Articles in “Random Photographs”

Of all the wildlife we see in the back garden, the one animal I haven’t immortalised on the blog is the possum.

This is partly to do with the fact that it only ever comes out late at night, when I am rarely carrying my camera, and partly to do with the fact that the little sod ate my chili plant, for which iniquitous act I shall never forgive it.

However, it did make its appearance during a boozy pre-Christmas drinks evening on the weekend, wandering casually up the stairs to see if it could scrounge any food:

Not the best picture of a possum, but who wants to get close to one, really?

This next photo is a lovely one, but I didn’t take it—a brave friend who was willing to get far closer to the possum than I was took this one:

Don’t think you’re going to be getting the same coverage as my water dragon, though, possum.

‘Nough said, really.

That’s really the whole story, but let’s see if I can expand it a little.

Today is Brisbane’s worst possible weather: the threat or promise of a storm later and a southerly change for tomorrow, but in the interim such a high degree of humidity that you perspire just sitting still.

I’d been doing some washing up with both the front and back doors open, and when I walked out into the living room, I startled a small, skittery water dragon who’d obviously wandered in through the front door—at least, I’d like to think I’d have spotted him if he’d come in the back door and had to run past me.

This initiated a most entertaining forty minutes, in which he persistently ran past the invitingly open front door.

The real fun was when he ran into the main bedroom.

Twice.

Here, for example, is a composition I call “Terrified Water Dragon In My Dirty Linen Basket”:

(In my own defense, I’d been trying to get him out for twenty minutes by this point, and thought, “Sod it: I may as well get a blog post out of it.” He’s much smaller than the dragon who normally stars on this blog, so it was harder to get a clear photo on zoom, unfortunately.)

But the most entertaining part of the afternoon is expressed in this photograph, which I call “Terrified Water Dragon Who Stupidly Ran Into My Wardrobe”:

To cut a long story slightly shorter, we managed (after chasing him out of the bedroom the second time—he’d managed to squeeze under the shut door—and moving half the furniture in the living room) to induce him to hare out the front door.

Unfortunately, now we’re compelled to keep the front and back doors tightly closed in the hottest part of the day.

Stupid dragon.

The kookaburra was back this afternoon, and was clearly torn between the relative risks of having his photograph taken and forgoing lunch by flying away.

End result, he let me get much closer than he usually does:

I really must write about books again, soon.

Seriously, I haven’t the faintest idea what it is, but it’s beautiful and keeps coming to feed off the palm trees.

From the looks of its bill and from its behaviour, it’s an insectivore, at least partly.

Can anyone identify it for me? Even my father, the former twitcher, is stymied.

I have my parents staying with me briefly (they only ever stay briefly: they’re peripatetic creatures by nature) for my graduation ceremony tomorrow, so I’ve been neglecting the blog a little.

And this on top of the neglect from last week caused by my determination to get a journal article out to a journal before my birthday. (Success! Yay me! Now, the waiting.)

On the other hand, my parents are now incapable of staying awake after 8.30 p.m., so that does give me a chance to update with what is more of an excuse for not updating than it is a proper update.

Well, an excuse and a picture of the moon rising with Jupiter and Venus, the three brightest objects in the night sky:

It’s not the clearest photo but what’s more unfortunate is the fact that it’s a frowny face, when it was a smiley face yesterday. I should have taken my photographs then.

Still, the crescent moon itself is worth a look, even without the two planets:

My parents don’t entirely grasp the need for me to update the blog (do I sound sixteen instead of thirty-two?) and are clamouring for their dinner.

So, in lieu of a proper update, here are some photographs of my lovely kookaburra, shot this evening.

When I have a chance, I’ll add some photographs of the moon, taken tonight.