shapeofthings | Weekend and stuff (Reply)

Right, if I don't write this now, it's not going to happen.

A reminder of civilisation. I used to be afraid of these when I was little. I thought that at night they came alive and went stomping over the hills.

It's 7pm Sunday night and I'm pretty much ready to fall asleep. Alex has just made me tea though, so I should be able to stay awake long enough to sample the delishous-smelling dinner he's cooking. I've worn my self out by being far too active for a weekend, despite being tucked into bed on the safe side of midnight both Friday and Saturday. The explanation for being this stuffed starts back on Friday morning, when I hopped on my bike to go to work, but instead of making the 10 minute trip to the train station, I thought I'd try the 20 minute trip to a station further on. But once I'd got to that station, I couldn't get across the road for the traffic, and it really wasn't far to the next one, then by the turn-off for the next one I was almost at the city anywya, so it wouldn't hurt to just take the train from central and head in to work then. But the traffic was worrisome so I ended up going around the edge of the city, and then I was at the Gardens and there's a lovely bikeway all the way from there until Toowong, and it'd be as fast as the train, and by the time I got to Toowong I was only a hard 10 minutes from work with one big hill, so what the hell, right? I had to walk up the BFO hill, but other than that I made it all the way in about as much time as it would have taken me to take the train from home and walk the rest of the way from Indooroopilly station. 19 kilometres, 1 hour, 16 minutes and 16 seconds. I know this because Alex bought me a trip computer recently and it's inpiring more cycling.

Lots of people and animals out on the beach, including a horse (if you look hard enough).

Anyway, I decided that after riding all that way that I'd ask Alex to collect the bike and I after work because I'd likely have trouble getting home under my own steam. By home time I was feeling up to it, but I got a lift anyway, and we treated ourselves to dinner at Laksa Hut in Toowong on the way home. Mmm, chicken & mushroom hot pot and salt & pepper tofu! We were home by 8 but spent the next few hours treating each other to massages, relieving my tired limbs.

The sky was high and blue-blue-blue (and I hearts me my polarising filter).

Saturday morning I fell out of bed and set about doing some of the more fun jobs around the house. The fish all got water changes (and Alex accidentally sat on one of the lids - off to glaziers for us then!) and I did some hardcore weeding and pruning. Just as I'd finished, Alex's parents arrived so I showered and prettied myself up and we went out for lunch. After stuffing ourselves (Alex was the only one to completely clear his plate) with yummy Italian we came back home, left Alex's dad to go see a man about an engine, and took Alex's mum with us up to the shops. They left at around half seven, then we had some toast for dinner before I spoilt Alex with some foot-loving. No, not that kind! The kind that involves foot soaking and scrubbing and moisturising and massaging. After that he spoilt me even more with another massage and we collapsed asleep (my first 100% unassisted night's sleep for a fortnight).

Along the cycle path, everything's dry from the lack of rain but all the grasses are in seed.

This morning I had to drag myself out of bed and spent the next hour or two doing nothing much as my body was too zombified after such an awesome night's sleep. Eventually we both got moving, and in the early afternoon we set out on our bikes for a picnic. There are some great cycle paths around here and it's much flatter than the old neighbourhood, so I'm getting out much more. Today we headed along Kedron Brook out to Nudgee Beach, a reasonably popular route. Also popular were Sunday afternoon picnics, and due to a scarcity of sheltered spots, we found ourselves parked next to a gathering of local bevans. Such class...

A royal spoonbill sits on it's nest in royal aloofness, to far away for a good shot.

Still it was a lovely day to be outdoors, we enjoyed ourselves. Lunch was a big thermos of veggie stew with crusty brown bread for dipping, floowed by fruit salad with yoghurt and muslie & nut spinkles: yummo! The ride back home was slower, with me stopping to take photos and watch the birds. We saw a huge eagle, willie wagtails, finches, some huge cormorants and some smaller cormorants, herons, a spoonbill, stilts, chesnunt teals and others, but the camera could only capture those that stood still at close range. It was lovely cycling along listening to birdsong (except for the bloody crows) and being out in open space (though a new highway's being put through the area soon), and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. The round trip was 25 km though, so by the time we got home I had just enough enegry left to hang out the washing and make the bed.

Likewise these black-necked stilts that insisted on staying just too far away, despite their playful manner.

Alex is making leek & potato soup, and we've got more crusty bread to mop it up with and I'm very much looking forward to it. In a moment I'm going to try to edit a few photos to illustrate this trip with. I've got a problem with the memory on my video card getting stuck in infinite loops and crashing the PC. Neither updating drivers nor installing patches has fixed it, and using photoshop is the prime cause of problems. *sigh* This is why I've posted so few photos lately (also, my monitor died, so I'm using the old, small curved screen and it's not as nice to look at). I've been having lots of adventures though, what with fish tank dramas, wasp infestations, tenatious tonsillitis and getting out and about. Hopefully I'll tell you all about them soon, or not... Anyway, photo processing time. Wish me luck!

We saw lots of these great egrets on the hunt, but they're flighty creatures and it was impossible to get close enough, even on hands and knees in the undergrowth.