Tiger Feet and Kitchen Stools

Since living on the far-north coast for over nine months (moved last May from Canberra) I have worn little other than shorts/swimmers, Hawaiian shirts and, on my feet, Birkenstock sandals.

The climate has had its effect; all my life I've tanned easily, turning nut-brown in summer as a child. Back in those days summertime was spent in shorts and little else...not even a top.
So I had to have a laugh when I noticed my feet the other day......no, they aren't dirty stripes but suntan through the gaps between the straps on the Birkies.

Ugly feet, but nice sandals.
I can recommend them for comfort, support and, of course, striped tanning!

The other item in this update relates to the two wooden stools that my wife made for our breakfast bar.

She did all the work, using the power tool equipment available at the Men's (and Women's) Shed located at Townsend, near Maclean.
Timber is (I think) Meranti and all the joints were doweled and glued and the timbers stained and varnished.
The corduroy seat-pads were done by a professional upholsterer using materials supplied by my wife.
Very comfortable items and beautifully made.

A new arrival

We became grandparents for the third time just two days ago with the arrival of out new grandson, Fin Robin, the first for my son Drew and his partner, Amy.

"Fin" (which may also be spelt "Finn") is ancient Scottish and means " blonde-haired warrior".

As I will turn 70 at the end of this year I can't help but wonder what the world will be like for little Fin and his generation in another seventy year's time - 2085. I hope that it is a happy place.

UPDATE Sunday 25th. January
We visited out new grandson in Brisbane yesterday and naturally I took several photos.
I think that the one below, with Fin being held by his paternal grandmother, is the pick of them.

 

The calm after the storm

A couple of photos taken after a late afternoon storm passed through a few days ago and the setting sun lit up the clouds.
The first is a panoramic and both enlarge when clicked.

Yamba from the air - and stormy weather.

Here's an aerial view of Yamba.............

That's Whiting Beach in the right foreground, Turner's Beach at the left.
Behind Whiting is the Yamba harbour and the village proper.

You can make out the lighthouse on the grassy headland, the reservoir and, in the background, Main Beach, Convent Beach and Pippi Beach, which runs down to Angourie.

A lovely photo, taken by I know not whom.

Last week we had a very stormy day, with strong winds and high seas.
Here are a few shots taken from the lighthouse looking down at the breakwater.

This was the same day that a yacht off the coast near Evans Head (up the coast a little way from Yamba) sent out a mayday after hitting a submerged object and foundering. They were rescued by a freighter and everyone was okay.

Hemiaspis Signata

In other words, the "Marsh Snake".

I came across this little bloke this morning, on the footpath which runs through the glade of trees in the resort.

He/she was about 20 cm long and didn't even move when I gently picked it up.....with a thin stick!
I popped it back down on the path, took a couple of photos and then when I was back home I used them to identify the snake.

First snake I've seen in the "wild" for decades; the last one was an "Eastern Brown" snake in Canberra about 30 years ago - I nearly stepped on it!

The New Glasses

The new glasses

I had two pairs of glasses up until last Monday; one pair for driving, which were fitted with clip-on Polaroid lenses, and another pair for reading and computer work.
The latter pair had accumulated so many scratches over the six years since I had them prescribed that it was like trying to read a book through raindrops so I made an appointment to have an eye test and get new glasses.

Test results were good: macular excellent, no sign of cataracts, very good field of vision and just a leaning towards the first signs of glaucoma.

The optometrist suggested that I go for new multi-focal, or "progressive" glasses, which would cover far to near without the need for two pairs.
I followed his suggestion and four days ago picked up these new glasses - which cost the equivalent of the national debt of a small African nation. Thank heavens for small mercies in that my health fund covered part of the cost - less than half but at least it's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick. Pun intended.

If I said that I was finding the process of becoming used to wearing them slow and frustrating that would be an understatement. I sometimes feel that my neck muscles are getting more work than they have ever had before as I am constantly moving my head up, down and from side-to-side.

I'll persevere but boy, it's a trial, that's for sure.

Poincianas in bloom

Grafton, less than 50 kms from Yamba, is famous Australia-wide for it Jacaranda trees and the associated Jacaranda Festival they hold at the beginning of each November.

Whilst there are certainly Jacarandas here in Yamba - and they present a wonderful display - for me they are not as brilliant as the Poinciana.

Right now there are many such trees in various phases of their spring blossom, whether they be just starting,  at the height, or fading off to the summer umbrella of ferny leaves.

Two specimens caught my eye recently so I took my camera with me this morning and captured both of them.
Each image enlarges when clicked.
Note also that the hyperlinks take you to Google Streetviews of the trees in their non-blossom state.

The first  - on the main road into Yamba - is almost at the peak of its flowering cycle - I reckon that within a week it will be fully crimson.

The second - opposite the Presbyterian church - is on the upward curve and probably has a few weeks to go before it reaches full flowering.

Nature is beautiful at times.

A spectacular light show.

An approaching storm, on Sunday night 26th. October, provided a really spectacular lightning display, with a strike every six seconds at one point.

The video is condensed from about 10 minutes of recording time.

Restoring a 48-year old car

Back in the 1960s - say, between 1964 and 1967 - I was into slot-cars and would spend what I could on the hobby from my lowly wage as an apprentice electrician.

In those days it was not unusual for we enthusiasts to yearn for what was considered the ultimate slot-car kit - that made by the L.M.Cox Manufacturing Company, of Santa Ana, California.
Their kits were beautifully engineered and went like the clappers straight out of the box - nicely balanced and handling sweetly.
But what made Cox kits unique was their cast magnesium ("mag") chassis and wheels and it was these components, and the general overall quality of the kits, which went a long way towards making Cox slot-cars the most expensive of all.
I can't remember the exact price that we paid for these in Australia back then but it certainly took several month's pay for me to save up what little disposable income I had in order to buy a Cox kit.

Over the past four decades Cox kits and slot-car components have reached amazing values, with collectors (probably old slot-car enthusiasts!) paying ridiculous sums.
Only very recently an unassembled, complete NOS (new, old stock) kit sold for an astounding $3,000+ on Ebay. This is for something which, back in 1966, most likely retailed at around $25.

A couple of years ago I had a desire to buy and restore one of the slot-car models (a Monogram 1/24 Lotus 38) which I bought and ran back around 1966/67 and I picked it up on Ebay for about $150. Following rebuilding, re-painting and adding new decals, that model has more than likely doubled in value. NOS kits, unassembled, are going for many times that amount.

More recently I decided to bid on a Cox 1/24 Chaparral kit, issued in 1966.

It was not an NOS kit, but came with all it's bit 'n' pieces, had never been assembled and included the original documentation and box.
So I was pleased to see that I was the successful bidder and the parcel arrived from the USA a fortnight ago.

Since receiving it I have undertaken a cleanup of the magnesium components.
When originally made these castings were coated with a protective lacquer as soon as they came out of the mould but over time the lacquer deteriorates and slight corrosion and discolouration of the magnesium takes place; in many cases the magnesium takes on a very crusty and almost black appearance.

Some restorers have the mag bits powder-blasted and then immediately re-lacquer them.
That's probably the most effective method of regaining the original appearance but others look at the end result and consider that it is an over-restoration, as the patina added by time is completely removed.
Others, like myself, resort to other methods (usually cheaper!) and in my case I experimented, finally opting for a soup of vinegar and lemon juice (i.e., acetic & citric acid), finishing off with a sound scrubbing using an electric toothbrush and a paste of Gumption.
Bearing in mind that these bits were pretty blackened and somewhat crusty when I received them, here is the end result of the cleanup:-

The next phase is the assembly and painting of the body.

As it is unmolested and original I should have a straight-forward job.
Stay tuned!

Beware of the wildlife!

(All photos enlarge when clicked).

On a very recent (like, today!) trip up to Southport we made a pit-stop at the roadside rest-stop at Sleepy Hollow.

Near the conveniences were two identical signs warning of the local wildlife, and Shirley and I had a bit of a laugh when talking about how the unwary tourist might think that the last place they should have visited was Australia!

We didn't see any snakes but I did catch sight of a Water Dragon....about two feet long.

Beautiful colour.

But the most striking of all the local fauna were definitely the two colourful roosters and a single black hen which were roaming around the area.

I managed to capture one of the roosters in full crow!!

Just another day in paradise. :)