Friday, September 5, 2008

Hatches, cool clouds and spaving

The cygnets have hatched! Yay! There's three of them, tiny and fluffy. I feel like a proud aunty!

They must have hatched a little while ago because the cygnets are already swimming solo, rather than riding on their parents' backs. I saw them from afar as I was walking to work this morning. First I spotted the two adult swans on the river and I knew this meant the babies had hatched because one swan always sits on the nest to keep the eggs warm. I looked a bit harder and could just make out the tiny grey cygnets against the grey-brown water as they swam with their parents towards the nest on the other side of the river.

They were too far away to take a decent photo unfortunately. I'll try and get one on the weekend. There was a picture of them in the newspaper today though. Apparently Mr and Mrs Swan have been named Oscar and Lucinda by the rowing fraternity from the boat sheds near their nest. How surprisingly literary of them.

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The clouds were really cool when I left the house this morning. As much as I like sunny, clear blue skies, clouds do make the sky more interesting. The world is far more photogenic with some clouds in it, I think. It looks all dark and moody. OK, nice for artsy fartsy shots anyway; maybe not for your happy holiday snaps.

I took this shot this morning.


And here's some more of my recent artsy fartsy photos with cloudy skies.





Love that reflection of Melbourne Central in the puddle.

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There's something about dogs playing that never fails to make me smile. Yesterday and this morning I saw a guy from my street out walking his dog. The dog, possibly a Border Collie cross, had a stick that was nearly as long as he was, but rather than playing fetch with his owner, the dog just ran along ahead of him with the big stick sideways in his mouth as if he was saying "No, I won't let you have my stick!'.
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I've discovered a new word. Well, a new made up, combo word. "Spaving" - that's when you buy something on impulse just because the price is drastically reduced. Spending and saving all at once.

Some people abhor those made-up combo words but I like them. I've even made up a few of my own. Glumpy (glum + grumpy), blurple (not quite blue and not quite purple) and facon (meat-free, fake "bacon" for vegetarians).

Do you like made-up combo words? Got any faves? What's something that never fails to make you smile?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

that building in your reflection shot always reminded me of a devil.

nice cloudage. i saw some awesome cotton wool cloud in Pittsburgh, never seen anything like it before, but the pics don't really do it justice.

looking forward to Swan family pics :)

I like the word "frottage". it's not a made up combo word, it's French. it means the practice of getting sexual stimulation and satisfaction by rubbing against something, esp. another person.

i like the idea of anglicising it and making it into "frotting" as in
'Did you just frot me, you dirty bastard".

i think 'spork' is a great word too. The American version of one of those hybrid fork/spoon things.
'Spork'. spork spork spork. hee hee.

this glee thing is contagious! ;)

Jayne said...

I'm so happy that you've been infected with glee, Victoria! My work here is done...no, not really. I must infect you all! Muahahahahaha.

Oh, yeah, I'd never noticed the resemblance to the devil before, but now you mention it, yes, yes it does. I can see it from my lounge room window, and it's at quite a devilish angle from here. It looks a little like a doberman with its ears pricked too. It's Melbourne's guard dog.

I love cotton wool clouds too and great big fat fluffy cumulus clouds...or are they cumulonimbus? Actually who cares which is which, it's just hit me what a fantastic word cumulonimbus is! (For anyone who isn't familiar with it, it's pronounced kewm-you-lo-nimbis). And 'cumulus' looks like it could be a bit rude!

Isn't it funny the things you remember from school, like the names of clouds (even if I can't recall exactly which is which)? I also remember stratus and cirrus clouds. And the German word for f**k.

Cloudage is also a cool word too.

Yes, I know frottage. The word,I mean, not the activity. This is a bit freaky, because the same book that introduced me to "spaving" also had a cool line relating to frottage in the same chapter. "Blue jeans are acid-washed to suggest prolonged frottage around the buttocks and thighs," Judith Levine wrote in 'Not Buying it'. Haha. Yeah!

Spork is funny, especially when said repeatedly. You sound like the Swedish chef!

Anonymous said...

the clouds in Pitt were real strange...like little balls of cotton wool, not like those big boofy cumulu-whatisnames...i'll pop a pic up myspazz so you can tell me your professional opinion as Melbourne's most Gleeful Cloudspotter:)

Anonymous said...

nukky = nasty + yukky :)