He Can’t Fly, but I’m telling you, He can run the pants off a Kangaroo!

These are the lyrics by a great Australian Singer / Somgwriter John Williamson

Let me tell you of an interview with an Old Man Emu
He’s got a beak and feathers and things, but the poor old fella ain’t got no wings
“Aren’t you jealous of the wedge-tail eagle?” – dom ba da little da da da

(Spoken in tempo) “While the eagle’s flying round and round, I keep my two feet firmly on the ground
I can’t fly, but I’m telling you, I can run the pants off a kangaroo”.

doo dee ba doo doo doo , boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.

Well he was the model for the fifty cents – oom ba da little da da da
The designer should have had more sense – oom ba da little da da da
If you take a look, it’ll prove to you, I ran the pants off that kangaroo.

Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo..
Take a look it’ll prove to you, he can run the pants off the kangaroo.

You can’t loop the loop like a cockatoo – Oom ba da little da da da
Swoop and toss like an albatross – Oom ba da little da da da
“You silly galah, I’m better by far, than a white cockatoo or a budgerigar;
They squeak and squawk and try to talk, why me and them’s like cheese and chalk”
Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
He can’t fly but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo…

Well the last time I saw Old Man Emu – Oom ba da little da da da
He was chasing a female he knew – Oom ba da little da da da
As he shot past I heard him say “She can’t fly, but I’m telling you
She could run the pants off a kangaroo”. –

Ba da da Doo dee ba doo doo doo Doo dee ba doo doo doo…Boo da da doot doo doo doo
She can’t fly but I’m telling you, she can run the pants off a kangaroo

Well there is a moral to this ditty – Oom ba da little da da da
Thrush can sing but he ain’t pretty – Oom ba da little da da da
Duck can swim, but he can’t sing, nor can the eagle on the wing
Emu can’t fly, but I’m telling you, he can run the pants off a kangaroo.

Well the kookaburra laughed and said “It’s true, oom ba da little da da da,
Ha Ha Ha Ha Hah Hoo, He can run the pants off a kangaroo”

© 1970 for the World by JULY MUSIC, Melbourne, Vic. Australia

http://www.johnwilliamson.com.au

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The Tail, With Julie’s Help

Something about me must be quite appealing to dogs, no Tammy not the aroma, but I seem to meet dogs with the most interesting of characterrs, like TERROR. Yesterday I explained how I took my camera to my lesson, knowing that there would be sky divers landing nearby. And no, that is not the Terror (although it would be for me). Well prior to the first jump, I got talking to a bloke, who’s dog TERROR (a large Mastiff, Great Dane, Ridgeback +?+? cross) was always checking out the skydivers in the sky from where they live, so he thought he would bring the dog down to check it’s reactions – Up Close!

I sat behind Terror as three Tandem Skydivers landed and snapped his view, which was rivetted on the parachutes. Talk about alert, the first two series shots show Terror’s reaction when they came into the prevailing wind, but check out the third series to see his reaction when the last one came in from a different direction! After the last landed he went out and checked the sky to see if there were any more, god knows where he thought they came from. Now this is one of the most placid dogs I have ever come across. Who willingly accepted patting from the hundreds of people who passed, with equanimity, as if it was his right to be the centre of attention.

Now I was watching Terror’s eyes as I do with all unfamiliar animals and there was never a threat there, but he could take it or leave it, there was so much else going on, until two sisters came up for a pat, the Big one might have benn 4 years old and as brave as Hercules, the smaller one wasn’t as big or as brave. She would only touch the hind leg, (Those Teeth Looked Enormous) Terror’s Eyes went all buttery when the girls were patting him, and so dismayed when the youngest one ran off, she tried though, coming back to his tail at least three times.

But after all that excitement, a dog just has to sit down and rest, but WHERE do you sit?

Where Ever He BLOODY likes!

Note:This is how I first envisaged posting these shots and thanks to Julie I can – Hooray for Julie! I am also glad that the thumbnails enlarge so well.

A Terrific Tale (Tail) of Terror

Something about me must be quite appealing to dogs, no Tammy not the aroma, but I seem to meet dogs with the most interesting of characterrs, like TERROR. Yesterday I explained how I took my camera to my lesson, knowing that there would be sky divers landing nearby. And no, that is not the Terror (although it would be for me). Well prior to the first jump, I got talking to a bloke, who’s dog TERROR (a large Mastiff, Great Dane, Ridgeback +?+? cross) was always checking out the skydivers in the sky from where they live, so he thought he would bring the dog down to check it’s reactions – Up Close!

I sat behind Terror as three Tandem Skydivers landed and snapped his view, which was rivetted on the parachutes. Talk about alert, the first two series shots show Terror’s reaction when they came into the prevailing wind, but check out the third series to see his reaction when the last one came in from a different direction! After the last landed he went out and checked the sky to see if there were any more, god knows where he thought they came from. Now this is one of the most placid dogs I have ever come across. Who willingly accepted patting from the hundreds of people who passed, with equanimity, as if it was his right to be the centre of attention.

Now I was watching Terrors eyes as I do with all unfamiliar animals and there was never a threat there, but he could take it or leave it, there was so much else going on, until two sisters came up for a pat, the Big one might have benn 4 years old and as brave as Hercules, the smaller one wasn’t as big or as brave. She would only touch the hind leg, (Those Teeth Looked Enormous) Terror’s Eyes went all buttery when the girls were patting him, and so dismayed when the youngest one ran off, she tried though, coming back to his tail at least three times.

But after all that excitement, a dog just has to sit down and rest, but WHERE do you sit?

Where Ever He BLOODY likes!

Note: I can’t figure out wordpress spacing at all, as I tried to put four thumbnail shots in a line across the page, although two 300 wide shots fit, four 150 wide won’t so  i had to make them bigger, not as effective bit the message is there!

Outdoor classroom

Circumstances have brought about the strange situation where we have two consecutive Mondays as Public Holidays, so rather than make my students at U3A wait three weeks before enjoying my company and pleasant nature, I decided that it would be a good thing if we held an impromptu class down by the sea shore at Sutton’s Beach. As you can see I took my camera along, just to show you where we held the class. Pretty dreadful conditions to subject my students to Eh?

Of ccourse I had to run off on occasions to capture some of the action that was being carried out on the beach. (Sometimes in Mid-Sentence)

Scarborough – For the Birds.

Although two of these shots show caged birds, they were all taken within a kilometre of each other. The first shot shows Princess who I first met around 14 years ago while walking to the old U3A campus to teach. Her ringing Hellos greet you the minute she spies you coming and she rushes to the corner of the cage to get her chest scratched and sometimes even her neck behind her Sulphur Crested pllume. Sweet as pie but watch her mate seen in the background as her loves to bite and that beak can be vicious. Princess has only one failing in that as you start to leave she leys fly with even more frantic Hellos, but I guess she just wants the company. The Blue Heron was sitting near a eaterway behind a retirement complex not far away and he never seemed to even notice me as I crept closer to get this shot!

Butterflies Tammy – Butterflies

Tammy will tell you how difficult I find Butterflies to snap, they just won’t sit still, these first two were fluttering around the same bush so I assume they are male and female, so don’t ask I No Nothing (Sgt Schultz) about them, all I know is that the first one never landed and was continually flapping it’s wings which you can see at the tips, but it is far and away my best Butterfly shot to date. The owner of the house where the bush was came out to check on what I was doing and scared them away, but she liked the shots on the LCD screen.

Technically I don’t know if this is a moth or a butterfly, but as I was hurrying through the bush to keep ahead of an approachng storm, this thing fluttered past my head in the wind and I thought it was a leaf until it landed then folded up its wings. The slightly out of focus shot was included as it shows it to be an insect better, the more in focus shot shows just how effective the disguise is.

It is Anzac Day 25 April

Today is the day that Australians and our New Zealand Brothers celebrate the Coming of Age of our two small nations on the World Stage. Being Ex Service it has special meaning for me, as it does for so many others. This is who we are!

For more information you might like to visit This Site, it is an Australian Government site and their resources far out weigh mine to tell the Anzac Story.

For my part I would like to repost my photo of the Anzac Memorial at Redcliffe and to reaffirm the ode;

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest We Forget!

Steam returns Final set.

The first of these five is I think my favourite of the shots I have posted, but only because of the fact I got to talk to the young couple featured. Just after I took the shot of yesterday showing the Locomotive at the far end of the station this couple positioned themselves just in front of me, (to get their own photos) and just as I took another snap of the train, they grabbed the chance to have a small cuddle, I never caught that properly so took a chance and asked if they could do a repeat performance when the train drew closer? The young fellow (Named Jack) asked why and I laughed and replied – The Romance of Steam! They both laughed but luckily for me agreed! As we were talking he took off his cap and I caught sight of the subtle tinting of his hair (Muted shades of Blue and White) and asked if he could keep the hat off for the shot, he again asked why so I explained that for me nothing could compare New and Old better!

As the second shot above showedm and these two ratify, departure from the station is when the steam becomes most evident, Shot no 3 is the one I chose to post in my EV Gallery and PET Gallery, as I think it portrays what the day was about most, but I also liked the glimpse of the supervising Engineer I snapped as the train left the station, both appeal in different ways.

The last shot here and for the series although similar to the penultimate, seems to epitomize my feelings on this event. It is all there, it is solid and real but I hope it doesn’t all evaporate in a Translink induced piece of legerdomain brought about with Smoke and Mirrors never to return. I hope that the authorities have the wisdom and farsightedness to follow through on this endeavour and we can enjoy this spectacle many many times each year it the future.

I hope that all who have viewed this have enjoyed my Nosalgic trip into Brisbane’s (Hopefully) future, and I appreciate all the comments that have been forthcoming on the photographs. But I ask a boon in the form of comments on wether or not you think the series had impact from a Photojournalistic point of view (Good or Bad Please – both will help me in MY Endeavours) Ron

Steam Comeback second series

One of the difficulties faced by steam locomotives such as 1089, is that coming in from the West, ahead of the passenger carriages, they need to be repositioned to the other end of those carriages for the return trip. This activity achieved two things for me, firstly it explained why there was a spur line seemingly heading off into the Golf Club adjacent to the train station, that had rusty tracks, maybe they will get the chance to shine again. Secondly, and more importantly it gave me another opportunity for some nice shots as the shunting occured.

The train then backed onto the maain line again to await for the regular electric service to come in and then depart again (remember Shornecliffe is the End of th Line) shot three shows the sort of numbers who had turned out to see the event.  While the electric train was at the station it was obvious that most were there to either see or catch the steam experience, however not everyone could maintain the enthusiasm. Here is a shot of Pygmy the Stafforshire Terrier, having a little impromtu game of tug of war with his owner, she was a wonderful dog, just with a short attention span while the electric train was at the platform.

I wish I had the time yo take the trip on this train but I had only just heard of it’s run the day before and had other things to do, – Next Time! However I did take the opportunity to jump onboard the carriages to remind myself what 1958 carriages looked like inside, and the seatinh and layout mus haave been somewhat universal as that is what I saw in Sydney around that time, a full state and 1,000 kilometres away.

Steam Makes a Come Back

Over the next three days I intend to show you how Translink (Brisbane’s Rail and Bus and Ferry Authority has come up with a real innovative Idea!  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday This week, they rain a steam train service from Ipswich in Brisbane’s West to Shornecliffe on Moreton Bay in the East. These were the first passenger hauling steam trains to operate on the normal suburban rail system in Brisbane since 1968. They under took these three trips to train electric train drivers in the intricacies of Steam. I hope that this is a prelude of a regular service as the look on the face of the small children brought down to see the spectacle made the whole exercise worthwhile for me.

I will be posting five photos each day to show what I saw, and hope you will follow on with my feel good story. The first two shots don’t involve steam, but show the Station where I took my photographs, and what a regular service constitutes, then we will get down to the Nitty Gritty, sorry for the pun!

The next two shots show the Steam Train Arriving at Shornecliffe and the excitment that generated, plus the main drive shaft which drew a lot of interest from the multitudenous munchkins around me as I was getting the shot.

This last shot for the day shows the two Trainee drivers seriously trying to come to grips with the difference between a Steam Locomotive and their usual Electric charges, hey really did not have time to let me look around.