The Days are Getting Longer

We've made it!

We passed the half way point and now things can only get better!

Winter Solstice has come and gone for another year, and although it's not going to get warmer any time soon, at least it's a step away from dark on the way to work and dark on the way home.


After building up to a massive pile of wood to burn (David decided it was all about the height) we lit the fire around 6. Just long enough for the sun to have gone down and for it to be getting too cold to be standing around wearing shorts.


It started slow in the patch covered in bamboo, with only the aid of newspaper as an artificial booster.


Soon it was roaring away with the flames licking 10 metres high and bamboo and privet branches happily popping away.



By 7 the fire brigade had already made a visit- even though we had made all efforts to previously alert them- and told us they had been getting calls form all over Eltham. But by 8 it had settled itself down to a nice raging size and allowed us to sit around a bit closer to it.


Entertainment for the evening was provided by one of the sleepers used as a seat being slightly wobbly and this ended up in a game to see who could wobble the other person off. Although possibly not the ultimate champion in the end, Eri's style defininitely was the most memorable effort of the evening.

Hoorah to everyone who made the effort with shorts.

Short shorts

Unfortunately it's not looking good for the gold hot pants. I did look for some lycra while out at lunch from work today, but they had nothing nearly spangly enough for my tastes.

I've gotten rid of a big skip load worth of building site rubbish this week, out there at 7am in the rain, so you can actually get out the back to the fire.

It's pretty massive so we've alerted the appropriate authorities so if our snitchy neighbours decide to get at us we're covered. We've set the fire out in the back paddock so we can really get it roaring (at the moment the pile stands about 9 feet tall with a diameter of 6 metres), but it is a little more exposed than the regular venue of the drum in front of the house on stilts.

We'll put up the marquee for a bit of shelter with a tarp on top so it's water proof, but hopefully all this talk of rain is just hot air.

Bring along an umbrella if you're worried about precipitation, and a delicious platter* if you are so inclined.

See you there in your shortest shorts.











*Only platters of a delicious nature will be considered.

Winter in Melbourne

I'm slowly beginning to remember what I love about being in Melbourne, especially live music. The traditional Winter Solstice party is coming up in a few weeks and at least that means we'll start seeing a bit more light in the days after that. We've been busy building a bonfire, not a little drum fire, to keep us warm through the chilly evening. Now all I have to do is mug the girl I saw at Cut Copy, steal her gold leggings and make them into hotpants!