What is it Wednesday?

My internet provider is down, so I am posting this by my mobile phone.

As a result this is going to be very brief.

What on Earth do you think this is?

Missed by that much!

Well it is Sunday evening and I have literally walked back in the door after having just spent six hours in the car. Deb and I took off for an impromptu weekend away on Friday evening. Where we went was six hours drive each way so I just didn’t have a moment to reveal my WIIW on Friday as I had planned.
Most of you guessed reptile, or crocodile, or crocodile’s eye for this image. I can see that, it does look a bit like a crocs brow and eye. But it isn’t

Well you were right that it was an animal, but it is neither scaly nor a reptile.
It is an ear not an eye and an amphibian not a reptile!

As Michelle Teacress guessed it is a frogI snapped this little guy last spring at the Yea wetlands. Despite the fact he was on the ground he is a tree frog. He is one of those species that has a few common names, Peron's Tree Frog, the Emerald Spotted Tree Frog, the Laughing Tree Frog or the Maniacal Cackle Frog (Litoria peronii).
Yea is the southern part of their range, they are common across a large area of SE Oz. We used to get these guys hanging around on our windows when we lived in southern Queensland. They would catch moths and other insects that were attracted to our lights. They can walk across a window pane using those sticky pads on their toes. Clever!

What is it Wednesday?

Well once again I am home late. I am having minor (I hope) computer issues so I will keep this short.
What on Earth do you think this is?

The One Hundred Per Centers!

Well I was unsure how my last WIIW would go.Everybody who had a guess at what this is guessed some variation on “hot air balloon”.

Well you are all 100% right!
(I can see I am going to have to get trickier next time)

This is the piccie I took the image from. It is the Sherrin Football Balloon being inflated at the 2010 Aussie Rules Football Grand Final. Here’s another piccie taken once it was fully inflated. For those who are interested Sherrin is the manufacturer of Aussie Rules footies (er footballs).

Now a proper post!
This week I reclaimed my weekend.
On Friday I didn’t bring any work home. Which meant I got to write on my commute. I am still trying to work out how to split my WIP.

So because I was free we shot up into the Great dividing Range north of Melbourne for a bit of a poke around. Summer is finally here, albeit late the weather has warmed up a bit and it has dried off. So the countryside is burning off to the Aussie Gold you’d expect in summer.
This was taken looking down into Murchison’s Gap about an hour north of the city.
We poked along a track running along the spur. I just had to catch this stark beauty outlined against the sunlit valley beyond.
Just beside the trail these little wildflowers were blooming. I have no idea what they are.

What is it Wednesday? + a Whine and a Thankyou

It seems recently every time I post I whine about how busy I am at work. Well nothing has changed on the busyness stakes.

I will try not to whine about it though.

Where it has been impacting is on this blog, I just don't have the energy when I get home to put together a post. I have just managed 'What is it Wednesday?' recently and little else.
The other place it has been impacting has been on my writing time. As I have said frequently I commute over an hour each way on the train. Usually this time is my writing time, it gives me a couple of hours a day to write (this post was mostly composed on the train). Recently though because of my long hours I have either fallen asleep on the train (=no writing) OR WORSE used my writing time to do work.

Enough whining!

I mentioned a while ago that I had finished another draft of my second novel Veiled in Storms. Well I have had it with a couple of readers. One of them is Misha who also writes and has a blog My First Book. Another is Cheryl who did some editing on my first novel Veiled in Shadows. I think poor Cheryl is even busier than I am at the moment so will take a little while to get back to me.

Misha has completed her reading and given me a lot of food for thought. Firstly she said she likes the story (always a relief). Second she has suggested I divide the book into two separate novels.
So first of all, thank you Misha!

Now, about half of Veiled in Storms (as it currently stands) takes place in Russia during WWII. The second half takes place in Russia, Germany, Israel and the USA in about eight years after WWII.

I did briefly think of dividing it in to two halves called War and Peace but decided not even I could be that facetious about a novel set in Russia! So now I am thinking (more than working) around the possibility of dividing my baby.

It causes me a couple of problems with my plans for novels 3 and 4. Part of 3 would have to join the second half of 2 to make a whole. But then I only have part of 3?
So I have a fun bit of time working it out. I just need to find time to spend on it!

Now it is Wednesday so What on Earth do you think this is?

In which Al is Flummoxed!

It seems I can’t give one away.

I thought after the last two toughies it was time for an easy one.
I did my usual test run on my home grown victims and 3 of 4 guessed this one right!

Unusually, I wasn’t trying to be tricky (not even a bit Marcy)

No Kitty it isn’t moon rock.

Linda, I hate dentists with a passion so there is no way I would go half way round the world to use yours (No matter how good he/she is). Although I must say I can see why you might guess carpet.

Bizarrely Wendy has got the closest (although it isn’t very close)

Misha, I am pretty sure there is no kind of writing in the image

So as I said I wasn’t trying to be tricky. In fact this is exactly what most people guessed for our penguin friend.

It is fur!
Here is the culprit a female Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)I posted this very piccie back in August.
So I guess the biggest clue I can give for the future is many of my WIIW posts are piccies I have posted before (or at least from series I have posted before). And so far all of them, and I mean all of them, are piccies that I have taken myself.

Having said that, as Marcy indicated I do have a tricky side :-)

Also I have just had an idea anyone want to submit a piccie for a guest WIIW post?

Don’t you wish you’d had a guess this time Carolyn V?

What is it Wednesday?

Well my week has been just as mad as last week. So here I am with a quick What is it Wednesday?

I hope things will get back closer to normal next week.

What on Earth do you think this is?

A Mystery Revealed

Linda G guessed a platypus which is a non marsupial native Aussie (a monotreme to be exact).

Susan got nearer than she thought with “Doesn't look like feathers”

Zoologist Kristen had two goes, she got very close but picked the wrong guy. Yes some feathers do look like fur! (And Oz has about 60 native rodent species so that was a good guess too)

Sorry Carolyn V not a Kanga.

Myrna it is feathers but not a cockatoo!

So closer this time but the mystery critter is
A fairy penguin !

Also known as little penguins (Eudyptula minor) and blue penguins these guys are found in the waters around Southern Oz and Kiwiland (uh New Zealand).They are the smallest of all penguins and are ultra-cute.

They breed in burrows in colonies scattered around the coast of Oz and NZLike my last tough one I posted a piccie with this guy some time ago.

I shot these guys at Melbourne Zoo. The Zoo population were either bred in captivity or rescued in waters around Melbourne because they were sick or injured.

There are a number of colonies in Port Phillip bay the closest being at suburban St Kilda.

What it Isn't Thursday!

Now I feel really bad, I said this would be easy but no one and I mean no one has guessed!

Kirsten guessed a Koala, but it isn't a Marsupial of any kind.

John guessed a mop, but it is definitely in the Animal Kingdom.

Laura guessed a dog's fur but this critter is an Oz native just as a koala is (or a kangaroo which it isn't either).

What is it Wednesday?

I think this last week must almost be a record low number of posts for me.
It has been mad, mad mad at work. Too much to do, not enough people to do it!
Thank goodness for my long commute at least allowing me some writing time!

Anyway I will stop whining now.

It is Wednesday, so what on Earth do you think this is?
I guess you guys will find this a little easier than last week's. Two out of my four test subjects (aka my family) got this one right, none guessed last week's.