(*) Most glorious

Well, Sunday morning dawned cloudy and threatening showery rain with little wind. To sail or not to sail, that is the question? Ahh, what the hay - go for it! I'd invited a few other people along, but for various differeing reasons they didn't come out. I sat out beisde Chifley Dam comofrting my boat still on its trailer for about 2 hours, just enjoying the fresh air, watching the ski boats whizz past, between intermittant showers. No biggie. The wind will come, oh yes, if you invite it, the wind will come.

Sure enough, at about 11 o'clock the wind picked up, so I quickly rigged mah small boat in about 30 minutes (a rew 'record time' for me, from sitting on the trailer until rigged and dressed ready to go) and was literally about to launch it - when Mr Hoon suddenly turns up with his Laser! Yay! This is the same guy I usually help out with all the "Sailability" stuff, so it's always fun to hang out with him. He's got the same warpo sense of humour as I have, so we kinda hit it off well. Plus it's always a lot more satisfying somehow going out on the water for a sail when there's someone else out there too. Mr Hoon and I basically followed each other around for a while in our boats [we both had Lasers - boats that is, not personal defence weapons! lol], stopped for a quick lunchbreak, then the wind came back and off we chuffed again. Bobbling around, just enjoying the now gloriously warm sunshine and light airs. No complains - at all. Mr Hoon had to head off at about 3 o'clock, so I went out again. This time I was kinda hanging around the other shore and kinda goofing around with another family group I knew, having them hang off the side of the boat as I slowly drifted past, that kinda thing. All up I'd say I was out sailing for about four hours - whoo hoo! By 5.30+ I just pottered about slowly taking my time packing up, just enjoying being out there beside the water.

Another bonus is that, with the recent rainfall just over the past week, the water level had risen by a meter! I stood at the top of where the concrete boat ramp was visible last week, and today the water was half-way-up my thighs! Yay! Bring on the rain! A funny side affect of some of these thundery storms that keep coming thru once or twice a day is that some localised flooding. Just down the road from where the boys live, a small bridge near them literally got washed away! There's even a photo of the remains on the front page of Saturday's local paper! heh heh. JD was saying one of his neighbours was trying to undo the bolts holding a guardrail on, with a wall of driftwood logjammed behind it... when it finally came loose, the rain bent 90-degrees - with the guy still hanging onto it! For a split second it seemed a little hairy, but he got out laughing - no damage done to himself. But at least the logjam an backed-up floodwaters managed to drain away a whole lot more quickly. Luckily the whole road didn;t get washed out there, otherwise the boys would have had like a 60 km trip to school, instead of a 30 km one! They would have had to have gone into town 'the long way round' via Rockley! heh heh. In the end, much to their dissapointment, they still had to and got into school the next day! hahahaaa.

Driving home, feeling tired - even out on the water in a next-to drifter, it's still physically draining - I enjoyed the most glorious sunset thru a break in the western skies, with bright shafts of sunlight gleaming down at an angle thru the dark clouds. Beautiful! It was only after I got home that I slapped myself on the forehard with a convincing "D'oh!" that I remembered - I'd forgotten I had my flipping camera with me the whole time! It would have made an almost-postcard or inspirational-poster-type picture! D'oh! to me!

I've got some more pics of the boys sitting on mah camera - that's tonights' task - editing and uploading them. Stay tuned! Also I can now update some more of the "Sailability' and Carcoar Dam Sailing Club webpage photos as well, now I've got my computers here sorted out - for now.

Postscript - here's the boy's latest pics! Enjoy their handsomness!

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The laptop is OK-ish... the battery seems to be going OK, but it takes like forever to charge it, and doesn't seem to be charging when it's plugged in... I dunno if it's the power adapter or a power supply thing, but it's working OK for mow, so I'll worry about that in a little while. I have a copy of MS Office in a CD-ROM, but I've lost the freaking access code for it, and I can't install it on mah other machine without it! Gagh! No, it's not a bootleg... I've just lost the original sleeve and info it came with! D'oh!

In about two weeks I'm heading off the Belmont, Lake Macquarie [south of Newcastle NSW] for three days to compete in the NSW State Access Dinghy Championships. I'll be going out with a guy who normally gets about in a wheelchair, but he's a great sailor and an even better bloke - always entertaining. Even tho his "MS" limits his mobility, he still drives everywhere and loves a sail... he's driving upto Belmont - taking a one-legged bloke with him! He'll be taking someone else out for a sail over the Regatta! heh he. Aint that awesome? I'll be going up with Mr Hoon, and we'll be towing three Access dinghies behind us [well, that's the plan! heh heh]. Should be a good time had by all.

Well, on with the photo editing and webpage updating! Onwards and upwards!

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On This Day... 5th March 2007
Born: Rex Harrison [actor, 1908]; Andy Gibb [1958, singer]
Died: Joseph Stalin [dictator, 1953].
Useless Trivia: "The Osbournes" fisr aired on TV, 2002.

My Soundtrack: "Odessy and Oracle" - The Zombies [1968]
Footwear: barefoot and wet from walking in the grass
Weather: thunderstorms and sunshowers... just waiting for a rainbow to appear as the sun sets :) Oh wow! The whole sky and everything outside is a pinky/orange/purple glow as the sunsets! Awesome! [stands and applauds]... postscript... I rushed out and tried to take a few photos... dunno how they'll turn out... but in the 2 minutes I was out there the sky changed! Wow! [keeps applauding]

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Here are those two photos taken out the front of my door of tonight's sunset:

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Monday Music Mambo

1. Name three of your favorite guitarists. Pete Townsend (the Who), John Lennon (The Beatles), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds)

2. Do you have a favorite guitar solo? What is it? "Something" by George Harrison, The Beatles 1969

3. What's your favorite style of guitar playing? Acoustic blues or jingle-jangly pop

4. Do you know how to play the guitar? Yes, I've been playing since I was 16 back in 1980!


Monday, March 05, 2007

1. From beth:
What's the most unusual hobby you have? How did you get started with it? Hmmm... I don't know if going outside and just listening to the sound around me is considered a 'hobby' tho? But I just love listening to the ambience of the world around me, wherever I am :) How did I get started with it? I think it may have been when we studied a few weeks of "Free Jazz" back in High School music class, but who knows?

2. From briar:
How many different kinds of music do you listen to? Name a few favorites, if you please. Sure! 1960's British pop ie. The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds; acoustic folk ie. Bob Dylan; Psychadelic ie. Country Joe, Love, The Doors; hard rock ie. The Angels, Midnight Oil; Quirky Pop ie. XTC... all sorts of stuff... cool jazz, classical music, feetgazing rock...

3. From iris:
Do you take advantage of the outdoor areas where you live? What's your favorite thing to do outside? What's your favorite local bird? I sure do... I love to go sailing on some of our local dams. Favourite bird... hmmm... I don't think I really have one... maybe the Whip Bird? Altho they don't come exactly from these parts...

4. From kristy:
Children: Do you have any? Yes, three sons aged 13, 10 and 8.

5. From amy:
What is your favorite part of spring? The changing of the colours.

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Cyalayta
Mallard d'Quackers :o)
"Excuse me, which way is the stage?" (Audience member, lost at Altamont, 1969)

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