Smee starts again

Let's hope he remembers not to shave it off this time. Still, just looking, I think Woodie and I probably needed the head start :-)

Woodie - Day Five

Won't be long before the hair on his face is longer than the rest of his head.

First shave of Movember

Monday morning and my first shave of Movember. Nearly 96 hours of growth and not much to show other than a slight case of sunburn on the weekend. Speaking of the weekend pretty good results all round for the Rankin clan; 74 n.o. for me, 3 for 8 from 6 overs for my big boy and 15 n.o. in his first bat for Wanneroo for my little one.

If you can spare it, I'd love it if you'd sponsor me. The mo' is for fun, but the cause is serious. Our official Mo' Log is here

(Just looked at that photo again, who stole my chin?!!!)

Smee's on board

Another sucker

Movember - Day One

Woodie and I are growing Mo's(obviously in this picture we have just started)(and I'm hungover) for Movember. Check it out at www.movember.com.au

Can't believe your eyes

Found this site following up an email G sent. Don't understand it but it's pretty cool. Up close, these 3 girls look unhappy, but move back 2 or 3 metres et voila! the outside two are smiling and the middle girl looks surprised. There are more of them here

Cnr St Geo's Tce and Mount Street looking East @ 7am Tuesday

I am trying to balance this page out. When I posted the photo's of the low-lying rainbow yesterday, I noticed that the whole page had an angry tone and anyone reading this would think I was constantly unhappy. I decided to post the things that give me joy; Yes, even on my way to work! My phone camera does no justice to the light here, but my favourite saying has always been "It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness".
As cold as it is on my way to work in the mornings; at least it is light. I really like the look and feel of the city at around 7:00 am, before everyone arrives and starts rushing and there's still enough space for everyone.

Bob Brown

Senator Bob Brown says a lot of things that get him in to trouble. He also makes a lot of sense.


"Four years ago Kevin Rudd got drunk and took himself into a strip club," Senator Brown said.

"Four years ago John Howard, sober, took Australia into the Iraq war.

"I think the electorate can judge which one did the more harm," Senator Brown told reporters in Melbourne.

River View

Stood up to speak to Smee at around 11 o'clock this morning, peering over the cubicle wall that separates us and looked out the window to the right to see a spectacular rainbow spread across the river to the west of here. I actually stopped mid-sentence and exclaimed "Wow, look at that" (I must have been too shocked for profanity :-). I snapped a couple of photo's with my phone that come nowhere near to doing it justice, but I'll share them anyway

Blood on their hands

The Australian Federal Police today came one step closer to being directly responsible for the death of at least one more Australian citizen. I've already made my feeling clear here, but the disgust and shame has reared its ugly head again with the news of the dismissal of the appeals of three of the nine.

Growing up, I was fiercely (maybe foolishly) patriotic, believing in the ideals of a "fair go" and "look after your own". Shit, when I was a kid, I thought it was a national custom never to "dob in your own". Over the last decade or so (coincidence?), I have gone from proud to disillusioned to embarrassed to downright ashamed to be an Australian. I know that it is usual to lose SOME of your ideals as you grow older, but to have them ripped from you and torn up in front of your face and danced on is surely more than we should have to bear? This is no longer the place I grew up in, nor the place I hoped my children would grow and prosper in. I can only hope that those that come after us will look back on this era as something to fight against, as a good "bad example".

I just pray that the deaths of these foolish young Australians is not part of that example.


Oh, how do you sleep?
Oh, how do you sleep at night?
-John Lennon 1971