Greeting fellow tribbers, I am putting this diary up tonight so that it will be ready for guests early in the morning/late at night, depending where in the world you are.
This beautiful cafe pic, is by Van Gogh and sent to me by Chocolate Ink, and I think it is so nice I am having the cafe here today!
Be sure to check out Katiebird’s diary of yesterday
here about plans for a photographic extravaganza soon!
Have a great day everyone and be sure to check out my site Village Blue
Pastries will be delivered, coffee will be brewed and ready; newpapers are by the door. We have hookups for lap tops at each table.
See you all in the morning!
[UPDATE: I just wrote the following comment in Booman’s diary Open Thread regarding increasing traffic over the weekends and thought I would present it here for a vote, to see if you like the idea or not! so read this and then take the poll]
“”Maybe we could have weekend ‘carnivals’ with each diary a booth, so to speak, one with Jazz, one with gardens, one with painting, one cafe, and so on. If you could keep moving people from booth to booth, that would keep people on the site longer. Have signups on the Cafe diary….then the cafe diary can advertise the other diaries….Seems like on the weekends people don’t want to think about more politics and maybe we all need rests from them..Just some thoughts!!!And Front Page the FBC on Weekends.””
I know there’s not a whole heck of a lot of people posting from Australia, but I feel left out by the constant assumption of Western Hemisphere time.
It’s winter and the sun is just starting to set over the eucalyptus, and the cockatoos heading home to roost.
Barkeep: I’ll have a pint of brown ale – room temperature – please.
It’s very early in the morning here in the central U.S, but it’s about noon according to the current setting on my wacko body clock. I hope you’re having a nice afternoon. How’s Luna? Anymore snow down there?
Hi Blueneck,
We’re making dinner at the moment, and Luna is begging for some of the celeriac my partner is mashing – which she probably wouldn’t like if she got any – but hey, in dog logic it always best to ask for food, cuz if you don’t like it you can spit it out.
No more snow, and little rain as well, making this one of the driest and warmest Australian winters on record. Global warming? Nah, couldn’t be.
Our water supply comes from catching rainwater. So the lack of rain means we may have to get some water delivered soon. Which gets a bit expensive, but at least we can afford it. Other people around us will really be stretching their budgets this year with the high petrol prices and so little “free” water.
And now, back to the kitchen.
Hope you enjoy that dinner and that ya’ll get some rain soon.
I’ve been watching NASA-TV online to check on the possible shuttle landing this morning. They just made the final call to “wave off” the landing ’til tomorrow, due to weather instability. Technically, it’s currently a “go” but there is potential for low clouds and rainshowers to develop quickly.
Hi Keres, not trying to neglect the down under crowd, so happy winter, I guess.
My father lived in sydney for several years back in the 70’s.
I am interested in your comment about catching rainwater, do you have a cistern, or what. I am curious as I live in socal, and I often thought we all should have rain cisterns to catch it when it does happen like last year when we had 30″.
I would think all hot and dry areas would use that method instead of what happens here when most of the water that comes rushing down the Santa Ana River goes into the ocean. We do have underground acquifers under the county I live in, but not nearly enough goes into the acquifers during rain.
I recall having a discussion about you “stealing” our Northern California water previously 🙂
Just teasing! And like I wrote last time, I simply can’t resist the time-honored tradition of Northern Calif claiming all water north of let’s say Fresno as OURS hehehe.
You and my mom (still in same house I was raised in in the San Fernando Valley) would have a great chat about the water So Cal lets wash right out to sea. She’s been complaining about it for all of my 41 years — wait, I think I just heard her 450 miles away 🙂
.
When I start the day at breakfast with fresh orange juice, it isn’t hard to remember. With Aussies, the great difficulty is understanding down under and the Southern Hemisphere.
As you pointed out the difference in seasons to reckon with. Santa Claus in the summer, I imagine that’s the reason our Santa lives on the Arctic.
Your view of the Milky Way is unmatched by what we can view. Another difference, water in the kitchen sink, drains counter-clockwise by us, yet the Aussies see the water drain in clockwise direction.
I’m glad the sitemeter provides a nice time kalender of activity @BooMan from world’s perspective.
<click to enlarge>
~~~
Keres, sometimes we Yanks can be so forgetful. . .
And here’s the coffee turn out for those who want it. . .
Enjoy everyone!
I’m coming over to the buffet with a BIG plate and oversized coffee cup!
but dammit I haven’t had dinner and those tempting treats tease! Bah, breakfast bogarts those bites? Pishaw, plenty of penance pour moi!
with an Australian. The time difference was wonderful–each of us had time to tinker and think, so we had two loads of interesting emails every day.
Most people don’t realize that the U.S. and Australia are actually the same country.
Seems to me we could work this up to a “top 10” list.
of playing online spades, I enjoyed the company of playing with a couple of Aussies. What a wonderful spirit, so lacking in the society I see.
One partner in particular I used to have a ball with. I would open another window (egads, no Firefox and tabbed browsing) with an Aussie slang dictionary, and I would just spout out the most foul things you could imagine, but the “redcoats” (lobby monitors who would boot people out who were making the game more than PG-13) didn’t have a clue … tears were running down my face with laughter, and I imagine with my Aussie friend’s as well (at least she said she was having a good time.)
She used to call me a wombat, and wouldn’t tell me for a couple of weeks what it meant lol
(sneak’n in while no one is around, place’n whoopie cushions on the seats, takes the morn’n papers and pulls out the insides, and fills them with comic strips, spikes the coffee pot w/Kahlua, and puts a tank of No2 in the air vent….LOL)
(slipp’n out through the darkness……hmmm this should be a gas ; ) (pun intended)
Good morning Mr. Infidelpig, I don’t have time to sit ;O), but I will take a couple of “to go” cups of that coffee! I’ll let my wife drive me to work :O)
Good morning Diane and all the rest of you fine frogs. Today is my first day back to work in almost two weeks, and you know I need it by now. I’ll title today as “how supersoling got his groove back!”
Hey…….be careful out there,
Peace
(slips supersoling a CD of “Got Your Groove Thing”, “We are Family”, “Boogie Fever”, “Good Morning Starshine”, “Soul Shine”, “Up on a Roof”, “Everybody Dance”, and two jumbo go-cups of coffee, and a pint jar of No2, just for fun ; )
have a great one….peace
Whatever you say say nuthin
When you talk about you know what
Cause you know who will hear you
When you talk about you know what
They’ll take you out to you know where
And you wouldn’t know for how long
So whatever you say say nuthin
And don’t start singing this song
(With apologies to the Sands family)
I am encouraged by the news coverage of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford. I am encouraged by Cindy Sheehan and all her supporters. So this one is a toast to Ms. Sheehan. Then back to the mines.
Hey Tribbers, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening… wherever you find yourselves on this glorious day, I greet you with a smile (coffee in hand, in my Booman mug). Thought I would remind those of you in the northern hemisphere of this week’s Persied meteor shower. The peak is Friday the 12th in the wee hours before dawn. I will be outside, weather permitting. I’m not one to miss a free show.
I’ve always loved gazing at the night sky and especially meteor showers. The fantastic Leonids a few years ago on a very frosty November night is one night I will never ever forget… thousands of meteors exploding, streaking, green, red, blue. here’s a link to Spaceweather. They have info and a link to skymaps, just in case you don’t know where Perseus is located. I can’t wait. It’s probably worth looking skyward any night this week, but the big show is Friday.
Oh, I forgot to mention… Spaceweather.com also has info on sunspots, solar flares and aurora. I know, you can rarely see auroras where I am (Pennsylvania). That’s not quite true… you’d be surprised how often you can get a glimpse when the sun is active. The trick is to know when to look.
Hi Nag, thanks for the “heads up”! IIRC, I remember the particular shower you mentioned – it stands out from all the rest. I saw lots of meteors that exploded (called bolides) and meteors that left trails of smoke in the upper atmosphere that lingered and broke up slowly. Those phenomena are pretty rare as it takes a good size meteor to do either. I’ll be watching from down here in the south, about 32.3 degrees latitude. We don’t get a lot of auroras down here, but occasionally they are reported when we get one of those huge coronal mass ejections that disrupt satellite communications.
Are you aware of “The Universe Today” website? It’s a nice site that tracks a lot of major news in the space science and astronomy fields.
Spaceflight Now is also good for the latest on our space efforts.
Hi Blueneck (love the name) Thanks for the links, I didn’t know about either one. I get all philosophical, watching the stars and always enjoy just sitting and looking. The darker your location, the more random meteors you will see on any given night. You sure know more about meteors than do I. That spectacular Leonid shower was the first time I saw the exploding variety… the ones with trails that last for many minutes are also awsome. The Perseids are more the fireball variety, faster moving but absolutely worth the trouble. As for auroras, although we do see them here more often than many would think, it is always an event.
Here’s your Sunday evening sundown from last night, Venus and moon dancing together. Sorry for the blur–I even braced the camera hard (so I thought) on the porch railing.
We’ve been seeing scattered meteors the last few days, not all radiating like Perseids. I stumbled on some website or other, that I failed to bookmark, which listed quite a few minor showers occurring through this period.
We’ll have generally clear skies here in Puget Sound this week so we’re certainly looking forward to the show.
alas, it must be August.
I can remember a few years actually driving out from the Los Angeles light pollution, out to Palmdale and sometimes even to Edwards AFB just for the show.
Now I’m too close to Sacramento’s light pollution, and tonight they are actually spraying for mosquitoes so I will NOT be going outside, even though I am pretty sure we are not in the spray zone.
I don’t do conventional news very often, but I do read newspapers — I can’t recall nary a mention of this year’s Perseid shower … I guess the “dumbing down of America” plan is working.
You know, since I’ve started working out regularly, I’ve had more energy? It’s an odd feeling…
No time for workout this morning though 🙁 — but for good reason; the spouse and I are actually going out to PLAY today! Well, he’ll be playing; I’m spending 3 hours at the SF Apple Store trying to learn about digital photography, iPhoto, and Photoshop Elements. I’m actually excited about it; hopefully I can do better than just PhD (Push here, Dummy as my brother puts it). I’m inspired by the upcoming FBC Photography Show/Contest; don’t know if I’ll have anything worth sharing, but I’ll give it a shot (no pun intended)!
Hope everyone has a great day; got to log off soon and hit the road…
It’s nice to see everyone here bright and early!
A street scene, coffee, and morning….ahhhhh – heaven.
But as it’s a work day…need more coffee then I’ll find some pics to post! I’ll catch up at Village Blue at lunch time…
Good morning, evening, afternoon, everyone.
I see you have all had a bit of fun here this morning, and what’s that smell.
What have you been up to Infidel.
I am going to try to catch up with all you guys have written.
Still rubbing sleep out of my eyes, but had to sit here first thing and write something!!!
I see Shirl has delivered the coffe and pastries, for you ‘other side of the earthers’, it can be an after work snack.
Good morning Tribbers.
Thought I’d share another shot (others previously posted elsewhere) of a piece of artwork that has deeply moved me. Feather Sculpture #2 1994 by Truman Lowe, a member of the Ho Chuck (Winnebago) tribe.
the artist says “I do not change existing shapes, but I arrange them differently, use them in new combinations.” His love of wood stems from his childhood, when he was surrounded by woodlands and nurtured by parent who are accomplished basket makers. His pieces often allude to objects such as baskets and are reminiscent of minimalist sculpture. The result is a sort of skeletal beauty.
Wood and feathers, light and shadow, space and solids. We too can arrange things differently. I find this in this piece, peace. Comfort, meditation, inspiration. I hope you enjoy it.
I’m also raising funds for MDA and will appreciate any help you can offer.
We are all back and settle in after our drive down to Berkeley Sunday to meet with some fellow Americans at Tildern Park.
Everyone was so great and accepting. It was beyond what we have experienced before.
(((((((((SallyCat)))))))))))) Thank you for the stomp rockets for the kids and the Bearded Iris bulbs. I’ll be planting those this afternoon along the driveway…. curb appeal 🙂
I don’t think I sat down for very long… so many people talk to and running after kids and donning tin foil hats 🙂
PS – I’m so proud of mothers who are trying to stop the Mad King George. Cindy Sheehan is a true hero! Anyone going to camp out with her in Crawford from Calif? I’d like to go down for a few days to support her and make some noise. Anyone? Anyone?
to help Sue and Boo get on the dKos recommended list?
Excellent work, Kudos to you both!
Boo, your writing continues to amaze me…keep it up.
Peace
Susan and Boo (ladies first, Boo).
Even when overwhelmed with work, I knew there was a reason to pop onto the lilypad for refreshment of the mind and spirit.
Oh, and recommended both … thanks for your efforts, as always.
Kudos to susanhu and the booman for outstanding articles…
Johnson and Sheehan are just more drops in the pond:
Lets see where these ripples lead…
Also, for all you tribbers who buy stuff on the “net”, check this site out…it could save you some grief AND money.
Reseller Ratings
Gotta go…later
Peace
Ice cold in a long-stem fluted crystal glass. To celebrate.
Lucky me, I’ve visited the very cafe which is still operating in Arles on the Place du Forum. And the scene looks exactly the same, only more plane trees grow there now than appear in van Gogh’s beautiful painting. Not to worry.
Oh, waiter, merci. And with my champagne (keep it coming), a tasty dessert : Le Gratin d’Abricots aux Amandes avec le Sirop de Kirsch. Yes, I’ll have it outside sur la Place. What a lovely way to end the evening after my victory over the locals in a game of boules. To sit where van Gogh painted his starry and gas-lit night.
Sorry, no pastis for me.
I am noticing an influx of returning BooTribbers who haven’t been around for a few months. WELCOME BACK TO YOU ALL! If you are a lurker or newbie, make sure to pop in and say hi! The Froggy Bottom Cafe is a great place to take a break from the political stormclouds that are gathering over Shrub’s ranch in Crawford.
Who’s out there?
I have put my idea about a ‘carnival weekend’ with poll in the diary above, vote and tell me what you think!
Ain’t nobody here at all…
Enjoy :{)
Peace
I voted other…
Until late September I like to spend weekends in the sun…
But maybe for us Northern Hemisphere types…carnivals for when the autumn leaves fall…something for my friend and me to read! ;^D
Oh Sally cat, I love the pic and snapped it right up and who knows when it will pop up again…..
I kinda agree with you about the summer, but I am trying to think of ways to help booman stay busy on weekends…maybe it just isn’t possible during the summer!!!
Come on outside and play Booman ~ there’s a rope swing over the swimming hole….and a homemade raft across the pond…and a red Schwin for racing…
Okay…I’ll stop by and do some commenting during the heat of the day but that interferes with my afternoon nap in the shade….hmmm…okay, I’ll do it to help out Booman…
Nap Buddies
Cool off with this scene of low mist lying beneath the sunlight hilltops over a section of Puget Sound.
I was here early, and come back late,
but this place never ending seams to create
A space in time, for those who think, some too late
A neve ending source, of those who create.
God, or whomever you follow, bless you all,
for I am blessed, with the pressence of you all.
thank you for sharing your soul food with us.
What a poet! Good thoughts there Infidel! Whatta you been doing all day? We missed you and this place has been dead, the deadest FBC I have even done….lol..
Hope you are not headed for bed now that you’ve finally arrived!
night all…
Peace
Wado sisters and brothers Aho