Style

How's this for style ? Spotted in downtown Newcastle Sunday afternoon, jumped out of the car in the rain to snap the shot, the kids thought I was mad.

whales

The wild weather resulted in this incredible creature being washed ashore on Sunday. Lu and I went for a look but it was the smell that was most overwhelming. It had a long skinny jaw with large sharp teeth and a huge bulbous head with tiny eyes. Very prehistoric looking.

Family Walk

A Wonderful weekend of following intuition and walking towards water. Found an amazing gully in the middle of northern Sydney suburbia. Sydney harbour is really a very special place. I imagine the indigenous folk who enjoyed it for millennia certainly thought so.

Our Local Park

A wonderful icy bite in the dawn morning as we walked through the park today. There's a sandstone structure at the centre of the park and I wondered what was the thinking behind its construction. Four crusty old lion's head emerge from the sides. All around the park large fig trees create interesting shapes with the concrete slab footpaths.

Can you believe that tomatoes keep going in the garden ! There's corn there too but I think the Sulphur crested bushrangers will tear them up before long. What really excites me at the moment out there is the raspberries, the broccoli and the tadpoles in the pond who have little leg buds growing.

The little things that matter

What a day! A serendipidous and salubrious flow just danced through today. Ran into the right people from out of the blue, the sun was shining on the world and I just felt totally grateful for all the goodness and blessings that fill my life. A lovely walk to get things moving in the morning, with a beautiful sunrise, then off to a meeting with Ric Woods (photographer and artist) which was just inspirational, then into work for a quick stint that was busier than I thought (which is GOOD!) and then, Oh my sweet lord, my guitar guru Matt is making me a guitar and today the strings went on.. if ever I have heard angels sing it was today with Matt letting loose with some flaminco riffs that were just glorious ! I was too overwhelmed to take any photos. Had a lovely afternoon shared with the kids doing some gardening and a computer game called Angry Birds.

All in all, a lovely peaceful, productive day for which I am deeply grateful.

Stormy Paradise

Its been wild and beautiful weather here lately, strong winds, big tides, torrential rain. The back garden is a mire, but the veges are thriving. The bees keep to themselves in the rain, but are still out there finding plenty of pollen I notice when conditions allow. Fantastic surf on Sunday! 5-6 foot swell, some bigger sets, off shore winds, sun was out, puurrrfect. Went down from the water tower to one of my favourite spots and got some rippers. Some big wipe outs too and a bit of a sore neck Monday to boot.

Sick Indo Pits

Nothing like the ocean to clear the mental cobwebs, whether its a few waves, a run or just a comb.. always a buzz. Friends just back from an Indo trip rave about the wave quality and the laid back nature of the whole island vibe... ? next year..

Letter Boxes

I've noticed that some folk go to quite some trouble to add a little style and interest to the little things in life. Letter boxes with a bushranger theme.

Local renos.

Here's a lovely conversion of old and rundown/disused corner shop to a great little home, that

still leaves the aesthetic and style of the original building. I like it.

Good Morning Doggy Style

I've been doing the early morning walks with my new little man. We talk and sing, the dog loves it and we get to see our neighbourhood in a detail you don't get with the bike or driving. It's a great area with a lot of folks having done interesting things with old miners cottages, or doing up old corner shops. On mother's day we were walking just after sunrise and an senior gentlemen was setting up buckets loaded with flowers grown in his garden. As we got closer Pearly arched up and unloaded a steaming Mr Whippy pile of doggy good morning right there! Talk about timing! Not sure whether he was more disgusted with her, or surprised at me as I snapped the shot.

rethink

I've been reconsidering the whole blogging thing. The publicness, the safety, the digital format etc.. I do so enjoy checking in on the blogs of others ( just a few) so perhaps I'll continue for a while yet.

A colleague turned up for a lunch date the other day on the most amazing bike I've seen in a long time! Reminiscent of something of long ago and yet up close something almost space age or rediscovered about it! I found a photo online but from the lack of info I'm guessing that its not

at all popular world wide which strangely endears it to me even more. I showed to a Jen who suggested I must be mad, and got similar laughs and responses from anyone I've showed it to so far, with the notable exception of the wunderboy Zigstar, who said cooool. So this is the Pedersen from Denmark designed by Mikael Pederson who patented his design in 1894. I'm going to test ride it today hopefully on the sunny streets of Newcastle Australia 2010.

A new type of "skateboard" that has a swivel joint in the middle, making it possible to lean the board in different directions at the same time. Its very weird to get the hang of, but once it clicks the board turns very sharply and quickly. It also allows you to pump far more affectively and I've often seen kids riding up hills by twisting and pumping the board. I'm starting to get the hang of it and its a load of fun.

Is this THE coolest bike in the world or what ! Well I thought so when we spotted it at a local garage sale last weekend. The kids took a little more convincing. We bought it, cleaned it up, tightened some nuts, pumped up the tyres and then everyone wanted to ride it ! Cool..

I've also become a big fan of the ripstick!

Sometimes you've just got to have a go!

This is Evan Slater having a red hot go in the recent surf comp

at Maverick's. I love this shot, there's just the slimmest chance he

may have dropped and survived this monster, but chances are he

got absolutely slaughtered and held under big time! But look at

how determined he looks even at this point !

Small Things

I really love all the little unexpected things that pop up along the way that make you smile

and remind me that life is unfolding and spinning its mysterious web around me, within me,

without me and in spite of me. I do a dawn gym session on Tuesdays and this little fella was

there on the path as I arrived.. really made me smile... he didn't run away either, just

stood there watching me pass.."morning"