A Dreamy Place to Read

I took this photo during a movie I was watching. The movie was so bad that I won't even tell you the name of it. I fell in love with this reading nook.
The window is leaded, diamond panes with a deep windowsill. Tucked below that is a row of old books within easy reach of anyone fortunate enough to be lounging on the pillow-covered bed. It's in England, of course.
I'm walking around my house looking for a place to make my own little nook similar to this one. I just bought two antique needlepoint pillows on E-bay yesterday, so I've got a good start. I'll keep you updated.

Rain, mist and leeches!

For such a relatively short ride, this was certainly eventful. My friend Martin decided to join me for a relatively short ride to Springbrook this morning. I finished the way with a total of 88km, barely a quarter of the corresponding 324km epic from a week earlier. We commenced in light rain and started by unwittingly riding to the site of a car smash (I'll refrain from using the term "accident" because it's rarely accurate). Apparently a couple of drunken f*ckwits in a 4wd/SUV had smashed into another car and driven away laughing about it. Fortunately in this case, the victim appeared to be only suffering from shock.
Light rain continued to fall as we commenced the long climb in the mist, first the 8km stretch to Salmon's Saddle. Apparently Martin wasn't feeling confident at this point because he didn't have small enough gearing for the near 20% gradients to follow. He wanted to wait for a bus ride home. Of course, knowing what I do about Gold Coast "public transport", it was obvious to me that he would have been better off waiting to hitch a ride on Halley's Comet.

Eventually we continued on the really steep pinches of Lyrebird Ridge, passing "Mibum lookout" (I'm not making that up). Actually, Martin surprised me in the ability to not only push those ridiculous gears, but also deal with the wet roads at the same time. In truth he did really well, but then, perhaps that's why he's placed in the top 5 in 24-hour MTB races in the past.
In those conditions, there was nothing to see from Best of All Lookout. There are, however, 3,000 year old Antarctic Beech trees, which make a spectacular backdrop for a photographic pose.

It was somewhere around here that the next piece of drama probably unfolded, but I didn't become aware of it until we stopped at the fudge shop (definitely worth a visit) on the return home. A leech had managed to find it's way into the front of my jersey, and latch onto my chest. It had sucked a decent amount of blood, judging by the mess it made when I squashed it. It probably dropped down from one of the rainforest trees somewhere, but just where I can't be sure.

There was even time for a detour to Purlingbrook Falls. There is nothing in the world quite like a gushing waterfall in the mist. There was a decent volume of water coming over it too, I can only guess that Springbrook has managed to get some rain that the 'Coast has not. It was a great way to cap a memorable day.

There was even time for me to pick up a flat tyre on the ride home. Not really a problem as I've dealt with a few of these lately, but it was still annoying. The temperature on the coast managed to hit 30 degrees C on the way home -- that was annoying too (it had only been 17 on the mountain). Perhaps I should have taken Martin's advice and ridden back up the mountain and stayed there until nightfall.

California Newt Up Close

Cascade Creature, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

This little guy was basking in the sun next to a wonderful mossy waterfall in Las Trampas. Newts are so cool, and seeing them move about means that spring can't be far away...

Fungophile (or not)

I thought this fungus would be fairly easy to identify, but not being a true fungophile (or at least not an educated one), I apparently neglected to perform important field tests.

I didn't touch it, so I'm not sure if it was tough, brittle, or pliable. Was the surface felty, soapy, smooth, or otherwise? I don't have a clue.

I didn't sniff it - did it smell typically mushroomy, or more like newly-dug potatoes? Or perhaps like beans? I'm not even sure how "mealy" smells.

I sure as heck wasn't about to taste it. So it may or may not be bitter. Or peppery.

I didn't try to collect spores. I didn't cut a sample to see if it dried a different color.
So all I had to go by were visual clues and a knowledge of the habitat.
I thought it might possibly be Clavicorona pyxidata, but that one grows on rotting logs, and this one didn't appear to... though the log could have been beneath the leaf litter. I should have checked.
Clavaria fumosa was another possibility, but the habitat does not seem to fit. That one grows in open places, and mine was in the woods.
I briefly felt certain that it was Ramaria acrisiccescens, but that one's only in the northwest US.
Then I found Lentaria micheneri. The only description that lists "salmon" as a color possibility. Plus it mentions oak and beech and leaf litter, which was spot-on for the habitat. So that's my best guess.
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So, what's the word meaning "mushroom lover"? I thought fungiphile, but Google kept asking me if I meant fungophile. Online dictionaries don't recognize either, and all my real dictionaries are still packed up in boxes somewhere.

The First Time I Drank Coca-Cola

Upon our arrival in beautiful Hong Kong in 1961, we were taken to the Ascot Hotel in Happy Valley. It will have been demolished long ago, but it was a nice family hotel and well used to having bewildered, pasty children and parents dumped upon them while apartments and school places were found. I was almost eight, my older brother, Steve was twelve and a half, Ian was less than a year old. My father was a civilian who worked for the RAF doing highly secret things. Life was too exciting for me to ponder upon that for too long.

We did, and saw, many memorable things during those early days, among them was being allowed to drink my very first ever coca cola! They were different times, a drink like that was a treat to be savoured. I can still remember the ice cold, greenish glass bottle, condensation dripping down the sides and two straws (the paper type) it felt like the height of sophistication and luxury. The taste did not disappoint!

Borrowed image

A Sophisticated Young Girl About Town

The illusion was helped by the fact that we were sitting in the bar, on high bar stools. It was so exciting. We were having a drink before going into dinner. We only stayed there for ten days, but I know that the waiters used to be highly amused because each evening I would order exactly the same meal...spaghetti bolognese with lashings of parmesan. No matter the other tempting dishes, I had found a dish that I liked and stuck to it. I wonder how long that would have lasted had we been there for three months.

Borrowed image

As we settled into our new apartment and our schools, we began to explore the island. We had lots of wonderful experiences which always involved stopping off somewhere for a drink.

Another memorable one was the 7up float - 7up with a scoop of ice cream. I didn't really rate that, as it seemed a waste of both 7up and ice cream! Oh how I loved those beautiful green bottles with the red and white label.

It was an exciting time, riding in rickshaws as a treat, visiting fabulous parks, botanical gardens, the Tiger Balm Gardens with the weird and wonderful statues, the visions of Hell, grottoes and pavillions displaying effigies of Chinese mythology. We travelled up The Peak on the Tram, got to play on some very beautiful beaches, visited a variety of parks, and crossed to the Mainland on the Star Ferry.



It became an established routine to go to Kowloon, on the Mainland, every Saturday. We would go to the YMCA to buy our English comics and magazines - Bunty, Judy, Princess, Eagle, Dandy and Beano - according to what was available, then we'd settle down for a drink in the cafe. I'm not quite sure why, but we always drank tinned milk. Ice cold tinned milk. I think it was called Tongala - but I may be wrong. I was always fascinated at the triangular punch holes which were made in the top, then a straw was popped in. It was sterilised milk, but after the heat and bustle of the journey it tasted wonderful!

Quite often we'd go the Victoria Barracks Swimming Pool and after swimming and splashing all afternoon our drink would be Green Spot Orange Juice. Glass bottles, paper straws, ice cold. It was wonderful.

One of the lovely parks which we visited regularly had a big pond in the middle with a cafe to the side. After running around and letting off steam we go there for a drink. We always had the Apple Float. This was actually a pineapple float and was totally delicious, a mix of pineapple juice, fizzy water, tiny ice cubes, and pineapple pieces.

One drink I never got to try, but which always intrigued me, was a dirty milk coloured drink which came in the ubiquitous glass bottle of the time. I think it may have been a type of soya bean milk, but I could be mistaken. My mother was quite adamant that I wouldn't like it and that was the end of that!

So there you have a whistle-stop tour of beautiful Hong Kong, via some of the soft drinks we enjoyed. I could also have done a version describing the smells, but I thought this was more fun. Without doubt, the best drink was that very first coca cola - not because of the taste - but because it marked a complete change in my quiet English life.

One of these days I shall have to buy a bottle, see if it still tastes the same as in my memory.

Can you remember your first taste of coca-cola?

How to make it rain

Install drip irrigation.

New Bloom

A new bloom on my Agrostemma githago plant.