The Art of Extreme Gardening
Occasionally when the mood takes me I can be seen dashing around our garden at high speed, dragging palm fronds from here to there, chopping, hacking, occasionally pulling and generally tidying up what nature seeks to untidy at a pace that is distinctly un-gardening-like. The neighbours must think I’m slightly potty.
Gardening seems to be regarded as a gentile occupation, mainly for people who like to wear woolly jumpers when its a bit nippy outside, and retired people with far too much time on their hands. I seek to redress this image… at least around my own garden anyway.
Here’s my thinking… I see people jogging on the street, cycling in chattering packs, working out in the gym, and yoga-ing until their yin fully is yanged. I don’t have time for all that. I have to combine my exercise regime with the practicalities of directing all that energy into something useful (in addition to all that healthy mind, healthy body stuff)
So Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce to you the Art (and Sport of) EXTREME GARDENING.
More Blogging Please!
One day you are happily blogging away and then suddenly it hits you…an idea…the big idea… and it goes something like this…
“Hey I cant find a WordPress theme that does just what I want…you know what.. I think I’ll design my own!”
and then after you’ve finished creating your theme you get the second brilliant idea… and it goes something like this…
“Wow my WordPress theme is pretty cool now, and seeing as everyone is asking to get their hands on it, I’ll release it to the world!”
For many WordPress Theme designers this is the kiss of death for their actual blogging. The writing gets put on hold while theme designing grows into a magnificent obsession. I have not been immune to this. Alas and alack, I too have been caught up in the cloistered codexed world of theme-ing and diminished my word output!
No more I say… time to start blogging again. So having given my blog a freshen up with my latest Heatmap Child Theme we’re off again into the realm where only words can take us… until at least the time comes when I get obsessed with the next theme update again. 
Pop Stars I Have Met
Have you ever met any real pop stars? You know, the ones that you thought were the absolute bees-knees of pop perfection during your peak music consumption teeny-twenty-something years?
As a youth, pop music ranked alongside soccer as something you must be into. I never liked soccer that much though as I only ever seemed to reach the position of ’substitute’ on the infant school team. I never scored any goals and I was better at fouling other players by kicking them than actually kicking the ball. I never kicked any pop stars though.
No, I loved pop music, and even wanted to be a Pop Star, but never seemed to find the time to do anything about it, though I did write many songs and developed a musical style reminiscent of a monotone Pet Shop Boys, complete with 80’s st-st-st-st-stuttering ssss—ssss—samples. (n-n-n-nineteen anyone?).
I even hugged the Australian Prime Minister. Want to know more?
Bananas In The Back Garden
There are bananas in the back garden of our home. It’s true. Right there on the banana trees. There are lots of them.
When I was a kid, bananas came slightly blackened and over-ripe. We squished them up and put them in sandwiches. I liked banana sandwiches a lot. I ate a lot of them. My bones are probably built from one third banana sandwiches, one third milk, with the rest being made up of liver, onions and mashed potato.
The Meaning of Liff – My Contribution
Douglas Adams created a book called the Meaning of Liff. It’s a compilation of English Placenames used to describe things that currently have no actual word attached to them. It’s a funny book, and it’s also a game I like to play on long road trips through the Australian Outback, to keep us amused, chortling, laughing, sometimes guffawing, and occasionally snickering.
