Nature strip

. . . _ _ _ . . .

Who would not give their eye teeth to get their hands on this Morse Code set? 

 As a child I would have loved this kit. As an adult I am equally enthralled. What an impossibly romantic notion for a space station to use such a simple technology as morse code. Or is it? I think I've seen enough Sci-Fi movies to know that when the electronics panel catches on fire and all sophisticated communication devices fail, someone can wire together a device like this and save the universe!

But I digress....this particular kit buzzes, flashes and is battery operated. Plus, as an added bonus, there's an old bandaid stuck on the connecting wire. It was probably used to tape the wire to the bedroom wall, so as not to get tangled in the vaccum. I imagine that in the midst of the excitement of receiving this kit there was no time to waste looking for standard adhesive tape.

Thanks Suey for this lovely gift xx

The Tin

While fossicking around the hard rubbish piles in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs, I spotted a metal cigarette tin that had been overpainted to resemble some sort of flag. Curious. Picking it up I could feel there was something inside the tin. By now my spidey senses were tingling. Just to prolong that feeling I thought I'd open it when I got home.

Later in the day, upon opening the tin I found.....THIS!

Ok, that's a cash box envelope, but more importantly, that biro pen scrawl seems to indicate a National Australia Bank box number. Could it be? Looking inside the envelope  I found this.....

OMG it's a KEY!  I have no idea what to do about this. Please advise.

Tah Dada!

Hard rubbish....proving the act of putting out the trash is accidentally artful. Never mind that you can't draw, get yer Dada's out! 

Hound Dog

So....I just couldn't go past this sooky, slate eyed hound dog in the op shop. Bought for just $2 (half price!) at the RSPCA op shop, all my heart strings were plucked. Also, my funny bone was tickled. 

Compare & contrast

Get faxed

This t-shirt managed to worm its way into an opp shop...probably through some sort of space-time vortex.

Vampire Robot House (Melbourne)

Say It With Fish

Because fish are the new flowers.

Ex-Library

I woke up with a bad cold, then convinced myself that a trip to the local Scout Hall for the annual sale of decommissioned library books might help clear my head. Well, I was wrong. I found this charming book in the junior non-fiction section.

It looks a bit like a cookbook, but don't be fooled kiddies. In Chapter 1/ Dissection : A Fun Way to Learn About Life, it is suggested "Perhaps the only thing you will not like about dissection is the clean up after you are done." I can think of a couple of other things...

Chapter 3/ Where To Get Specimens recommends "Slaughterhouses. You can find one by looking under "Abottoir" in the Yellow Pages. If there are no local slaughterhouses, you could visit one when you travel during vacations in the summertime. The parts can be frozen until you want to dissect them". Ahhh c'mon kids, what better way to while away a lazy summer holiday than visiting the abbatoirs, huh? I'll pack the esky!

There is also an entire chapter on eyeball dissection..."If you want a surprise, look at the calf eye cornea and squeeze the eyeball hard." This book may force me to re-think commonly accepted theories on violence in video games. And lastly there is a project "Tying a Knot in a Chicken Bone". See, they told you dissection was fun! However, tying knots in bones is not a traditionally accepted practice of dissection...that belongs in the "Art With Carcasses" project book.

To Your Health

Breakfast is served. Bread, frankfurters, tinned & fresh pineapple, decorative parsley, cognac oh, and of course....

...a pack of smokes. Menthol cigarettes, no less! Ahh, the 70's...those cats sure were out to lunch!

Going Slow

Fat Chance

Genuine Vulcanizer

I have absolutely no idea what a genuine vulcanizer is, or why it's better than an imitation vulcanizer. It does look quite useful though, it sounds wonderful and it's certainly pretty. This ticks all the boxes. Found in the hard rubbish, of course!

Sheets Apart

Abandoned mattresses [details]

During my ongoing abandoned mattress documentation quest, two burly local council workers pulled their collection truck over to ask me why I was taking photographs. Luckily they weren't threatening to fine me, they were simply bewildered. However, they seemed concerned I was going to file some sort of health report/complaint over the condition of the hard rubbish, specifically the mattresses. Could it be the rubbish guys were worried their jobs might be in jeopardy because the rubbish could be, err, a bit germy, stained or even have curly metal springs sticky out of it? It is, after all, an OH&S mad world, and they don't make or collect rubbish like they used to. Anyway, they seemed quite satisfied with my vague "art project" explanation, waving and smiling every time we crossed paths for the rest of the afternoon (which was often). All in all, a pleasant day whiled away in the 'burbs. And for future reference, if someone asks me a difficult question or I find myself in a spot of bother, I'll just mutter something about an art project and point at my camera. Who would have thought that could be such a fine pacifier...

The Taming of the Zebra

In the year 1898, in one of the many mews just off Cromwell Road, Kensington, lived Mr Hardy, who was a noted horserider & trainer, being one of the three men who had succeeded in riding the "French Rocking Horse". This was a device used by the French Cavalry. It had every possible movement of a wild horse not in the best of tempers.

Leopold de Rothschild, who knew of Hardy's ability, was talking to friends of this achievement and said that he was willing to make a stake on his ability to train any animal resembling a horse. One of his friends took up this boast, and a stake was made that Hardy could not train a team of zebras to pull a coach through London.

When after much trouble, the necessary beasts were obtained, Rothschild went to Hardy and told him the conditions of the wager. Hardy agreed to train them.

The zebras were taken to Kensington and after 2 years hard work, Hardy informed Rothschild that his task was completed and that the team were ready for the road.

At six o'clock one morning a strange sight was seen in London when, for the first time, a team of zebras were seen pulling a coach through London.

The Misaligned World

Embedded

Faded

Misaligned

The Book of Riddles

Kaleidoscope World

Sometimes you find something so very cool & wonderful, but you know it's not meant to be yours. This little gem of a book 'The Art of Sewing : The Classic Techniques', published by Time-Life in 1974, is the perfect gift for my friend Amy. She is an avid crafter & has a crafty blog, you can check it out here ...Le Tigre Papillon. But oh my goodness, let's just take another look at the possibilities of craft as seen in this kaleidoscopic masterpiece....and that's only Chapter One! Praise Be The Craft!

Post Pac-Man

If the post box fits, paint it! Here's Inky, the blue ghost from Pac-man, spotted today. Nice work, but I hope they come back to finish painting the base in that characteristic wavy drip.

Shopping Trolley

This seems like an appropriate marker for the end of the Christmas season...a shopping trolley, rusting in the ocean. May your New Year be, on the whole, buoyant.

Vintage Christmas

Christmas cards circa 1973

Starfish Syndrome

I have noticed while rock-pooling (another favourite pastime) that I can look into dozens of rock pools and not see anything especially fabulous. Until suddenly I see a starfish. Then, I notice dozens of them, including in the pools I had already looked in. I guess my eye just tunes in. I call this Starfish Syndrome. This condition has enabled me to find the smallest starfish in the world with ease!

Too cute! Anyway, I have recently become obsessed with abandoned band-aids and am using the methodologies of Starfish Syndrome to locate them. So now I see them everywhere. Something about fleshy band-aids* on concrete footpaths^ is working especially well for me...these are just a few of my recent finds.

* = plasters

^ = sidewalk

Shady lanes

Lurking in laneways sounds pretty dodgy. But they are great places to chance upon quiet beauties like this rope 'drawing' with its accidental lyricism, or the half brick totem with its essence of machismo.

A few pegs

I took a forensic stroll through the local alleys and laneways this afternoon. A theme soon emerged.....plastic pegs. Since people's backyards flank the alleys, the abundance of pegs came as no great surprise. These pegs and peg fragments are faded and incredibly brittle, just picking them up caused many to crumble in my fingers. Others are rusted shut. Exposure to the elements has rendered them unusable. Engaging in this sort of urban archeology is strangely rewarding. Unfortunately it tends to unsettle the neighbours.

Talking rubbish

Never, in all my years of perusing the hard rubbish, have I been threatened with legal action...until last weekend. Two men in light blue shirts informed me that the penalty for removing hard rubbish is $500 PER ITEM. Gee, that adds up pretty quickly. Does each dinner plate count as a single item or is a complete set one item? Do I get a discount because it's a bit dirty? Where can I get a refund if this record player is faulty? Yes, even our own rubbish has been privatised. But I ask the question...landfill or loungeroom? Case dismissed.

Not Sandals

What's

inside

the sky chief hard rubbish case?

Nothing but the simple packing list of a very light traveller.

Forget about gadgets. Remember a book.