Foogy, froggy, rainy with a touch of christmas ::

07.27 am Wednesday 01 December 2010 AEDST

Have abandoned longish rambling entry detailing Monday's activities (only a trip to Oberon and falling asleep on cottage sofa).

It was clear on Sunday evening but then started raining and has been foggy with rain ever since. Seems to have been about 59 mm since Tuesday 9 am as far as I can work out (how I work this out was part of length of abandoned post).

Weather readings for Lithgow, Oberon and Katoomba all come from Mt Boyce weather radar, just off Great Western Highway a bit west of Blackheath (opposite Weber's Nursery for anyone who knows the area; it's hidden amongst the trees on the edge of the Megalong Valley escarpment).

There's no weather station at Hampton and I'm not smart enough to properly read old rain gauge left on tannelised timber castle (that I would like to dismantle) left by previous owners, which sits behind garage.

It's just cold, foggy (visibility comes and goes), the frogs are politely croaking (not tropical frogs, here), rain, rain, rain with no sign of break.

Weather forecast is rain into next week although temperatures, now about 10 C, going up into low twenties in middle of day. Great for wrapping christmas presents, now all mainly bought and wrapping paper and garnishments as well. Lousy for lawn; my concern about lawn is widely shared :: everyone is worried about their lawn and how it is likely to suddenly spring to knee height as soon as any sun appears.

Finished November with two presents wrapped, a personal record.

Volvo was serviced at Blackheath yesterday.

This was all day event so had car places loaner car for $15, a very new Mazda 2, covered with their logo.

Breakfast and christmas shopping at Whisk and Pin Cafe in Medlow Bath, K Mart trolley full, 100 yen store in Katoomba main street (Katoomba Street) not finding what I was looking for, Leura garden centre (chat about big terracotta pots on order, xmas tree options (want 2 metre blue spruce, only 2 metre norway ie green available, french melon varieties – more of this, then out to Leura kitchen shop, stationery shop, skipped bookstore and xmas shop (too narrow, too crowded), snack at Cafe Madeline then to Wentworth Falls and Jackman's art supplies, post office to post xmas cards started by my mother on Monday, into a local frock shop for a stocking stuffer white plastic reindeer broach (my Mother doesn't read this), to Lillianfels for afternoon tea, call from car place about needing to replace all tyres (no surprise; price of $235 each was pleasant surprise as Sydney friend who visited last week had paid $700 for one on her BMW the day before her visit), fell asleep on Lillianfels lounge chair, to Blackheath through fog to pick up car, booked in for rego/green slip check on 07 February 2011 (first entry in their 2011 book), stop at Veggie Patch for mushrooms, back through fog and rain to Hampton, fell asleep before dinner, coq au vin for dinner, bed and sleeplesness and finally asleep with bedside lamp and radio on waking as 6 am news finished to Emma Ayres chirps.

07.48 am Wednesday 01 December 2010 AEDST (will post and return to enter links)

Much malling and technobabble

After the tank crisis, the resolution of which will take some time, we went yesterday (Sunday 28 November, Australian time) a malling – to Westfield Penrith and Westfield Bondi Junction.

We had to take Clarice the Reindeer's (whom you will shortly meet) red an white polka dot dress, as we couldn't get it on her, back to the bear shop.

It is the right dress; Clarice may be a little overstuffed; and they immediately asked for her, but we had not thought to bring her. The doh of the day.

Then, after being stopped in St James Road for an unannounced and very bedraggled St Andrews Day parade moving it's way up Macquarie Street to Hyde Park (it was raining lightly) (and I badly needed a facility at that point, water torture being at it's daily peak), on to the Australian Museum Shop, with a parking space just outside Sydney Grammar next door (the parking fairies were in a good mood), for a few items from their catalogue which fell out of the SMH into my lap last Monday. These were needed for presentation on Sunday 12 December.

Thence to Bondi Junction, which was in turmoil. As we had planned, we ultimately ended up in the Valet parking area, although not without crawling along two levels down and then up the spiral car ramps. We presume that as it was a warm rainy day, the whole eastern suburbs choose the mall over the sands. Valet is just about worth the $15 they charge for the convenience, especially when parking is in short supply.

I got what I came for at Kikki K, an unplanned cookie icing kit at Wheel & Barrow, a Weekend FT at the newsagents and a couple of other items from L'Occitane as well as a chat about machines at Nespresso (I have wanted for some years one of their machines that fits in a travel case; I have a Nespresso Cube still in storage. My inability to decide on which type of espresso machine, or whether I need one at all, is still around (there will be a future post about this)),

I didn't get any budget tinsel or a tawdry plastic wreath to decorate the front gate. David Jones trim a tree section was understaffed and I waited and waited, not liking either their tinsel or over full wreaths or their christmas paper selection. This will be a K Mart or Bathurst purchase this week.

I was again pestered about closing my store account and having only a DJ's Amex card, to which I responded with a very vehement "No". This has become a nasty feature of any personal encounter with DJ's which must be annoying a lot of their customers.

I had a snack at Le Pain Quotidien on Level 4, my mother walking past and not seeing me, but ended up exhausted and late for our 3. 20 pm meeting on Level 1 outside David Jones. Then a quick moment in the knife shop.

My mother wanted to try a fish restaurant in Bourke Street, Surry Hills called The Battery and is part of the St Margaret's complex (former woman's hospital now apartments and shops) and is owned by the people who have Catalina in Rose Bay, but it was closed and parking was in very short supply (we didn't have the SMH Good Food Guide in the car for consultation – another poor preparation).

Finally back to Hampton with some usual inner west traffic snarl, a stop at the M4 Caltex (delicious life saving Berocca in a cup), an accident on the M4 at Eastern Creek and finallt back to Hampton at about 7.30 pm.

A dinner of coollish weakish Milo (need more), a salty roll and heavy butter from our morning coffee and bun stop at Schwarz's internetting (Price USA quote and bank transfer, phone still in car so had to redo SMS confirmation on transfer as phone was wedged between front passenger seat and door (I had thrown it back in on getting out and it had bounced).

Technobabble:
iPad vs MacBook Air

I think I need one of these for next years 33 return trips to AGNSW lectures at 1-2pm Thursdays (and techno envy has always been a problem).

I ordered a 6" Kindle from Amazon last week for train trip (and beach trip) reading purposes, but it will take a week or so to arrive.

All of these are undoubtedly time/money sinks of first order.

I do like to have two computers around (JUST IN CASE), and would like to have something set up in cottage for email/internet (email optional but I need Google at my fingertips; skipped the iPhone thing and am still using ancient Motorola; foolish cost/benefit analysis has overlooked that I am going to spend just as much on iPad/Air Book; do have new Telstra pre paid still unconnected (Samsung same as my mother's, recommended as a good connector for country reception; not connected because I am wary of advice about transfer of stored telephone numbers of which I have no back up).

Have always wanted MacBook Air, but first model under spec d. Very much like 12 inch form factor (loved and used to breaking point my 12 inch Titanium MacBook although have come to be fond of this 13 inch black MacBook that I am now using).

The spec d up MacBook Air is quite expensive (nothing to claim against, so I am paying); I would really like a 256 gB hard drive – need Illustrator and would like to get new version, could manage with Photoshop Elements but might do course over next couple of years (ie within life span of MacBook Air) and want full blown Photoshop.

Form factor and portability of iPad very appealing, but don't no how useable.

Don't really need it for music or videos, although probably should realise that this is this years iPod upgrade (music situation a problem; current iPod 160 gB is synced to former, now defunct, Pitt Street desk top. Have to transfer iPod library from hard drive back up. This always runs right up against Apple's one iPod/one desktop policy, and strange messages about permissions for bought on line music (a bit, but not much although the Talich Quartet's Beethoven Quartet series is involved :: probably have about $AUD1,000 of music and audio books which might end up being unavailable – irritating but not unliveable).

Held back on Thanksgiving sale on iPads; discount was only about $AUD50.00 and I had only just ordered Kindle from Amazon, haven forgotten about Black Friday discounts.

Don't see iPad as ebook reader, but probably should.

More interested in newspapers ie NY Times, FT and magazines Monocle, New Yorker. Subscription prices still a bit off putting when bits are available on internet free of charge.

Is conundrum and paradox.

iPad will probably appear Real Soon Now and then MacBook Air in a couple of months.


Now cold, wet and foggy morning. Wanted clear day for emptying Volvo before it's trip to Blackheath for long overdue service, tomorrow (AEDT Tuesday 30 November – St Andrews Day) at 8 am. Will try and put some order in Christmas shopping, now all piled up in messy cottage instead. As if ......


iPad image, at top, from Apple US website. Used with love.

Tanked!

Here it is, 02.49 am AESDT, and I'm sitting at my computer listening to the sound of water running from the big cottage tank (25,000 litres) running via doubtful garden hose, to one of the two big tanks (each 25,000 litres) at the north end of the house, in the hope that I can refill it enough for the water to come back on in the house by early morning.

Preferably before this problem is discovered by the other resident when she goes to have her shower.

I have also turned the permanent (? equalizer) pipe on between the two house tanks (East and West) so that some water can run from the half full East tank to what seems like the fairly empty, at least below the line of the pump intake, West tank.

We have five tanks:

Cottage North 25,000 litres – currently full to overflowing and being used to feed the West House tank;
Cottage South ? 12,500 litres – currently ? one third full and isolated;
House West 25,000 litres – currently below pump inlet and being pumped into from Cottage North;
House East 25,000 litres – currently about 12,000 litres and (hopefully) running into/equalizing with House West;
Garage North ? 12,500 litres – currently below outlet level.

Total available water = 35,000 litres out of possible 95,000 litres.

Rainy weather is predicted up until and including Christmas, so water situation is liveable.

Problem is that even with intervention of Andrew on 30 September into gutters and Cory the Tank Expert on Sunday 24 October (I checked my cheque book for date) House West tank has not refilled from roof in spite of rain (nor has Garage North) in this time. Can't currently calculate rainfall from 24 October until today but should be :: last week October (assume one quarter of month)

Tank names are based on James' house plan directions and may not reflect geographic reality :: the theory is that the north side of the house rectangle is north – and the sunrise yesterday morning in a direct line to my bedroom window was about as far south east as the summer sun goes at this latitude (my estimate from co ordinates to Hampton State Forest which is in a crescent to our west and south is that we are at 33.5 degrees S and 149.99 degrees E.)

[Success at 3.02 am :: the toilet in my bathroom has just refilled and the cold tap in the basin is lightly running. Will turn off tap, so this means that water is flowing into house from House West. Probably no hot water because of off peak setting, which seems to heat between midnight and 3 am, so problem will be discovered at shower time later this morning. I am able to climb into quite steep sided cast iron bath in cottage for shower, but my mother can't do this.]

Having wondered off into doing weather stats for Hampton (based on Oberon observations), and done them in Numbers now have problem of getting into Blogger. Numbers exports as pdf but exports whole sheet including grid, which I don't want, but may have to live with, and hopefully can edit out blank grid cells in Photoshop. Now 04.05 am so back to bed.

But coughing fit and no sleep.

5.50am: Numbers to Photoshop to Blogger chart now sitting unreadably at top ... triumph of blogger over blogee.

Hot water seems ok, more a triumph of will than anything else.

Water system a mystery. Water flows off roof into House East and Cottage North. Doesn't seem to flow into any other tanks although inlets seem clear. Filter bags in all tanks removed by Grant, Cory's friend, on 24 October as they seemed to be impeding water flow into tanks. Now lying on north verandah of house. Easy investigation hampered by my vertigo and balance and wooden ladders which are just big enough to enable me to reach inlet filters on House tanks, but not to see in with a torch. Can see into Garage North without ladder, but garage roof water not going in there either.

Is paradox.

Also would like formula to calculate water flow from house roof into tanks.

My conclusion is that gutters are blocked somewhere. Cory wants us to very heavily cut back trees around north end of house. Gutters however were only cleared every three months by previous owners. A conundrum and a paradox.

Off to Sydney lured by the malls, and a few outstanding christmas presenting issues.

Ordering in

We're 27 km from the nearest pizza bar and I don't think that they deliver.


I'm writing this, back after Bathurst Markets/Spotlight for Xmasalia (there's even enough to satisfy me)/Legall Patisserie (there is life down there, after all, but no website) on a warmly humid with t-storms threatening afternoon (now cool and t-storms gone off towards Sydney).

The jungle lawn is in limbo as I am trying to avoid the cold which appeared yesterday and can't face wrestling with two stroke and mulched grass. Will water and wrap tinsel around gate posts in the cool of evening if it doesn't rain (did after bedtime last night but potted garden now looks wilty).

Am in the very slow process of ordering clothes in outrageously large sizes from Ralph Lauren in the USA through a company based in Bendigo, VIC called Price USA.

Slowness seems to be from Ralph's Flash rich site although my constant friend telstra seems involved at times.

I was told about this company by a very helpful sales assistant in Sydney on Monday when I said that I wished that the larger sized Ralph that I have bought in NYC and London (at Rochester) was available here. He said that if I used Price USA I could order from Ralph Lauren.com in the US.

There has been a lot of comment in Australia recently about taxing/gsting purchases from overseas because they have been increasing with the rise in the Australian dollar and local retailers think they are missing out on something (money).

This has come at a time when I seem to have made a few orders of watercolour paper/books from Amazon/a book from Amazon UK as a Xmas present for my mother/clothes from LL Bean/diaries from Smythson's/a New Yorker(although one buys from here) 2011 Diary (I wonder who that's for?. Not me.)

Some of the comments are silly; I have been ordering online for years mainly from Lands End/Eddie Bauer/LL Bean and Smythson's in London; I usually order items I can't get in Australia. In some categories our choices are very limited. When I'm in a big phase, like now, clothes are limited to stuff from High & Mighty in Sydney and Melbourne (no website) or Target Big & Tall (RM Williams also has a big boys section which is sold in their stores and in their many stockists [each country town seems to have one]). Much of what is available is not to my taste (which is for Ralph); Monday produced some good shirts and shorts from High & Mighty several of which they kindly ended up posting to me arriving, on Friday morning as I couldn't get back to the city on Tuesday.

ATO for the last few years has sensibly set an $AUD1,000 limit on value of items before they collect GST. In years gone by it was always hit or miss whether tax would have to be paid; I didn't usually but did on occasions.

Actually one problem with slowness and irritating behaviour at chez Ralph (I don't want 2 Pima cotton jade heather sweaters, just one, but it keeps defaulting to, and charging me for, 2) is that they're having a special promotion weekend as a carry over from the Black Friday sales day, so site is probably crowded. A couple of items that I'm looking at have been reduced. (Clueless in Hampton has just remembered the international dateline:: it's still Black Friday in the US. Doh.)

Now everything is having trouble reloading. Telstra to blame.

Order finally done. System is provide information/ Price USA then checks and confirms charges / pay Price USA by PayPal, credit card or "wire" whatever that is / goods are ordered. Isn't as fast as a direct order. Ralphlauren.com accepts international credit cards so they know that people from outside US are ordering. Reason for not selling directly into Australia is apparently local
franchise agreement. But local franchise won't import big sizes.

Big mouthed Gerry Norman* should realise that this is why people like me will order from overseas and will become very snarky if thwarted, and may vote with our feet and buy less from his stores in retaliation (although I bought a colour laser printer from Harvey Norman Lithgow on Thursday)::and returned a Hewlett Packard that was non Mac compliable on Friday to Officeworks in Orange.

There was true snarkiness in Byng Street in the afternoon over that ( in a further blog post).

* The story/ies have vanished from www.smh.com.au; now it's about people who buy the house next door and demolish it and turn it into a garden (the height of indulgence in land poor real estate expensive Sydney).

Image of Classic-Fit Oxford in New Rose, in better condition, copyright Ralph Lauren USA. Used with love.

Labels for this post ran over 200 characters so last lot deleted.

Greening, greening, gone

Today we drove to Orange via Oberon, O'Connell, The Lagoon, Perthville, Georges Plains, Newbridge, Blayney, Millthorpe and Lucknow (aka "the back way").

This is mainly a very pretty rural route with roads in average to good condition – no unsealed roads. It's all signposted (ie to the next town) although there are some sharp turns.

We are just past the greenest time of the year at the end of spring, with many yellow, purple and white flowers on the roadside.

The road over the high(ish) country from Newbridge to Blayney is my favourite, with rolling fields full of cows and sheep with many calves and lambs. (The return direction from Millthorpe to Blayney is pretty good, also).

Some of this country will eventually appear in my slowly emerging paintings (I have the lost and found again Sennelier HP watercolour paper, back at three times the price, I have paints in many hues both opaque and transperent, I have brushes, I am composing images to photograph as I drive by. It's going to happen Real Soon Now. Truly)

[I'm trying to upload pdf of the route map, badly cut by me from Google Maps, and Blogger is beside itself, so have attempted to re open Photoshop CS2 to convert pdf to jpeg #@$$%*(&^% ... unhappy Photoshop, a curse on blogger. A Great British Menu Friday night judgement break is indicated.] I think closing Firefox was part of the solution. And Blogger doesn't like pdf's.

The lost point of all this is that we are already at a turning of the seasons, between high spring and high and dry summer (the driest time of year in these parts) and the roadside grass is turning red/yellow/brown and we won't see this much lush abundant green until October 2011.

I had only known this area as green and lush and was surprised to arrive here on 22 January 2010 to collect keys to find a lot of brownness. Don't know whether this will happen again, as we are in an La Nina oscillation and have had very wet autumn, winter and spring, running about two weeks later than Spring 2009 by my estimate (based on when trees have come into flower).

I don't think that there are four seasons a year; I think that the Japanese are right in their 26 x 2 week periods (eg the fortnight of bluebells, the fortnight of clear mornings and rainy afternoons).

Some wiki -ing has shown this to be 24 equal periods known as 24 Sekki which, for your eternal edification are:

• Risshun (立春): February 4—Beginning of spring
• Usui (雨水): February 19—Rain water
• Keichitsu (啓蟄): March 5—awakening of hibernated (insects)
• Shunbun (春分): March 20—Vernal equinox, middle of spring
• Seimei (清明): April 5—Clear and bright
• Kokuu (穀雨): April 20—Grain rain
• Rikka (立夏): May 5—Beginning of summer
• Shōman (小満): May 21—Grain full
• Bōshu (芒種): June 6—Grain in ear
• Geshi (夏至): June 21—Summer solstice, middle of summer
• Shōsho (小暑): July 7—Small heat
• Taisho (大暑): July 23—Large heat
• Risshū (立秋): August 7—Beginning of autumn
• Shosho (処暑): August 23—Limit of heat
• Hakuro (白露): September 7—White dew
• Shūbun (秋分): September 23—Autumnal equinox, middle of autumn
• Kanro (寒露): October 8—Cold dew
• Sōkō (霜降): October 23—Frost descent
• Rittō (立冬): November 7—Beginning of winter
• Shōsetsu (小雪): November 22—Small snow
• Taisetsu (大雪): December 7—Large snow
• Tōji (冬至): December 22—Winter solstice, middle of winter
• Shōkan (小寒): January 5 Small Cold—a.k.a. 寒の入り (Kan no iri) entrance of the cold
• Daikan (大寒): January 20—Major cold

(links probably won't work); interestingly Melbounre Cup Day (first Tuesday in November) is considered the beginning of spring in Hampton/Oberon; one can plant tomatoes and basil (as if) out of doors in more or less unsheltered positions (basil still turns to green slime in rain and damp 6 C degree fog). Tomatoes have actually revived, basil now ready for second attempt.

We expect our first frost in March; our growing season is about 100 days, in shortest category in Digger's Seed Club Calender (Google it!). Kate Llwellyn who wrote about gardening at Leura (more of this later) said that an elderly woman neighbour had told her that snow has fallen at Leura every month except February. We are 1100 metres, Leura is 985 metres and may get better western sun than we do (goes behind Mt Bindo 1363 metres on whose upper slopes we live).

Am planning to attempt to match Japanese seasons with local weather.

Now Great British Menu Northern Ireland Region Judgement Night (we are well behind the UK).

Stihl here after all this time (just an innocent source of merriment ...)

One year and nineteen days later, I'm back: older, poorer, sicker and with a lousy internet connection (thanks to the folks at Telstra).

There are fireplaces, no visible neighbours (from the house), we are over 1000 metres (1100 according to the topo maps) [I wish Blogger would learn to speak Her Majesty's English rather than The President's]; there have been snow capped peaks (and snow on the ground, 6 times this winter). There are no ruined castles, alas.

Being in the country the letterbox does not always overflow with junk mail, although it is full of Hermes, Amex, DJ's and LL Bean litter plus the occasional bit of local fluff:: (there was a brief, nasty struggle with Photoshop CS2 (this is the country) before this would load) – as usual at the top of the entry not here where I would like it.

The powerful combination of blogger, telstra, 30 windows open in firefox has sent my poor oldish MacBook black into a tailspin. And now there's thunder.

But please no hail.