Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

'Twas A Dark And Stormy Night!

Suddenly, a shot rang out!

A door slammed!

The maid screamed!

Lightning bolts forked down from the heavens!

Snoopy grinned maniacally from the top of his doghouse...

Did anyone get that? Does anyone remember the really cool Peanuts cartoons from the 60's and 70's?

Yeah, yeah. I know, most of you have heard of that era in the ancient history class that you slept through in High School. 'Sides, we all know that everything we now know comes from the 21st century and that's what matters! If it don't start with i- or e- than it's of no consequence. And heck, who was alive back then that even matters anymore.

Oh, that laughing you hear in the background? Just Rod Serling, never mind him.

And get off my lawn!! And outta my pool!!!!! Harumph!

Totally off-topic: There will be a "conversation with wifey-poo" at the end of this post.

Getting back to the storm... And it wasn't at night either.

We had a couple of days a few weeks ago when the wind was cranking hard from the north. That is odd this time of year. The wind direction meant that the surf was only half as high as you'd expect from a gale, but the skies were clear. And that meant that I could take some really cool pics on high speed w/o the pics being grainy. *Side note: if the pics were grainy then I'd ferment them suckers!*

I do know that pictures of waves and storms never tell the real story, and unless you know what you are looking for in the wave shots (spindrift, foam stringers etc), then it can be hard to imagine how fast the wind was blowing. But trust me, the wind was howling that day. Yes, I had to lean into it and carefully brace the camera on a railing with my legs splayed outwards just to get shots that weren't fuzzy. No sense using a tripod cus it would've been blown over.

And to think I used to be foredeck crew in yacht races in weather like this. Most times I'd "forget" to clip on... good thing I can swim, eh?

Here're (cool conjunctionally, conjoined, contraction, eh?) some pics of the surf.


To the untrained eye, this doesn't look like much.
wave surf 01
But notice the height of the people on the jetty, and then take another look at the waves.

I just love the way the light is shining through this breaker...
wave surf 02

Even more transparant water coolness.
wave surf 03

The bloke on the right is LATE! Very late.
wave surf 04

No surprise that he was left behind...
wave surf 08

This is normally a beach. No, it was not high tide.
wave surf 06

Hmmmmm, same beach.
wave surf 05

Perhaps now you'll see the foam blowing off the top of the whitecaps:
wave surf 07
Well, maybe not.


Notice how I framed the shot so the ocean horizon is lined up EXACTLY with the railing? Pretty good, huh?
wave surf 09




And here is wear-where-were I reward (Re-Ward; is that a secondary ward against weres?) your patience with a real, true, honest conversation betwixt WP (Wifey-Poo, otherwise known as The Most Wonderful Woman In The Entire World --perhaps I should move to Mars?) and YT (Yours Truly, that'd be me. No further adjectives are necessary, of course.)

*Remember, WP is a world famous novelist and arrrr-teeeest, whereas I'm just a dumb ex-truckdriver*

*we join our heroes in the middle of a talk --mainly cus YT couldn't remember how it started...*


WP: In addition to the transparency I had to throw in some kind of sfumato.

WP: And I even know what that word means! So there.

YT: So do I, of course.

WP: So what does it mean? *snicker*

YT: In what respect?

WP: Nice try, but don't play dumb.

YT: Well then, you are quite obviously mispronouncing a certain Italian sparkling wine, or you want me to make a particular type of pasta.

WP: *laughs hysterically* Not even close.

YT: Yes dear.

...

YT: You still haven't told me what size of spirali you'd like with your 3 bottles of spumante tonight.

WP: *Sob*

Friday, July 17, 2009

My B.I.L. Has a B.L.O.G.

And it's about time too. Not only is he almost finished with his PhD in Archeology (with a great "in" to a fulltime staff job at the Uni) but he's also a darned good modeler.

No, he doesn't pose --THANKFULLY!!!!!

He builds models. Not just any ole things like we all did when we wuz young (I used to put lit firecrackers up the tailpipes of jet fighters and toss them off the balcony), but real, scratch built goodies. He even does his own casting of parts.

Anyways, if'n any of y'all's int'rested in this stuff, then check out:

World in Miniature

As a side note, I'm on a first name basis with our delivery bloke as he brings boxes of kits and plastic fiddly-bits to the house regularly. Rob (delivery bloke) also likes my homebrew.


Next topic:

Have I mentioned it's winter down here in Oz? For those of you who may be hemispherically challenged, seasons here are opposite from what many of you expect. Hmmmm, sure is nice having Christmas when it's 120 F in the shade... *santa loves our pool*

But it is winter. Yes, Oz does get cold. In fact both WP (the most wonderful woman in the entire world, wifey-poo) and YT (Your Truly, that'd be me) have had to put on pants today. Heck, I even put on shoes!!

Oh the horror of this freezing weather. Sigh, HOW will I ever survive this cold climate? Hmmmmm, I guess I can start by pruning the grpae vines, double checking the Lemon Verbena cuttings, pruning back the palm trees out front so the postie can get to the letterbox, and chasing the darned ducks out of the pool so I can have a swim.

See what I go through in the winter here??!!!??!?!

As you can probably tell, I'm being just slightly sarcastic. Just a wee bit. It really is cold down here right now. I'm not joking!

Why, just look at the goosebumps on these blokes as they practice their start manuevers with their 420's:

420_01

420_02

420_03

420_04



Yeah, winter kinda sucks down here...

WP and I will be heading up to Wittunga for lunch in a bit, kinda breezy with a windchill down to somewhere in the mid 60's... I'd better wear my bunny boots!


BTW, how come NO ONE has even mentioned the really cool movie stunt in Project A, Part One? It is the best movie stunt evah!