About yesterdays Lizards...

These little lizards are called 'skinks'. Here in Australia we have many many types of skinks and I havent been able to identify exactly which sort of skink these are. They are about 10cm long. In my gardens there are literally dozens of them meandering thru the mulch or climbing the trees seeking insect prey, or just sunning themselves on rocks.

I was working in the garden when the rather vigourous rustling of leaf litter caught my attention. Looking for the source of this sound I noticed the slightly larger of these two skinks had grasped the other and was dragging it away. This made me quite curious as Id never observed this before, and I doubted they ate each other.

I followed them 10 yards or so, till we reached the gravel path near some large stone blocks that are waiting to be used in the garden. There the skink doing the dragging wrapped himself around the female and the pair became motionless. Then I knew for sure what was happening, and went for the camera! They werent fussed at all with me getting within a foot of them to take this shot.

They stayed together for a good 10 minutes or so when I decided Id better get back to work, so Im not sure what happened after I left them to it.

She will lay her eggs in the garden somewhere, just under the mulch or shallowly in the soil itself, and they will hatch in the spring.

They also drive my housecats insane when they sun themselves on the brick window ledge. Hours of entertainment for all!

My sincere apologies to those that found them hard to look at, creepy or nightmarish. I hadnt considered that some would react that way. I wasnt crazy about free-range lizards when I first arrived here, but since getting to know them better, Id miss them very much if they no longer raced through my gardens.

Wordless Wednesday - Lizards in Love

Op-Ed: They call it "Redevelopment"

In the 1970's: they herded all the disadvanted people out of Sydney and into "superlot" public housing estates in the western suburbs.

Beginning in 2005: Theyre kicking them all out. Bulldozing thier homes. 'Re-assigning' them to 'other areas'.

May 2007: Theyve killed all the trees in this superlot. Apparently, it wasnt enough to up-root all the people.

Hasnt the ALP heard about global warming? How many more hundreds of thousands of dollars can they make by killing the trees too? Is there no end to thier greed?

DISCLAIMER:
Im not omnipotent. These thoughts are only my opinion.

Sunday, Budgie Sunday...Goldie's Chicks May 27th

Today the eldest of Goldie's chicks is 20 days, and the youngest is 10 days, (you can click the pic for a better view).

Already I can make an educated guess on 'who's your daddy', but I will save that for another post - for now we will just marvel at how fast they grow. (If you havent seen the previous pics: on the right hand side of your screen, look for the 'labels' section, and click on 'Sunday Budgie Sunday'.)

These little guys have no fear of me, and in fact seem quite curious. Goldies last group of chicks would panic whenever Id take a look at them. Funny isnt it?

Happy Sunday, Budgie Sunday!

SPF - Little and Pink

This weeks Stuff Portrait Fridays' theme was Little & Pink...now, I gotta admitt the first thing that came to my mind was, well, something I would never put a picture of on the net. Ahem.

The next thing to mind was budgerigar (parakeet) chicks:

But Ive had a fair few of those up lately...so then I thought about seed beads!

Yeah, those are nice too, but also a little predictable. Then the answer came to me - PussyCat toes! My cat Priapus has some nice pink toes, but he just didnt want to show them to me today. He apparently had more interesting things to do with them than let me have a nice shot of them. Harumpf!

Consequently, I had no choice but to share with the WWW this unfortunate shot of him as a kitten - sacked out in the bathroom sink on a hot summer day:

That'll teach him!

Did you play?

Lost for Words, Adrift in Life & Lampwork Beads

Some of my lampwork beads are available from (link removed) and I have a few up on (link removed) ebay but I must confess I havent been on the torch this week at all.

Im still stuck in my creative slump/burn out, and finding it hard to light that puppy up and melt some glass. Its hard to believe that this happened to me, after all, I had been so obessed with working the glass. Nothing Else Mattered. Since this funk came, well...the best way to describe it is with a sound.....the sound of a dial tone.

But thats all eerie and a bummer - we dont wanna talk about that here, do we?

All is not lost creatively. Ive decided to do an art quilt. Been a long time since I worked with textiles and Im a bit excited about it. I have a design in mind, and am now trying to decide on the colours...its an art quilt, yes...but it is going to be a working quilt as well for our queen size bed. So its important to not make something that will keep us awake all night, or have parts that the cats can chew off and cough up later...you know what I mean Im sure.

What I wonder is, how can you have a creative slump/burn out in one art form, and not others? Or, am I just out of love with glass? (How could that happen?) Any other mutli-form artists out there ever have this experience? Id love to hear from you.

Wordless Wednesday - Budgerigars in Love

Sunday, Budgie Sunday...Goldie's Chicks Today

Here's Goldies Chicks - see I told you they grow before your eyes! All six eggs hatched, and as you can see, the chicks huddle to help keep each other warm. The youngest are always at the very bottom, but it doesnt seem to do them any harm.

Ive decided that I will make sundays' the day for budgie (AKA parakeet) day, and call it "Sunday, Budgie Sunday". (Yipper, I am thinking of the U2 number. No idea why, but there 'tis!)

Dont forget to visit the beads too, at (link removed)...Cheers!

Time for a Coffee Break?

Id been hard at it like a galley slave - all day! So, I allowed myself to take this mini-personality test. Its kinda cool - so if you need a bit of a break, maybe check it out yourself? They have other quizes there too.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INTJ)

Your personality type is logical, uncompromising, independent, and nonconformist. Only about 3% of all people have your personality, including 2% of all women and 4% of all men. You are Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

I did get some LINK REMOVED up on my site and tommorrow I will post a new pic of Goldie's chicks, so dont forget to check in, Cheers!

Stuff Portrait Friday - Framed

"Framed" is this weeks SPF theme.

This is a framed polaroid of me back in 1995, with Renegade, a Red Tailed Hawk. So much has happened since '95 that I almost feel like it was another lifetime ago...

Behind the photo is part of a print "Emu Fantasy" by Priscilla Parker of Western Australia - its been waiting to be framed since our trip to Perth.

RE My Beads: I have a few new ones to add to my site tommorrow, see you there!

Did you play?

On the 'bay - Today!

(links removed) You can never have 'too many' lampwork beads!
OK folks, Im off to do whats got to be done, see you tommorrow, Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday - my lampworking bench

Op-Ed: Eurovision Song Contest '07

The semi finals were broadcast on saturday nite, and my three picks were:

Israel: Teapacks' "Push the Button" Political? Yes! But so pleasantly put. Refreshing and upbeat without loosing its heavier meaning.

Andorra: Anonymous' "Salvem El Món" Exciting young band in the vein of Blink182 or Greenday.

Belgium: The KMG'S (Krazy Mess Groovers)"LovePower" Wonderful retro disco-esque groove with a hint of The Style Council.

But of course, none of these made it to the finals. Major Bummer.

Sunday nite brought the finals. A total of 24 performances, and the only one I could barrack for was:
Ukraine: Verka Serduchka's "Dancing Lasha Tumbai"
Talk about upbeat, toe tapping, cheerful and just generally good fun - I was sure I was onto a winner.

Well, almost. Early in the voting it looked like Serduchka was going to take home the honours. I was on the edge of my seat as the votes came in one country at a time, cheering when a good score came in and hurling invectives when a low score arrived. You cant help but get involved. Youve just sat through hours of mostly predictable, derivative, painful elevator muzak and you really want to see the one you liked rise to the top.

But 'twas not to be this year. Late in the voting Serbia: Marija Serifovic's "Molitva" pulled ahead and stayed there. My optimisim slunk away. The Ukraine did keep its #2 spot.

So, what have I got to say about Serbia's winning entry? Meh, a perfectly servicable song. Im just really sick to the back teeth with all things 'hyper-emotional'. (Yes, I realize it would be nicer to just say that it just didnt float my boat.)

Now if you like Eurovision as much for the really terrible entries, (and who doesnt?), allow me to share my two picks for the most tragic of the event:

United Kingdom: Scooch's "Flying the Flag (For You)" Britian has my sincerest sympathy. 'Nuff said.

Switzerland: DJ Bobo doing "Vampires are alive" (and the video is better than the performance!) Im pretty sure real vampires are more 'confrontational' than 'Top 40'.

All in all, it was a lot more satisfying last year when my pick ended up as the winner,Finlands' Lordii doing "Hard Rock Hallelujah". If you missed it, youve got to click this! LOL

Not familiar the Eurovision song contest? Click here.

DISCLAIMER:
Im not omnipotent. These thoughts are only my opinion.

Meet the Budgies: Goldie

Happy Mothers Day


This is Goldie, she is a yellow faced blue budgie hen and, a great Mum! I rescued her from an appalling pet shop about four years ago. In this picture you can see her with three hatchlings and three eggs. (Click the pic for a better view)

Budgies lay an egg every other day untill thier 'clutch' is complete - usually about 6 eggs. Only then does a mother-budgie sit on the eggs to incubate them. That usually takes 18 days.

Now here is the interesting part, the chicks hatch one every other day, so what you see here is one chick that is just out of its shell today, one that is two days older, and one that is four days older...no prizes for guessing which is which. They literally grow before your eyes!

Goldie's mate is Freebird, and he has done her wrong! He left her for another bird! Shamefull & Shocking! They were such a great couple, I dont know what happend. I suspect that some of these chicks will still be his, but some of them could well be NewFriend or Gorgeous Georges'...tsk tsk tsk! All will be revealed as soon as these little ones feather up.

Goldie isnt upset with me poking my camera lens into the nest box, she knows Im looking after her and her chicks. Since Freebird left her, Ive been feeding her, like he should have been (well, OK, I use a special spoon since I dont have a beak), so she could stay on the eggs where she belonged.

Since Goldies chicks started hatching he has been feeding her again, along with his 'other woman', (who, by the way, so-far looks pretty useless as a Mum). So its looking kinda like the classic situation where the Mistress ends up alone in the end, when the married man decides to stay with his wife.

Re: MY BEADS, Im still hoping to get some onto ebay - fingers crossed!

Sprouted Wheat - Stuff Portrait Friday

This weeks Stuff Portrait Friday's Assignment is: A handful of something. I thought about all the things we all have our hands full of on any given day and decided to go for something Id have a handful of that most others might not.

This is some wheat I sprouted for the budgies. They go nuts for it, kinda like catnip for birds.

Im still alive...

Its not been a good month - but I will soldier on!


More news tommorrow, and maybe even some ebay auctions, now that would be pretty amazing, wouldnt it?

Perhaps no news, IS good news?

Operating on the assumption that some content is better than none, and with painful awareness that tommorrow is another lost day, heres some news from me...

I now have a set schedule for torching which is yielding mixed results. Mixed in that my creations on torch still leave me wanting, (beads that make my heart sing are still missing from the mix). But in my life as the Minister for Domestic Affairs and Administration, things are going great guns! Dinners have been made, laundry under control, dishes done daily, mending pile decimated. Oh, sure, you could still plant potatoes on the floors, but Im getting there.

In the aviary, 4 pairs of budgerigars are sitting on 21 eggs, and 'Hatch Watch' begins on the 6th.

In the garden, the cabbage moth's offspring are getting the best of the broccoli,despite my being out there each morning picking those blighters off. Win some, loose some - I guess.

Other stuff goes in there somewhere, but perhaps in another day, something more interesting will come along.

The photo is of my favourite tools - - - Ciao for now.