Friday February 24, 2006 5:40 am Ballina NSW

A. Morning Musings

5:40 am It is still dark outside. I have my cuppa and am trying to get my head around some possibilities for today. I expect to finish reading "Vincent by himself" this morning and should be able to make a few notes on it as well. I was pleased yesterday with how reading about art gave me the incentive to focus on taking some good photographs as well as pictures of birds. I also want to continue making a backup CD that contains all of the images I have taken with the Panasonic DMC FZ30P. Both of these activities should have their own web page, one for Art History and one for Technology. 6:00 am

Chores: none

Exercise: beach walk.

Art History: complete reading "Vincent by himself".

Technology: complete making CD of Panasonic photos.

C. Actual

6:00 am I was able to import all of the photos that I have taken since February 14, 2006 when I obtained the Panasonic DMC-FZ30 digital camera. I have added Collections and sorted the images within each collection. I also deleted most of the poor images and did some zooming and cropping of some of the birds, only showing what was required for a clear identification. 10:45 am

12:05 PM We are just back from a relatively quick trip to Flat rock beach. We definitely saw one new lifer (#113), a Great Cormorant. I may have one other small wader, but won't know for sure until I see the photos. A sudden rain squall sent us running for the car, but not before we were thoroughly soaked. 1:05 PM

4:30 PM I have finished reading "Vincent by himself", a biography of Vincent van Gogh. The quality of the paper, and the resulting reproductions of many of his paintings, is superb. I am intrigued by how much I enjoyed the book, and the paintings, whereas when I visited the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in the early 1980's I was not impressed. Why now, and not then?

I have completed my notes for this book. 5:35 PM

Here are a few new photos of birds:

Osprey at Shelly beach

Osprey at Shelly beach

Galah near our unit in Ballina

Great Cormorant at Flat Rock beach

This camera is great!

D. Reflection

8:50 PM Another great day. Our trip to Flat Rock beach this morning had a hiccup - we were totally soaked. But we got a few good pictures and a new lifer - the Great Cormorant. We were able to make a positive identification with our binoculars, but the image nails it down.

The biography of Vincent van Gogh motivated me to take a few more pictures of daily life in the unit: some of the plants in the back patio and the front porch in the early evening. 8:55 PM