A Tricky What is it Wednesday?

When my dearly beloved family saw this object they said "Take a photo of that.... it will make a great What is it Wednesday?"

So when the four significant women in my daily life are so much in agreement I do as I am told.

So what on Earth do you think this is?

Piccie of the day: The Blue Pool Bermagui

Today it really felt like spring and my mind began turning to places like this

Hilda IX

Well this week has been hopeless in terms of writing. I have barely completed a paragraph all week.

My usual writing time is in the train during my commute, but work has been insane and I am still a little ill (I had a head cold) so unfortunately I have been dozing on the train more than writing!

This week’s scene from Hilda follows on from last, although as you will see a little more time has passed.

1911

‘They say Lord Shirley’s family is recorded in the Domesday Book as the owners of Ettington.’

As Hilda followed her father up the driveway through the park, she wanted to say ‘I know all that, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Let Lord Shirley keep his precious park!’ But she held her tongue, she knew she would cry if she said anything, leave alone upset her Dad.

Today she would not cry, she was determined of that. Her tears could wait until the evening when she was alone in her own bed. But it wouldn’t be her own bed, it would be a strange bed, a servant’s bed somewhere in an attic or basement room of Ettington Park.

‘We follow the drive around to the servants’ entrance at the back.’ Catching her expression he paused, ‘Cheer up Duck! It won’t be so bad. They’re a nice bunch up at the Park!’

There was no cheering up, not today. Today was the end of her dreams. She was thirteen and putting aside a whole world and donning the garb of a servant.

The Friday before was the end of school. She’d had her thirteenth birthday and her last term had rushed to an end. She remembered how she had lingered on that last afternoon, taking her time, washing the slates with Maggie. In the end, Fred poked his head in through the door, no longer a student of the school next door and daring to stray beyond the girls’ gate. ‘Maggie, are you ready? I’ve got Bob out here, saddled and rearin’ to go!’

Maggie smiled her warm smile, ‘That’s me then.’

Unlike Hilda, she was happy with the end of the year, she was moving back to her parents’ home at Weston. She took Hilda’s hands in hers, ‘You’ll be alright. You’ll make the best of it. Save your money and one day you’ll be twenty-one and make your own choices!’

That left Hilda alone with Miss Wilson, she finished the slates and put them away, taking the broom she swept the floor. Finally there was no longer a reason to linger any longer. Miss Wilson left her desk, ‘Well Miss, that’s it then.’

‘Thank you Hilda, I have something for you to remember me by,’

She held out a package wrapped in a pretty printed blue paper. The size and shape of a large book, but it didn’t have that feel. ‘I won’t open this now.’

‘No,’ Miss Wilson’s eyes were brimming with tears, ‘I’m sorry Hilda, I feel I’ve let you down.’

‘Never!’ Hilda’s eyes flashed, ‘You did your best Miss! This were none of your doing. And Miss, I might not be going to Grammar School, but you showed me a bigger world. I’ll always remember you!’

Jaws? Jaws schmaws!

For those of you who dropped in looking for Wild Flower Watch I must apologise.
Yesterday was rainy and wet and today family business took us up the Yarra Valley.

After our business was concluded we went for a picnic by the Upper Yarra River. The area we were in was not in the National Park so Lilli came with us.
As you know Lilli is a ball retrieving maniac.  Well one of the things she likes more than retrieving a ball is retrieving a ball and getting wet doing it!

So this little photo essay is about Lilli and her imitation of a fearsome aquatic beast.

Lilli standing at the edge of the river beseeching Lu (my youngest) to throw the ball.


Lilly leaping energetically into the current after said ball.


Closing in for a kill! Jaws has nothing on Lilli!


Doing what most Labradors do best: retrieving!


Landing with  her prey.


And finally, sharing the fun!


Now for those of you who didn’t get a wild flower fix

This lovely callistemon was growing on the Yarra river bank.


There are dozens of species of callistemons in all sorts of colours, from this lemon, to purples, pinks and reds. A number of species have the common name of “bottle-brush” and you can see why!

Piccie of the Day: Banksia

A Banksia bloom photographed at Mt Dandenong

What on Earth Was it?

Well this WIIW led to some very creative attempts.

Not one of them was close!

John said: “a stained glass window”
And added, “btw Chris loved Melbourne on his recent visit!”

Nope, not a piece of glass involved in this piccie, the image does seem to glow so I can see how you came at your guess. I suspect you will like the answer.

Btw, I am pleased Chris enjoyed Melbourne, as it goes it is a lovely city.

Christine had help with her guess: “Committee decision here, Al. Our little writers' group thinks that this is a rainy day in Melbourne: grass, a path and some water, maybe with fishes.”

Strictly no water here, although as you will see in a moment there may have been a different source of moisture.

Old Kitty guessed “It looks like colours of a woolly hat!!”
I agree it looks almost exactly like some felted creations of Deb’s

But it isn’t, although as you will see there is some fuzz involved.

Linda G went down a similar path to Christine with: “Looks like a view of a beach from above to me.”

Nope it is very much smaller!

Jai had her analytic hat on … “I'm gonna go totally out on a limb and say it's a guy sideways. The blue is his shirt, the white a belt, the green his trousers. I'm probably totally wrong but the curve of the picture makes me think that it can't be a landscape. At least I don't think so.”

The curve is the clue, and I can see what you are stabbing at, but no.

Finally Marcy said: “Grass, patio or edge of pool, water/pool.”

Much smaller, in fact something very blown up.

It is…

Lilli doing one of her favourite things!

(I suspect her absolute favourite thing is to curl up next to someone on a lounge chair).

Speaking Out

I won't answer my WIIW tonight.

A quick clue, it is two things,  neither is anything like landscape sized. AND I have posted about them recently.

Now I wanted to quickly mention an important post Kathleen Jones has made about speaking out about child abuse.

I was really touched and very impressed by her post. Speaking out is a vital first step toward change.

My Piccie of the Day is a of dawn  I shot a few years ago in western Victoria.

What is it Wednesday?

Well, it is 9:15 pm and I have only just walked in the door from work.

So without further ado here is this week's WIIW.

None of my experimental subjects (aka my family) got this one so I guess this one must be difficult.

So what on Earth do you think this is?

Hilda VIII: Church

Well Hilda has languished a little this past week.

As you know I write on the train on my way to and from work. Well this week I have been thinking more about my other WIP Veil of Iron than writing on either.  I say thinking because I have a plot problem I want to sort out and it has me stumped.

The net result is not much writing at all. Although I have done little with Hilda, as I said last week I am somewhat ahead of tonight’s extract.

Anyway, the extract this week follows on immediately from last week. Hilda is still anxiously awaiting her parents’ verdict on whether she can take the scholarship Miss Wilson has arranged for her to go to High School.

1911

‘There’s Miss Wilson,’ Hilda turned to her mother, ‘can I sit with her?’

‘Of course dear.’

Hilda almost skipped toward her teacher, ‘Good morning Miss Wilson.’

Miss Wilson turned at her voice, a warm smile lit her face, ‘Good morning Hilda.’

‘Can I sit with you in church today?’

‘Yes, you may sit with me.’ Just a hint of emphasis on the word “may”.

‘Oh, I’m sorry. May I sit with you today.’

‘Of course.’

Hilda walked beside Miss Wilson into the church. Reverend Jarret, the vicar smiled and nodded, ‘Good morning Miss Wilson, good morning Hilda.’

Hilda liked old Jarret, his sermons always seemed to focus on the nicer parts of the bible. There was never much “Hell fire and damnation” from the old man.

As they settled on the wooden pew Miss Wilson passed Hilda a prayer book. ‘I’d have thought you had enough of me at school?’

‘Miss Wilson, you shouldn’t say that. I love every moment of school!’

‘Even trying to teach Bess Tomlinson her seven time’s table?’

‘Even that!’

‘Well I must say you are more dedicated than I.’ Her teacher paused, ‘Have your parents said anything to you?’

‘Not yet, Mum says they are still talking about it.’

‘We must take it as a good sign, they haven’t given you an outright “no”. We should say a prayer that they’ll make the right decision.’

Now as I say Goodnight a piccie of the day:

 Melbourne at Sunset

Wild Flower Watch VI

Six weeks into my spring wildflower watch and I am still finding new delights in the old Queenstown Cemetery.

Down among the grass stems I found this little thing almost instantly. 

It is tiny, green spears in the background are grass blades.

 

Once again I have no idea what it is. My nasty suspicious mind wonders if it is a weed, but it is pretty in any case.

As always there are zillions of sundews busy munching small insects.

 

The bright sunny day lit up this Button Everlasting beautifully, I think this one is Coronidium scorpioides

 

The bright sun made it a little hard shooting this spray of Spotted Sun Orchids.

 

But it got their petals glistening beautifully.

 

Speaking of glisten, the petals of this Twining Fringe Lily look as if a fairy has dusted them.

I also like this piccie as it shows how it gets the name ‘twining’ again it is minute, those are dry grass stems it is twined around.

Sunset at Bermagui, NSW

Just a"piccie of the day", A sunset I took on holiday a couple of years ago.

Rhinos on our Streets?

Well in a slightly odd move I posted this image for my WIIW on Wednesday. 

 

It was cropped from a larger poster that is part of a public safety campaign that has been running in Melbourne over recent months.

 

So is Melbourne really over run by skateboarding rhinos?

Not quite.

But it is full of these things.

 

Trams are very much a part of the Melbourne street-scape.

Unfortunately a distressing number of jaywalkers have ended up underneath trams.

And unusually in pedestrian fatalities the biggest group was 18-35 year olds.

The problem people was focused on phones and texting walking out in front of the lumbering chunks of steel.

To the credit of Yarra Trams they realised the younger audience needed something other than an authoritarian “be careful crossing roads” message.

They came up with an attention grabbing campaign which was this beasty 

 

and it appeared on tram stops everywhere.

 

The multilingual approach is the latest iteration.  

 

Now that is definitely enough of being serious.

Now to points!

John D said “Its a sign in a special geriatric animal zoo in Belgrade. It warns: Oprez U godinama beo novac koji se kreće na temelju skateboards. It means, in English: Caution - Aged white rhinos moving on skateboards.

John you have me convinced! I will pay that one 85%!

Linda G was a bit literal to qualify as quirky (unusually) with:  “Well, the rhino obviously represents danger. So I'm guessing it means "Beware of Skateboarders." Which is something we all should do. I got mowed down by a skateboarder once, and it was painful.”

I have been mown down by a skateboarder too! Not fun! Sympathy points of 50%!

Jennifer, (AKA Old Kitty) said “Area Reserved for Skateboarding Rhinos.”

Which is clearly nonsense! And therefore exactly the sort of answer I was looking for. That rates 85% as well!

Jai is in the literal camp as well with “I'm wondering if it's maybe a description of skateboarding techniques. The first has the skateboard level and the second has the front wheels slightly lifted. Maybe?”

Alas not 50%.

Christine had a bet either way with: "Beware of something heavy and slow-moving on wheels; it might pick up speed and cause you injury."

Which is pretty close to what the campaign is actually saying so I guess that is worth a good 60%.

Then the icing was Christine’s quirky “On the other hand, it might mean 'love your rhinocerous and take him to the skate park as you will be richly rewarded.' Has WIIW become OTWW (off the wall Wednesday)?”

Yes it has Christine for this week at least, that deserves a bonus 85% which means  Christine’s total score is 145%!!!

Is that even possible? I guess in an OTWW post it is!

Marcy wondered: “Beware skating rhinos? Surely not...”

As your answer is strictly true I guess you get 50%. Alas it is unfortunately not skating rhinos, it is something even more dangerous.

Melbourne and the Yarra

I have come home this evening with a head-cold. So I am putting myself to bed.

I'll give the answer to WIIW (or OTTW (see Christine's comment)) tomorrow

My piccie of the day is of the western part of the Melbourne CBD with the Yarra River in the fore ground

What the...? What is it wednesday?

Well I am a in a bit of a quirky mood so I thought this would make a good "What is it Wednesday?"

What on Earth do you think this might be?

Extra points for quirky answers!

Points off for stating the painfully obvious!