Australia Day 2011

We sailed to Peel Island in Moreton Bay for an Australia Day picnic with the Tingira Boat Club.
Our boat "Bonnington" took a while to get there with no wind at all so we had to rely on our motor.

Crew included Julia, Eddie, Tane and Ranui Harmer and Helen and Sam Wells.

Julia found a native plant growing which she said the Aborigines had used as a form of cocaine. We tried it but perhaps stuffing it up your nose is not the way to go. My nose went numb ... but not in a pleasant way.

On the island, the club organised a damper competition and a best dressed Australian outfit.

Rose Coloured Glasses

I was doing the washing up this morning with my new dishwashing liquid - Pink Frangipani.

It looked and smelled so beautiful that I decided to rinse my spectacles in it.

When I put them on, they had a faint film over the lenses which made everything look slightly out of focus.

Is this what looking at the world through rose coloured glasses means?

Two sides of the coin

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in the Halfwit Sundays. Well, in some of us at least ...

Just got back from attending a firies call out. A lady had fallen off her scooter and had minor injuries. Yes, firies also attend motor vehicle accidents in the Halfwits.

Once assessed and loaded onto the ambulance to be taken to the mainland, the lady was understandably concerned about her scooter. If we left it by the roadside, who knows what would happen to it.

Spotting a woman across the road in her garden, I walked over and introduced myself.

"Would it be possible to put the scooter in her garden behind the gate?"

Wearing firies yellows and having an ambulance in the background, it was pretty obvious, I thought, that this was no prank.

"No" was the reply. "Get someone else to help."

"And a merry Christmas to you, too." I thought as I returned to the scooter.

Busily writing a note which I was planning on attaching to the handlebars, I heard a call from the house next door. An elderly gentleman came out and asked if he could help. On learning of the problem, he immediately offered to push the bike into his yard, under the house to protect it from the weather. He even apologised for not coming out sooner but he was extremely deaf and had heard nothing.

Thanks Harry. People like you make the Halfwit Sundays a lovely place to live.

Georgetta, I only hope you are never in need of assistance. What comes around goes around.

The Scribbly gum

Our garden is covered with huge pieces of bark shed from our scribbly gums. Pieces up to 2 metres long dangle from the higher parts of the trunk, waiting for a high wind to tear them off and sail them through the air.

I love the scribbly gum - the smooth pale trunk, the spreading canopy which protects our garden from the fierce Queensland sun. The brown scribbles are amazing - caused by the larvae of the scribbly moth. It doesn't harm the tree and appears in many eucalypts. However, it is more apparent in the scribbly gum.

I love to pick up the pieces I find on the lawn and look at the markings. Like some ancient hieroglyphic language, they speak of the journey of the larvae climbing up the tree trunk, moving sightlessly to find the smoothest route and finally coming to a halt when they reach the pupa stage. Here they burst from the tree to pupate in the litter at the bottom of the tree.

I've never seen a scribbly gum moth ... very small, only 1-2mm in length ... but I'd like to thank them for their artwork in my garden.

Extreme measures

Just spotted a shocking news story in the Brisbane Courier Mail online.

A bomb detection robot has rolled off the back of a police van at the Brisbane jetty where a man has threatened self harm, prompting officers to close down part of the city centre.

A 100-metre exclusion zone was set up around Eagle Street pier after the 54 year old man moored his boat to the inner-city wharf and alerted police about 5am today.

Police have refused to confirm if any explosive devices have been reported on board the yacht.
However, the man has been seen holding a jerry can and a 30cm long bayonet.

A police officer said at the scene the man had requested a bacon and egg McMuffin.

However, the request has been made after McDonald's 10.30am breakfast cut-off time.

Police say they are trying to fulfil the request.

Will McDonalds give in this heinous demand? I wait with baited breath ...

Long TIme No Sea

Not strictly true, for we are always on or beside the sea in the Halfwit Sundays. Just a play on words really. But it has been a long time since I blogged.

I'm still loving the Halfwits, both the islands themselves and the Halfwits that inhabit them. A special blessing to those who make my day by their determination to be themselves

... to Top Hat Bob who wanders round the island with a top hat and a weiro on his shoulder. Even into the supermarkets, for it is, after all, the Halfwit Sundays.

... to Tinkerbell the goat and her owner who drives her around the island.

... to the lady who refuses to give in to the mediocrity of middle age and has a broad swathe of cerise from forehead to neck ... a flat mohawk, so to speak.

... to the houses in Beelong Street who have given their houses dodgy names .... "We Beelong2", "Beelongitude", "Beelongatsea" ... etc.

... and to the wannabees in Mawarra Street who called their house "Whywudyabeelong".

... to the couple up the street who won't cut their grass because the plovers have nested in their garden and the two chicks are tottering around the yard, fiercely protected by mum and dad.

... to the family behind us with their myriad of huge white muscovy ducks which sit on the fences, out of the way of the rottweiler.

... to Doug the Digger, Al the Hat, Steve Plumber and all those tradies who bear the name of their business in true olde englishe tradition.

... to the fact that we look after our own, even those slightly damaged by birth or misfortune. If you live in the Halfwits, you are one of us and you belong.

I'm proud to be one of you.

I wasn't sure when our dragonfruit would be ripe but decided today was the day. In between showers, Guy climbed the ladder and grasped the first of the fruit, only to be covered with tiny ants.
Ï think we've left it too late." he said, as the ants ran all over his hand "The ants seem to have beaten us to it."

Nonetheless, he detached our three dragonfruit and I carefully placed them on the grass, huge gaping cavities in their sides vomiting forth copious amounts of tiny ants.

I decided to take them inside anyway to see if we could salvage anything, especially as they were of the red variety. Previously, I had only tasted dragonfruit with the white flesh, which I have found somewhat tasteless.

The skin peeled off very easily and I cut away the bits which the ants had exposed to the air. There was quite a lot left and we tasted it curiously. Very, very sweet and perfumed was the verdict. Looks - 10 out of 10. Taste - I'd give it a 2 but then, I like half ripened fruit at best and don't like anything sweet.