Quincy-quance

G'day all!

Well what an interesting thing happened this afternoon. I got the right sort of phone call, one that makes you dance with glee in the office, not caring if anyone sees you.

But first the Important Stuff. Yes, Sock visits Gembrook, pt II.

I admit straight up this was not much of a hike. It was nearly sunset and the walk down a steep hill pretty much knackered Nathan, so we just wandered around the edges of Gembrook Reserve. Still, I thought you should see what some (not very good quality) Australian cool temperate schlerophyll forest looks like.

Here's sock, admiring what I suspect are Eucalyptus regnans (the tallest flowering plant in the world) (or at least their bases):


Just in case you reckon these trees are tiddlers (and these ones are in comparison to the giants), here is Nathan standing next to one. He is 6'5" and over 240lb. That thing dangling in his hand is Sock. Sock felt very small indeed:


And we found a tree fern for Sock to wonder at.

These things can withstand frost and snow without any clothes on! (but not hard freezes)

The sun was setting too, which made the pics pretty average, so we decided to up stumps and walk back up the big long hill and drive home.

Along the way we found this view, which I really favoured:


Plus the pic of the fennel seed heads from the other day

and this lovely chestnut horse came to say hello whilst Nathan took some shots of the view to the southeast (?). I think he liked us, or was lonely. Nathan wants a horse and I want some alpacas or some sort of fibre animal that doesn't need constant drenching and worming and can look after themselves, relatively speaking. One day we might have some land!

Finally, sunset, almost:


Maybe next time I will blast you with more pics from yesterday's most marvellous walk along the Yarra from Richmond station. It was fabulous, if chilly! And the sock got in one pic!

Oh and that phone call I got that was good? Weeeeeeeell, a while ago I put a paper into a competition to win a trip to a biannual conference. I figured what the hell, why not?

So I get this phone call from the president of the association running the conference. Guess who won? Guess who is going to Cairns, in FNQ (far north Queensland), on an all expenses paid trip? (Guess who is going to find a way to get her husband up there cos it is over the time of our second anniversary.) OK, so I have to do a conference but that will be good cos the paper I submitted will be published in the association's newsletter and it will be known that I am a free agent! I can do that most horrid of things (networking) and maybe get me a brand spanking new job with terms that I want rather than having to put up with being dictated to! I also thought it very amusing that I quit my job and this happens - (amost ex)work gets no kudos because of me! I may be good but not good enough at one part of my job but the other part? I rock!

So what a quincy-quance (coincidence), hey? I shaft myself from the job before I get shafted and then I get this confirmation of excellence!

anon!