Happy Birthday Lizzie!

You just get better every year.

I hope we have many more together, Liz.

My first PostCrossing Postcard!

I joined PostCrossing recently. It's a website that lets you send and receive postcards from all over the world.

I've sent out six cards so far, and this is the first one I've received. I'm looking forward to receiving more.

Thanks Melanie, for the lovely card.

About my Postcards

I love exchanging postcards.

Rather than just put them in an album and forget about them, I thought it would be a good idea to scan them in here so everyone can see them.

Most of my postcards are received via PostCrossing - a great site that gives you a random address to send a card to. In return someone sends a card to you at random. It's a very clever way to interact randomly with thoughtful people from all over the world.

But I also nag friends who live overseas to send me postcards.

If you'd like to swap one with me, just send a postcard to:
Musings
PO Box 30
Petrie Qld 4501
Australia

Put your return address on the card, and I'll send you one back!

"Federal Pioneer" (aka "Brazillian Prince", "Outremont Park")

"Federal Pioneer" (aka "Brazillian Prince", "Outremont Park")

In the late 1950's, my Dad (Bruce) got a job working on merchant ships. Once of the first ships he worked on was the "Federal Pioneer" which was operating out of Montreal at the time.

She was built in Montreal in 1944 by United Shipyards Ltd, was owned by the Canadian Governments's Park Steamship Company. She was originally named "Outremont Park" and was chartered to the Ministry of War Transport for about 12 months.

After the war, Furness Canada Ltd bought her and renamed her "Brazillian Prince".

In 1954 she was transferred to Furness (Montreal) Ltd and renamed "Federal Pioneer" in 1958.

She was eventually broken up in China in 1971.

Length: 441' 6"
Beam: 57' 2"
Service Speed: 10kt
Tonnage: 7,158grt

More Shorncliffe Pics

I didn't think yesterday's post did Shorncliffe justice, so I've added a few more pics.

It's a great place to chill out - especially in the late afternoon.

There's an amazing new playground for the kids, plenty of BBQ's, lots of shade, a wide beach, and that incredible pier you can walk along for what seems like miles!

But it's the evening colours in the sky that I like best.

Skippy at Shorncliffe

We took Skippy to Shorncliffe today. Here's his story.

We had a great day at the beach today.

We walked along the shore for ages. Bella is such a flirt. She had to say hello to every dog we passed. I was too shy, and hid in Liz's handbag.

When we got to where we wanted to sit, Bella and Lilly just wanted to dig holes in the sand. So Harrison and I went out on the end of an old pier and watched the sun go down.

I couldn't think of a more relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Skippy Goes Geocaching

Skippy wanted to write some more about today's Geocaching hunt.

Being the obliging host, how could I refuse! Tell us all about it, Skippy!

We went Birdwatching and Geocaching today!

Well, Neilius calls our first visit "Birdwatching", but I know the real story. No one could find the Geocache. They all crawled around on their hands and knees in the bushes for half an hour while I watched the birds and Bella (smart little doggie that
she is) took some photos of me.

In the end, Liz told Neil that he had to go, so rather than call it a "failed Geocache hunt" he called it "Birdwatching". Even though I was the only one looking at the lovely birds. And there are heaps of them on this wonderful suburban lake at Northlakes.

The next stop was at Clontarf - a small suburb of Redcliffe.

Neilius and his family must be mad! They were counting bolts on drink fountains and park signs, and recording numbers on lamp posts. They plugged all the numbers into a GPS, and BANG!!! out popped some co-ordinates where we found a small container full of goodies in the middle of the bush.

This family I am staying with is a little bit strange. But Bella tells me that despite that, they are a lot of fun and that I will eventually grow to love them.

Our new guest

We have a new guest in our household for the next few weeks. I'm very pleased to introduce you to "Skippy Kangaroo" who is a Toy Voyager.

Skippy plans to travel the world, meet someone famous, see lots of different animals, and climb a palm tree. Quite a lot of ambitions for such a small toy!

Rather than tell you about Skippy, I thought would let our intrepid explorer talk to you directly. Over to you, Skippy!

Hello Everone!

I arrived in Queensland today and will be spending a few weeks with my new hosts.

As soon as I escaped from the padded postbag, I wanted to explore this strange new place, so I bounced up stairs to the deck and watched the last rays of the sunset with Harrison.

There's another furry creature here, Bella. She's a maltese shih-tzu cross doggie, who tells me she's very glad I am here. Apparently, Bella was getting tired of being the smallest animal in the house, and told me that it's my turn to get picked up and hugged by Lilly all the time.

"I try to look pleased when Lilly picks me up all the time", Bella confided to me, "but sometimes I find myself muttering 'Oh no, not again!'".

I heard some possums chattering outside last night while everyone else was asleep. Bella tells me the local possums are very naughty, and have a party every night outside her room. She yips at them but they just call her names and laugh at her.

Today, we're all going geocaching. I promise I'll show you some photos when we get back. Neilius tells me he's going to try to introduce me to a travel bug, so that we can talk about our adventures.

I'm so glad Sara (my owner) rescued me from the Salvo's!

Who would have thought I'd be a jetsetting little toy with so many people who love me!

Three of me

Dammit! I have a cold, I'm as contagious as the plague, my voice is so deep I sound like I have three gonads, and I can't go to music tomorrow.

So I did the next best thing and played a classical clarinet trio with two people I know pretty well - me and myself.

The piece is Rondo (from Divertimento IV) by Mozart.

I chose this piece because although it looks easy, the timing is a bit of a challenge. And I need to improve my timing.

Hope you enjoy it!

Postcard

I thought it might be interesting to publish copies of postcards that I send and receive. Her's the first one.

I bought this one on eBay because I love QE2. But as an added bonus, the writer got to travel on Concorde as well.

I've also joined PostCrossing so I'll share what I send and receive from them also.

Click on either image for a larger version.



Oh - by the way, please send me your postcards if you're feeling generous. Just send them to "Musings", PO Box 30, Petrie Qld 4501, Australia.