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 I can tell I am writing when I am having expositionary conversations/speeches with/by my characters while I am driving the car....

Due to the vagaries of the International dateline and timing it is now Christmas Day in my location and has been for some time. I am now off to celebrate with my extended family.

Please take care of yourselves and I will see you later today, probably. (I understand that French champagne will be involved today but as I'm driving, not as much as I might like under other circumstances.)

[If someone cares to poke me gently about Nai, that would probably be a Good Thing btw.]

General joy and good will to you all!

I realised this afternoon that I am rich compared to most of the people who have ever lived.

I bought seventy steel needles today and I own more bath towels than my household can use all at once.

(Bath towels are a valid comparison of financial status because my paternal grandmother had three young children and owned two bath towels, one for the boys and one for the girls, between the five of them.)

At the moment my face, specifically my mouth, feels insulted when the pain meds wear off. This is not surprising because I had a tooth pulled yesterday.

There was also a small abscess so I think that explains everything about the way I felt on Friday that wasn't covered by the weather we got because our real winter temperatures arrived all at once.

I have another twenty-four hours worth of antibiotics, the pain meds previously mentioned and I've begun the rinsing regime to prevent dry socket.

Also, backing up my main computer because it made strange noises the first time I turned it on this morning....

The weather continues warmer than usual for this time of year in the middle of the day but is definitely cooler at night and in the early morning now. It's autumn and this is what we expect to see.

Plantwise, because my backyard is overshadowed by trees to the north, we have reached the time when moss takes over from most of the grass. Please keep in mind that I do not get snow, so moss is what I will have until sometime in spring. The imported deciduous trees are just beginning to change leaf colour, London planes/sycamores and liquidamber/sweet gums in particular, and it is the time of year when the finest stealth, infiltration racing caterpillars expend all their efforts on getting into my house.

This year they may be acting from fear because I have a bandicoot frequenting my garden. I have been seeing the diggings in the grass for a few months now and I thought it was a bandicoot, but they're nocturnal so seeing them is hard, and one hole from last night was so vigorous that I thought it might be something else...but tonight I saw it! It appears to be a long-nosed bandicoot, and they eat insect larvae and caterpillars are? So yes, the caterpillars are actually running in fear, not just looking for a good place to pupate over winter.

Bandicoots also eat funnel web spiders. The garden has them and as far as I'm concerned the bandicoot can have every single one.

Also, daylight savings ends here tonight so from tomorrow morning onwards, I will be doing everything an hour later for six months. Just in case anyone is confused.

I went on my research trip to Newcastle today and had a good time.

I have many photos, saw a freighter brought into port by the pilot and a tug, toured a 19th century fort (the only one in Australia to have returned enemy fire), walked 12.5 kilometres, collected many interesting and hopefully helpful details, and bought a poster that shows all 21 species of native bee found in this state (plus two imports.)

I believe I will sleep well tonight.

So, I went for a walk today before I had lunch and while it was sunny. The sunshine last most of the walk and I took some pictures with my iPod.

Thus we have:



A little over forty years ago I used to go to primary school with the boy who lived in this house. There was a persimmon tree out the front - that seems to be gone.

Also, I live up the hill from a swamp. Which gives us:
.

There are ducks in that picture. Wild ducks with a ducking....

For those of you who have some idea of where I live and may have seen comments about our weather this last week, I'm one of the better off. No flooding, no storm damage, didn't lose power and even got missed by yesterday's hail storm. Frankly, I'm well ahead of the game - others are not nearly so lucky.

I do have an overnight hospitalization coming up but that shouldn't be a big deal - there is a general anesthetic involved and they don't want to release me into the wild again too soon.

On a happier note, opinions and advice please:

If a character is completely offstage for the story, or dead & not interacting for that matter, should I write them up in my character bible? (Noting that the dead guy's McGuffin that is the cause of the plot is already written up in said character bible to the extent of a page and a word.)

Also, would anyone like to suggest a name for a twenty year old girl from a North American analogue? Probable WASP background. I'm thinking of Libby but am open for suggestions.

The specifics of the villains are my problem - I have motivation and not a whole lot else yet... Wish me luck.

It's the first day of autumn here, and yes we are peculiar and don't run the seasons off the equinoxes, etc. We've had a maximum temperature of 36 degrees Celsius and storms are expected later. Tomorrow is expected to be 25 before it goes up a bit again.

The crepe myrtle is still flowering, the early sasanqua camellias have begun to flower, and the errant wisteria down near the railway station is just being confused - not that I object to it flowering multiple times in the year if it wants to.

I also expect my garden to get in one more growth spurt in March, because it usually does.

And now I'm wondering how far off the threatened/promised rain is...

For those of you who liked the project from my last two Mondays that I posted, here it is with borders on it.