Leap Year

I can feel the frogs wanting a say in my blog today, so here is the next froggy instalment.

My favourite frog as a kid will hardly surprise anyone. Of course it has to be the large green tree frog. Now my introduction to these glorious creatures was a little delayed. I grew up in a very small coastal country town in northern NSW. We arrived there when I was three, lived in a shed while my dad commenced building our house. The toilet must have been the first thing built. It was an out back dunny, in the days when the dunny man (otherwise known as the sanitary man) still came around for his weekly collection. Yep, gross!  At the time it was just part of life. Man, I used to dread whenever the need struck me to do a nightly scamper to the toilet. I was shit scared of the dark. There were not lights on the way, no lights when you got there. Of course I always left the need to run until the very last minute.  Hee! Okay, I’ve gotten off track. This is relevant honest!

 

Yay! Finally we upgraded to a septic tank. I must have been nine or ten at the time. No more dunny runs in the dark. We now had the luxury of a flush toilet...inside the house…can you imagine it? The next surprise, green tree frogs love flush toilets. Wheeeeee! Oh My God.  I Squealed with delight as I pull them out. Now my mother  told me I would get warts if I  touched them. As if that would stop me!  Am I grossing you out yet? Believe me I never noticed germs, not after the out-back dunny days. Green tree frogs rule!

I'm in frog heaven! I just noticed the google today! Are they reading my mind? Now I'm scared.

Okay, no, it's about the leap year. Their timing is a little scary.

Two Teens!?!

Ahhhhh heaven. Back on the slow train this morning. 

I managed to catch up with a friend this morning. A dad of one of my sons friends. He is very good to chat too. The conversation was cut short due to the additional crowd, caused by the train being a little late. I read while listening to Sigur Ros so I can't say I minded too much. I was a little annoyed with people climbing over me on a regular basis, the hazard of an aisle seat on a crowded day.

No chance to sort the photos last night. I ended up having to take work home.

It's my sons birthday today. I'm now the proud owner of two teens. Does anyone know what to do with those?

More later.

An Unexpected Allergy!

Today was my last late day for quite some time. Yay! I am so looking forward to the return to normal routine.

My weekend was rather frantic, but also very satisfying.

Canberra, I am guessing is the most manicured city in Australia. I can't say for sure as I haven't been to all of them. The other thing I discovered is I'm allergic to it. My nose started dripping a few of hours after we arrived. Was it the politicians or the pollen? In any case, now that I'm back in Sydney, the dripping has stopped.

It was a brief trip squeezed between sporting events.

We took the kids to a water park late in the afternoon after we arrived. It was a blast. With low cues the kids exhausted themselves running up the stairs, sliding down the various slides without too much break between each one. It's the most voluntary exercise my daughter has had in years.

We went to a Mediterranean Restaurant for dinner. The meal was alfresco. The weather was perfect, the street quiet. It was also a short walk to our hotel. The kids are now old enough to enjoy sitting down to a nice meal and be entertained by conversation. We had the camera with us. The theme of the evening shots; selfies. There was a lot of giggling. I think I need to work on my selfies pose. I looked pretty much like I was practicing for a gurning competition.

The following morning we went to the Renaissance exhibition at the National Art Gallery. Surprisingly, my son didn't complain at all during the exhibition. The exhibition was good rather than great. The art pieces where exquisitely painted and beautiful, as expected from the renaissance period. It's just not the style of art that excites my interest. There were a few Bellini paintings which were my favourites of the exhibition. It was well worth the visit.

Reporting on the baseball & softball: Two losses for the weekend.

The weather report today stated that, for the first time this summer, we have had two days without rain. Yoohoo! Summer finishes on Wednesday. Bummer! I hope autumn will be a little drier.

Tomorrow I’ll try and sort through the photos to see if any are worth posting.

No trains today. No frogs today.

RUSH, RUSH,RUSH

I took a photo on my way home last night. This is the street where I now live.

Another lovely day today. Another late start, heaven. I finally got to the office around 11:30. No time to chat, no time for lunch. If nothing else, it does make the day go fast. I also didn't get my usual relaxing trip on the train or a chance to go to the gym. Okay so I paid the price for a slow start to the morning. Rush, rush, rush ever since.

I've been having difficulties entering into the blog today. It kept insisting I down load Google Crome as Windows Internet Explorer was no longer supported by blogger. Pfffff, I resisted all day, buckled and loaded Crome. *sigh* I am starting to suspect google now knows more about me than I do and has more control over my life.

It's Friday YAY! Friday means casual wear to the office and drinks after work. I have the casual wear covered, but I'm not staying for drinks. I'm going to watch my son's baseball game instead. I do get to catch the slow train home this evening. I am looking forward to that.

There won't be much time for blogging over the weekend so I'd better write up the itinerary.

• Friday night sons baseball game, plus do the washing.
• Saturday morning - daughters softball match - at the ground by 7:15am, rostered for canteen duty *groan*.
• Saturday sometime after 9:30 - drive to Canberra.
• Saturday arvo sometime - take the kids to the water park.
• Saturday if there's time - visit Questacon  -  http://www.questacon.edu.au/#national
• Saturday evening - walk to a nice restaurant, type to be determined, eat, drink, stagger back to the hotel.
• Sunday - leisurely get up to a sumptuous breakfast.
• Sunday at a reasonable time in the morning - visit the National Art Gallery to see the Renaissance exhibition.  http://nga.gov.au/exhibition/renaissance/Default.cfm?MNUID=10
• Return to Sydney Sunday afternoon, in time for a late afternoon baseball match.
• Home, crash, wonder where my weekend went.

Maybe I'll get a chance to tell you how things went on my return. Until then have a great weekend.

Scattered Clouds

A better day on the train this morning, scattered clouds, very pleasant. I replied to a message from a friend thanking me for a gift I sent. I was mildly distracted by the two men in front of me discussing women. I couldn't help smiling to myself. It's not often I get an insight into the minds of men. I don't remember much of their discussion, I really wasn't paying much attention, except for the part in the discussion about a drunken woman at a party, who had insisted one of them feel her breast implants and the surprise at how soft they were. :) On finishing my message, I fiddled with my phone. I've only had it for a week and haven't had time to sort out my music play lists. Flicking from song to song I finally settled on the Laura Marling album 'I Speak Because I Can'. My favourite song on the album is the following

I love the drums.

Walking from the train to my office, I had a little swagger in my step. Is swagger a term you would use for a girl? Maybe I should have said I had a swing in my step. The swing was prompted by the cute guy who gave me an appreciative up and down look as I stepped off the train. Ha! I thought I had lost it!

Last night I went to dinner and the theatre. This was my dinner view.

We saw Pygmalion, described unenthusiastically by critics as minimalist. I really enjoyed the minimalist approach. Everyone knows the story after all. It had a slight twist at the end. Eliza became a strong independent woman. She rocked! The actress reminded my of Audrey Hepburn, gorgeous.


Carry on. Enjoy your day.

Little Johns Tree frog

I thought maybe I would try a frog posting...I might tire of it but will see where it leads.

The first frog, since we had one invade our house last Christmas, is the Little Johns Tree Frog (Litoria littlejohni). I can't tell you how excited my little tadpoles were to have it in the house. He (I have no idea what sex it was) was about an inch and a half long. We did guide him gently outside. He found his way to a nice shady spot by our pool.  Our house backed onto dense bushland, with a gully just below. The perfect habitat for a Little John.

We did take some photos but none were worth posting. So thanks to the Frogs of Australia web site I can at least share a decent shot of one.

http://frogs.org.au/frogs/show_image.php?image_id=422

A very handsome fellow, wouldn't you agree?

Day Two - on the train

Day two, I'm back again, another quiet day on the train, nothing happening there at the moment. It's lovely and relaxing. The mood was lighter today. Whether people were over the Monday blues, or the depressed mood was all in my mind, I'll never know.

I should tell you a little about the trains I catch. I can catch a slow train or a fast train. This is how I define them anyway. Whether the fast train travels physically faster than the slow train, I don't know. It feels like it does.

The slow train takes a different route to the fast train. It travels east then south in the mornings, crossing the harbour bridge. I counted the stops at one stage, I think it was 15. On the slow train you get Sydney workers traveling to the city, mostly business people. The train is never crowded. I always catch the slow train in the morning. It's a lovely way to start the day.  In the evenings, I'm more likely to catch the fast train. The fast train is a country train, which travels on to Newcastle. It has a more diverse crowd. The people are louder, have more character & colour. Not always pleasant. If I were a little green tree frog I would piss on their feet to give them warts. As I'm not, I try and block them out to selfishly squeeze some 'me' time into my trip. The train travels west then north, it crosses the Parramatta River. I get off after three stops then catch my regular train, with 2 stops to go. The time difference between the fast and slow train is about 20 minutes.  20 minutes of extra blissful reading, quiet time in the mornings. :)

I need to catch flies for dinner, I'll try and post more later. ribbit.

This mornings train

The weather was a little bleak this morning, low clouds, no rain. Last nights thunderstorm dumped enough rain on us to last 6 months. The general mood on the train was depressed. I had no emails to respond to. I read. No music. Just quiet time.

What is it about wet weather that dampens everyone’s spirits? Obvious through our language. I'm currently reading Fire Your Shrink. Not the book I was reading on the train, just a book I pick up every now and then. My therapist recommended it. I know what it would tell me to do. Look for positives; don't let this mood rule your day. I'm not sure I’m ready for that. Sometimes you need a little down time. I might look for positives later.

This was not taken this morning, another bleak morning we have had quite a few recently. Good for the complexion.

A toe in the water

I suppose for my first post I should point out the direction of this blog, but no, that might restrict my ramblings. I have a little bit of an obsession at the moment with frogs and trains. I can't see a link between the two. Maybe it will come to me later. For me the train represents a time when I can gather my thoughts. Respond to personal emails, read a book, or listen to music. It's my time. The frogs are simply fascinating, a barometer to the health of our environment. Okay, really I just like them. They are very precious, and very photogenic.