| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
Two careers ago I was working in the design department of a building corporation. We were doing large scale housing developments in the south of Sydney NSW. 'Cream brick veneerial houses' a popular ditty of the era called them. I was occasionally responsible for what I called the game of 'project-builder tetris' - fitting the best suited from a range of floor plans to the aspect of each vacant lot on the estate. (On a drawing board too - CAD was still years away). Then they'd go in, clear the land and build the houses en-masse. They were nice enough places, we actually bought and finished one off ourselves - and did quite well on it, but by today's standards the developments were sometimes...not as 'sympathetic' to the environment as they could have been. The theory was back then just to alter the terrain to suit the building platforms. Now for the first time since those days we're back living in a new housing estate (we've been up-country and inner urban) and the development methodology has changed - for the better. So has the quality of 'where' we can afford for our station in life, but there are big improvements are in how the housing and land has been developed too. The blocks are still benched (tiered) to provide level platforms for concrete slab construction, but where once storm water was diverted to big concrete pipes laid underground, (and the collection basins called 'public open space') - here the developers have simply reinforced the natural watercourse and sympathetically landscaped a corridor of public open space around it. The native bush has reclaimed it, and now its an oasis winding through a gently sloping plain of otherwise Steel and Concrete tile roofs and the edge of the urban sprawl. It attracts a variety of native fauna back to the area and provides a pleasant way to get my 30 minutes and the highlight of the dawgs day. I took the big camera along the other day: So step outside my front door. Looks nice an neat now huh. There's a weekend not gone riding right there.  Down the hill and along a few paths between blocks to the park.    The hound of course finds this a highlight of his day  The path goes for a few km  and crosses the storm water course several times.   If I let him off the lead he swims out about half way, but at the moment it's grass seed - and snake season.        Lots of Parrots around.   then back home. About 5km | ||
| M2statz |
Very Nice!! Thanks for sharing!! | ||
| Court |
Incredible. Love the way you "framed" the reflection of the tree. | ||
| Sifo |
 I've got a pretty nice situation, but that looks great. | ||
| Danger_dave |
You know what it was with the tree? - It reminded me of Escher.  | ||
| Court |
Which is quite incredible . . . most folks' familiarity with Escher, my own also for the most part, extends to and ends with the novel visual trickery . . . . I hadn't seen the fish and trees and I agree that you captured it. | ||
| Davegess |
Nice | ||
| 86129squids |
DD- Very nice, thanks for sharing! I do dig those photos- the Escher angle is noice for sure. I've always been a big fan of his stuff, and although he is known for the "tricks" he pioneered, a lot of his early work are simply beautiful sketches, pencil IIRC. I've never gotten a tattoo, but there's one Escher print that I'd like as a leg wrap- "Encounter" is the title I think- it involves a black and a white man, blended together top and bottom, but coming fully 3D in the middle and shaking hands... Back OT: A big reason I bought the house I'm in is its proximity to a fabulous greenway system here in Blount County TN- most all of it runs alongside a great little creek, spring-fed I believe, somewhere up at its beginnings... only thing you've got that I don't are the parrots. My GF would LOVE those little buggers! I used to keep two female hand-raised cockatiels, they were great fun. If you've got more pics, especially of parrots, post 'em up! And thanks again! | ||
| Moxnix |
Okay, are you using Doogle as protection against snakes, or bait? Always good to have a few snaps to peruse, thanks. | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Wow - nice shots - DD always makes me want to drop everything and head south - WAY south. Speaking of Escher - I've gotten more than a few sets of plans to bid from over the years, and I'm pretty sure the architects and draftsmen that drew them trained under him. | ||
| Geedee |
Winter in Queensland is harsh. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yes harsh. Temps have plummeted to 21c. The light bulb actually appeared when I spotted a large fish in that pond. You can see where the local kids have lost an inventory of fishing tackle trying to catch 'em. Once we would have used dynamite. Actually, I still have some friends who would. Doogle and snakes is interesting. He's a Kiwi - never seen a snake before - but he knows all about them. We've encountered two so far - both harmless tress snakes and he jumps if he thinks he sees one. The other critters are colourful. There's a couple of flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets in the Neighbourhood.  Clowns  These guys are interesting. The one that visits here  can grow into one of these  | ||
| Danger_dave |
Escher with Duck  | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Nice bearded dragon. We sell those as pets here. | ||
| Moxnix |
Your photos are so enjoyable, they had me perusing SLR digital cameras this afternoon, while my oldest kept steering me toward gaming laptops. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Get him a tablet. Games are a buck to 5 bucks mostly. I haven't used my computers for gaming since I got one. Buy a camera with the change. Next! :-) | ||
| Blake |
Beauty. | ||
| Moxnix |
Danger, I'm in the process of doing over the garage, with half going to him for a recreational area to include gaming space, video lab, and resurrect the train table. I get to build a divider behind which there is planned a one-bike work area and my tool boxes rescued from the garden shed. Mr. Moto's numba' one son loads PC games on my PC laptops to the point they clog the small memory and old da is asked to take a look at it.... One office Mac desktop, three IBM Thinkpads running XP business, one Toshiba laptop w/ keyboard on which I spilled coffee, one aging HP entertainment laptop I rebuilt but it needs more memory for his level of clattering. He has an iPad, iPod something or other that runs apps, but old da is slowly shopping for a decent unit that will work fine and last a long time. I'm thinking 2nd hand Nikon D90. Boy wants to fart around with video. Decades back I bought so much Nikon stuff from Universal Suppliers in Hong Kong, they took my personal checks and shipped it to my address in Alaska where the rural post office never asked for duty. I'm now checking Craigslist. Perhaps I'll Escher-ize a 2-generation sanctum sanctorum boar's nest/toy room whilst re-doing the garage. Starting with a "no gurlz allowed" sign on the door as an unsubtle warning to his mum. Dogs welcome. Sure, Nikon is a bit overboard, but a sop to my former days of batchelor gnosis... | ||
| Danger_dave |
There are much better choices than the D90 for video though. It's a poor vidcam. Not recommended. | ||
| Moxnix |
Rats. I was hoping to upgrade for taking snapshots. For a kid who wants to make videos, any recommendations? Some cheeseburger deluxe video cam from a national chain, with warranty? Doogle always reminds me of my Bouvier, RIP, on a smaller scale. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yeah - I bought a nice Canon HD vidcam. Fits in a jacket pocket. The D90's frame rate strobes really badly in fluorescent light and it has no autofocus - only manual which is very hard to operate as video capture is only displayed on the screen - viewfinder is disabled. Virtually useless. Takes a good still though. | ||
| Moxnix |
Wife & I went to a do for the kids, she pulled a small video cam out of her purse. Hello, what's this?? Shame she didn't put new batteries in it... got home, installed a fresh pair of lithiums and Bob's yer uncle. So, the junior member of our tribe can use it, I'll put a spot for him in the workshop to edit his product. 7 laptops scattered around, I suppose I can spare one if it will keep him off my office Mac. After taking some photos in bright sunshine at a race in Ohio, these cameras with LED screens are just not good enough to capture a decent shot. DSLR, I'll check the local Craigslist online ads to see what the folk are peddling. Quick, more Doogle vids, please. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Then he'll want this: http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/top-features/ I'm digging it. Took a while to unlearn older vid software but it's rather cool when you get it sussed. Haven't done any dog vids lately. My favourite: Aussie legend Jimmy Barnes sound swap was available on You Tube too. | ||
| Moxnix |
That's the hot ticket, but I'll lose my Mac... Finalcutpro/ it's on the list. Now, Jimmy Barnes. Woot! I've been living in a bubble. Heading for the garage to plug in speakers & crank them up whilst running through his vids on Youtube. Big fan of wheezing geezers such as myself who haven't lost that spark of youth inside. Thanks for the heads up. | ||
| 86129squids |
DD- what type of vid was that a minute ago? I just got a new (to me) laptop/tablet PC, and it didn't recognize or play what was in your post. Just trying to figure out a machine that's FAR too fancy, hope I can grow into it... | ||
| Danger_dave |
Standard Ypu Tube embed. Update your flash player? |
