the rainbow god

This post has nothing to do with anything relevant, it's just an incident stuck in my mind.

1. while I'm running I'm also thinking

2. I like to think of solutions to other people's problems, whether they ask or not.

So I'm running round the lake, I pass a hairy bloke talking on his phone.

Well, I guess he has a phone somewhere under all his hair and beard.

He seems to be discussing development of a video game.

To his phone he says , I could use a five-colour Rainbow God to lead the army of angels... but, he continues, I don't know of any rainbow gods.

A bit later, too late to tell him, I think of one possibility:

Lokee, the enbee sibling of Loki. They are both tricksters, ie trouble-makers.

Lokee once poured very slippery oil all over the Rainbow Bridge. As punishment, the other gods of Valhalla created permanent rainbow streaks across Lokee's hair. Next week, Lokee coated the Rainbow Bridge with quick-set super-adhesive contact glue.

Hmm... None of my stories need a rainbow god. So if anyone out there wants to use Lokee, just ask me about licensing :-)

Now back to the real world...

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

===

I'm nobody's fool. Care to adopt me?

..Dying for you to Read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

Saturday driving // then Sunday home

We pack up and leave Albany, not too early.

Deb has planned a leisurely drive.

We start off through Chester Pass. I think that's the Porongorups... or the Stirlings... I get them confused. Our aim is to get to Bluff Knoll Cafe for morning tea. We never see the cafe. I'm not sure what happens, I'm just the passenger, along for the ride, I think we miss a turn. Anyway it doesn't matter, it's all a nice drive. Deb drives and enjoys the peaceful roads. We do see a few signs to named mountains and see mountains well off our road.

Of course google maps is no help, there's no internet.

The road signs point to Gnowerangup -- so that's where we go.

It's a small place but it has a roadhouse, so we get good coffee and cake (vegan but still nice :-)

Gnow has a carved wood statue of Ned Kelly. Not that Ned was ever there but a local carved it and the publican paid for it.

They also have a heritage trail, we only see one point but it annoys me, every "heritage" etc  trail should use my app for people to tick off the points as they visit them. It'll never happen but it still annoys me... I'm annoyed at my lack of "push" to get the app used.

Next stop is Broomehill. We have lunch at a cafe, possibly the only cafe, in town. (Town? ha :-) Another very small and quiet town.

The cafe is in a heritage-listed building, "Jones" it says on the front. The shop is packed with fascinating "stuff". It makes me think of Antiques Roadshow, all the amazing stuff that people find in their attics and sheds. Owned and run by an 84-year old local woman, recently lost her son in a car accident, she says in passing. There are old and unusual books. Every book she sells, she claims, allows her to buy another jarrah floorboard, not that they are easy to source. Most of her floor needs replacing, it's an old building. Fascinating.

then it's an easy drove to katanning.

dinner at the dome downstairs. that's about it.

//

Sunday, we leave Katanning.

btw. the hotel makes me think, all skirt but no knickers... mostly because it's funny... but there's a lot of fancy-looking surface with annoying aspects.

the staff are all pleasant, helpful, friendly.  great country pub feeling.

and so we're home, mid afternoon. tired and hungry. a quick trip out to buy some basic groceries.

relax

phew :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

===

Bandaid solutions hurt when they are removed.

...Dying for you to Read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

premier mill hotel, katanning

premier mill hotel, katanning

rated 5/10

Saturday: we walk into our room and the first thought is, wow!

it's a huge room, with a huge bed and... well, that's about it.

Fancy, over sophisticated and a real pain.

The air con is controlled by a simple electronic switch. We set it to 22 degrees. next morning, ten hours later, it shows room temp as 19. what happened to the set temperature?

we know the air con is on, all night we have a cool breeze blowing directly onto the bed. i sleep with a towel over my head to protect from the cool drying air.

light switches are a set of six electronic buttons. i need my glasses to read which is which. whatever happened to a switch near its light?

there's an ensuite. deb has a shower but can't work out the controls, two showers, two taps? i don't even try. 

the toilet is dual flush. two black buttons on black background. only with my glasses i can see that the buttons are large and small.

the room has no tea making. there's a separate "valet" room -- outside our room, along two corridors. oh, and our room has one of those doors which will close and lock by itself. source for many a crude hotel joke.

parts of the original mill are built into the hotel, there are large metal things here and there. the corridors are very dim, i'd rather see clearly.

this is a personal preference: i prefer a thin pillow. the hotel has several pillows, all very thick, i end up sleeping with no pillow (and a towel over my head).

it's an expensive hotel. and i pay a bit extra for a room with a "city view" There's no "city" in katanning :-) but it is a pleasant view over the town. sort of interesting, too. worth the small extra cost anyway. and better than the roof and wall that we saw on our last visit.

and next morning... the hotel internet does not work.

luckily I'm typing on my ancient tablet, I'm 99%certain that when i press send it will save this message till it finally gets a working connection.

overall: this hotel feels fancy but is unusable. good for a one-night "experience", not worth it for any longer.

time to press send. i hope that the tablet does work...

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

leaving albany

I've never set myself up as an example to our kids. more as a warning...

today's warning is: brush your teeth.

One of my teeth starts to ache, very minor so it doesn't matter that the dentist can see nothing wrong. can see nothing because what's left of the tooth is hidden behind a crown.

today the tooth, crown and all, shears of at the base. all i feel now is a flat rough surface. no ache, so i guess there's no rot, that's good news:-)

Meanwhile, here in Albany, it's raining. quite a lot. good timing, today we leave. but not till after breakfast. a tooth is gone but not my appetite.

early on, i saw a positive to cancer, no more visits to the dentist. so much for that. dratted teeth :-( 

kids: brush your teeth!

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Thu,Fri, Albany

Thursday: we walk along the beach at Emu Point. Then have lunch at the cafe.

We go to the whaling station for coffee and cake -- and see a whale. it's close in, close enough that we can clearly see as it waves its enormously long fin at us. we're told it's a humpback -- with a calf -- tho we don't spot the calf.

A whale! We're thrilled :-)

On the way home we buy a loaf of bread, that's the basis for dinner.

Friday: A 5km walk by Two People Bay. Fine but chilly, good views, tiring.

One place signposted as beach is water right up to the grass.

The walk ends at Little Beach which is nice. Note to self in case we return: there's a road and carpark right at Little Beach.

Middleton Beach cafe for lunch... we avoid the ribs.

We visit the chainsaw sculptures -- amazing skill and detail.

Now we're home, resting :-)

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Wed 19 june, Albany

Mostly fine, with light showers.

We drive into the Porongorups. To the Poron... Inn and Tearooms, for lunch.

Nice enough though over salty. Better than yesterdays ribs! A pleasant and peaceful cafe (and knick knack shop).

A pleasant, narrow, winding road with no traffic and beautiful views.

Come home via an IGA, buy a few items for dinner.

Arrive home very hungry and tired. That's me, anyway.

Just about to start eating -- and the power fails.

Yes, I know our phones have torch apps. My own response is to get the real torch from the truck.

The cottage owner comes over with candies.

A bit later, power is back. We eat, watch tv, relax.

Deb finishes her holiday jigsaw (a my-birthday present from me:-). I do crosswords and read

On and off the rain is heavy, we are snug, dry, warm.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Albany, Tuesday

One son is in Barcelona with his family. He's sharing his location, I use Street View to look round, brings back great memories :-)

sunday: we leave home late morning, get to Williams for lunch in the Woolshed. Deb uses cutlery to eat her breakfast burger. the fork is flimsy disposeable wood, almost useless but the burgers are delicious.

It's raining most of the way.

Brief stops for snacks and toilets in Bannister then Mt Barker.

We reach Wisteria Cottage (bayonet Heads about ten mins from Albany) just before five pm. The rain is heavier than ever.

We move in, turn on the heater. Have a light dinner then early to bed.

The cottage is as nice as we remember :-)

Saturday: cool but no more rain.

We drive to Middleton Beach. To me it's a nice place, Deb still loves it so that's good.

We walk the boardwalk for an hour or so. It's a good day for walking, plus good views

We have lunch at the Three Anchors, crowded but pleasant.

We both go for the American ribs, a mistake. The flavour is spicy, no problem with that, flavour is personal. The meat is  tough. I would guess not enough cooking -- and cooked days ago, re-heated today, to get dried out leathery meat. Not worth finishing, not that I could.

We come home for coffee and collapse.

I know when it's four pm -- three alarms go off to remind me that Deb will soon be home from work :-)

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

check-in here

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
...

===

If everyone is thinking the same way, then someone is not thinking.

dryandra orienteering

it's a weekend of orienteering at dryandra.

a three day long weekend, we registered for two days.

"we"? deb registered for an E (easy) course on two days, Sun and Mon. deb leads, I follow, it's good fun. today, sun, is a 2.5km course, we take 5km, just a bit of navigational challenge.

there's a chill wind all weekend and a lot of rain --10-percent-of-their-brains

... no, i don't understand that brain reference but I typed "lot of rain" "and Google put up its suggested correction.

it's cold and pouring rain all weekend --though no rain when we were on our course :-)

And we are staying in a warm, dry cottage, very nice.

we're staying in a cottage on Hotham Ridge Winery. about two hour's drive from home, we drove here on Saturday.

we're ten minutes drive from Wandering Tavern, we had lunch there today.

dryandra, for orienteering, is a 30 minute drive. we could have camped at the O site --ha! we listen to the rain and enjoy our cottage.

we refuel the truck at wandering. self-service pump, a new learning experience... we mastered it, only took a few tries.

I have to remember to be sympathetic to deb, she is half way to getting a tooth implant :-( poor deb. for now she has a preference for soft food.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood