boy + bird

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two lots of selfies

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Hmmm. How is that supposed to work, will I need to teach you how to fly too?

Murphy arrived in our life on Friday. Kids at Newstead School named him/her this way. A fallen baby magpie, Sid was really keen to nurture him/her. My mind raced fast and furious, just for a few seconds, before I said say yes. We can give him/ her a home. Sid raced back to school. Another friend could take him home. So they gambled it on heads or tails (pile ou face). Sid won.

I then remembered we were heading to the beach on Saturday. So we made two boxes for Murphy, a big one for the road trip, and a small portable one for the beach, and off we went. The five of us.

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Planting day, 2021. A day planting grapes and catching up at Wayne & Tania’s Sandon Hill Winery

The setting

Some of the cast

The planting business

The catching up business

My picture of the day

Teletubbied

Jean. Processing. ❤️

RIP Luke.

checking hair styles for school photo day. Jean ended up untying everything. “I want to look like I do every day” she said.

strange things in the night

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sprummer

Jean experienced quite a shift in her friendship group at school this year. Old friends moved to new groups where she didn’t always feel welcome. she had to not fight for her place, but to pivot and find other friends, who feel more ready to play with her. sometimes their games involves all friends- old and new.

tonight at home she drew three presents for her and her new two best friends (BFF).

when i asked her about the message, “do your thing”, she explained this to me.

it’s important. sometimes people don’t want to play with you, you need to do things you love to do, to do your thing, and maybe other people will see you and play with you. it’s important to do your thing.

A quick chat with Jean after work. ❤️

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last minute check.

sharing world on minecraft

back to work

Jean Fashion

Sid

Sometimes success and achievement just looks like this. A camp fire by myself, accompanied by a well traveled companion pot. I found this black pan discarded on an old building site in 2006, a few months before the great Zinedine headbutted his way into international retirement, while pushing a bike in and out of Granada. I didn’t dream of Australia yet, but was about to. How it followed me all the way up to Leanganook yesterday remains a strange oddity.

Then came She. Full moon. Up the hill with the cockatoos. Down the creek, with the frogs.

a new friend

dry forest sprites, flowing creek, sunset, campfire, and a late night tune. remembering the old days, in Glen Luce.

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one day and a few video games later…

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Day 4. Testing times. In & out of the CHIRP Community Health Pop-up Covid swapping clinic, Campbells Creek, October 2, 2021.

Day 3. Gold !!

Up there is a map of Bendigo underground, the gold reefs and the mines. The deepest dived down to 1400 m underground. Underneath every street and building lays probably a mineshaft.

We visited the upper levels of the central Deborah gold mine, in Golden Square. The mine operated for 15 years, from 1939 to 1954. During which miners dug 17 different levels reaching down 400 meters deep, extracting 929 kg of gold.

I still do not understand what is the use of gold and how it became so precious that such a business model could be profitable. It is a strange heritage to build upon.

staycation [steɪˈkeɪʃ(ə)]

n/ noun

a holiday spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.

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Day 1: Res + Bendigo

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Trees, Birds & Sun.

From Peter Carey’s Illywhacker

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Herbert, on Hessian bags:

“It is my belief that there are few things in this world more useful than a hessian bag, and no matter what part of my story I wish to reflect on I find that a hessian bag, or the lack of one, assumes some importance. They soften the edge of a hard bench, can be split open to line a wall, can provide a blanket for a cold night, a safe container for a snake, a rabbit, or a duck. They are useful when beheading hens or to place under car tyres in sandy soil. You can stuff them full of kapok to make a decent cushion and there is nothing better to carry frogs in.”

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Annette’s fears:

“Annette, as usual, leaped to embrace what she feared the most.”

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Rosa, on Socialism and the revolution:

“They dressed like they had no hope. It is capitalism, I told them, that is bleak, not socialism. When there is a revolution the people should wear wonderful clothes, streamers, flags, balloons. It should be full of love, not like a funeral.”

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Herbert, on communicating Love:

“We played with Charles together. We pretended to love him together. My darling expected me, somehow to be a mind reader.

Doubtless I expected the same of her. I imagined my passion for building was shared by everyone. I did not doubt that it was understood: that my ruling love was for human warmth, for people gathered in rooms, talking, laughing, sharing stews and puddings and talk. Aeroplanes and cars seemed, in comparison, cold and soulless things, of no consequence in comparison to the family we were building. For the first time in my life I felt I had a place on earth.

But I didn’t explain myself. I felt it obvious. I thought my building was a language anyone could understand.”

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Mr Lo’s Impostor Syndrome:

“Mr Lo was an intelligent young man. His teachers had all remarked on his understanding and his diligence. Things did not need to be explained twice. Yet he could not, in his present situation, ever understand how he was permitted to stay or what function he had in the workings of Mr Badgery’s establishment. He had asked and been answered, but he had not understood and he behaved as he had when, as a child, when his father was still alive, he had gone fishing. He was too young to understand fishing, but he followed the example of his father and uncles. When they jiggled their lines, he did likewise. When they changed baits, so did he. But he did not understand. So it was in Mr Badgery’s emporium: he did his somersaults and spoke in languages, but he could be overcome, mid-somersault, with a panic that there was no meaning to his antics.”

triple treats

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The Magic Crabapple Tree

crêpes + blue

When Jean just looks like Sid.

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Newstead primary school Footy colours day, 2021

Small Things.

Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon)

Roquette

More Jean, & some rare football extasy.

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Haute couture.

The plan:

1. Cut two holes where the feet are
2. Make it go on his back
3. Keep the buttons
4. Ask dad if he can sew it
5. Make it so it goes over his head
6. Cut where the ears are.

The dress:

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The execution:

Before/After:

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The building of a nest..

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Fathers day, 2021

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they woke me up with love letters, a fruit salad and a cup of orange juice

I cooked pancakes for breakfast

we ate skittles while hunting orchids in the bush

we played board games

there was laughter

there was love

and occasional tears

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Father’s day love, Jean

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Father’s day love, Sid

Another sunny afternoon at the Res, on the day where spring officially started.

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Wheels & Wool

“Covid camping” on the deck

Getting closer, and closer, to the ground..

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It takes time, walking through the bush, to adjust your focus and spot the orchids.