So this is a blog - Just got to think about what the Sam I'll write about on here ...

I've been messing around on things other than this PC the past few weeks . Working in Computing, even if i'm not technical, ensures I'd rather do something completely different at all other times. And since this winter here in New Zealand has been so mild we've spent quite a bit of time in the garden hacking and pulling out the weeds and mulching in readiness for the spring that's already happening here a month or so early. Spring has sprung People !! Daffs are well out, pollyanthus in full flower, Camellias and early Rhodos at their peak ...

And I've not taken a single picture yet .................

Well not of the flowers or garden anyway ...

Here's a dramatic moonset we enjoyed early one morning from our decking...



Here's the same one without editing



Actually quite a bit has happened .. Work is changing - for the worse career wise .. Bugger ... Diet - HAHAHAHAHA !! Ahem ... Err diet starts again tomorrow ... Really ..... Booze consumption is up - Hic ...Healthy eating is almost non-existant... Exercise - Actually because of the gardening and shifting mulch and so on I'm getting quite a bit of exercise and fresh air ... You cannot understand how good it is for me to be outside and to sit on a large mound of sun-warmed garden mulch with a mug of tea in your hand :O) The size of the indent in the mulch is a bit depressing ....But hey! - you can;t have everything and you can always discuise the evidence having stood up again :O)

Anyway - I'll write more on all of that in the next few entries ... I've got to upload some of my travel pics as well so will post some interesting ones as I go along....

Did you know I collect old cigarette cards from the 1920s/30s ?? No - well thats probably because I've not told you !!! But I do, and recently have collected a good few hundreds - err thousand more..McD (my wonderful partner in life) has been helping me catalog them and slowly bring all the odds and sods together into complete sets .. They are quite interesting for their take on that time but also the subjects of the cards and in many cases the writings on the backs (so often damaged becase people stuck them into albums (the backs often being adhesive for this ) ... Any way subjects like Kings and queens of England to movie stars of the day to gardening hints to pictures of roses or dogs or wild birds ... One set depicts scenes from New Zealand - facinating insite of the times with pictures of volcanic geysers or farms or maori warriors etc ... Now there would be a photographers project - to reshoot the scenes today ... I might even have a go :O) Not sure where I'd get a shot of a maori warrior though ....

I've scanned a couple of cards that are drawings of dogs .. On the backs are poems relating to the pictures so I'll add them as well .....



An Uninvited Guest

"Awa' wi' ye! 'Tis no yer bane!"
Says Sandy with a savage grin.
"Go find a dupper o' yer ain;
Ye'll aye be gleg at stealin yin!"
Says Jock, "Nay, dinna fash yersel'
aboot a bane ye've picked sae clean.
Man, 'tis and easy thing to tell
That ye were born in Aberdeen!"
C.E.B.

Of course it helps if you speak Scotts I guess :O)



The Baby Show
One, two, three, four, five
Little Scotties all alive.
Mother wishes you to know
This is just her baby show.
She expects a medal for
Every young competitor.
All are hers, this likely crowd ;
No outsiders are allowed.
C.E.B