Interrupting The Flow...

"Hello Mavis?
It's Joan here dear, from across the way.
I was just having breakfast, yes dear, fruit as usual, and, yes dear I know you're at the office, anyway I was just looking out the window, yes Mavis it's a lovely day, and Mavis, I think you've left the tap running in your bathroom..."
Image. Daily Picks and Flicks.

Such Good Intentions...

Such a lesson in futility.
But doesn't the world love a trier...
Image. Daily Picks and Flicks.

It's A Small Wonderful World...

These two Chameleon discovered in Madagascar are the smallest of its species known to man.
The one on the matchstick is a juvenille and the biggest oldest adults of the species grow to an enormous thirty millimetres.
Very cute aren't they...

Some More Cabin Porn. For Your Pleasure...

Ok. I admit it.
I was over at Cabin Porn again last night.
Feeding my addiction.
I really only do it for you...
Images from top.
A driftwood shelter in Vireggio, Italy.
An old rural school in Quebec by Raphael Hudon.
Combined woodshed and cabin in Massachusetts by Pete Favat.
Houseboat in Prince William Sound, Alaska by Holly Steere/
A Yurt in San Juan Mountains by Mark Hoskovits.
A cabin in White Mountains, Franconia, New Hampshire, 
by Lily Stockman. 

The One That Didn't Get Away...

All week there's been offshore breezes blowing.
Great for kite or bag fishing.
This is one of the reasons people come to Tokerau Beach in New Zealand's Far North.
Thursday afternoon my bag was out about 700 metres, sitting up and looking good. The reel containing one kilometre of heavy line was firmly embedded in the sand on the beach.
Well, it was one minute.
The next, it was being pulled through the sand, down the beach and out to sea.
A monster fish?
We all watched as the bag raced further and further out. What might be the reel was seemingly floating about 500 metres out.
The wind appeared to die out. There was only one chance.
My two-person kayak came off the roof and Carl paddled out through the surf with me.
In a couple of minutes we were out too far and the reel wasn't in sight.
It wasn't a good place to be.
Back we came into an again freshening wind.
I had a cellphone, a VHF radio and we were wearing lifejackets.
When you come through the surf, you have to time it exactly right.
It had been an exhausting paddle back, we paused to rest a moment and then, fortunately at the right moment, we paddled, caught a good sized wave that took us straight in to the sand.
And the bag sat there. On the horizon.
I phoned a friend, who had a friend with a fishing charter boat.
Pete was going out there on his launch Snapa Slapa early the next day.
If it was still there, which was highly unlikely,
he'd get it.
And there it was. Incredibly, in the same place.
It took him an hour to retrieve the bag, the line and the reel, winching it aboard from the reef where it was stuck, four kilometres out.
This whopper of a fishing tale is true.
Really it is...

To Satisfy Your Nesting Instincts...

If you're thinking of flying away
and living as free as our feathered friends then this might appeal to you.
Based on the intricately woven nest of the Weaver bird, this beautiful hand woven nest by South African design consultancy Animal Farm emulates nature by using simple materials to create a suspended perch for your relaxation and contemplation.
Using a light steel frame and lots of branches, designer Porky Hefer created this version of a nest to fit two adults and a chick.
Fly over here, there's more...

The Tiny Vostok Cabin...

This isn't the most beautiful tiny shed
on the planet.
But it does have a wood stove and a toilet.
The Vostok Cabin is currently on show at the
Cite de la Science in Paris.
It's made from recycled steel plate reclaimed from scrapped ships.
According to the Dutch design studio, Atelier Van Lieshout, 'The Vostok is a movable, nomadic, indestructible, basic dwelling with an
armoured shell.
Value systems of yesterday are no longer relevant.
A new civilization is ahead of us.
We may need to find alternative ways of living.'
We may indeed...