Lovely Weather for Frogs!

New life in all the wild weather in Queensland. At least the frogs are happy. (See the post for 29 December 2010.)

The tadpoles are enjoying their daily meal of boiled lettuce, and seem to be coming along nicely, although at different speeds.

Here's a shot of the tadpolarium, complete with toad-proofing and frog launchpad ...

... and here's a finished tree frog, now back happily snoozing somewhere in the showery garden

Brisbane Floods 2011

Tammy ( Salvation Army) & Rev Tanya (St Catherine's Anglican Church) Middle Park 
tell Wiza she's welcome!

For this and more positive flood stories and pictures go to

squeegee!

at

http://brissqueegee.blogspot.com/

Brisbane Floods January 11 2011

 

The river rises

in ones and twos

ahead of the long night

we come to stare at the river

impotent

we shrug on

a semblance of science

we toss around heights and peaks

and over-ground flow

to affect a nonchalance

while this greedy

wrong-shaped thing

spreads its bloated sides

towards our homes

in ones and twos we come

to stare at the river

we watch the eddies

and look aside

it isn't wise

to catch the river's eye

The Joy of Words

Sadly,  'sconce' and 'anaglypta' are out the window and 'lay-flat fluming' has now been supplanted in my affections by a new piece of terminology, to whit : wippen flange.

As anyone who has labored hard to write a poem about things musical could tell you, (and quite a few people already knew but never mentioned it to me) this is the name of part of the action of a piano.

It appeals as having some potential as a term of abuse.

Apparently I'm not alone in liking these words. Have a look at these covers from what seems to have been a pretty ephemeral magazine - wippen flange covers -  or maybe it was just a construct in the artist's mind? Who knows?

I'd certainly LIKE to know ...


Here is the wippen flange in its natural habitat. Is it just me, or do they look like cute cartoon legs and feet?

'On the left is a classic example of a spinet piano wippen with plastic flange, back check, 

and jack.  This one should have a whole new wippen, not piece meal.'

(I'm glad we cleared that up - TCS)

You can find this at 'Plastic piano parts crisis', in  The Piano Owner's Survival Guide.  which in itself gives a whole new perspective on the term 'crisis'.
 
Oh, I could go on all day.

Girly Fun : No. 14 in an occasional series entitled 'Harmless Hobbies for Mad Old Bags'.

Bathing belles, including The Shrew's mother, aunts and grandmother, in the 1920s.

Since it is the New Year, The Common Shrew brings you this resolution-worthy 'Harmless Hobby'.

Apparently a traditional value in the Shrew family, having girly fun is in line with such admirable resolves as 'Not Letting Life pass one by', 'Sharing a Smile' and 'Committing Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Beauty'.

So, to carry us all bravely into 2011, 'Girly Fun' it is.

Oh, and as the photo shows, brave boys can join in too.