticultural extravaganza was already called the Zilker Garden Festival when we moved here, but some longtime Austinites like M Sinclair Stevens prefer the original name, and so do I.
The festival may be somewhat soggy – we have had some tremendous downpours here in the last few days – but the weather forecasters are still promising that the rain will have moved out by mid-Saturday.
Now for the part guaranteed to turn some of you green with envy – the bigshot speaker this year is none other than FELDER RUSHING!! Yes, the coauthor of the beloved book Passalong Plants, which has already been announced as the next choice of the Garden Bloggers’ Book Club.
Will my luck hold? Will I get to hear Felder speak in person? Will I even make it to Florarama? Will I find new Duranta plants to replace the ones that died over winter? Watch this space – I hope the answers will all be Yes.

Santa Was Here OR They Did It With Slinkys

Contrary to popular belief Slinkys can be found all over this town including Sullivan's Toys
in Cleveland Park and Bruce Variety in Bethesda- the last of the hopefully never late GREAT independent shops. And this year my nephew, Teddy didn't have to worry about sharing his Slinky or having it swiped by his grandfather or another smaller annoying relative.
Hope you had a swell holiday as well.

Gray day swallows

Flighty flibbertigibbets.

It's not far

Sometimes I don't have to go far from home to stir things up and discover some worthwhile riding experiences. So it proved on the weekend. Saturday was a short, early ride into Tallebudgera Valley, with the intention of escaping the blistering heat. That failed of course, but it was still a rewarding ride. The recent rain did provide some relief in the form of an overflowing creek that had to be crossed. Hitting some cool water all of a sudden is an extremely refreshing experience.


I did manage one detour for the sake of a little extra climbing. The name "Petsch Creek Road" should inspire visions of a ride through a forest along a creek bed. The reality is an 18% climb to a place where Tallebudgera Falls are probably flowing again behind some newly planted trees. Still, the views over the valley are worth the effort, even if the falls can't be seen anymore.

And so on to Sunday, and this time I joined my old riding partner Martin for a fairly routine ride to the hamlet of Duranbah, on the Condong Range, basically to see what was there. The promised rain never quite eventuated (somehow we missed it for the entire day), but there were other charms, particularly the early morning light on the South Pacific Ocean. The ride opened with the obligatory ride through the forests of Urliup, and some relief from the heat prior to the arrival of the forecast southerly change.


The change in weather arrived as we crested the Condong Range at Farrants Hill, before a delightful ride across to Duranbah. In the nature reserve there are some old fire roads which, while rough, may provide some interesting riding experiences in the future. Even though I was riding The Black Magic on it's biggest outing in over two years, time constraints prevented a full exploration of the area. The most likely destination of these tracks is Cabarita Beach or the area immediately north of it. We ended up catching a ride home on a southerly wind, with time to speculate on just where they might lead. One day...

A Prayer Request and a Prayer

Look closely at the lower left corner of window.  Do you see a woman's face?  I took this photo the last time we were in  Williamsburg.
Please pray for the family of the surgeon who performed Darcie's appendectomy.  He died this morning leaving a wife and two young daughters.  He was found in a coma by his fishing buddies.  He was put on life support but had no brain activity.  The decision was made to take him off late this morning, and he died shortly thereafter. 
I don't know if he was a Christian or not.  I pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit to cover his poor wife and daughters.  He was only in his 30's.  He had a reputation as a very good surgeon.  It seems like such a waste, doesn't it?  
But God has his plans which we know nothing about.  I do know that everything he does is good, so I have to be content with that.
Here's a prayer we prayed in unison yesterday at church:  Heavenly Father, we know that we live in a world that is full of corruption.  Grant us the power to live in this world without being corrupted by it; that we may enter Your kingdom with great joy.  This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your  Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.  Amen.

New Bike Carrier

The last week, I have been looking at a new bike carrier. The current carrier has over 200k miles on it, suspension is shot, seals are leaking, basically worn out. The new carrier is Chevy Impala.
After coffee and before my bike ride today I put down a deposit on the new carrier. See photo. The car is being transferred to Classic Chevrolet-Cadillac. Still paperwork to do before I can take delivery.
The great part of working with the dealer (maybe the ONLY part of working with a (any) car dealer) is I encouraged a salesman to get back on his GT bicycle. It had been sitting for over 5 years. Welcome back to cycling!

Back to work

Anybody want my job?

Yesterday it was back to the regular rides after a few weeks away on holiday. What's surprising on a ride like this is just how much of it feels new after being away for a while. I've ridden the old Numinbah Valley circuit more times than is worth the effort to count, and I could probably do it blindfolded if necessary. Yet for all that, and for all the amazing scenery offered by New Zealand during my break, I still found some of the landscapes at the southern end of the valley worth photographing for some reason. Perhaps it just reflects the quality of some of the rides in this area.





Even in the section that passes through the Tweed Valley (which I've ridden many more times connecting with other rides), there were still things I was able to notice, be it the Goblin Kingdom...



... Or the early bloom of the wildflowers (they normally don't start until Autumn, which is still a week away).



For all that I've still had a relatively easy week on the bike. That will all change tomorrow morning, however, as even now I'm still feeling the excitement, and almost a sense of urgency in the opportunity to return to areas I've been away from -- and to even explore new roads from these. I may even attempt back to back imperial centuries next weekend -- depending on how I'm feeling at the time.