So it's been a while ...

It's been such a long time since I've posted here that it's not really worth apologising. It is what it is. Other things have been happening, not least of which is a lot of painting (and there's a new blog for that over here).

Despite the neglect, the wild backyard is producing, with very little input from us. Exhibit A:

Cherry tomatoes - red, yellow and orange - and there are dozens more ripening (hopefully not all at once!). This is one of four big butternut pumpkins - I gave a second one away today, in exchange for some eggs. The pumpkins were volunteers - came up out of the compost I bury in the raised wicking beds. We've also had a small crop of potatoes (and I think there are a few more waiting in there) using the same no effort method!

Exhibit B:

Apples, and more apples. Quite a lot have gone to the birds, bats, possums, grubs and whatever other wildlife hangs around when we're not watching, but even so we've had plenty to eat and give away. There have been pears too, but it was the apple tree that went crazy this year.

In the past year we've had raspberries, blueberries, olives, various herbs, cumquats, lemons, lemonades and more. Just think - if we actually put some effort into it, we could be on the way to self-sufficiency (highly unlikely that it will happen, but it's a nice idea).

Book week

This year's Book Week characters are Anakin Skywalker and Doctor Who.

This is the first time I've tried blogging from my Samsung Galaxy tablet using the Blogger app. Not sure I'll ever love it, but it might do the job when we're on the road and without a real computer. The screen keyboard is not too bad, and now I've bought a Samsung USB /SD card connection kit and had a little play with it, it's not too hard to transfer photos from the camera and do some basic editing. Certainly not as easy as on the netbook, but I'm willing to compromise for the size and weight advantages for travelling.

Science Week

I was a bit tired of the Doctor Who photo that's been sitting here for far too long. So I'm replacing it ... with more Doctor Who photos!

These were taken on the weekend at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. We were there for the Science Week activities, and had booked in for the Science of Doctor Who show.

It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved the show (as you can see, they went armed with sonic screwdrivers). The show involved a comedian (Rob Lloyd) and three 'serious' scientists - Allie Ford (astrophysicist/astrobiologist/astronomer, depending on the souce - maybe all of them), and physicists Martin White and David Jennens. They're all Doctor Who fans, and the group worked well together to make the science accessible for all ages. There was discussion of black holes, time travel, regeneration, life on other planets, sonic screwdrivers and plenty more, together with a lot of laughs.

Rob will be back in Canberra next year with his Who, Me show. Definitely one to look out for.

Doctor Who birthday

A friend's daughter has requested that her mother make a Dalek cake for her fast-approaching birthday, which reminded me of a birthday the X-man attended in November.

Love the Chupachups and candles on the Daleks :) The signs and windows on the TARDIS were laminated print-outs. Love it!

Kid-size veges

Miss Tizz and the X-man were busy setting up their own vege garden this afternoon (with a couple of ring-ins from next door). If the snails don't do too much damage, we should have plenty of kid-size cherry tomatoes and mini iceberg lettuces ('ice cubes').

Watch out!

The X-man started tae kwon do this week, and he's taking it VERY seriously!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

We met up with my parents in Batemans Bay last weekend, and headed ten minutes up the road to Mogo Zoo on Sunday morning. It's a private zoo, with over 200 animals, and involved in the conservation of and breeding programs for a number of endangered species.