Summer Koan #5 (in A minor)

the hum of air con

eye gouging shimmer at dawn

"Hello Summertime!"

Kind of Blue

Hayden Short

Tinbeerwah local Hayden Byrn 

doing the controlled stall and fall 

dawn patrol at a popular sandbank 

in between the river and the lake.

Congratulations on your New Dad status.

Prankster Em

Today's post is dedicated to our work colleague and prankster Emma who leaves today to travel a different career path. Your random acts of daDa-ish humour have kept my spirits bouyant through some tough times. BIG thanks.

Random One

I don't normally do two posts in one day, but it's Monday and it's raining so maybe a little extra randomness required. Music this morning by M Ward, L Reed, L Skynard, F B Slim, Love, The Loved Ones and the Love Mongers.

"All of your demons will wither away"

from "Demons" by Fatboy Slim 2000

Random Two

Same wave further down the line. Today's duelling posts are dedicated to all the random surfers out there having a dig - not for fame, not for money, not to be seen on some old timer's blog - just for the pure, dawn patrol glassiness that is Stoke. As somebody smarter than me said, "A stranger is a friend I haven't met yet". Feel free to say "G'day."

Red, white and blue

One more cup of coffee

In between my first and second cups of coffee for the day, I was honoured to observe Josh Gunthorp from the Solace Surf Shop shredding on a 5' 9" Neal Purchase Jnr quad with glassed on fins. Board is for sale second hand. Contact Solace.

Share the Love

Today's post is dedicated to the wonderful folks at the Sunshine Coast charity, Frangipanni Dreams. You people are the best. Thanks for sharing the love with the lonely, the elderly, the financially distressed and the dispossessed. Life isn't just about us.

"I know you think that you 

should make a trip to Calcutta, 

but I strongly advise you to save your money 

and spend it on the poor in your own country. 

It's easy to love people far away. 

It's not always easy to love 

those who live right next to us"

Mother Theresa

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day - especially if you share a dawn surf with a few mates.

10" x 35mm

Brine time

Water - under the board. Air - expelled from the lungs in post-wave banter. Fire - from an autumnal dawn.

Detritus

Nava Young going left on a right hand point last week and this morning's beautiful dawn, shot while standing beside the old silky oak desk I used to study at as a kid. Today it's piled with the detritus of our holiday including:-

stickers for Rhythm (one with a handscrawled blog address for Marc Llewellyn)
a Cyrus Sutton business card
a stack of ATM paper thingees
a Johnny Depp "Pirates of the Caribbeen" Pez dispenser Emma gave me
a brochure for Phil Jarratt's online beach house surf collectables emporium
a stack of USB sticks
two folders of 120 format monochrome negs that are waiting to be scanned
5 rolls of 35mm film that are waiting to be processed
a neglected scanner
two external firewire drives
a freebie pen from the government
an empty plastic grocery bag
And that's just what I can see without poking it too much.
Might just leave the room, shut the door and tidy that up later

Sleep deprivation and crazy dreaming

Quite dark when I got up today and noticed some clouds to the south east with some dawn imagery potential.

Made a strong coffee and headed down to the bike track where the fit ones were already rolling, striding and generally making me feel shabbier than I already was. Sleep deprivation and crazy dreaming don't mix, even on a Friday. Fortunately the camera just keeps going, as if possessed by a strong Japanese work ethic. No holiday for you Mr Eos.

Countdown to Easter

Boys, it's been too long since we all had a surf together. I'm reserving a spot for you in the lineup at Easter. The Nikonos is loaded and this time I have a helmet.

Analogue Search Engines

 Search the sea.

Search the sky.

Un-bleaking

My late dad used to say that any day when you actually wake up and are able to get out of bed is a good day, but all of this dreary, dark, rainsoaked weather finds me longing for clear blue skies and sunshine.

I hope these "un-bleaked" pics stoke my Brinetopian bothers and sistas until sunny days and clean walls return.

Bovines, BOM and Bob

Bob Dylan once told me through a set of analogue headphones that I didn't "need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows". Not sure if the learned folks at BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) would agree but all I need to do is look to Nature to tell me what the weather and surf are up to.

Red clouds in the morning = sailors warning. Cows sitting down in their paddocks = rain today or tomorrow. Ants moving their colonies to higher ground = a lot of rain in two weeks. Storm bird calling all day and night = a solid week of rain. Cows crossing the road = empty surf.

The early bird catches the worm

Am doing this.

And this.

To avoid this.

Surf Check #725000

Beannie? Check. Uggh boots? Check. Long corduroy trousers? Check Warm coat? Check. Winter? Check. All over the country, a million of us are doing the daily surf check. And in Brinetopia it is really really cold today. It always seems colder just after the sun comes over the horizon and the first zephyrs for the day start stirring the air - soft offshores, holding up the faces of the waves and shaking up my already shakey hands.