Monday March 20, 2006 6:30 am Ballina NSW

A. Morning Musings

6:30 am We have a trip planned today to Casino. This will give us all a view of the land that is a bit inland from the coast. Perhaps we will see a new bird or two - that would be nice.

I have been a bit slack with commentary, both morning musings and evening reflections. Perhaps a jolt of coffee will help.

The pile of books by my chair is a clue. Digital Photography is one topic that I want to pursue. I have 3 books on that beside me: The Photoshop Elements 4 Book, Digital Photography Basics, and Teaching Yourself Visually: Digital Photography. I have 2 books on history: The Greek Achievement and Ideas. I also have 2 books on psychology, both by a group called the Mind Gym: Wake Your Mind Up and Give Me Time. The books claim to take information that is well known in psychology but that is hidden in scholarly papers and represent it in a friendly fashion that can be handled in 90 minute bursts. There is also a website for these books which I have yet to view. My calculus book by Larson has not been opened in 10 days. I have 2 more mathematics books: Dr. Riemann's Zero's (read but still need to make notes) and Everything and More (half read), as well as Gamma: Exploring Euler's Constant (just begun, but it looks excellent). Finally, I have yet to begin reading the novel The Line of Beauty.

Now how does one make sense of all this? My first priority is Digital Photography. Then I want to get my mathematics back on track.

Chores:

Technology: Begin reading " Teach Yourself Visually: Digital Photography"

C. Actual

7:20 am Begin reading Chapter 1 Managing Photos Using the Organizer (The Photoshop Elements 4 Book).

8:00 PM We are back from a day-trip to Casino. The trip was superb. We saw a lot of the countryside and had a superb lunch in Casino at Cafe 1882. We then did a little birdwatching on the way back.

Here is a photo of a bird that we have yet to identify:

We think it is either a Leaden Flycatcher or a Shining Fkycatcher but are not sure which. Then again it may be something else. Sometimes even a photo doesn't doesn't ensure a positive identification.

Here is the highlight of our birdwatching activities:

This is a photo of 5 Pied Oystercatchers! They are considered to be an endangered species and it is estimated that there are only a couple of hundred such birds left in existence. We saw these 5 as they flew by us. We followed them down the beach a bit and saw them, plus one other, for a total of 6. We were careful to not approach them too closely, but did manage to get a few more photos of them from a distance. Not too bad for a couple of beginners.

D. Reflection