Bit late! Welcome all to June.

Just before it started pouring.

They have just opened a butterfly sanctuary nearby, and that is where this picture is taken.

More from the centre of my universe, Finchley Road, Golders Green

Giant dog invades garden
or Honey I Shrunk the House

Apparently LARGE bandicoots are still classified as marsupials. (Stupid sign at the entrance to the hospital where I work).

MG, bandicoots are said to be a common host for ticks. Are ticks a concern in your part of Australia? They aren't in Melbourne, but I have seen animals on Wilson's Promontory and further east with ticks attached.



This is the Lifesaving Club headquarters on suburban Williamstown Beach, but those who watched the Australian comedy/drama "Seachange" will recognise it as the Pearl Bay Courthouse.

Yes, we do have ticks over here. They are particularly bad at the venue where we hold our annual croquet and archery tournaments. We even give out awards to whoever picks up the most ticks at the club! Touch wood, I've never had one!

I loved "Sea Change"!

Went up to Hong Kong Park today and took some pictures of this gentleman.

Spanish Liz can tell you about him. But it was quite an honour to meet him.

This is what is under the statue

Oh, I actually quite like that one ren, he looks like he's standing on a hill in the trees, instead of on a plinth. I could rattle on for hours about this gentleman if anyone in interested, promise I won't if you are not

Well please do Liz

I month ago I related that I was going to get a new radio transmitting Watt/Hour Power meter and showed a pix of the old one. Well, they finally installed the new one. If you haven't seen the digital radio meters yet, here's a look-see:

Wallsend Forum shopping centre on a Sunday morning



There are only 3 or 4 shops open

Another view of Golders Hill Park on the side of Hampstead Heath

The older suburbs of Melbourne were once criss-crossed with back laneways for the discreet collection of...errr...nightsoil by a contractor with a horse and cart.
With the advent of the sewer system, some lanes became disused, or used for illegal activities. Many of them have since been sub-divided and sold to adjoining landowners.

In this suburb, street frontages are very small, so the lanes are maintained to allow vehicle access into the back yard if the property owner wishes. So where there was once an outhouse, there is now a small garage or carport.

The Mangoes are Coming, Chapter Two

Bishop's Sutton in deepest Hampshire

I received one of several large pumpkins that had grown wild in my brother's yard. Not being one to waste Nature's Bounty, I made this Thai-style curry of pumpkin and prawns. Very filling with rice!
Pumpkin soup will be the next recipe; I might even attempt a Pumpkin Pie in honour of my American team-mates.

This little guy was happily eating away

Another insect visiting a flower... This time, it's bees on a saguaro cactus blossom, the Arizona State Flower -- they're in bloom this time of year.

I love saguaro cacti! (And their shoes!)

Cacti have shoes??

Junior celebrated another birthday this week, and has invited a gang of buddies around for the afternoon. Here's the tummy-filler they will tuck into sometime around 4 O'clock:



Luigi, kit-kat, smarties, chocolate .... and underneath it all even a bit of cake! I expect the pate to be polished clean by the time they're finished with it!