Searching for Driftwood

Sunny Australia 

I'm not sure which came first - the decision to go hunting for driftwood or the decision to go walking in the rain.  I have a feeling it was the latter.  For reasons unknown, on a wet and blustery Saturday morning, Bear Z, Rabby and myself decided to go for a walk on the beach.  Mystical Roo - by far the most sensible member of the group - opted out of this adventure.  The rest of us waterproofed ourselves up and headed out sans umbrella.  There's something strangely entertaining about walking in stormy weather.  The wind was howling, the rain was hammering down and the sea was in a frenzy.  It was brown from where all the sand had been churned up and the waves were chopping and changing all over the place.  Still, there were body boarders out in the surf.  There were lifeguards holed up in the surf club.  There were land dwelling sharks lurking behind rocks.  And there was the three of us ambling across the sand not looking at all like tourists.  I had my trusty leopard print wellingtons on so how could I possibly be mistaken for a tourist.  There was a huge line of dead blue bottles washed up along the shore and - randomly - a number of tennis balls.  They looked to be brand new so we did what any other storm wanderer would do.  We snaffled them.  Better snaffle them then have them float out to sea.  It may have been the snaffling of tennis balls that led to the attempted snaffling of driftwood.  We decided that a bit of driftwood would make an excellent Christmas card displayer.  That's if I get any Christmas cards of course.  Once I had a hold of this idea I insisted that we find driftwood.  But storm or no there wasn't a whole lot of driftwood to be found.  We headed towards where the "stream" meets the sea to see if any had washed up on shore.  The "stream" had turned into a full flowing river and was cutting away nice chunks of sand.  But yes, there was driftwood.  And it was drifting down stream.  There was also a body boarder.  He too was drifting down stream.  And into the sea.  He seemed pleased to have an audience.  We spotted a rather sizeable bit of driftwood making its way towards us but it went straight out to sea.  The waves however, were accommodating and sent that sizeable bit of driftwood straight back towards shore.  But it disappeared back into the river.  At one point it got lodged in a bit of sand and Rabby made a dash for it.  He only just dragged it back to shore before a wave swept in.  That could have been one wet Rabby.  Unfortunately it turned out to be a really burnt bit of driftwood.  Not the driftwood I had in mind.  We left the beach soggy but up by two tennis balls.  Alas there was no appropriate driftwood to be found.  The search for the driftwood continues.

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you to Gene Pool Diva for showing some love to Little Stalky World.  Both I, Little Stalky, and my weird world are very flattered.

In the spirit of things I would like to share with you my top five blogs:

http://magnonsmeanderings.blogspot.com/

http://carouseldreams-tina.blogspot.com/

http://thekoalabearwriter.blogspot.com/

http://chrissypeebles.blogspot.com/

http://indiesnippets.blogspot.com/

Little Stalky's Turtle

It's a turtle!

I am by no means an artist.  I find it fascinating watching someone bring a canvas to life and know that I could never achieve the same results.  If I start drawing then everything is out of proportion, upside down, inside out and the wrong way round.  Small children can draw better than I.  But artist or not that didn't stop me from trying my hand at some Aboriginal style art.  I figured if there was anything I might be able to do with a paint brush and a canvas it would be dots.  In preparation for our visitors I wanted to create some art to go in the guest room.  The attached photo is the finished product.  My turtle.  I had no idea what I was doing, I didn't know what it was going to look like but I was actually quite pleased.  What a fluke!  I literally just grabbed the canvas, grabbed the paints and sat on the floor deciding that a turtle would be the easiest shape for me to tackle.  I found an old lid from a bucket that had been turned into a plant pot and used it as a pallet and then off I went.  About an hour later I had my very own piece of Stalky style art.  It now has pride of place in the guest bedroom.  Now I'm wondering what else I can paint.  The plant pots are the front runners at the moment but if Mystical Roo sits still too long he may find himself with a temporary tattoo of the Stalky variety....

Little Stalky Gets a New Watering Can

I recently invested in a new watering can.  I know - it's an exciting life I lead.  But with my ever growing collection of plants I thought a new watering can was necessary.  Nay, essential!  I had been using my two little green watering cans but they were simply too small.  I was having to make numerous trips between the kitchen sink and the balcony just to ensure the plant babies got their fill.  We don't have an outdoor tap so there was much hurrying back and forth.  Anyway, to get to the point, I now have a nice big 10 litre watering can.  It has a detachable nozzle thing and everything.  Now it's all well and good having a nice big 10 litre watering can but those things can be hard to control.  Things can get out of hand.  Trying to control 10 litres of water when you have small hands and wrists and arms and are generally quite small can be difficult at times.  Water sends to slosh all over the place.  Where previously I was able to aim water quite directly at the soil I now pour much more erratically.  Water sloshes over the leaves, over the pots, over the floor, over me, over the balcony.  Over the balcony is probably the key thing here.  Because over the balcony there are often other people.  Those hairdresser types that hang out below the flat.  They're often down there.  And they have such beautiful hair.  You can just imagine it.  One of them innocently hanging out some towels to dry and then taken out by a massive splash of water.  Hair destroyed in the prime of its style.  The horror.  And when they look up they'll realise it's not raining.  They'll see water dripping from the balcony.  They'll see my massive tomato plants peeking their heads out through the railings.  And then they'll realise it was me.  The girl that lives upstairs.  So when I did absent mindedly slosh water - a lot of water - over the side of the balcony and realised there could well have been someone down there I took immediate action.  I ran away.  And confessed to Mystical Roo what I had done.  Mystical Roo, wise as always, told me that I was a bad Stalky and that I must be sure to check in future.  Well I'll try but I can't guarantee anything.  I can be a bit scatty at times and easily distracted.  It's hard work taking care of plant babies, looking out for evil, horned caterpillars of doom all the while keeping on guard for attacks from Will the pigeon.  I don't think I can be held responsible for persons who may or may not get a watering.  Honestly, who let me loose with a watering can.

Little Stalky Goes Shabby Chic

I'm always on the look out for a bargain and with a couple of VIPs headed our way I thought I'd kit out the spare room with a few things.  One of the things we wanted was a chest of drawers so when someone at work said they were getting rid of a set I jumped at the opportunity to take them off their hands.  I had no idea what they looked like but I figured they'd be good for something.  So Mystical Roo, the ute and I went and collected these chest of drawers.  They were of decent size, white gloss paint with horrible handles designed for kids.  We decided we would sand that beast down, get ourselves some new handles and create a "shabby chic" look that's all the rage at the moment.  I penned a date to head into the warehouse, accompanied Mystical Roo to said warehouse and then realised I'd left the chest of drawers at home.  Doh!  I then had to return to collect the drawers, stopping off to collect Ammy as the muscle.  Once the drawers were loaded onto the back of the ute I promptly headed over to Bunnings (like B&Q) for new handles and some sand paper.  Coarse sand paper. I did a lot of poking to make sure I got sufficiently coarse sandpaper.  But I also avoided the sand paper that indicated I would need goggles, mask and - really random - ear protection.  Whoever heard of noisy sand paper.  Not I!  Any hoo I returned to the warehouse where Mystical Roo helped to trim my handles to the appropriate length.  Then I set about sanding the chest of drawers.  Obviously I had totally underestimated the amount of muscle required to sand down a chest of drawers by hand.  It's not easy people!  Not easy at all.  It takes a long time and you get a sore back and everything.  The side bits are fairly easy but the top, covered in gloss paint, was a mission.  I even got out a little chisel at one point to give my "shabby chic" look a helping hand.  It was hard work, it took all day and by the end of it both me and the dog were covered in white dust.  But I wasn't half pleased with the results.  And so was Mystical Roo.  We had achieved our "shabby chic" look and a new chest of drawers, all for the price of a new set of handles and some sandpaper.  Not bad, even if I do say so myself.

Surfing Stalky

Last weekend I succumbed to peer pressure and took to the waves on a massive surf board.  Ok, there wasn't that much peer pressure but I was a little nervous.  Waves are big and scary and have a tendency to send me tumbling.  But on Sunday the skies were blue, the sun was shining and Monster Noggin very kindly leant me her wetsuit and her surfboard so that I could give it a go and see what I thought.  My main thought was how very much I felt like a teletubby whilst wearing the wetsuit.  My second though was how annoying the teletubby theme tune is.  My third thought was how difficult it was to get the teletubby theme tune out of my head.  Then I focused on the task at hand.  The board was massive.  The board continues to be massive.  But it's the ideal size for a learner and is soft so that it doesn't matter so much if you head butt it.  Which I did.  The board started it!  Anyway, Mystical Roo was my guide and he led me into the water where I immediately got scared.  But I only went out chest deep and was able to catch the waves from a place where I didn't have to go out of my depth.  Mystical Roo showed me how to lay on the board, how to sit on the board and how to paddle to catch a wave.  Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle.  There was a lot of paddling.  My balance was a bit squiffy and on more than one occasion I tumbled off to the side before getting anywhere.  I was thrown from that board so many times but it's nowhere near as scary as when you get thrown off the body board.  I guess it's because the board itself doesn't flip with you.  It just bounces off in the opposite direction as you're flung through the air.  At one time I very much felt like a super hero as the board flew backwards and I flew forward, landing with a splat in the water.  I only got bashed on the head once and it really wasn't that bad.  I can confirm that I actually love surfing.  I didn't manage to stand up properly but I think I will.  At some point.  I need to work on my fitness levels because after two hours in the water I was absolutely wrecked.  Not only that, I continued to suffer for about three days after the surf.  Aching shoulders, sore arms and stomach muscles.  I guess surfing will be one way to keep me fit.  So now I've decided that I want my own wetsuit and my own surfboard.  The wetsuit arrived today and I've already been to collect it from the post office.  Now we just need to find me a surfboard. Woo surfing Stalky!