Let the judging begin

under their fringes these horses give each other the evil eye

 

I have a confession though, I was secretly jealous of these women 'cos they got to run around with their little horses and win ribbons and cups and certificates 

Meanwhile, elsewhere at the Easter Show -

there was a circle of cows

and a stack of pigs

Outside, the entertainment was of a different kind

Green eyed monsters are not your friend and should not be kept as pets! They are wild animals and should be left to live in their own environments, not made to work in circuses

See!..foolish, foolish man

it's all fun and games 'till someone gets their arm ripped off. Repeat perfomances at 2 and 4pm. 

We decide to head home

Hmmm, I have a question for you...

Damn, I can't remember what it is

 let me think about it for a bit

Nup. It's gone...

Inside his head he looks like this

Every beach is better with a dog. "Jibbs"

Jibbs is an 11 year old Wheaton Terrier. He is a sweetheart and is always on his best behaviour

He's such a sweetheart that we thought we should spoil him and take him to the beach! but we discovered his dark side.

We only made it as far as the creek. Jibbs doesn't 'do' beaches. As a protest he just like to stare straight ahead and stand.

he likes to stand up to his ankles in water

up to his knees in water

up to his chest in water

ain't no budging him. In fact, he could stand like this aaallll day if he has to

As people walk by they say things like 'is that dog alright?" 'I think he's stuck' and 'do we need to rescue him??'

No, we don't need to rescue him. He's having a pointless time and he sure as hell ain't going down to the beach. He's on strike.

Suddenly, after an eternity, he decides he wants to stand here. 'Nyah, nyah. Come and get me'.

no amount of coaxing will get him to frolic and run around so we decide since he's obviously not into it we should head off back to the car. That's when he decides he wants to do this

oh my god, I'm so happy! We're going back to the car!

This is the happiest moment of my life!

...sigh...

Bethell's Beach Storm Angels part 2

Cyclone Lusi looms on the horizon and we leave work early to prepare for the apocalypse.

But hell, if we're going to die, we must do it at Bethell's Beach.

As it turned out, it was just a bit windy really...

Patriotic birds flying in the formation of the Southern Cross 

the tide comes in in one great whoosh

but we no afraid. we got rain coats and bare feet

and he's got a boogie board

and they've got wings

The west coast beaches are notoriously dangerous and sadly many people have drowned here - it's not so much the waves but the massively strong rips and currents that lie beneath them

yeah, Anadarko, fuck off

meanwhile, on the other side of town, Cyclone Lusi was slapping our water fountain... poor water fountain 

Kakamatua

Kaka - 'supporting stalk'.  Matua - 'elder'

Sunday night with lanterns attached

The Lantern Festival gets more and more popular each year. This time we decided to try something different and see what is was like before the sun went down and the crowds started shoving...

my lantern companion considers the lanterns

careful - it bites...

and yes, every Lantern Festival needs one of these...

Sky trees