No longer attached

I watched Jack, my Jack Russell terrier, bury the handle of his lead in the dirt today, while he was attached to the pet hitching post at Mash Cafe, Glenbrook. The doggy theory, I guess, was that if he couldn't *see* the handle, then he was free!

When that failed to work, he simply bit through the lead and trotted over to join me at my table. Mmmmmm.


Today's pic.

Farewell Pennsylvania!

Miss Playtrek has waved goodbye to chilly Pennsylvania (and Chuck) before heading off to sunny Puerto Rico.


Here is Miss Playtrek visiting a local school house built in 1837.
Hopefully before the end of the week she will has the proper clothes
for this climate.

"1837: Quakers Richard and Mary Edge Pim construct a stone hexagonal schoolhouse to begin the early education of their 9 children. The unique 75 ton structure is located along Edge Lane until it is relocated to Municipal Drive in 1968."

Chester County was very fortunate to be blessed with many creeks and steams that the early settlers use to power grist mill, paper mills and even steel mills.


Miss Playtrek is along Dorlin Forge, which had a
paper mill as long ago as 1830.


Along the Brandywine.

Despite the hazards of fire, flood, and foreign competition Chester County's infant paper industry of 1800 has in 150 years, become an important segment of our contemporary economy. The Brandywine can still be a quite and tranquil place even during the winter months.



Before Miss Playtrek took up accommodations in her selected mode of travel, she had a last look at part of Chuck's collection. She kept asking, "Who is that person?", pointing at TOS Uhura - and Chuck really didn't know how to answer her.

Somewhere in Time - revisited

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to director Jeannot Swarc's commentary on his film, "Somewhere in Time", on DVD today.

The year I was doing casual teaching (1981), I often had Wednesdays off - and would go to the double feature at the ol' Mecca Theatre in Hurstville. Free coffee at intermission - and two amazing films. Saw some brilliant stuff that year!

Coincidentally, the theatre was right next door to the CES office where I had to hand in my unemployment forms, and that was a mere formality since I was getting too much work to qualify for any monetary benefits.

Four in one blow

Covered walkway comes down, Penrith Public School library. 24 February 2010.


Wollemi pine in Glenbrook, Blue Mountains. 25 February 2010.


Robby the Robot clock with Internet backdrop. 26 February 2010.



Jack on the "pussy cats cushion". 27 February 2010.

Up in front

The February 2010 issue of the teacher-librarians' professional journal, "Scan" (vol 29 no 1) features a photograph I took on my iPhone late last year, as we were wrapping up the Bear and Chook books rap at school. Note the presence of a ubiquitous Bear and Chook in the lower left hand corner.

"I'm late, I'm late!" - Framed and hung... at last!

Today's pic is a photo of some favourite old photos.

I finally got around to framing my 1992 Central Park, New York "Alice in Wonderland" statue pics a few years ago, and finally found a place to hang them a few weeks ago. Until then they'd been cluttering a corner, and getting moved around the floor every time I vacuumed.

At about ten to midnight, I realised I needed a subject for my 365 Photos project, and well, here it is. Click on the link above about to see the actual pics.

Extended season

Trio of gardenias.

Nostalgia - "Just for Fun"

A shadow box of memorabilia from Luna Park.
Centre: large clown sticker from the day of the 1981 auction at Milson's Point,
Sydney; metal ride token from 1935-1981, other metal tokens and rubber badge
are from 2000s; the lower right wooden face is of Luna Park, Melbourne.

Here are some b/w photographs of mine, taken during a day at Luna Park in 1973:



Tumblebug

Davy Jones' Locker Mirror Maze

Ghost Train


Brother Keith and cousin Alison on the Cha Cha

Entrance to Coney Island


A more recent photo of the Luna Park entrance.

Pfeffernüsse!

Pfeffernüsse, traditional German gingerbread cookies.

Indestructible

Mmmmm. My Jack Russell just coughed up a piece of purple rubber ball which he devoured exactly a month ago. The ball was originally labeled indestructible - and well, it did survive a long time, both as a ball and inside Jack.

Posing in Pennsylvania

Miss Playtrek arrived in Pennsylvania, today, and was definitely not dressed for the weather. She did consent to a quick photo session with Chuck before retiring for the evening.


"JJ, is that lens flare?"

And here is Miss Playtrek exploring the delights of Valley Forge:


Getting directions at the Valley Forge Visitor Center.


At the National Memorial Arch, "to the officers and private soldiers
of the Continental Army, December 19, 1777 - June 19, 1778".


At a replica of a solder's cabin used during the encampment.


At Valley Forge National Historical Park.


Getting a hot cup of coffee.

The Year of the Tiger this week

Our students at school celebrated Chinese New Year this week, and the Tigger cushion from the library couch - and my synthetic tiger skin rug - made cameo appearances in the annual K-2 celebrations.

Big changes

Work began today on the builders' access route to the building site which is our school.

Coffee and Number 96

Asian spammers' Top 15!

I awoke this morning to discover that this blog had been deluged with spam comments. Ick.

As I methodically removed the intrusive comments and their identical, hyperlinked, Chinese characters, I realised that their computer had targeted fifteen of my most popular blog posts. Andorians, JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" movie, View-Masters, Smurfs, fibreglass sheep, the "Free Hugs" guy, colour blindness, fan films, Sorry Day, audio books, "Number 96" DVDs, customised action figures, Youtube video clips, "Star Trek" and even more "Star Trek"!

In the pursuit of turning lemons into lemonade, here are my Asian Spammers' Top 15!

Number 15

Number 14

Number 13

Number 12

Number 11

Number 10

Number 9

Number 8

Number 7

Number 6

Number 5

Number 4

Number 3

Number 2

Number 1

Enjoy! Please feel free to comment. (Just don't spam.)

The Aenar that got away... ?

... and left something behind?

My authentic Aenar Andorian antennae, from the "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode, "The Aenar", were purchased from the William Shatner online store - and arrived in today's mail! I've actually had the glass dome here for several years. I bought it from a second hand shop and have been looking for something precious to fill it with!

Coincidentally, the antennae arrived on the same day as Tarah of Andor!

The ongoing adventures of Miss Playtrek

Barbie Uhura, winner of "Miss Playtrek 2009", commenced her world tour of Earth a few weeks ago. Here she was in Sydney, Australia, at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to celebrate Australia Day, January 2010.

From Sydney, she winged her way (in the cargo hold) to Columbus, Georgia, in the USA. According to Playtrekker, Freddy Heller, Miss Playtrek loved the snow "storm" they had (3 inches) while she was there, and wanted her picture taken at Columbus' most famous resident company.


Miss Playtrek at the world headquarters of AFLAC!


Miss Playtrek shows off her visitors' entrance.


OOPS! Her top came off!!

After a very teary farewell, the Toast of Columbus boarded a plane and is on her way to a city in Pennsylvania! Freddy reports that it was a tough goodbye because Miss Playtrek began having feelings for the AFLAC duck. (At one point she threatened to chain herself to the gate.)

Farewell Miss Playtrek and have a good time in the Keystone State!!

Stay tuned!

Three in a row

A busy weekend, dodging raindrops!


Coming home rather late after a day of heavy rainfall. 13 February 2010.


A lone portulaca has sprouted and flourished on the edge of the gutter
in the front yard. They've been self-seeding in the back yard
for several years but none emerged this year. Somehow this tiny,
lone seed made it into the front. 14 February 2010.


It seems appropriate that a prehistoric Wollemi pine's pot
should harbour a very prehistoric-looking toadstool! 15 February 2010.

Building the Education Revolution (BER)

DAY ONE!

It's really happening! Preparations commenced today for the replacement of my school's old portable library with a permanent brick building. Two decades late, but it's coming!

Thank you to the now-infamous Stimulus Package!

Metal monkey

Today's pic: detail of metal monkey bowl stand.

On show

Science fiction media fan, John Tipper, set up this
great display at Penrith Public Library this week!

Last-minute Jack

The resurrection of Geocities

This silly page of mine "Twisted Playtrek Theatre" page has been down since Geocities disappeared, so I restored it today:

CAPTAIN THERIN'S MOMENT OF TERROR!

By the way, did you realise that someone has dredged up "Oocities", a resurrection of Geocities' files? Any site you wanted to find from the good ol' days, just replace "Geo" with "Oo" in the URL - and you should be able to find the old pages.

For example, my old page, complete with typos and broken links is shown at:
Oocities.com/therinofandor/ (formerly Reocities, for a time).
even though the site now exists as a new blog format at:
andorfiles.blogspot.com/

(Artwork by Lana Pennington-Brown)