An astonishing label for me.

I know a brand label like Adidas is astonishing enough for generic wearer Jimby, but Olivia did the right thing by grabbing them at the right price from a charity shop, but the really astonishing thing is the size S on the label, that's how much my lower half has shrunk, It's not all good though as I still have an upper half with the size and shape of a beer keg, which of course means being unable to get anywhere near being able to buy an off the peg suit as they always have matching tops and bottoms.
This label is on tracksuit pants as winter has become very bitter recently and they add a layer of comfort, at least we don't spend much time under 20C in Ingham.

Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday to Olivia today, here's a little treat for her.

And here she is blowing out a candle, and that may be all the ceremony we have today.

An extract from some electioneering mail.

We got some electioneering mail from our local member today, cleverly produced so it can be funded out of  his electoral allowance rather than use personal/party money.
In one little block shown here it can pretty well sum things up, the Member for Kennedy does come up with plenty of good ideas but beats a convoluted route expressing them and isn't concerned with literacy/grammar since it's doubtful many of his hordes of voters would ever notice, also make sure you talk in acres rather than the hectares that replaced them 40 years ago because they would also be impressed by that.
Myself I wish I could vote for someone who would put our budget into surplus.

A change of flowers.

With our budget being very tight these days, going out to change Grace's flowers is a special event.
We face another four months before immigration stop sitting on their hands and grant Olivia permanent residency so she can get on with her life, meanwhile we hang on in limbo.

Finally I've outlasted a PM.

Today I go past former Prime Minister Harold Holt, the first Aussie PM whom I've outlived, although if I hang around for a bit longer I'll soon go past a few more.
He's pictured on the left here in a shot I grabbed from Wiki, enjoying some banter with the great US president LBJ a man who rates very highly in my view, he kept their economy strong whilst finally opening the door to equality in their country.
I would have outlived two USA presidents since when Australia was founded in 1901, so I suppose that's further proof of our life expectancy being longer, although Kennedy died of natural causes and Holt's body was never found so we'll never know if he had a heart turn while swimming or if the rumour of a Chinese submarine absconding with him is true.

Papilio ulysses

Or Dunk Island Blue Butterfly, these are about the prettiest butterfly on the planet but golly they're a difficult thing to get a photo of, made harder by a butterfly's habit unlike a moth of resting with wings together.
I just saw this one in our front garden but sadly didn't get lucky enough to be happy with any shots.

One day I'll see this bridge for true.

Three years ago today this photo on the wall of a bus depot was as close as I got to the San Juanico bridge that must be one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, about 10 km up from Tacloban City, famous for being obliterated by a typhoon since I took this shot. It's on my list of places to see.

Even the buses over there have free internet yet we're the country that's supposed to be first world, hmmm fantastic affordable beer, readily available and affordable internet, great climate, what's not to like about Philippines?

Home made fridge magnet.

Feeling in a crafty mood I made a fridge magnet that's quite up to my usual standard. I mounted 3 magnets to an old bit of wood, then covered it with a photo of Mayon that I took three years ago when I was in Philippines.

A very ordinary piece of work.