bob_m_54 Posted February 22, 2024 Posted February 22, 2024 On 22/02/2024 at 6:52 AM, muon* said: They keep them to give them quality full lives. That's the jist of it from what they say on that site. Expand Here ya go.. This mob, also a Hari Krishna Farm, explain it more.. https://www.krishnafarm.net/cow-protection/?doing_wp_cron=1708585590.2323129177093505859375 1
muon* Posted February 22, 2024 Posted February 22, 2024 On 22/02/2024 at 7:05 AM, BLAH BLAH said: Yes I do get that... I just wondered if the farm has an excess of bovine...they certainly sound like they have a large herd! And if they do have excess of bovine... what happens to them...!?! Expand I would guess the property has a lot of grazing so may they are not very limited in herd numbers and considered this when the started.
BLAH BLAH Posted February 22, 2024 Author Posted February 22, 2024 On 22/02/2024 at 7:09 AM, bob_m_54 said: Here ya go.. This mob, also a Hari Krishna Farm, explain it more.. https://www.krishnafarm.net/cow-protection/?doing_wp_cron=1708585590.2323129177093505859375 Expand Its a 1000 acre farm...I guess they haven't reached cow carrying capacity yet...
BLAH BLAH Posted February 23, 2024 Author Posted February 23, 2024 (edited) Some days...just some days...not a lot of days...just some...and it seems to arrive right out of no where...with little prior announcement... It will come along and pop into my head with little fanfare and set up some sort of residence for a little while...and make its presence beknownst to me...not for a great big while...just a tiny, tiny lil one...a tig...a tad...a smidgin...awhile... It feels free to come in...always...without a knock...a ring...and always...without a how's your was...or a nod...or a greeting...or a gesture...and leaves the door open as he passes right on through...the sheer entitlement of its arrival is staggering and yet it never seems to concern and/or alarm me...I mean it is a big head, but its still my head!...and stuff just comes in and goes out before i know about it... Not quite a totally empty head...despite what my High School teachers always seemed to say about it... Like sharp nosed genealogists, gleefully prising up strange and exotic connecting and long forgotten lineages within my family tree... Relating my head to a long lost bucket lineage(the noisy empty metal ones, not the quieter plastic bucket...no...noooo...not the plastic ones at all!)... And then leading to all sorts of foreign words and expressions..."dunder" would always comes to mind..."klutz" would be thrown around and around like a cricket ball, until a frayed Z remained and settled triumphantly upon my head(Nooo not Z for Zorro!)...and yet...yet...drum roll please...and yet after all these long years my large sconce has still managed to accumulate a fair bit of rubbish...bits and pieces...junk(well that's certainly a fact! exclaim my teachers!)...and garbage(I can hear my teachers sigh once again!)... Having arrived and settled comfortably upon a sofa inside my head(I have a sofa inside my head?!?!?!) they stretch out and start to sing away...the THEY I am referring to is my memories... We can never go back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve have sinned. We can't go back again. Oh no no no. Oh no no no. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no....and then making hisself really comfortable in the sofa(I really have a sofa in my head!?) begins singing once more...I shake my head...but that's the thing about memories...you can never really get rid of them...not with a shake of the head...they just slowly fade away over time... Those days are gone for ever, over a long time ago, oh yeah...he's really into it now...I hear my old favourite lullaby....the one that slips in and out of my consciousness when I fall asleep...Memoriesss, Can it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time re-written every line? If we had the chance to do it all again, Tell me, would we? Could we?... I'm really having second thoughts about having my memories being dredged up now...but he's ensconced in that sofa(I really must shift that sofa out!) now, right good and proper... I know that my memories from back ten year ago are not as vivid and involving as my earlier childhood ones...never as sharp and as juicy...as vivid and colourful...and as pleasurable to contemplate and linger over...remember! Yeah, yeah I know the past is different and they do things differently there...but I still want, occasionally, to go back there! I remember teenage parties...backs of Panel Vans...those passionate first pashes and rumbles and fumbles...I want to remember more...what's the good of having you free loading memories inside my head and on my sofa(So far not good!) when you fail to give me more details! Flesh it out some more please! Its the same old same old...no variation...no newer details. Nix, nada, zilch, nope, nooo! What were my friends doing at that party...while I was busy?!? The same memory...always! Wake up...that sofa is too comfortable for you! Wake up...I want more details...an extra crumb...to sate my desire...you always reach a line in my recollections and never cross further over them...Its a Steel Door slammed shut! I canna see over, around or under or through, no further... Wake up!!! Wake up, little Susie, Wake up, little Susie, Well, what are we gonna tell your mama? What are we gonna tell your pa'? What are we gonna tell our friends when they say "Ooh, la, la"?... They never change and expand more with details...I want to reach inside my head and drag you off my comfortable sofa(I must get rid of it!) slam you down on a chopping...bread board and roll a rolling pin over you...ya little lump of grey matter! I want to roll and roll and try to squeeze out a few more tasty and interesting details...for my memberance...and not the same old same old! Its my Life! But baby (Baby) Remember (Remember) It's my life and I'll do what I want It's my mind and I'll think what I want...Can I remember stuff that I have forgotten?!? How do I know I have forgotten them?!? Try to remember and if you remember, Then follow, follow Try to remember When life was so tender, That no one wept except the willow, Try to remember the kind of September, When love was an ember About to billow...try to remember... Edited February 23, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH Posted March 7, 2024 Author Posted March 7, 2024 (edited) It was the best of times...Tell it to me slowly, tell you what I really want to know, It's the time of the season for... It was the worst of times...Yeah, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is, I said, time, time, time is on my side, yes it is... Or so it was said...Who said...the keeper of secrets?!? No one ever shares their secrets with the little ones... ...Throw back the little ones, And pan-fry the big ones, Use tact, poise and reason, And gently squeeze them... The big familiar scary hairy one tried...but all he could ever come up with was a constantly repeated mantra of...is be the best...be the best!...as if those words were the secret to life, to success and rightful living! The softer prettier and nicer smelling one just wanted one to be...nice, smile and be a gentleman...not rough or coarse...polite and gentle... They both tried their best and hopefully School and Church would provide the rest...as if...as if those words fluttered about your young head drawing awkward attention. As if you were somehow lacking...deficient in some peculiar way unbeknownst to you, but known to others and being in need of expert maintenance, possibly repair! Was I somehow broken?!?...Help me if you can, I'm feeling down, And I do appreciate you being 'round, Help me get my feet back on the ground, Won't you please, please help me?... Cast adrift into a sea of grey uniformed little ones...just a singular buoy...awaiting attention...awaiting for so much fixing. Some greedily awaiting...Give me the child for the first seven years and I'll give you the man... Nooo more like a brick...an ordinary house brick...All in all it's just another brick in the wall, All in all you're just another brick in the wall, We don't need no education, We don't need no thought control... And then eventually I found their secrets! In books...their keepers kept them in Libraries...here they were Dad...the best! The best that they were and could possibly be...just like you said! Volumes of them...testaments to them all! How nice! How clean and precise, ordered and arranged...so nice..just like you said Mum. Vast buildings and shelves filled with your best! How many do I have to read Dad to become the best?!?... Oh, you're the best, You're better than all the rest, Better than anyone, Anyone I've ever met, Ooh, you're the best.... Edited March 7, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH Posted March 10, 2024 Author Posted March 10, 2024 It's hot! According to our current and expensive BOM, apparently, we are all going to have a very long hot weekend! So hot that the powers to be have even decided to cancel the Moomba Parade and it's attentive decorated crowds?!? But if your wearing a guernsey, footy shorts and high rolled socks in studded black boots then presumably it's okay to engage competitively and continually in such heat...I shrug at such logic...Money talks, mmm, mmm, money talks, Dirty cash I want you, dirty cash I need you, oho, Money talks, money talks, Dirty cash I want you, dirty cash I need you, oho... Sunday early morning...as early as 7am...we both have all the windows opened to catch some of that faintly coolish outside breeze into the still lingering warmish house. I feel the gentlest of cool ripples across my skin...I imagine my old exposed wrinkled pores working overtime...opening and closing...like slow wheezy bellows...drinking, guzzling deeply of the cool before the heat wins once again...I am the god of hellfire and I bring you, Fire, I'll take you to burn, Fire, I'll take you to learn, I'll see you burn...burn...fire... Intimidated we both hurry to close the windows, draw down the shade blinds and turn on the Evap!(Which button is it again?!?) I peer out between the slight gap opening in the slatted wooden blinds...slitted eyes...focusing... I am a Bedouin swaddled and wrapped in sheeting...no wait! I am Lawrence of Arabia...looking... I am a sniper on the Maginot line...looking... and its All Quiet on the Western Front... I am a desert rat looking out from Tobruk and peering towards Cairo... Feck I think...its like a desert out there...so dry...the grass has faded in colour...from green to brown...Every time, just like the last, On her ship tied to the mast, To distant lands, Takes both my hands, Never a frown with golden brown... Grass slowly expiring...I literally can hear its soft sighs under the weight of hundreds...hundreds of brown eucalyptus leaves... lanceolate-shaped...they litter the dying lawn...dropped by the solitary white gum...so sorry but not for your loss! I see the bright blue plastic basin filled with clear clean water placed outside...a squat blue light-house...for weary, tired birds to navigate by...She's got it, Yeah baby, she's got it...and quench their thirst by...Blue, blue, my world is blue Blue is my world since I'm without you... Then I spot it! There...over there...The baby magpie releases its position with repetitive baby calls...feed me, feed me, feed me...Ow...Ow...Ow...go out its ignored cries...its mother no where to be seen or even caring! Still brand new...its black and white colours a stand out...a perfect flickering retro TV! Suddenly it makes a bolt for it...from under the bush across the parched dying desert to the squat blue light house...its young patience having expired! No flying...nope...nix...nadda...zilch...no hopping either...just a furious blur of stick feet...chop sticks working furiously fast without the happy thumbs and fingers...the Coteletten Polka displayed on foot! Its young head down and leaning forward with pointing black beak...its away, their away...not with the fairies...not with accompanying thundering hooves and flying turf...but an elegant quiet dancing footstep Ala tuxedo-ed Fred Astaire...away with Michael Jackson with reverse rapid moonwalk!...Just beat it (beat it), beat it (beat it) No one wants to be defeated Showin' how funky and strong is your fight It doesn't matter who's wrong or right Just beat it (beat it)...head down, shoulders hunched forward...cloaked like a busy barrister on a city street...so important and so on a mission!...Ground control to Major Tom...it finally arrives...emphatically finishing a dash of somewhere around eight feet and several inches. No hesitation...Papa say, "Oh, no hesitation No tears and no hearts breakin' No remorse" Oh, congratulations... It hops in the basin of water and head ducks several times over and over...and then spreads its wings...out and back...F one eleven style...then blissfully cool...it starts an Irish Jig...rapidly thrashing the water into agitated chaos...then the magpie belly flop...then the slow stand and shake...reminiscent of the old Italian grape grower, squeezing juice from grapes in the old wine barrel...bare feet working like slow pistons, up then down, down then up...then the piece de resistance...the furious wriggle and shake off scattered water drops...(no not wine drops!) Finished...and all without a towel too! Then I start to wonder...I wonder about you, I wonder...If I built a little diving tower just beside the blue basin of water..."No reason to get excited" The thief, he kindly spoke "There are many here among us Who feel that life is but a joke"...
bob_m_54 Posted March 11, 2024 Posted March 11, 2024 On 10/03/2024 at 2:42 AM, BLAH BLAH said: powers to be Expand power that be.. LOL 1
BLAH BLAH Posted March 11, 2024 Author Posted March 11, 2024 (edited) On 11/03/2024 at 1:53 AM, bob_m_54 said: power that be.. LOL Expand Oh yes indeedy...LOL... Well in my defense...da-fence...wire fence...paling fence...barbed or bricked over da-fence...regardless... I stand behind my fence...(not sit, nor lie)...for these are truly my nonsense pieces...raggedy jig-saws of comprehension...grammar...and meaning...assorted...de-construed...unglued...sometimes even a bad flu...what about a bad Spanish Flu... In fact...cue the trumpets...are you ready drummers...you too guitars...the big flourish...just like a spanish matador-aye ay ay ayyyeee with the red blazing flag...I am...attention all...cough...cough...a paid up member of the Humpty Dumpty School of word definitions! Fully paid up! Card carrying member! Yes sirree!... Stamped on our card membership, which we show/display to pedants, one and all...are his great words for all to see! "When I use a word(s),’ ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."... Yes, I am afraid so...rye shake of the dough head...Humpty's words are my motto..crest...maxim...and what I go by... These typed pieces are my assorted vignettes at attempted humour...silliness...weirdness...folly...and vague whimsy. Heck, I would even go so far as saying...exhibiting a lil joy, fun! I, for one, know not where my scribbles take me and/or may lead me...I follow on with a debil may chair attitude...(now have I got that quotation right?! ) I seem to be all a-muddle...flustered...for now with my quotes..."Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" ... (oh the scrutiny!...oh the scrutiny!... )...with apologies to that Zeppelin!...for I need a whole lotta love!... In my defense...once again...I realize I can be a tad heavy handed(according to some spurts an average hand weighs around/asquare 400grams) with oblique references to popular songs, books, TV and Rad-de-ohh shows. No its okay I am prepared to admit some fault here...English has never been my first language...rather I thirst for vocabulary notoriety...interest...so okayyy where was i now?!? Ahhh yes...I am prone to the oblique reference...I relish them(especially If I over do the cheese! )...and Mister Humpty Dumpty and I are in total egregious manner here...the cheesier the better!... Ahhh yes Humps...now pay attention...did you get my sly and humorous reference to...powers to be?!?... I certainly did! Why thank you dear friend! I thought my playful reference to an e-mer-e-con TV show...The Powers that be...to be on TV...was ok... To be or not to be... Now that is the question, Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them...pendants be ware...espesh the bright showy ones! Good night Humps... To sleep perchance to dream...aye there's the rub... Good nite BLAH... Edited March 11, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH Posted March 22, 2024 Author Posted March 22, 2024 (edited) I have waxed lyrically about Archie n Jugheads record shoppe before...so why not again?!?...why not indeedy! Yes I think so! I do not frequent Record Shops as much as I used to...I am that old, I still call them Record Shops, said with an embarrassed shrug and self deprecating larff and shrug of the old shoulders!...and I also do not call them Vinyl Churches like the trendy bearded hipsters do either! I am not talking Vinyl Churches aka Record Stores used solely for the purposes of Vinyl worship, devotion and care!(Bless me father for I have truly sinned...so many records I have bought!....so many records indulged in!...so many records unopened!...so many records unplayed!...so many records displayed!...) These days my shelves are over crowded with CDs...CD, feel me...Touch me, heal me...CD, feel me...Touch me, heal me...CD, feel me...Touch me, heal me...CD, feel me...Touch me, heal me...Listening to you, I get the music...various Jazz CDs...who would have thunk their were so many Jazz artists, musicians, Solo and Groups, singers...feck yeah...now where was I?!? I worship these days with and at a different denomination...not at the trendy hipster Vinyl Churches et al!... I am a disciplined and devoted Discogian member...and have no affiliation with any brick and mortar building...in fact one could say I am more online than vinyl divine! But...but...come closer young 'uns...when I was younger...before CDs were made and played...collective and surprised intake of breath and gasp!...Yes I know...I know...I know! The people I turned to most, in my young days, for Vinyl obtainment and help in sourcing those rare Overseas Bands and records mentioned in Melody Maker, New Musical Express...Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me?...were Archie n Jugheads...located at 5 Manchester Lane Melbourne...way back in the seventies!...I feel a little crazy, I feel a little strange, Like I'm in a pay phone, Without any change, I feel a little edgy, I feel a little weird, I feel like a schoolboy, Thats's grown a beard...I'm living in the seventies!!!... From memory, I think my young self was strolling about the City one day with no real purpose in mind...Young man, there's no need to feel down, I said, Young man, pick yourself off the ground, I said, Young man, 'cause you're in a new town, There's no need to be unhappy, Young man, there's a place you can go... When suddenly, and it was such a serendipitous moment...my road to Damascus, one could say! The Holey of Hollies appeared to my young self...my shrine...my vinyl altar! My Vinyl Church of Worship! My youthful self was stunned...I could not help gazing reverently and helplessly up at the sight of the colourful Icon before me...Whole lotta love, Wanna whole lotta love, Wanna whole lotta love... I was instantly smitten, besotted, converted...even beside myself with joy! (Hiya Self! What do youse reckon...we go in together, ya okay!!!...) I walked in...yup the two of them were always there too...one dark haired guy more chatty than the other guy that looked like Robert Fripp. And always behind the wooden dark desk and cash register! I walked up the short flight of stairs to their right, reached the top...there...there in front of me in boxed wooden stands along the walls...record nirvana! In a daze, I bought my first copy of Crimson here...ITCOTCK...my first Eagles album...Genesis...Van Der Graff Generator!...Dark Side of the Moon...Hawkwind...Captain Beyond...Emerson, Lake and Palmer...and so many more! I remember the smells...brand new cardboardy smells, plasticy smells...like so much welcomed incense to a young vinyl acolyte's nose... And the Imported thick cardboard Record covers! Oh...oh...oh...Oh the cardboard record covers...not just any cardboard cover like the home grown Aussie ones...thin, slightly curved...warping under hot possessive fingers and hot Aussie sun! Noooo these Record Covers were hewed out of giant tree trunks...thick as telephone books...chunky as feck...heavy as feck...inflexible as feck...Oh...Oh...triple OOOHHH...and Gate Folded! The rarest of the rare...ITCOTCK...gate folded!!! Swoon and be still my beating heart!...all sides covered in rare printed detailed information of the band, lyrics...pictures! And all...all...ALL for $10 sometimes $12 a pop!!! And wonders of wonders...covered and protected by the thinnest of the thin cellophane protective covering...How good was that?!?! EH??! eh...eh...EH!?...Those were the days my young friends...Those were the days, my friend, We thought they'd never end, We'd sing and dance forever and a day, We'd live the life we choose, we'd fight and never lose, Those were the days, Oh yes, those were the days... Unlike @doogie44 I love looking at my vinyl covers with their el cheapo sticker price$! The more they festoon...macaroon, brigadoon, they finished all too soon...swoon...The better in my record collection!...Oh yes, those were the days my friends... Edited March 22, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1 1
BLAH BLAH Posted March 23, 2024 Author Posted March 23, 2024 (edited) Hitch hiker! Hitch hiker! Like a restless tiger you can't stand still And you never will Here I stand and the cars go by Some of them honk - and some just wave Hi It seems like life and the cars both just pass me by... Or so the song goes, but which song then?!? Sweet hitch-a-hiker We could make music at the Greasy King Sweet hitch-a-hiker Won't you ride on my fast machine?... Standing on the City corner, she was waiting for the lights to turn green...I drove slowly on by...so close, just inches away through the wide windscreen...I caught her eye, she caught mine...eyes locked, out came her tongue through red lips...so fast, she caught me off guard...I laughed on bye... If you see me walking down the street And I start to cry, each time we meet Walk on by Walk on by... Trying to make a delivery, driving and searching for a street number...instead I look and see and there she was... There she was just walkin' down the street Singin', "Do wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy do" Snappin' her fingers and shufflin' her feet Singin', "Do wah diddy diddy, dum diddy do"...She looked good (Looked good) She looked fine (Looked fine) She looked good, she looked fine And I nearly lost my mind... The whole pavement was hers...like a boardwalk... From the park you hear The happy sound of a carousel Mmm, you can almost taste The hot dogs and French fries they sell Under the boardwalk... The whole pavement was hers...just like a catwalk... I'm a model, you know what I mean And I do my little turn on the catwalk Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk...I'm too sexy for my car Too sexy by far And I'm too sexy for my hat Too sexy for my hat What ya think about that?... Just like on a catwalk she walked...Just like on a catwalk she owned it. I watched her as she practiced her many moves...her strut, her booty shake...her seductive swings...she was good, nooo she was bad...she had it all down pat...even on high heels...she was fab! Your body is relaxed You've got the facial expressions down pat A1.1* is great Now--bodily expressions! 1,2, move your body Move your body Harder than that, it's not shameful Move your body Come on, move your body One more time... Closer I come driving...she looks, I look...she does not care. Her focus is on practice...she smiles and does not care...her focus is on practice...A little street in the back suburbs of Melbourne...she does not care...I drive by... You can't go on, thinking Nothing's wrong, oh no Who's gonna drive you home Tonight?... With another livery I drove past... I wasn't quite sure...cos I was way too fast... I returned...it was a very long street... And it seemed in passing, very slow on her/his feet... Awkward on high heels...shiny moist face...and not from the heat either... Heavy dark beard but very close shaven... A prominent Adam's apple...and a tight fitting dress...not quite the full maven... Walking so focused...like Steady Eddy...dress rehearsal over... Her/his day begun...full and quite ready... Holly came from Miami, F.L.A. Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A. Plucked her eyebrows on the way Shaved her legs and then he was a she She says, "Hey, babe Take a walk on the wild side" Said, "Hey, honey Take a walk on the wild side"... Edited March 23, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1
keyse1 Posted March 23, 2024 Posted March 23, 2024 No idea what that’s about But it reads well Take it Easy might fit there somewhere 1
BLAH BLAH Posted March 23, 2024 Author Posted March 23, 2024 On 23/03/2024 at 3:27 AM, keyse1 said: No idea what that’s about But it reads well Take it Easy might fit there somewhere Expand Hello baby yeah this is the Big Bopper speaking ha ha you sweet thing Do I what will I what oh baby you know what I like Chaintily lace and a pretty face and a pony tail hangin' down A wiggle and a walk and a giggle and a talk made the world go round There ain't nothing in the world Like a big eyed girl to make me act so funny make me spend my money Make me fool real loose like a long necked goose Like a girl oh baby that's what I like... 1
BLAH BLAH Posted March 24, 2024 Author Posted March 24, 2024 (edited) Favourites! Everybody has them! Favourite beer, favourite jeans, favourite coffee, favourite car, colour, food, fruit, vegetable, biscuit, Team, TV Show, Film, Pet, cup, Rock Band, Artist, singer, song, instrument...and the list goes on and on and on...till everything you touch becomes a fav! What makes a fav you ask?!? God only knows...If you should ever leave me, Though life would still go on, believe me, The world could show nothing to me, So what good would living do me, God only knows what I'd be without you...When it comes to Aussie rock...I do admit to having a few favs! How can I possibly not?!? Everybody has them! I don't want to be left out...nope, nix, nadda, no way hose...Out on the patio we'd sit, And the humidity we'd breathe, We'd watch the lightning crack over cane-fields, And laugh and think, "This is Australia"...my fav as simple as that! And why is that song my fav?!?..no idea! Years ago, standing in my kikuyu grass infested paddock wearing nothing but black gumboots and a thin pale pink sarong. Its tough walking through the long thick runner strands of kikuyu grass...excellent for pasture...terrible for lawns and gardens. A grass that is so inquisitive...it will stick its long green strands into every lil corner, its totally un-containable! A wild Hort! Imported from deepest, darkest Africa...it's a green runner grass that loves the heat! And heat is what one gets plenty of here in Thora on the Northern coastal regions of NSW. I wear my thin cotton sarong because of the heavy stifling heat and humidity! I wear my gumboots because I am afraid of bare feet in thick grass standing on snakes! So much heat and rain here, that kikuyu can grow so rapidly, it can smother young trees and bushes with their prolific growth. One minute, planted young fruit trees are standing tall and pristine...the next minnut...being dragged back down to the ground with green tough thick runners...like Gulliver being tied down by the Lilliputians...and/or ending up like rounded thick green mounds...Cousin IT without a haircut! Now, where was i?!?...The block is awkward, it faces west, Long diagonals and sloping, too, And in the distance, through the heat haze, In convoys of silence the cattle graze...Hah, my block faces west too! Maybe that's a clue! I have the heat haze too...but not the cattle! I have a cow! A dairy cow...Jersey...called Lady...sweet faced and a giver of sweet thick milk...Back by the by-wash, out in the open, Floating down and around and through, A breath of air, the sound of light, Uplifting moments of emotion, Whoa-ho, giver of life you are, Whoa-ho, giver of life now, Whoa-ho, giver of life you are, oh... Lady is in my paddock behind me grazing, with her eye on my back! Never too far away...just in case I have brought out some pollard for her to indulge in...Now I am facing West...I see the wooden electricity pole on the edge of my property, its power lines bringing me my welcomed electricity! Atop of the wooden pole I can just make out two kookaburras...dancing, hopping about, fighting...and laughing! Oh yes that unmistakable raucous laughter echoing loudly up the Thora valley! I canna make out what they are fighting about/over?!? I squint and look. Its black and thin! I realize its a young snake! Both Kookaburras have one end of the black snake in their beaks and are trying to tug free it from each other...pulling. Next minnut one kooka loses its balance and falls from the top of the pole. It still has one end of the black snake tightly in its beak. Wings fluttering it manages to drag the other Kooka off the pole with it. The other refuses to let go of the snake as well! Both Kookas cartwheel and wing flutter slowly to the ground with the black snake still firmly and tightly in their beaks. Both Kookas land on the soft green kikuyu mounds. One Kooka lets go of the snake, hops, and lets forth a string of chuckles...what a fine joke all this is! The other Kooka takes advantage of its laughter, open beak and flies off! The black snake limp in its beak, like a thin black horse shoe! I think I hear the sounds of then and people talking, The scenes recalled by minute movement, And songs they fall from the backing tape, That certain texture, that certain smell...Laugh and think that this is Australia... Edited April 2, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 1, 2024 Author Posted April 1, 2024 (edited) I remember...I remember you-ooh, You're the one who Made my dreams come true, I do... Now what do I really remember...Try to remember the kind of September, When you were a young and callow fellow, Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow... Thinks to hisself, I am trying very hard to remember now...Take it easy, Take it easy, Don't let the sound of your own wheels, Drive you crazy...We may lose, and we may win, Though we will never be here again, so take it easy... Really hard to remember...So goodbye for the very last time To the place we love somehow. We can never go back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve have sinned. We can't go back again. Oh no no... I vaguely remember a portable Rad-di-oh...an Australian made Kriesler...Mum and Dad both seemed to have a very high regard for the Kriesler Brand! Prior to this portable we also had a big Kriesler TV. This Kriesler TV came with the longest electrical grey cord connected to a tv remote! A grey thick tail, easy twenty feet long...which always ended up snaking across the floor from the TV and up into the hands of dear old Mum seated in a big sofa! Using the TV remote and Channeling Captain Kirk...To explore strange new worlds, To seek out new life and new civilizations,To boldly go where no wo/man has gone before... Space the Final Frontier Filled!...Oh look...Combat is on...schnell!!! And prior to both Kriesler portable rad-di-oh and TV...came the earliest of them all, a Kriesler Valve rad-di-oh. A brown Bakelite beauty, that had pride of place, on a wooden chair, in our small kitchen! With which I always associated hearing Uncle Norman early on in the morning just prior to going off to Primary School. I also vaguely recall...that one of Uncle Norman's half hour Radio Show sponsors was a fish oil bottled product...whose brand name I now forget! But I do remember both its looks and taste! The deal with good old SWMBO was I got to hear Uncle Norman as long as I had and swallowed a teaspoon of white fish oil! Oh I loved Uncle Norman...but I despised the white fish oil...so I submitted like a mindless open mouthed guppy! Out came the longish brown bottle...out came the teaspoon...out poured the white fish oil extract! Very much like sauce! Like marty sauce but with a slight greyish off white colour, with a slight queer odour, that got popped quickly into my slight guppy mouth. And swallowed just as fast! While my little ears focused on listening to Uncle Norman and a little squeaky voiced mouse companion, hoping to overlook the fish-oil taste permeating my mouth! I soon outgrew Uncle Norman...quick smart! I never knew what became of the Kriesler Valve ra-di-oh! From memory I think it never survived the third house shift! Now where was I?!? Ahhh yes the Kriesler portable ra-di-oh! It was large! Like a umm...ummm...it was large! It was tan and light brown in colour! And it used a battery the size of a house brick! From memory those batteries seemed to last in power use for up to a year... I remember every Monday night listening to a ra-di-oh programe...remember them!?!...at around 9pm. ABC programe called "Room To Move" hosted by Chris Winter... https://www.smh.com.au/national/chris-winter-beloved-broadcaster-broke-new-ground-for-australian-media-20190627-p521t8.html I would be found in my bedroom, laying in the dark, on my bed. The Kriesler ra-di-oh squeezed tightly up against my right ear(for some strange reason, always the right!) listening and totally focused upon the music introduced! It has been a very long time since that I have held, others, as passionately as that Kriesler to me and my right ear with my right arm! So tight that the Kriesler left thin linned reddish marks upon my right ear/cheek from its silver metal speaker cover! More red marks than lipstick...ohh how I loved that Ra-di-oh...let me count the ways!...And when I stray, You are never far away, Cause I love you, Let me count the ways... One of the very first songs I heard was...Just take a pebble, And cast it to the sea, Then watch the ripples, That unfold into me. Disturbing the waters, Of our lives, Of our lives... I was transfixed...I was besotted...I was transported...for some strange reason I have always associated...Just take a pebble...with the cover of Wishbone Ash's Album Argus! Both of which, to me, exhaled a sense of fantasy/mystery...which I inhaled of deeply! https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/wishbone-ash-argus-anniversary-edition-review Maybe...just maybe...those lyrics echoing out from the Kriesler was something a young teenage adolescent boy needed to hear stuck out in the working class suburbs of Melbourne. Stuck amidst the grey...50 plus one shades of grey...grey streets, grey skies, grey cars, grey school uniforms, greyly future jobs/careers/mortgages... These lyrics offered the sense of a different possibility...a different way...Way out west where the rain don't fall, Got a job with the company drilling for oil, Just to make some change, Living and a-working on the land... But that's another story... Interesting that I didn't need a whiz bang stereo to have those Lyrics make such an impact on me... Edited April 2, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1
keyse1 Posted April 1, 2024 Posted April 1, 2024 On 01/04/2024 at 5:30 AM, BLAH BLAH said: I remember...I remember you-ooh, You're the one who Made my dreams come true, I do... Now what do I really remember...Try to remember the kind of September, When you were a young and callow fellow, Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow... Thinks to hisself, I am trying very hard to remember now...Take it easy, Take it easy, Don't let the sound of your own wheels, Drive you crazy...We may lose, and we may win, Though we will never be here again, so take it easy... Really hard to remember...So goodbye for the very last time To the place we love somehow. We can never go back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve have sinned. We can't go back again. Oh no no... I vaguely remember a portable Rad-di-oh...an Australian made Kriesler...Mum and Dad both seemed to have a very high regard for the Kriesler Brand! Prior to this portable we also had a big Kriesler TV. This Kriesler TV came with the longest electrical grey cord connected to a tv remote! A grey thick tail, easy twenty feet long...which always ended up snaking across the floor from the TV and up into the hands of dear old Mum seated in a big sofa! Using the TV remote and Channeling Captain Kirk...To explore strange new worlds, To seek out new life and new civilizations,To boldly go where no wo/man has gone before...Space the Final Frontier Filled! And prior to both Kriesler portable rad-di-oh and TV...came the earliest of them all, a Kriesler Valve rad-di-oh. A brown Bakelite beauty, that had pride of place, on a wooden chair, in our small kitchen! With which I always associated hearing Uncle Norman early on in the morning just prior to going off to Primary School. I also vaguely recall...that one of Uncle Norman's half hour Radio Show sponsors was a fish oil...whose brand name I now forget! But I do remember both its looks and taste! The deal with good old SWMBO was I got to hear Uncle Norman as long as I had and swallowed a teaspoon of white fish oil! Oh I loved Uncle Norman...but I despised the white fish oil...so I submitted like a mindless open mouthed guppy! Out came the longish brown bottle...out came the teaspoon...out poured the white fish oil extract! Very much like sauce! Like marty sauce but with a slight greyish off white colour, with a slight queer odour, that got popped quickly into my little guppy mouth. And swallowed just as fast! While my little ears focused on listening to Uncle Norman and a little squeaky voiced mouse companion, hoping to overlook the fish-oil taste permeating my mouth! I soon outgrew Uncle Norman...quick smart! I never knew what became of the Kriesler Valve ra-di-oh! From memory I think it never survived the third house shift! Now where was I?!? Ahhh yes the Kriesler portable ra-di-oh! It was large! Like a umm...ummm...it was large! It was tan and light brown in colour! And it used a battery the size of a house brick! From memory those batteries seemed to last in power use for up to a year... I remember every Monday night listening to a ra-di-oh programe...remember them!?!...at around 9pm. ABC programe called "Room To Move" hosted by Chris Winter... https://www.smh.com.au/national/chris-winter-beloved-broadcaster-broke-new-ground-for-australian-media-20190627-p521t8.html I would be found in my bedroom, laying in the dark, on my bed. The Kriesler ra-di-oh squeezed tightly up against my right ear(for some strange reason, always the right!) listening and totally focused upon the music introduced! It has been a very long time since that I have held, others, as passionately as that Kriesler to me and my right ear with my right arm! So tight that the Kriesler left thin linned reddish marks upon my right ear from its silver metal speaker cover! More red marks than lipstick...ohh how I loved that Ra-di-oh...let me count the ways!...And when I stray, You are never far away, Cause I love you, Let me count the ways... One of the very first songs I heard was...Just take a pebble, And cast it to the sea, Then watch the ripples, That unfold into me. Disturbing the waters, Of our lives, Of our lives... I was transfixed...I was besotted...I was transported...for some strange reason I have always associated...Just take a pebble...with the cover of Wishbone Ash's Album Argus! Both of which, to me, exhaled a sense of fantasy/mystery...which I inhaled of deeply! https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/wishbone-ash-argus-anniversary-edition-review Maybe...just maybe...those lyrics echoing out from the Kriesler was something a young teenage adolescent boy needed to hear stuck out in the working class suburbs of Melbourne. Stuck amidst the grey...50 plus one shades of grey...grey streets, grey skies, grey cars, grey school uniforms, greyly future jobs/careers/mortgages... These lyrics offered the sense of a different possibility...a different way...Way out west where the rain don't fall, Got a job with the company drilling for oil, Just to make some change, Living and a-working on the land... But that's another story... Interesting that I didn't need a whiz bang stereo to have those Lyrics make such an impact on me... Expand What about Greenbottle and his adventures at school Or was it called Yes What which from memory we’re the dominant words in every sentence I remember vaguely a lot of radio shows but probably late 50’s or very early 60’s 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 1, 2024 Author Posted April 1, 2024 On 01/04/2024 at 5:40 AM, keyse1 said: What about Greenbottle and his adventures at school Or was it called Yes What which from memory we’re the dominant words in every sentence I remember vaguely a lot of radio shows but probably late 50’s or very early 60’s Expand https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/comedy/yes-what 1
doogie44 Posted April 1, 2024 Posted April 1, 2024 Good old AM radio shows...and serials like 'Behind the Green Door' and such for kids... always a fight to sit in pole position at the kitchen counter for dinner with 2 siblings. Let's recall fondly the fantastic Arch McKirdy's 'Relax With Me' & 'Music to Midnight' shows for a thorough introduction to cool jazz. Occasionally at 10pm I still think of him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_McKirdy As a teenager I thought the 60s pop was wonderful in every way, and recorded vast swathes of songs from the airwaves on an AKAI M8 Reel to Reel. Only the introduction of FM broadcasting in 1974 improved things! I still have a Retro playlist on Qobuz of most of those songs As Blah Blah fondly implies, all seemed possible in those new exciting worlds of our intimate enjoyment 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 2, 2024 Author Posted April 2, 2024 (edited) Hi @doogie44...hell, I do remember that sonorous voice of @Arch McKirdy...a wonderful soothing voice, tailor made for the gentle breezy air-waves of ra-di-oh! Thank you for the gentle re-call indeedy! Voice plus Music plus Music Knowledge equals a great ra-di-oh programe combination...(and only aired by our once great and magnificent ABC Ra-di-oh...the National Broadcaster!) And what a magnificent first name he had, it was too, Archibald! The great Archibald! Archibald as a boys' name is of Old French and Old German origin, and the meaning of Archibald is "genuine, bold, brave". Brought to Britain with the Norman Conquest, and popular largely in Scotland. The short form Archie is so open and friendly --and very trendy in the British Isles. And of course suave Hollywood Star Cary Grant was born Archibald Alexander Leach... Jeez that is a name one just doesn't hear around here anymore(Cary! )...the New Age mummy's and daddy's certainly have a lot to answer for! Years ago, many years ago, I was lucky enough to inveigle a broadcasting spot on a local Ra-di-oh FM Station. A Mud Brick Brown FM Station, hand built by the locals/alternates/hippies, down on the North Coast of NSW in a little rural village called Bellingen...both are still going strongly! I do have hazy memories of a beginner DJ earnestly, nervously and assiduously trying to create a soothing ra-di-oh voice for the listeners...just like Archies!...oh I had my fans! These days I can think of nothing more enjoyable...than sitting in/upon a comfy sofa...deep high back...with large wide arm rests...like the large prow/wheel arch of a late automobile front...for resting both arms upon! An Art Deco Club style crossed with a big fat Lazy Boy Sofa ala Chesterfield hybrid!...with lashings of highly polished oak wood pieces and sprinkled all over with metal studs and upholstery buttons! Just like an un-eaten whiz bang marvelous to look at Cup Cake! Magnificent! Also covered in a hard wearing material to keep the horse hair in check!...nay he says, not coarse horsehair?!?...of course and yes indeedy!!!...as he jockey's for an extra exclamation mark out of the golf bag like an attentive caddy!!!! A couple of well placed cushies for extra comfort! Both edged in a loverly tight piped trim...coiling fiercely and possessively around their edges! A nearby high wooden(rose-wood!) circular table on long thin legs...upon which rested the glass tumbler...and the bottle of imported whiskey! Upon which also rested circular place mats or two...displaying colourful scenes of Australian Native Life! Maybe even entertain the idea of a well placed pouf/ottoman(lady?!?!) for resting those tired old aching feet upon. Ahhh the silk edged dressing gown with their shiny edged cuffs...just like when I was a young tacker...fresh shiny faced, wet shiny hair washed in Johnson's mildest Baby Shampoo...then parted and neatly combed in the straightest of straight lines...and always on the right side, never the left! No deviations! No, not a hair out of place...straight as a die! The whitest white line of your young clean scalp revealed...remember them?! Dusted down in Johnson's fine Baby powder...just like a brand new made and clean smelling scon-e/s-cone...awaiting to rise and grow! PJ's...remember them!...top and bottoms and all covered by that tartan patterned dressing gown!...with the cinched waist cord!...remember them?!?...young feet both dressed in tartan brown/green material slippers!...remember them! Under one young arm is a tightly held thick Children's Reading Book...hard covered...from the year of...illustrated with the best colour pictures and adventure stories...just waiting to be read...remember them!? For night time when the young imagination took shape and grew the most incredible dreams or...or...just the best of bestest blackest sleep! Another circular wooden(rose-wood again!)table again on long thin legs, forming a triangle ...upon which the Kriesler Bakelite Ra-di-oh purred both sonorous sound and soft yellow light up and out into the living room dark corners! Between both, resting on the floor, my wooden magazine/newspaper rack/holder...containing the latest unread copies of the Newspaper "Nation Review"...with the latest Michael Leunig cartoon and Hi-Fi Magazine the "Stereo Review" all about Sansui Products...Maybe even an old copy of "The National Times"...a pink "Sporting Globe" or two with the footy results, the '67 AFL Premiership winners!...a rumpled copy of "Go-Set"...with the latest Prog Band news..."The Moody Blues"....and wait what is that, lifts up a magazine...dear old SWMBO's copy of a well worn Women's Weekly! Asleep now and spreading its radiant warmth upon my lap...Sasha my cat! Could it ever get better than that?!? What is that?!? Oh that! I can just make out that 3LO on the ra-di-oh! Now where is that Phillip Adams...Late Night Show again...?!? https://www.mediaweek.com.au/phillip-adams-announces-rn-show-to-end-in-june-wont-die-at-the-microphone/ Who needs thousands of dollar$ spent on Hi-Fi equipment?! Eh...eh...ayeeee... Just speaking of my Generation...People try to put us d-down (talkin' 'bout my generation) Just because we get around (talkin' 'bout my generation) Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin' 'bout my generation) I hope I die before I get old (talkin' 'bout my generation) This is my generation This is my generation, baby... Edited April 3, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 4, 2024 Author Posted April 4, 2024 (edited) And here she be...I wake up to the sound of music Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be let it be...a quick search of Ebay...that wonderful Interwebs Time machine...and I find a picture and same model for sale of my late Kriesler Portable Valve Ra-di-ohh... Could possibly be the one the family owned...they were such an unusual piece...but then it would have had to travel all the way down to Forster N.S.W from dear old Melbourne!...it looks pretty beat up...prolly has a tale or two to tell! Ohhh if it was...think of it's provenance...be still my beating heart! Edited April 4, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
doogie44 Posted April 4, 2024 Posted April 4, 2024 Any good forensics lab could probably find your DNA/earwax on the front somewhere...?? Nostalgia plus. 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 4, 2024 Author Posted April 4, 2024 (edited) On 04/04/2024 at 4:39 AM, doogie44 said: Any good forensics lab could probably find your DNA/earwax on the front somewhere...?? Nostalgia plus. Expand Ahhh yes the DNA...the DNA....(as if facts and figures a dreamth remake!) I can hear it now...the chant goes up...as loud as USA...USA...USA... We need the DNA...DNA...DNA...!!!!!!! We need that DNA...DNA...DNA...!!!!!!! Good luck finding my right ear traces on the Kriesler's metal trim after about...what...ummm...three plus five add ten take away sixteen...that would make it nigh on fiddy fi year! The state that Kriesler is in...it would take more that my meager supply of ear wax to polish it up! Or even down! Please, never get between a man and his nostalgia/dreams...If I could see something You can see anything you want, boy If I could be someone You can be anyone, celebrate, boy Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer... Never...You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one... Ever...Ooh, ooh, dream weaver I believe you can get me through the night Ooh, ooh, dream weaver... PS...could it be?!?...is it?!?...after all these years not one post card sent...I mean even garden gnomes take the trouble to send post cards! https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27296/brief-history-garden-gnomes https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043552/Gnome-Stolen-garden-elf-returned-7-month-adventure-world.html Edited April 5, 2024 by BLAH BLAH 1
BLAH BLAH Posted April 7, 2024 Author Posted April 7, 2024 (edited) A lot of my young friends entered that race(I did too truth be told!)...the Grand Final race, the big finale...that we were all a part of...We're all leaving together But still it's farewell And maybe we'll come back To Earth, who can tell? It's the final countdown The final countdownnnn...to the long, very long drawn out six year race...all off us crowded together within a big thundering loud noisy Pack...coming down that High straight and narrow School of racing...eager freshed faces, bright eyed...Bright eyes Burning like fire Bright eyes How can you close and fail? How can the light that burned so brightly Suddenly burn so pale?Bright eyes...all bushy tailed...and eager/beaver... We all had good jockeys/mentors...and the ol' whisperers in the ear...some of us even came from very good stock. Bred to win...to stay...and some were able to out last and some be quicker than most others...just good luck and fortune, we supposed!(Breeding it was/were the whispers and quiet nodding of sage heads!)...Most of us had correct weight to start off with...lean and keen, still with fresh sharp corners...un-dented/undaunted/unsullied...our odds were still looking pretty good...and we all gave it our collective best...encouraged and cheered on by the onlooking and super invested crowds! The Pack rounded the corner and furiously entered the straight...the finishing line beckoned...full of promise, ardour...reward... But beware the Pack...it has a life of its own...it moves with fury and brooks no dissension...never argue with the Pack! It swallows indiscriminately ...it is mindless in its pursuit and lead...the greyhound for ever chasing after the eternal rabbit...too blind to see that wabbit is wascally un-catchable! Never follow the Pack...Why get upset, enjoy success Run with the pack, forget the rest... The finish...who won what?!?...oh yeah!...bets were placed...some large amounts of monies involved and invested here there and everywhere and needed to be settled upon and accounted for! The judges confer/refer and defer in the absence of well rolled and lit reefers and comfortable slippers and tasty cheese dippers...out they come with the bright yellow tape measures with mounting pleasures and strange looking dog breeds named Cur, occurs/concurs...like yellow lit Star War sabers(and not long toothed tigers!) and well thumbed actuarial three legged card tables...hb(hard, black) number two pencil stubs not grubs...no not witchetty grubs...and crammed notebooks with no embedded fish hooks nor whinging sooks! Hushed and garbled tones of ATAR(a very close and fierce relative of the Pack!) is/are whispered/stirred/murmured...winning results are measured in purr-centarges not river barges and decimbulls not expressive bull horns/shoe horns/pepper corns...so forlorn... And what about the odds...ahhh the odds...yes the odds...keep an eye on the tote and the odds! Here they all come...sauntering down to the finish line...shuffling like Cliffy Young...hands up in the air, gumboots on his feet...waving...but not winning... Here he comes last but unlike Steve Bradbury...still not winning... Here he comes like Eddie "The Eel" Moussambani...and still not winning! Here he comes like Eddie the Eagle...and still not winning! Oh lookey here...here comes Forrest!...mother said Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get!...can we quote you Forrest?!? For as Grantland Rice once said..."When One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks, not that you won or lost, but how you played the game"...Many a tear has to fall but it's all in the game All in the wonderful game that we know... Out come the microphones...the questions...always the probing insightful questions...the intense scrutiny...like a well floated tinny! If you canna go onto the bigger University of life races what will you do now?!? I'll do it my way...comes the youthful confident reply!... And more, much more than this I did it my way... I'll go that way...which way?!?...that way...pointing down the road less traveled...Well, I'm so tired of cryin' but I'm out on the road again I'm on the road again Well, I'm so tired of cryin' but I'm out on the road again I'm on the road again...and with those songs playing in his ears...he was off...carrying a dog eared copy of...On the Road by Jack Kerouac...in his back pack!...See you later, Alligator After 'while crocodile See you later, Alligator After 'while crocodile Can't you see you're in my way now Don't you know you cramp my style... Edited April 7, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH Posted April 19, 2024 Author Posted April 19, 2024 (edited) I think we hear too much...no...no that's not my lame attempt at pidgin English... for describing our world and its state of over population! (and that would be my opening statement and not a question...) (According to Wiki...A pidgin, or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from several languages. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade...chop, chop lets all move along now...) How disappointing...non english speaking pigeons...coor blimey bootsie is that right?!?... (Pigeons cooo...ca choo......I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, coo-coo g'joob, g'coo coo g'joob...) Well what about their legs then bootsie?!?...yeah bootsie?!?...yeah!!! What about their legs, snudge...you think they scratch out messages with their toe nails on fine gravel?!? No bootsie, but what about the homing pigeon?!? The homing pigeon speaks english snudge?!? No bootsie, they have lil capsules/canisters tied to their legs with messages written in english on paper inside though!!! ...Carrier pigeons of the Racing Homer breed were used to carry messages in World War I Medals such as the Croix de Guerre, awarded to Cher Ami...despite being shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, and had a leg hanging only by a tendon...he managed to survive and deliver his message...written in english... Point taken snudge, point taken! And the parrot bootsie...the parrot speaks english! True snudge...true! And the Kookaburra laughs Bootsie... True snudge...and what is your point?!? Bootsie do you realize how noisy our lives are?!? Noooo... Well its got to the stage where I don't go outside without wearing earplugs or noise reducing muffs, or soundproofing ear muffs, or noise cancelling ear muffs, or safety muffs! And more to the point that's not pidgin english! More like a Dodo... ((According to Wiki...The dodo is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightless Rodrigues solitaire. The two formed the subfamily Raphinae, a clade of extinct flightless birds that were a part of the family which includes pigeons and doves...))...coo, cooo, coooo...pidgins and pigeons arise again...Cooeee...now where was I?!? Standing in the supermarket aisle awaiting to be price gouged...waiting for the snips, cuts, gashes, rips, tears to arrive...and eyeing the shrinking contents of my shopping trolley...just like the shrinking contents of my same size packages...and shrinking content$ of my wallet...ahhh yes the shrink food people! I need to protect my ears from the loud raucous and repetitive pop muzak piping in the air to my open and unsuspecting receptive ears... ...And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, Well, I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord...Waiting all my life oh Lord...for the muzak, the crash of hard edged black plastic food trays, ping pinging of the cash register entering product and price, the explosion of shiny steel trolleys careening together in one last explosive banging push, the clang of the shutting cash register, the loudspeaker begging for a trainee to help with the mess on the floor in aisle 10, the clack of green plastic shopping baskets stacked inside each other like weird matryoshka dolls...unfortunately the stack and clack green plastic shopping baskets fail to break the world record of 51 pieces...((The largest set of matryoshka dolls in the world is a 51-piece set hand-painted by Youlia Bereznitskaia of Russia, completed in 2003. The tallest doll in the set measures 53.97 centimetres (21.25 in); the smallest, 0.31 centimetres (0.12 in). Arranged side-by-side, the dolls span 3.41 metres (11 ft 2.25 in))...oh Lord, And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord.... The rustle of packages placed on small square stainless steel areas for checking out...the soft drop of packaging inside plastic shopping bags...whoosh...whoosh...the heavy breath of consumerism...the soft green kiss of light to my plastic loyalty card...beep! The cashier and her friendly voice asks and I accept the whirling mechanical ejection of my receipt! The rattling wobble of my trolley wheels...the whoosh of opening glass doors...fresh air or whats left of it...free... ...All right now, baby, it's all right now All right now, baby, it's all right now Let me tell you now...ceaseless traffic of passing cars, trucks, buses and me and my rattling wheeled trolley! Not a bird in sight or a bird call to be heard at all... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/nature-silent-bernie-krause-recording-sound-californian-state-park-aoe?CMP=greenlight_email ...Last night I heard my mama singing a song Ooh we, chirpy, chirpy, cheep, cheep Woke up this morning and my mama was gone Ooh we, chirpy, chirpy, cheep, cheep Chirpy, chirpy, cheep, cheep chirp... Edited April 24, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
BLAH BLAH Posted April 21, 2024 Author Posted April 21, 2024 (edited) .Peanut Butter...ahh yes...I can never decide which I like better. The pale lightest of browns in Crunchy Peanut Butter or the darkest of blackest blacks within Vegemite...I go through stages...preferences...moods...choices...changes...Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange) Ch-ch-changes, don't want to be a richer man Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes... It never lasts though...slowly a change fades and the new choice is the one...good onya mum, tip top is the one!...in this case its peanut butter's turn! Peanut Butter take a bow, you are now for me the one! First! 101... Since 1901, Kingaroy Queensland grows most of our peanuts but we still import 70% of our crop...and with the shifting climatic conditions, plus the fact that peanut growing requires water, may well see Kingaroy lose its uno spot for peanut growing in QLD Australia. We have even had White Russian immigrants grow peanuts in Katherine NT back in the 1920's!...he ruled the Russian land and never mind the Tsar But the kazachok, he danced really wunderbar Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey No doubt this Rasputin had lots of hidden charms... I first fell in love with Peanut Butter way back in the 1950's...some wheres in the working class suburbs of Foot-de-scray Vic-a-tor-ee-ahh! Ows-stra-lee-ah! Come lunchtime this little tacker was watching, with hungry eyes...with my hungry eyes I'm dizzy, hungry eyes Now, I've got you in my sights With my hungry eyes...my sandwich being made... Peanut butter smeared on buttered white bread...then...thenn...crimson jam was then smeared by a slowly circling knife over its top! My young self wasn't so sure of the brown and crimson swirls...do...do...dooo doo...There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man it is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless...you have entered the Twilight Zone...black and white spinning circles and swirls...with the first unsure taste in my mouth my younger self had entered an other dimension. A culinary dimension capable of vast surprise! My appreciative eyes grew larger as sweet sticky jam and crunchy peanut butter swirls filled my mouth! I was in heaven!...Oooooh ooh, I want to find a better place Heaven, must be there Well, it's just got to be there... In regards to Peanut Butter, I have always been a crunchy peanut butter devotee...advocate...proffelyser(zealot!) but I don't know how to spell that word correctly and neither does my spell checker! Smooth peanut butter has never done it for me! Your either one or the other, come preference, in my cook book! I was always disappointed with the Bega and Kraft brands...I always felt like they had skimped with the so called "crunchy" inside their pristine thick glass jars with yellow plastic screw tops! The very same product for crunchy and smooth except the crunchy had a few token peanut pieces(and a different label of course!)...oh look a piece of peanut disturbing the smooth surface of the smooth crunchy peanut butter! So my interest has waned somewhat over the years to just eating salted roasted peanuts in the blue cellophane packets instead...But lately something mysterious has occurred at my local fresh price gouging food supermarket! Peanut Butter have/has multiplied and spawned whole new jars of the stuff on their shelves! Where once the light brown filled jars with bright blue and yellow labels filled a few discreet supermarket shelves and all beside the jams and vegemite, promite and marmite. Peanut Butter has mysteriously exploded with choices! A whole wall of unknown brands, styles, labels and jar sizes beckons the unwary consumer now!...crunchy and extra crunchy! Oh lookey there, where?!?...there?!?...can it be?!?...is that Almond Butter?!?...Oh be still my beating heart! ...I have entered another dimension! I am stunned...I am gob smacked...I am in awe...its Peanut Butter heaven...rows and rows of the light brown stuff! My mouth moistens with anticipation...it hasn't done this since I know not when! I look and look, but I do not gasp! I experience Paradox of Choice! I experience Decision Paralysis! I experience Analysis Paralysis! It's true! It's wonderful! ...Heaven, I'm in heaven And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak And I seem to find the happiness I seek. I'm in heaven... https://bigthink.com/thinking/choice-analysis-paralysis/ Now I know! Yes now I know all accompanied by my nodding head...what those pilgrims experience all nodding in front of that wall...swaying and shuckling...eyes closed...some eyes glazed! So many jars, so many...I sway...I nearly swoon...and then I hear music...nooo not the tired old fresh gouging food people choice of muzak... The music that enters my ears is from "Also sprach Zarathustra" composed in 1896 by Richard Strauss! as my arm reaches slowly out...the music in my ears increases in volume...then I have it! A Jar! yes a jar! A jar of crunchy peanut butter and extra crunchy made by Bega with a brown label...called "Simply Nuts". Green writing on a brown background label...replicating the peanut plant itself, green top on a brown bottom! Not the bright Blue and Yellow one...not that one...no, nix, nadda, zilch...Ho ho...off I go! Home and into my pantry the crunchy peanut butter goes! I have a practice now...a curiously strange one...where I place my jars of crunchy peanut butter upside down to rest!(well we do come from a land down under!) I await at least a week before opening said jar! I do it to avoid thick bands of clear oil on the top surface of my crunchy peanut butter with normal resting upright jars...and having to dig down through the oil into the harder and dryer peanut butter...with my knife! Being upside down there is less pooling of oil to the surface and the crunchy peanut butter is moist and thick!(but not as thick as some would like it!) Oh...oh and the crunch! Echoes of eating potatoe chips...Ke...rrrr-unch...turn the TV volume up love I canna hear them talking, ke-rrrr-unch!!! Autumnal echoes of walking on dropped drying leaves...Ke-rrrr-unch...so many interested cat heads appear...is that little bird bones being eaten?!? Oh and the stickiness of peanut...the satisfying work of jaw bones helping to pound liberal amounts of crunchy chunks of peanut into paste...oh the jam! Not Marmalade! Nooo...nix...nadda...zilch.... I used to look askance at Americans on TV programs eating peanut butter from jars with spoons! Yuck! It really did not appeal to me at all. But lately...just lately...when making a crunchy peanut butter sandwich...I have being doing my best Mr Bean impersonations when Bean is trying to avoid being caught doing naughty stuff! Looking surreptitiously around and seeing no one then sinking the knife into a jar of Bega's 'Simply Nuts' scooping out a whole wad and eating it down with a big smile on my dial! Oh yeah I could eat this stuff like ice-cream in winter whilst watching footy on the TV!!! Edited April 24, 2024 by BLAH BLAH
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