Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

From the Gluepot Reserve FB account: Solar powered kangaroos! These thirsty roos know where to come after a sprinkle of rain on a hot day. They also clean our solar panels for us! 😂

Ah ... remembering the time, years ago, experimenting with light painting at Port Adelaide with a group of photographer friends. This is a long exposure using burning steel wool. Some poor victim was willing to swing it around on a string while we all took our shots. Great fun 😆

This was me about 10 years ago. If someone had told me what the next 10 years would bring in terms of global events, I would have laughed. Far too unbelievable. Ridiculous! Oh, how blissfully ignorant we all were back then.

Very elegant black swans.

Some more yellow-footed rock-wallaby love. Boolcoomatta Reserve, South Australia.

Pre-dawn light at Bald Hill Beach. I am overdue to visit my favourite shorebird location. Will get there soon, hopefully (weather, tides and access permitting).

A white-necked heron over the Barka River at Wilcannia.

Oh puhleeze! Gympie Times: "A petition challenging Fraser Island’s name change to K’gari has attracted massive support, sparking fresh debate over the cultural identity of Queensland’s famous sand island." Why am I not surprised? 🙁

Stan Collins passed away a few days ago. For those who followed him on twitter, this article is a lovely tribute ... www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Is this my best side? A chestnut-rumped thornbill making absolutely sure that they got a good shot on the camera trap 😆 From one of my trips to Gluepot Reserve last year.

Pastel pink light on pelicans preening at Bald Hill Beach. Archival shot.

Like musical notes, zebra finches on a fence. Southern Flinders Ranges. From my archives.

This week in Australian politics. It's rearranging deckchairs time again. Not drowning, waivering #auspol

I love salmon, but I haven't bought Tassie salmon for a very long time (and, in many supermarkets, that is all that's available) ... www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

More bad PR to overshadow the launch of the BOM's 2026 calendar ... www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Piltimitiappa homestead ruins along the Dare's Hill Drive. Built around 1853, it was the home of William Dare who founded a thriving sheep station after returning from the goldfields.

From my visit to Seattle last year - the view from Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park.

From a couple of years ago ... a kangaroo trying to hide from me in the long grass. Near Quorn, South Australia.

Okay, looks like I'm all set up now. Phew! Sorry to drag you all through my tech dramas. Here's a nice koala from Port Lincoln 🐨

I'm busy loading my programs (oops, sorry, apps) onto my new laptop. Take a while. So here's something from my archives. A Port Lincoln parrot enjoying a cool drink at my friend's birdbath in Cleve.

A brown falcon seen at Stephenston, South Australia.

I will never understand why the Australian media, especially the ABC, keep calling the new mayor of New York a radical leftist whilst referring to the far right weirdos in both America and Australia as merely “conservatives’.

“I want forty op-eds belittling Mamdani on my desk by 5pm!”

Adelaide is going off. On my way home, the city was busy and full of people wearing black. Metallica is playing tonight, I hear. This morning, there was a massive queue along Currie Street that snaked around the corner to the Queen's Theatre filled with people keen to buy merch. Horns up!

A black-fronted dotterel at Lake Hattah.

Ten tonnes of diseased dead fish. Ample warning but they still had no mass mortality response plan. More tragic ineptitude by the TAS govt.

My daughter-in-law buying fresh pomegranate juice in Urumqi.

Burgess keeps coming out with doom and gloom warnings and I can't help feeling we're being manipulated. There has been a flurry of media lately about threats and, sure, maybe it's right, but I can't help feeling as if it's some sort of propaganda. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Galahs at the dam. Full of mischief 😄

Also for Wrensday Wednesday, a purple-backed fairywren at my friend's dam. #wrensday

Happy Wrensday Wednesday! A female white-winged fairywren near Wilmington. #wrensday

It's got a little tail 😄

A statistic that continues to live rent free in my mind: half of all international shipping is just moving fossil fuels around.

Follow-up re my laptop issues. The local JB hi-fi store staff were great. Friendly, attentive and keen to make amends. They had no idea that the city store were sending a laptop to me that had a sticker. Anyway, I ended up with a much better laptop with a massive discount.

I went into town to a meeting this morning. Lucky Abla was on duty because #Wally certainly wasn’t 😴

A factory reset takes a while, doesn't it?

My son tells me that the warranty clock starts when the laptop is first booted up. My "new" laptop seems to have been first turned on around 20 months ago. Well out of manufacturer's warranty 😠

Well that turned out to be a lie 😞

Okay - major disappointment. After spending all that time setting it up ... I think I'll have to return my laptop. I didn't notice until I was dealing with the packaging - but it's been repacked. Nobody told me this was a repackaged laptop. I wanted a brand new one 😞

I'm sorry, Adelaide peeps. This wintery blast is my fault. I changed the flannelette sheets on my bed for cotton on the weekend. I also packed away my oodie. (I am now wearing that oodie.)

I treated myself to a new laptop (a belated birthday gift to myself) and it represents major time suckage to set it all up and get it just the way I like it. It'll be nice though. Anyway ... while I take a break from that ... here's a lovely crimson chat from the Flinders Ranges.

About bloody time 🙄

A pelican cruising around on Lake Hattah.

The size difference of a black-fronted dotterel and a magpie-lark. Lake Hattah, Victoria.

So Littleproud's idea for tackling climate change is to build more dams 🙄

A red-rumped parrot having an early morning drink on the edge of Lake Hattah, Victoria.

I'm following reports of a big meteor coming down in the Gippsland area this afternoon. Gave some people a fright. Will be interested to see more news about this. #meteor

Happy International Doge Day. A day to celebrate Shiba Inu dogs (like my grand-dog, below) and the original 2013 meme based on Kabosu (who died last year). #InternationalDogeDay #DogeDay