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This weekend...
Jul. 16th, 2023 10:56 pm
A cloudy night for astro-photography, but a great location, among the radio telescopes of the CSIRO Compact Array, outside of Narrabri, New South Wales
A cloudy night for astro-photography, but a great location, among the radio telescopes of the CSIRO Compact Array, outside of Narrabri, New South Wales
Tonight's Storm...
Feb. 10th, 2023 10:05 pm
Love a storm at sunset... Not much rain in it though - just enough to keep everything humid!!
El Nino vs La Nina
Dec. 1st, 2021 02:25 pmWhat a difference a weather system in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometres away, can make...
El Niño:
Dry creek bed, Silverton NSW
Kosciuszko National Park 2020
La Niña:
Outside Broken Hill NSW 2020
Near Orange NSW 2021
El Niño:
Dry creek bed, Silverton NSW
Kosciuszko National Park 2020
La Niña:
Outside Broken Hill NSW 2020
Near Orange NSW 2021
It's Raining, It's Pouring
Nov. 26th, 2021 06:56 amWell... after yesterday's almost stifling humidity, the heavens finally opened last night at about 8pm & haven't stopped since - it's now 7am on Friday. And apparently there's a lot more to come!!
Sure, a La Niña Summer means no bloody big fires, but I'm sure our farmers could tell you that flooding at Harvest time isn't ideal either... or they would tell you that, if they weren't underwater...
Today is Funeral & job interview day & an early start to the couple of site visits I've scheduled. More later...
Sure, a La Niña Summer means no bloody big fires, but I'm sure our farmers could tell you that flooding at Harvest time isn't ideal either... or they would tell you that, if they weren't underwater...
Today is Funeral & job interview day & an early start to the couple of site visits I've scheduled. More later...
Reflecting...
Apr. 11th, 2021 09:40 am
Flickr have sent me a message that they will delete over 2000 of my photos hosted on their site, because I no longer have a 'Pro' account & therefore can only have 1000 photos there. Part of me is, of course, outraged by this - having been a 'Pro' member for about 10 years before they put the price up to over AUD$60 per year - part of me is kind of okay with it, as long as they start the removal from the oldest → newest & not the other way around. While it may be of some use to me, to see how I progressed as a photographer over a decade of hits'n'misses, it's not necessarily something that anyone else is interested in trawling through & I'd probably prefer it if people saw the newest 1000 which are a world away in quality from the place where I started
It is annoying, as Flickr is easily the best photo-hosting site I've found. I've been using a free account with 500px for the last year since the price rise & it's not as easy to use, limits the number of photos you can post at a time & just doesn't have the same sense of community that I found on Flickr. Despite all this, I still find it hard to assign a value of AUD$60+ to it...
In other news, after a week of humidity, Winter is coming... outside right now it's quite windy & the temperature has definitely dropped a few degrees since Friday's ridiculous-for-mid-Autumn 27○. To celebrate the change to the cooler seasons, L-SP has caught a cold from somewhere & I'm doing my best to keep it away from me. That she's been on night-shift most of the last week, has made that a little easier, but the next few days on a common circadian rhythm will be the real test
Speaking Of...
Mar. 23rd, 2021 09:29 pm... our snakes & spiders. they're having just as hard a time with the flooding along the east coast as the rest of us.... The Australian attitude to our venomous menagerie is evident in the captions to various photos mentioning 'cuties'... snakes!
Meanwhile, the road I prefer to use when crossing the Blue Mountains - the mountain range to the west of Sydney you need to get over to access the rest of the State, has been closed indefinitely, as landslides have weakened not only the road's structural integrity, but also that of one of the bigger mountains it snakes (sorry... that word again!) around!!
I prefer that road for 2 reasons: It's less crowded than the main highway route with all the tourist stops on it & for the twists, turns, sharp corners & much more dramatic scenery... including huge drop-offs that are often right outside the car door as you come around the corner. Which is probably why everyone prefers the safer highway. Well... that's going to be a busy road for the next little while, so maybe I'll have to take a leaf out of the white explorers of the early 19th Century who 'discovered' the way over the mountains that later became the highway (turns out all they did was follow existing aboriginal tracks. My favourite, now closed road, does the same. Credit where it's due!!) & 'discover' a new way over, or around, the western barrier walls of the Sydney Basin. At least I'll be honest about it & give any available credit to Google Maps...
Meanwhile, the road I prefer to use when crossing the Blue Mountains - the mountain range to the west of Sydney you need to get over to access the rest of the State, has been closed indefinitely, as landslides have weakened not only the road's structural integrity, but also that of one of the bigger mountains it snakes (sorry... that word again!) around!!
I prefer that road for 2 reasons: It's less crowded than the main highway route with all the tourist stops on it & for the twists, turns, sharp corners & much more dramatic scenery... including huge drop-offs that are often right outside the car door as you come around the corner. Which is probably why everyone prefers the safer highway. Well... that's going to be a busy road for the next little while, so maybe I'll have to take a leaf out of the white explorers of the early 19th Century who 'discovered' the way over the mountains that later became the highway (turns out all they did was follow existing aboriginal tracks. My favourite, now closed road, does the same. Credit where it's due!!) & 'discover' a new way over, or around, the western barrier walls of the Sydney Basin. At least I'll be honest about it & give any available credit to Google Maps...
Fire, Flood... What Next?
Mar. 22nd, 2021 01:54 pmAs noted previously, we're having a bit of rain at the moment!! WaitingManor, on its hill, on a headland, above the sea, is fine... but other parts of Sydney & the entire south-east coast of Australia, are not
The footage taken from a helicopter in that link, shows a part of north-western Sydney that sits in what's known as the Hawkesbury River Basin. For those property & housing developers who didn't understand what that name implied... well, now you do
Not far from there, on a horse property on slightly higher ground, lives a musician friend of mine. He is currently cut off from everywhere, with waters rising & his 2 ponies closer to the main house than I'd say they've ever been. Whether the ponies wind up inside the house with the dog, cat, fish & 2 humans, remains to be seen, but according to a text from him a couple of hours ago, it's a definite possibility
Who'll Stop The Rain?, Have You Ever Seen The Rain?, Let It Rain, Walking In The Rain, Standing In The Rain, It's Raining Again, After The Rain, Coming Down, Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, I Can't Stand The Rain, Here Comes The Rain Again, Rainy Days & Mondays, Stormy Monday, Stormy Weather, Fool In The Rain, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, Singin' In The Rain, The Rain Song, Raining In My Heart, Raining On Sunday, Rhythm Of The Rain, High Water Everywhere, Here Comes The Flood, Red Rain, When The Levee Breaks... & of course, any number of songs just called 'Rain' - pick your favourite
The footage taken from a helicopter in that link, shows a part of north-western Sydney that sits in what's known as the Hawkesbury River Basin. For those property & housing developers who didn't understand what that name implied... well, now you do
Not far from there, on a horse property on slightly higher ground, lives a musician friend of mine. He is currently cut off from everywhere, with waters rising & his 2 ponies closer to the main house than I'd say they've ever been. Whether the ponies wind up inside the house with the dog, cat, fish & 2 humans, remains to be seen, but according to a text from him a couple of hours ago, it's a definite possibility
Who'll Stop The Rain?, Have You Ever Seen The Rain?, Let It Rain, Walking In The Rain, Standing In The Rain, It's Raining Again, After The Rain, Coming Down, Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, I Can't Stand The Rain, Here Comes The Rain Again, Rainy Days & Mondays, Stormy Monday, Stormy Weather, Fool In The Rain, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, Singin' In The Rain, The Rain Song, Raining In My Heart, Raining On Sunday, Rhythm Of The Rain, High Water Everywhere, Here Comes The Flood, Red Rain, When The Levee Breaks... & of course, any number of songs just called 'Rain' - pick your favourite
Gather The Animals!!
Mar. 20th, 2021 03:20 pm... & get them in the boat!!
We're copping a bit of a drenching this week, with many parts of Sydney & the east coast of New South Wales under up to 2 metres of water. The Australian way of dealing with that? Same as any other emergency, really... head to the pub
For more footage, see here...
Here at WaitingManor, we are about 100 metres above sea, or river, level, but we live at the bottom of a street on a hill, so we do get some 'flooding'
And, my first Youtube video...
Piranhas & at least one crocodile are on order for the new moat & pool around the house...
We're copping a bit of a drenching this week, with many parts of Sydney & the east coast of New South Wales under up to 2 metres of water. The Australian way of dealing with that? Same as any other emergency, really... head to the pub
For more footage, see here...
Here at WaitingManor, we are about 100 metres above sea, or river, level, but we live at the bottom of a street on a hill, so we do get some 'flooding'
And, my first Youtube video...
Piranhas & at least one crocodile are on order for the new moat & pool around the house...
Summer Is Done
Feb. 15th, 2021 05:15 pmAccording to the Bureau of Meteorology, anyway... it's going to be rain & cooler temperatures for the rest of the season
Given that Summer ends in just under 2 weeks, that's not as dramatic as it sounds, but I'm still quite okay with that prediction. As I've said before, I'll take all the cool weather & rain the planet wants to give us. The older I get, the less I enjoy the high temperatures & while the humidity has been high this season, the temperatures in general, haven't been, so it's been mostly bearable
Right now, it's pretty cloudy & windy outside - a southerly has been slamming into the front of the house for the last hour or so. I'm glad I got my walk in earlier today... wouldn't be much fun out there right now. Which is why I'm here in the music/computer room compiling a list of bits & pieces I need to get from an electronics store tomorrow, to (hopefully!?) finish the home studio set-up
I'm also working my way through a 10CD box set of Cannonball Adderley albums I've had for a while, but haven't got 'round to exploring. Cannonball was one of my first steps into 'serious' jazz, after hearing the legendary Sydney jazz band Galapagos Duck play some of his tunes on Sunday afternoons in a Manly pub back in the 1980s. There are a couple of albums I have on vinyl that aren't in this box set (even though it has 17 albums in it!!), so I'll keep an eye out for them here & there... I've had the LPs for nearly 35 years, so no hurry!
Given that Summer ends in just under 2 weeks, that's not as dramatic as it sounds, but I'm still quite okay with that prediction. As I've said before, I'll take all the cool weather & rain the planet wants to give us. The older I get, the less I enjoy the high temperatures & while the humidity has been high this season, the temperatures in general, haven't been, so it's been mostly bearable
Right now, it's pretty cloudy & windy outside - a southerly has been slamming into the front of the house for the last hour or so. I'm glad I got my walk in earlier today... wouldn't be much fun out there right now. Which is why I'm here in the music/computer room compiling a list of bits & pieces I need to get from an electronics store tomorrow, to (hopefully!?) finish the home studio set-up
I'm also working my way through a 10CD box set of Cannonball Adderley albums I've had for a while, but haven't got 'round to exploring. Cannonball was one of my first steps into 'serious' jazz, after hearing the legendary Sydney jazz band Galapagos Duck play some of his tunes on Sunday afternoons in a Manly pub back in the 1980s. There are a couple of albums I have on vinyl that aren't in this box set (even though it has 17 albums in it!!), so I'll keep an eye out for them here & there... I've had the LPs for nearly 35 years, so no hurry!
Pelicans, Thunder & Bees
Jan. 5th, 2021 11:42 pmAn evening session with the other Pelican Daughter... & a productive & accomplished one at that. We are now 4 tracks in on the slow rebirth of the band. 2 ambient pieces & now 2 rhythmic ones. I'll post a link to the track once it's up on Soundcloud in a day or so...
Now home. with a storm I saw coming from the south-west at 6pm currently giving us a thorough rinsing, with an impressive light show too... Ready for bed though - feeling buzzed, but a little fuzzy. Kind of like:
Now home. with a storm I saw coming from the south-west at 6pm currently giving us a thorough rinsing, with an impressive light show too... Ready for bed though - feeling buzzed, but a little fuzzy. Kind of like:
Weather Thou Goest...
Dec. 16th, 2020 07:52 amEvacuations, trees falling, wildlife in danger, emergency services overwhelmed... Must be Summer in Australia!!
Only this time the wild weather is rain, winds & high tides tearing the north of New South Wales & south Queensland to shreds. I knew there was a reason I hadn't begun thinking about doing a recap of this year yet... 2020 isn't finished with us
Only this time the wild weather is rain, winds & high tides tearing the north of New South Wales & south Queensland to shreds. I knew there was a reason I hadn't begun thinking about doing a recap of this year yet... 2020 isn't finished with us
I'm Wet!! And I'm Hysterical
Dec. 1st, 2020 09:27 pmNothing much to say about the day at work, until about 6.30 this evening, when I was trying to deliver a rug to a client's home - late... as the day had been running away from me & things just got later & later. Anyway, a MASSIVE storm front rolled in over Sydney around that time & the heavens well & truly opened when I was about 5 minutes from my destination. Which meant that by the time I pulled up at the house, it was absolutely belting down. I would have only been in the rain for a maximum of 25 seconds but I got soaked to the literal skin - clothes, boots, socks & potentially underwear all dripping & then steaming when I turned up the temperature on the ute's air-con. This being the rented ute, the air-con heat actually works!! So does the demister on the front windscreen, which fogged up as I dried in the wind...
Unfortunately, I got no photos of the front as it passed over, but it was pretty impressive being out in & under it - especially how dark it got & how quickly. It was certainly the biggest storm of the Summer, but given that Summer is only 2 days old, there's plenty of time for that record to be broken...
Light My Fire
Oct. 26th, 2020 10:43 pmAnother cold, wet day & tonight, we've gone back to the future - an extra blanket on the bed &, much to Bella's relief, the heater has come back out of the cupboard into the loungeroom
At least I didn't get as wet today at work as I did yesterday... I pretty much squelched in through the door last night!! And even though it was a Monday morning, the traffic was pretty light on the way to work, which was a good thing, given I left about 15 minutes late... So all in all, not much to complain about today. I suppose that makes it a good one...
Taken almost 2 years ago, from the front balcony... & much more exciting to look at than the clouds we're currently under
At least I didn't get as wet today at work as I did yesterday... I pretty much squelched in through the door last night!! And even though it was a Monday morning, the traffic was pretty light on the way to work, which was a good thing, given I left about 15 minutes late... So all in all, not much to complain about today. I suppose that makes it a good one...
A little later than usual, the first real cold snap has arrived... Actually, it arrived this afternoon, when we had the front door open at work & an icy wind came through, prompting a 3-way race to close the door, dammit!!
So now - to bed, where L-SP & the cat should have everything warmed up nicely...
So now - to bed, where L-SP & the cat should have everything warmed up nicely...
A Theory...
Apr. 13th, 2020 08:57 amL-SP posited a theory last night... with all the jets & cars not going anywhere & playing havoc with the atmosphere, are the seasons actually going back to where they're supposed to be - we're in the 2nd month of Autumn & it's actually getting a bit cold at night, something that hasn't happened in Sydney for quite a while - Autumn seemed to have become an extension of Summer, until a switch gets flicked some time in early June, when we get 3 weeks of Winter, before it starts getting warm again... I own 2 Winter coats that haven't left the wardrobe in years!...
It's probably a bit soon for that kind of change to have happened, but the anecdotal evidence is compelling, if not the empirical... yet
Anybody else experiencing 'proper' weather for the time of year? Or is it all still slightly out of whack...
It's probably a bit soon for that kind of change to have happened, but the anecdotal evidence is compelling, if not the empirical... yet
Anybody else experiencing 'proper' weather for the time of year? Or is it all still slightly out of whack...
The Rain Raineth...
Feb. 3rd, 2020 09:08 am... on the just & the unjust alike.
But mainly on the just
For the unjust hath stolen the just's umbrella
After a baking hot weekend, which saw us use 3 fans in our bedroom at WaitingManor, just to bring the temperature down to a level you could sleep in, the rain began last night & continues this morning. Not stormy downpours, but a nice, constant fall that is more useful - as it gives the soil & plants time to soak it in, without having the topsoil washed away by too much water, or trees losing their limbs from too much wind
One of our large gum trees in the back yard did drop a branch though... Not a huge one, but big enough to do some damage to the plants underneath it! Fortunately Bella was neither climbing that tree at the time, nor walking past it at the wrong moment
Having finally picked up a copy of Leonard Cohen's posthumous album 'Thanks For The Dance', about 10 days ago, I played it for the first time last night & came over all misty-eyed. It's a short album, only about 35-40 minutes & you couldn't say Leonard does much singing on it (some may argue he never did!), but he intones & recites in an affecting way which, barrel-scraping future releases aside, we'll never hear again - signing off with the words:
"Listen to the hummingbird, whose wings you cannot see
Listen to the hummingbird, don't listen to me..."
Sorry Len, I think I'll still be listening to you in both my near & distant futures. Besides, there aren't many hummingbirds around in Sydney at the best of times
But mainly on the just
For the unjust hath stolen the just's umbrella
After a baking hot weekend, which saw us use 3 fans in our bedroom at WaitingManor, just to bring the temperature down to a level you could sleep in, the rain began last night & continues this morning. Not stormy downpours, but a nice, constant fall that is more useful - as it gives the soil & plants time to soak it in, without having the topsoil washed away by too much water, or trees losing their limbs from too much wind
One of our large gum trees in the back yard did drop a branch though... Not a huge one, but big enough to do some damage to the plants underneath it! Fortunately Bella was neither climbing that tree at the time, nor walking past it at the wrong moment
Having finally picked up a copy of Leonard Cohen's posthumous album 'Thanks For The Dance', about 10 days ago, I played it for the first time last night & came over all misty-eyed. It's a short album, only about 35-40 minutes & you couldn't say Leonard does much singing on it (some may argue he never did!), but he intones & recites in an affecting way which, barrel-scraping future releases aside, we'll never hear again - signing off with the words:
"Listen to the hummingbird, whose wings you cannot see
Listen to the hummingbird, don't listen to me..."
Sorry Len, I think I'll still be listening to you in both my near & distant futures. Besides, there aren't many hummingbirds around in Sydney at the best of times
Look... Up In The Sky!!
Jan. 16th, 2020 08:40 amIt's dark, it's grey... it's wet!!
It's raining!!
Of course, it rained on me catching public transport to work, but I'm quite happy regardless. I just hope it's raining in our depleted & fire-affected catchment areas & not just here on the coast, where I live & work. Sure, my garden will be grateful, but there are bigger issues at hand...
This being Australia, it can't be simple, good news. Heavy rain after severe bushfires brings a few problems with it - namely landslides & flooding, as there's now no vegetation in a lot of areas to anchor the soil & absorb the water, so what little topsoil there is, can easily be washed away &/or turn into mud that will travel unimpeded downhill towards whatever's in the way. And, come to think of it... a whole lot of ash & burned dirt winding up in our river system & dam catchments, doesn't make for a cool, refreshing drink... for human or animal alike
Still... it's raining & we can at least be grateful it will put a literal dampener on a few of the fires that have been burning since Winter... Can we have another 3-4 days of it, please?
It's raining!!
Of course, it rained on me catching public transport to work, but I'm quite happy regardless. I just hope it's raining in our depleted & fire-affected catchment areas & not just here on the coast, where I live & work. Sure, my garden will be grateful, but there are bigger issues at hand...
This being Australia, it can't be simple, good news. Heavy rain after severe bushfires brings a few problems with it - namely landslides & flooding, as there's now no vegetation in a lot of areas to anchor the soil & absorb the water, so what little topsoil there is, can easily be washed away &/or turn into mud that will travel unimpeded downhill towards whatever's in the way. And, come to think of it... a whole lot of ash & burned dirt winding up in our river system & dam catchments, doesn't make for a cool, refreshing drink... for human or animal alike
Still... it's raining & we can at least be grateful it will put a literal dampener on a few of the fires that have been burning since Winter... Can we have another 3-4 days of it, please?
Blowin' In The Wind
Jan. 14th, 2018 01:16 pmNot only the answers, my friend, but just about everything else is being blown around quite dramatically today
After a couple of humid days & evening storms, today's dawn was blown in from the south east & it hasn't let up yet (1pm), with gusts of up to 70km/h (around 45mph). The domestic wildlife has elected to sleep indoors & my friendly magpies & butcherbirds haven't been sighted or heard from since 6.30 this morning... having possibly taken an unscheduled flight towards Newcastle
One of those days you're glad you live in one of these:
After a couple of humid days & evening storms, today's dawn was blown in from the south east & it hasn't let up yet (1pm), with gusts of up to 70km/h (around 45mph). The domestic wildlife has elected to sleep indoors & my friendly magpies & butcherbirds haven't been sighted or heard from since 6.30 this morning... having possibly taken an unscheduled flight towards Newcastle
One of those days you're glad you live in one of these:
Global Warming... Local Warming
Aug. 16th, 2017 09:30 pm
Come back, thunder & rain... we miss you
It's been an unseasonably warm & dry Winter down here. When it has rained, it's been showers at most. And this morning was a hot August morning (not to mention a Hot August Night). This does not auger well for Summer...
Not that I've seen much of the weather, except for the very early morning, then the evening. I've been doing 6 day weeks to cover for a staff member whose wife is seriously ill, so I've been in the Showroom a lot, but am still on the road a bit traipsing around places in various stages of construction, demolition & decay, with my trusty laser measurer & dodgy drawing skills, helping convince people that, if you're going to blow your building budget, you may as well do it with style...
