deconstructed christmas

about a month ago the happy-go lucky young things i work with decided to have a christmas decorating competion the theme being 'christmas - what it means to you'. of course christmas decorations are not my thing and i quickly dismissed, however in the last few weeks the enthusiasm for said competition amongst the rest of the office reached fever pitch. now as cheesey as it sounds these people are all really nice, genuinely enthusiastic and have really help build a nice atmosphere over the last year.. So, this week rather than be a cynic, i decided to participate and interpret the theme 'what christmas meant to me'. I'm definitely not christian, and will be off camping on christmas day - hopefully without a christmas decoration in sight.. so i decided to 'deconstruct' a christmas tree by ripping off all it's branches and turning those branches into a forest populated with flowers, koalas, and a platypus.

you can see the pole that once was a christmas tree in this photo.. i didn't win the competition obviously and needed to explain my idea through to a few people, but that was kinda the point..

Kookas

As I'm sure many of you know the kookaburra is one of my most favourite things on earth. There are a couple who live in a tree next to my house, and they've been making quite a racket for the past couple of months. I did some research and it's because it's mating season meaning lots of cooing and ooing. Also, they go off and do their own thing during the day and when they meet up at sundown they always have a big laugh together. They tend to do the same when they wake at dawn, which subsequently wakes me up and, though early is one of the nicest ways to start a day.


Anyway. Yesterday they were hanging out on my balcony, which is a new step, and they had lots of food in their mouth, and there was additional co-oing coming from a tree.. they've had a baby! and I think it's just beginning to find it's feet or wings or what have you. When I woke this morning to lots of garbled laughter I looked outside my bedroom and the little baby was right there..


How ace. I am very lucky. Last year I had baby owls in the reserve which was amazing, but these guys have more personality and are like right in my face.
You can find out more about the laughing kookaburra here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughing_Kookaburra

thong thing

so i found this and did this:


and then walked past it for two weeks and it seemed to be doing ok.. last night it fell over so i moved it slightly and did this:


this one has lasted longer than any of the others.. is it because it is 'childish' and therefore easier to understand or let be? is there something unsettling about celebrating and drawing attention to symbols of the working class in an area such as I live.. i will have to test my theories further..