What a goose

I always understood that saying, ‘what a goose’, to be an insult, as in to be a bit of a dill, or a duffer, or any of the other vague sayings that we’ve corrupted into terms of gentle abuse.

But after tracking and photographing Cape Barren Geese on Phillip Island on Monday (8th) I no longer think of geese, at least this species of goose, as stupid. They are so beautiful with amazing detail to their feathers, and form such great families.

Well, okay, with one exception:

That moment when one parent looks across the road to the other parent and thinks, ‘oh its not that far’…and yep, the edge of the road is just there

And maybe a second:

“I think we can make it” – this happened right on peak traffic time when every person that is going to the Penguin Parade is arriving at the Nobbies!

And the clinger, so maybe my point it lost at this moment:

“Come on kids!”

And just like that, I get turned into the crazy (well that’s nothing new) lady stopping traffic for ducks! Well geese, but the same applies!!!

Luckily the traffic is slow and expecting this kind of interruption, and they did cross pretty quickly

Nearly there, quickly quickly!

And safely across to meet up with the other parent!

But they’re still beautiful.

They just need to learn to live and eat somewhere more removed from cars.

Can you see the pleasure that can be derived from bird watching? I highly recommend it.

And the satisfaction of getting the photo isn’t bad either, although these were all marred a bit because it was raining at the time. Yes, I was standing in the rain (without an umbrella cos I didn’t really think it through!) holding up traffic while little tiny puff balls crossed the road! What has happened to me??

Canberra Day 87

[Wednesday 7th December, 2016]

I was still a bit sluggish today but anyway, things to do, people to see, so off we go. I’ve been to the Canberra Glassworks before and really enjoyed it: the exhibition of spring flowers and themes timed with Floriade, the working glass blowers, the shop, and really the whole experience. But I’ve seen a new exhibition advertised, In Depth by Joanna Bone and Shaun Micallef so I wanted to check that out. I could have ridden my bike around to that side of the lake but I didn’t. Just not the day for it for me. And the exhibition was stunning, it really was. The prices will also stun you! But when you consider the hours of work and attention to detail and craftsmanship put into each item, you can sort of see where they’re going with the prices; it’s just not very practical for the average Joe decorating a house. I mean I’d love a Christmas tree covered in $30 baubles, but it would only take one child to destroy the whole shebang, and take out hundreds of dollars worth of decorations! Not really worth it, but it would look fantastic!

So I went around the exhibition and it is truly amazing; I have no idea HOW they get the glass into the colours and patterns and shapes and imitations that they do! And its not just a couple of items, its a huge collection of different pieces all tying together for a fabulous show. I asked and found out that the artists themselves were actually working today in the studio!! How exciting! So I went up the elevator to the mezzanine floor that looks out over the kilns and hot workshop to see the artists, and what do you know? I’d already watched them for ages when I was hear last time! So that was pretty cool. Then I walked out through the cold workshop and YAY, today it was being used! So I met another artist, Amy Schlief from the South Coast who is a painter and glass engraver. For her current project she was using old bed linen to paint her design then overlaying it with a recycled window and frame, and engraving the design into the glass with a diamond tip grinder. Boy is that noisy!! So far she’d done 2 solid days of grinding, and I don’t know how she hadn’t gone batty!! Its such a screech and really gets inside your ears! Finally I checked out the shop and bought myself a gorgeous paperweight with a rock pool inside it, ate myself a burger at the popular Brodburger restaurant attached to the Glassworks (the actual burger being highly undercooked) and moved on to the next thing.

Its very difficult to try to convey the 3D nature of this beautiful glass work, but this is a rock pool inside a domed paperweight; you can almost see the seaweed moving with the waves

Now its time for the weekly Wednesday Carillon concert. I’ve been once, but I’m going again just to see what other songs they play. I never knew that they actually composed specifically for the carillon. In fact I never knew that there was such a thing as a carillon, let alone more than one! But they always manage to work in a couple of rock or pop songs which is fun to hear coming out as chimes and bells.

Now for a little drive out of town to check out the Air disaster memorial and have a walk in the Piallago redwoods; things I’ve been meaning to do since the start. But it turns out that when I got out there that I really didn’t want to walk. It was getting kind of warm and I just didn’t want to get all sweaty so I drove as far as I could at each place, and then turned around. But I ticked them off my list anyway because the chances of me getting out there again and actually doing the walks isn’t that great. Maybe when we go and visit another time.

Then some groceries on the way home, a bit of housework, and the weekly medicine box packing. And that’s a fair bit packed in so I’m happy with the day! Time for a nap.